Month: June 2021

Sometimes, the most innocuous of tasks can be a real pain in the butt, making you really sweat and hyperventilate. Take this 12-string guitar for example. It came to me for a bone nut and saddle, new strings and a set-up. Nothing more than a couple of hours’ job. But…

Though a laminate, it wasn’t all too badly constructed and the little touches  – the tuning machines used, the bound fretboard, the soundhole rosette, the contrast, triple-laminate centre seam on the back – showed that care had been taken to make the instrument look and perform good.

For a company, formed as recent as in 1997, which designs its instruments in Alexandria, NSW, Australia and gets them made in China, it’s not doing too badly. However, it has to collar its Chinese manufacturer(s) and tell him/her/them that cutting corners in production and using incorrect material(s) will not do.

On this instrument, there were a couple of minor irritants. If I would have otherwise given it 8.5/10, these ensured that the instrument went home with just an above-average 6/10.

One of these irritants was the placement of the tail block strap button.

While reputed brands will take the care to ensure that the hole for the strap button is drilled ‘EXACTLY’ in the centre (along the top-to-bottom axis) of the end plate (where the two sides come together at the tail block of the guitar), it was more than evident that in this case, that hole had been drilled carelessly.

Here are a few examples from Google images:

I might clarify that it is not a structural issue, and neither does it affect the functionality of the strap button, but don’t aesthetics count for anything? And these, small little things, differentiate great guitars from good guitars.

Even the placement of the neck strap button was incorrect.

But this I am willing to let pass because it is the ‘done thing’ among many manufacturers. Second-hand knowledge about ‘how it is usually done’ and not bothering to read, understand and change ‘traditional’ methods is to be blamed for almost all ‘wrong’ practices in almost every sphere of life.

But, it was nothing short of a wonder that the instrument had two strap buttons instead of just the one at the bottom end of the guitar!

However, the biggest irritant was the nut! That it was plastic is not even worth commenting but that it had been super-glued in place, raised my hackles.

Changing nuts and saddles is my bread and butter, and all it takes is a firm hammer tap to knock a nut out of its slot. After usual methods failed, I knew that super glue had been used to hold the nut in place, drawing from me a string of abuses!

There is actually nothing wrong in using super glue to hold a nut in place, till the time comes to replace it. How do you get it out then? I had to chisel this one out!

And even after I managed to dislodge its firm grip, some part of it refused to leave the slot.

Welcome chisel! My predicament was to take off all the plastic without touching any of the wood. You take away even a bit of wood and the slot will never be a clean, smooth surface on which the nut can sit, affecting sound transfer. For the best sound transfer, you need a perfectly straight and smooth base of the nut and a perfectly straight and smooth slot floor on which it would sit. With the two surfaces completely in contact, there is no loss of sound anywhere. And the same logic applies to saddles and saddle slots.

So, why do manufacturers use super glue for nuts? Because it is cheaper, quicker and easier! Who cares about the guitar tech who has to deal with it down the line? And thus, what would have been a 5-minute job, ended up taking a couple of hours!

Thankfully, the saddle had not been glued in!

A few mandatory measurements, some sanding, some test-fitting, some more sanding, and the new bone nut and saddle were ready to be installed.

Here is the new bone nut and saddle with the old strings.

 

You may notice something odd about the bridgepins. These are (chrome-coloured) brass bridgepins, installed after the owner okayed them. While they raise the aesthetic quotient of the instrument (considering all the chrome hardware on it), they also magnify its treble response.

Before I put on a fresh set of strings on it, all the small but important stuff had to be taken care of.

The headstock was cleaned and the hardware on it was tightened and polished

The fretboard was cleaned, the fretwires burnished and the fretboard and bridge oiled.

Then it was the turn of the neck-heel strap button to be shifted to its ‘rightful’ place. While I was doing that, it seemed like a good idea to me to put in swanky new mushroom-head strap buttons instead of the cheap thingys that the manufacturer had saddled the owner with – both on the heel and at the tail end of the guitar. The hole that remained on the heel cap was filled and I tried my best to camouflage it too (forgot to take a pic of that).

Putting on fresh strings was all that remained to be done, and with a 12-string, its double the time and effort. But it was all well worth it for the owner was more than satisfied!

 

A few months back I had worked on a CF Martin guitar.

https://lkoguitargarage.com/?s=martin&submit=Search

It came back to me sometime back with this

Around the same time (from a couple of weeks before to a couple of weeks after this one returned to me), I received umpteen number of calls from clients and those that knew of me, about strange buzzes that they had never experienced before. And they were all over the neck.

My mind immediately went to what the humidity was.

The top figure on this digital meter is the temperature and the smallest numbers give the time. The figure on the bottom right of the screen of this ‘clock’ is the humidity. At 30%, the humidity was way below what your acoustic guitar – any acoustic guitar – would be comfortable with.

At this level of humidity, cracks are bound to appear, seams will open, and buzzes will appear out of the blue. Left untreated, the cracks and open seams will destroy your guitar, though string buzzes will generally disappear, given time and once the humidity climbs towards normality.

In case of the instrument in front of me, a serious drink of water was needed. It was past the stage of humidifiers. I took off the strings and placed a small plastic container full of water inside the guitar. Then, I covered up the soundhole with a plastic such that no water would escape into the atmosphere, but whatever the water cup would lose, would be what the instrument sucked up.

It stayed like that for five days, before I lifted to check the water level. Some water had disappeared. I refilled the cup and closed up the soundhole for another five days. Meanwhile, the crack looked like this. To my eyes it seemed to have closed up some.

After a few more days, it looked even better, or so it seemed

Around the 12th day, I was thrilled to see the crack all but closed

Now was the time to attack. I poured out the glue along the seam and pumped it in till I could see a decent glueline on the underside of the top. In February, this year, I realised that I did not have really long clamps that would be needed should a guitar with an open centre seam turn up. I bought two 24″ clamps expecting a guitar to turn up and within a couple of months, it happened.

I pulled out the clamps and put them to work

For 48 hours they continued to apply pressure, holding the seam together. When I took them off, the seam looked good but the guitar was far from being completely healed. It would need to be cleated with small pieces of wood placed proportionately on the underside of the top, along the fault line, such that they would hold it together, not allowing the two halves to separate EVER again.

I wish I had taken an after picture but this photograph should work as a representative image of where exactly the cleats went on the underside of the guitar. And to hold them in place while the glue dried

24 hrs later, it was probably as good as new. But there was only one way of finding out: STRING ‘ER UP!!!!!!!!!!

The owner had provided these lovely (and expensive) strings to go on his guitar.

And, there she be…in all her radiant glory

It’s been more than a month since the guitar returned to its owner. I haven’t heard from him which could only be a good thing!!

Another one of those instruments that was stood up in a corner and forgotten about (I’m guessing)! It had a host of issues to be dealt with.

FREE ADVICE: Whenever you know that you will not be playing your instrument for the next three weeks or more, tune down your acoustic guitar half a step. Half a step? If you play your guitar at standard tuning (A440), tune it down to D#. A full step down (D) won’t harm either. Remember, you are tuning down and not letting the strings flop around on the fretboard!

When you tune down, the strings exert lesser force, thus, lesser stress all around: on the neck, the bridge, the heel of the guitar, etc, etc. Further, tuning down mitigates the propensity of the instrument to belly up behind the bridge.

Even if you remember that it has been one-and-a-half months and you haven’t played your guitar and you haven’t tuned it down either, not a problem; you can do it then and stop further damage from taking place.

So, all the problems that I listed above in my advice to you, were clearly visible on this some-pale wood-guitar.

The bridge was lifting right across its length,

it had even developed a crack,

the heel joint was coming apart,

the fretwires bore the usual signs of having been played, and there was some fret-sprout too (when the ends of the fretwires seemingly grow beyond the fretboard. Actually, fretwires never grow; the fretboard contracts after losing moisture and staying dry a day too long). But it was a surprise seeing fret-sprout on this fretboard, for it was made out of artificial material and not wood, which led me to conclude that it was a sloppy manufacturing job.

The hardware on the headstock, though functional, had rusted while a few of the nuts had had their threads all chewed up, rendering them incapable of tightening up properly.

There was serious bellying too in the area beyond the bridge: a natural consequence of the strings trying to pull the bridge off the top, due to which the bridge was lifting too.

Usually, when there is bellying, the bridgeplate – sitting under the top and right under the bridge – is to be blamed. Either its dimensions are inadequate or the material used to make it. In this guitar’s case, it was both.

So inadequate in size was the bridgeplate that even the string holes were barely touching it. Ideally, you would want the string holes to pass right through the middle of the plate so that the ball ends of the strings can rest on it, helping in sound transfer, while the bridgeplate counters their pull.

I started right here. The right way to correct the bridgeplate problem would have been to pull it out and replace it with a proper-sized, proper-wood plate. But that would have been a very expensive and laborious operation. I decided to add some wood behind the existing bridgeplate so that at least the string holes would no longer remain on the top.

I glued in a strip of wood and clamped it down with a block of wood over it and another block of wood on the top, to keep everything level.

While that job was left standing for a good 24 hrs, I worked on the headstock and put in shiny new nuts and washers that worked.

Next, I worked on the fretboard

After 24 hrs, the clamp was removed and I began work on glueing the bridge down properly, as it should be.

The second photograph is always a joy to see in any glue-up job: glue oozing out evenly, all across. It shows that you covered all corners properly. Again a wait of 24 hrs for the glue to cure.

And while I waited, I turned my attention to the heel of the instrument. I cleaned out the opening with some light sandpaper and shot glue into it. Then I clamped it down and left that too for 24 hrs.

While all that dried, I sized up the bone nut and saddle that would go in place of the plastic elements.

It was now time to take off all the clamps to see how things had turned out. Everything turned out satisfactorily. With that I turned to repairing the crack in the bridge.

Saw dust, wood glue and sandpaper!

Not my best repair, but it did the job. Usually, after I am done, you can’t make out if there was ever a crack in the bridge! Here you can see a hair of a crack. Strangely, it was very smooth to the feel.

Now that the bridge was glued, as was the crack in it, it was finally time to drill out the holes in the bridge. Remember, we had added wood on the underside?

A bit of oil to it and the fretboard just to dress it up a bit.

And yeah, those are the new bone nut and saddle!

Here’s a view of the bridge glued down

Before I strung up the guitar with these

I did take the time to shape the bridgepins.

With this shape, the ball ends of the strings never snag on the ends of the pins but slip up to sit snug against the bridgeplate.

And there she is, finished and ready to rock again!

I would like to leave you with a shot of this little decorative piece that the owner has put on: very pretty, wouldn’t you say?

CAUTION: This post is a rant. Those not wishing to suffer it, stay away!

Some time back, this Hertz came to me with a lot of small problems. To be fair, it was not a badly built instrument even though it was a laminate.

The nut slots were shot – much deeper than you would like them to be, while the saddle too had enough wear on it, calling for a change.

The fretboard was too dry while the fretwires showed all the signs of rigorous playing.

And there were telltale signs that the guitar had taken a bad knock on its headstock, somewhere down the line.

I began with taking the strings off and pulling out the saddle. But what did I see?

Then I knocked the nut out.

As you can see, it took a bit of the nut slot wood with it. Ah, well! That is what you get when manufacturers don’t wish to invest in proper wood glue and trust a five rupee super glue to do the job!

And because I had the strings off it, I gave the hardware on the headstock all the attention it needed.

I went about shaping and sanding the nut and saddle till I had them where I needed them.

The set on the right is the fresh, bone pair. The other set is what came off the guitar.

But there was something not quite right about the bridge. That patch of black (can you see it?) was disconcerting. What, I could not place my finger on it, but I knew there was something mighty wrong.

Whateva! I moved on to the fretboard, cleaned it, mummified the board and worked on the fretwires, making the divots disappear and making the wires shine like new. While at it, I also conditioned the fretboard.

That done, I was ready to install the nut and the saddle. I smoothed out the nut slot and glued in the nut. And just as I was about to slip the saddle in, I saw it. A-ha!!!

Not a very good photograph, but do you see the round dent in front of the two centre bridgepin holes?

I called the owner and asked him if his bridge had lifted at any point. He replied in the affirmative saying he had his instrument fixed at this huge showroom in the vicinity of Fun mall, because the owner was known to him.

I explained to him that his acquaintance had screwed him in his bridge and to hide the screw had used some kind of an epoxy. I looked further and there were all the telltale signs of a sloppy effort at a repair.

And here begins my rant!

After you buy a vehicle – two-wheeler or four-wheeler – do you go back to the agency for repairs? Not even to avail of the free vehicle services do you go back to the agency. So when you have a problem in your instrument, why do you go to the shop to get it addressed?

Shops know just one thing: how to sell the ware in their establishment. Ask them to show you a solid top guitar and I guarantee you that eight out of 10 salespersons/shopkeepers won’t know what you’re asking for – at least that is the case in our dear city.

All shopkeepers know is how to change strings (which you, as a guitar player, should, in any case, know) and how to work the truss rod (to lower/raise your action – for which the truss rod SHOULD NEVER be used). Read this:

https://lkoguitargarage.com/?s=run+if+you+see+your+guitar&submit=Search).

If they know any more than that it is to their credit. They pass on their limited knowledge to the salesman, who with his limited understanding, understands whatever he does understand. With that limited knowledge, you expect him to rectify the problem in your instrument – one for which you probably saved a couple of years?

In the three years that I have been back in the city, I have seen countless ‘repairs’ that made my job worse, making it cost more for you.

The hacks that abound in Aminabad/La Touche Road may have a cheap and a quick fix but if your guitar is a prized possession, or you are sentimentally attached to it, believe me, when it comes time to ‘really’ repair the instrument, it will be double, even triple the investment.

I recall a guitar that had come to me. It had a near perpendicular break at the headstock and despite my best efforts, I could not put it together (a la Humpty Dumpty!).

A few days later, the owner called me up to inform me that someone in Aminabad had fixed his guitar for him. I was happy for the young man but the more I think about it, the more I worry. If I could not set it right (not that I am the last word on guitar repair), how did this person join such a break?

I am guessing epoxy or super glue. Both of these set very fast, very firm; the flip side: both are more brittle than a dried twig in summer! The least stress and the break will come alive along the fault line. For the sake of the owner of that guitar I pray: a) that he was not sentimentally attached to that instrument, and b) that it was not epoxy or super glue that his guitar was fixed with.

Epoxy/super glue are great glues – for furniture. For musical instruments wood glue and hide glue is the way to go, for musical instruments vibrate, move. Wood and hide glue have a tendency to move along with the movement, the former two cannot.

PLEASE…you’re all educated young men and women, and your smartphone that you flaunt is not just for taking photographs and sending WhatsApp messages! You can even use it to browse the Net, read about things, watch videos of how things are done. You can even search for a trusted guitar tech/luthier. Find that person!

Your association with the shop from where you bought your guitar is over, unless you see a problem in your guitar within a week of you buying it.

I am breathing easier now, and so I return to what I was doing.

The bump on the headstock I repaired with a little wood putty. If it had been a larger break in the binding, I could have even put in a replacement piece of binding but for a little piece like that, it was too much work.

The saddle was set and the guitar strung up. It played well with a comfortable action. I just hope the owner was happy with how I returned his instrument.

The owner also said that there was a problem with the pick-up. I pulled out both units and checked the connections – all solid, and I could not find the problem.

I returned the guitar to him apologising that I could not find the issue.