Guitars . Show em !

[daltontrees]

9 hours ago, spudulike said:

Anyone else tweak their guitars a bit? I have found that a bit of work on the nut, bridge and truss rod can transform a guitar in terms of playability. Many guitars seem to come from the factory with nuts that are far too high, the neck a bit too concave and the bridge to high. Never easy for a manufacturer to know what strings a guitar may end up on a guitar but usually sort the nut, lower the bridge and then tweak the truss to get the guitar in to shape.

The Yamaha APX600 acoustic was good but is now sooooooo much better for a bit of work on it.

Almost constant adjustments, but yes an initial 20 mins spent on a cheap new guitar (9or a 2nd hand bargain) can add £100 of quality. Capo on 10th. adjust bridge height for action. Then capo on 1st, adjust truss rod for relief.  Check and adjust for intonation  at 13th fret. Then no capo and adjust nut for action. If intonation is off with no capo, that is a real problem.

 

However, I recently felt like chucking my £300 mandolin because the intonation was impossible, but I solved it last week by slipping a needle under the strings at the nut (creating a zero fret).  What a difference! I can't put the mandolin down, it sounds beautiful. There's always a way.

 

My golden rule is never to buy a steel strung guitar that doesn't have a truss rod. With a truss rod you have a fighting chance.

[Macpherson]

12 hours ago, spudulike said:

The Yamaha APX600 acoustic was good but is now sooooooo much better for a bit of work on it.

Yep,  had an APX900 for about 10 years, like you say it was good from the start but last year I decided to check it's settings....the neck and nut were bang on but I took a bit off the bridge saddle to get the action to 2 1/2 mm at the 12th on the 1st and 6th.....real improvement, specially when trying to get clear bass notes higher up the neck.

Been using Ernie Ball earthwood 10 / 52's for some time and really like them.

 

The next fix is going to be bone nut, saddle and pins but from what I can see the saddles offered online all seem to be a couple of mill short, so as is often the case I'll probably need to make it.....got a stags shin bone for the job, cheers. 

[daltontrees]

On 30/08/2019 at 09:23, Macpherson said:

The next fix is going to be bone nut, saddle and pins but from what I can see the saddles offered online all seem to be a couple of mill short, so as is often the case I'll probably need to make it.....got a stags shin bone for the job, cheers. 

I am curious about bone bridges. Do you think they make a significant difference?

[daltontrees]

I got rid of my old Aria Cardinal Pro II bass a couple of months ago and got this Chowny Retrovibe, I can't imagine another bass better suited to me. It was second hand but almost mint, previous owner must have hated it because the set-up on it was dreadful. I added an adjustable nut which made a huge difference, and tweaked the intonation, relief and bridge height over a weekend and it is a joy to play now.

[Stubby]

3 hours ago, daltontrees said:

I am curious about bone bridges. Do you think they make a significant difference?

I think a bone nut and bridge give more sustain particularly on an acoustic .  

[Macpherson]

4 hours ago, daltontrees said:

I am curious about bone bridges. Do you think they make a significant difference?

No, I doubt it'll make a significant difference but as the original has a few small issues I'll give it a go... I reckon that now i'm happy with the action all I've got to do is copy the plastic one, the nut will be slightly more tricky to copy exactly.

As Stubby says, maybe more sustain.... I'm particularly hoping for more brightness and a bit more sustain in the ringing of open strings when needed.

Nice bass, had a google.... there are so many different makers out there now it's hard to keep up to date with what's what, cheers.

 

[lurkalot]

On ‎29‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 21:01, spudulike said:

Never taken frets down, a bit specialist for me but the rest has definitely made my guitars a fair bit better to play. Got a hollow body Ibanez on its way, another to play around with!

Think you have a bit of GAS going on.  Congrats on the new guitar though. 

[spudulike]

Yup but am having a clearout and having three guitars to leave out and enjoy rather than locking them in a hard case and never using them. It was doing chainsaw maintenance and porting that stopped me playing so am enjoying picking up a guitar and playing again....not sure those around me agree

[spudulike]

On ‎29‎/‎08‎/‎2019 at 21:01, spudulike said:

Never taken frets down, a bit specialist for me but the rest has definitely made my guitars a fair bit better to play. Got a hollow body Ibanez on its way, another to play around with!

Well that didn't last, now got a fret rocker, fret beam and crowning file as the Artcore had a buzzy B string on frets 3 + 4. Set to the Ibanez Artcore 73 and ....well....interesting, super low action and by that, I view around 1.5mm on the 12th fret as being relatively good but am now at circa 1mm on top and low E string now, a real big difference and playing is a joy.

I quite like working on guitars, no wood chip and crap to deal with.

 

[Matthew Storrs]

15 hours ago, spudulike said:

Well that didn't last, now got a fret rocker, fret beam and crowning file as the Artcore had a buzzy B string on frets 3 + 4. Set to the Ibanez Artcore 73 and ....well....interesting, super low action and by that, I view around 1.5mm on the 12th fret as being relatively good but am now at circa 1mm on top and low E string now, a real big difference and playing is a joy.

I quite like working on guitars, no wood chip and crap to deal with.

 

Yeah there is a ‘buzz’ (sorry) to be had when you get them all setup up nice. I’ve always been a bit weary of Adjusting truss Rods myself but happy to fiddle around with the bridge and nuts etc.