Month: March 2024

Sometimes, life presents you with a problem so complex that you’re left scratching your head about where to begin!

Recently, I was accosted by one such problem. It was called EX(tra)L(arge)????

I’ve seen a few guitars that carried signs of carelessness: a saddle that had dropped out, a black bridgepin standing proud among five white ones…But this one amazed me. It had all the tell-tale signs of a guitar that had been stripped (almost at gunpoint) of all that it possessed: saddle, strings, tuning machines, bushings, truss rod cover, heel cap…All that remained were three screws (the photo above) on the face of the headstock that once held the truss rod cover in place, as if to say, ‘Don’t lose heart, we’re still there’!

But these were all little problems. The big one was that it also had a broken neck.

When I tried turning the truss rod, it kept turning without ever catching, leading me to presume that the truss rod was broken too!

When I looked at neck straightness, it was straight, except for the area between the 2nd and the 5th/6th fret. Interestingly, the break in the neck was right under there.

I had no idea what problems putting on strings would present. But for that I needed to have tuning machines.

So, the first order of business was to put on some tuning machines. But then if you know, not all tuning machine screw holes line up. The previous machines used were held down by two screws each, while the ones I was holding needed only a single screw to hold them in place – and those too did not line up.

Then began the long process of plugging those holes and cutting them flush with the surface of the headstock. Likewise the three screws of the truss rod cover were removed and their holes were plugged.

Trying on the tuning machines gave another shock. The holes from the earlier machines were at least 2 mm smaller than what the new tuners needed! I did not have a drill bit of that size (which would have eased my work tremendously), and so, I had to manually enlarge the holes with a reamer.

Each hole took me something like 25 – 30 mins to ream to size, and I could not do them all in one sitting. The holes got reamed over two days.

Once the machines fit in their holes, I marked where the new screw holes needed to be drilled and did that.

And then the machines were screwed in place

Now, the owner wished to have a plastic nut and saddle and I was nobody to argue with that. However, I do not stock plastic spares, so I troubled the owner to get me a plastic saddle.

With the saddle in place, a new set of strings were thrown on just to see how much the break in the neck opened up under string tension. Thankfully, it didn’t open up much. However, the string action was such that you could drive a double-decker through the gap!

Also, I did something I never do: leave strings unclipped at the headstock. There was a reasoning behind it. I would need to unstring the guitar when I was trying to repair the break in the neck. If I didn’t remove them, they were liable to break while clamping, or, in the process of tuning them up.

The strings came off while they remained threaded through the bridge. Glue was pumped into the break in the neck and with the help of strategically placed cauls and some precautions, the whole area was clamped

Helping me in my effort was the humidity. It was nice and dry with 39% moisture in the air.

The set-up was left to cool off, while I concentrated on other things: the saddle for example. If I cut its present height by half that would certainly improve the action, but whether it would make the guitar playable, I wasn’t sure at all. But it had to be done.

After two whole days staying clamped up, I released the clamps on the guitar and the joint seemed solid. However, there was still that extra relief between the 2nd and the 5th/6th fret. With the truss rod broken, I needed to apply external pressure to straighten the neck to the maximum.

When the clamp was released, there was some improvement but not as much as I would have liked to see.

Now, it was the turn of the fretboard to get some attention.

There was only one way to clean the DNA caked on it…

…by giving it a bath with soap and water!

That cleaned, I was ready to give finishing touches to to neck repair. It was flooded with glue,

scraped clean and then the crack was painted over and buffed out

Again the guitar was strung up and tuned to pitch.

And from here on, I don’t have any photographs of the instrument. I got so happy with the results of the glue-up that I forgot to take photos! But I must report that the action had come down quite a bit – certainly not what I would call optimum but not unplayable by any stretch of imagination.

Meanwhile, I also patched up the heel with some pickguard material.

 

And you all know how much I love the lower end product range of Yamaha, here in India! If you don’t, search for ‘Yamaha’ on this blogsite and read on!

And because I love the F310, F310P and the F280 so much, another one of those landed up on my work table!

It seemed that the young man who brought me the instrument had left it standing a day too long. A cursory inspection revealed that the guitar hadn’t been played much and the only sign that it was more than a couple of years old, was the belt rash (belt buckle scratches) on the back: a photograph of which I forgot to take.

He had brought in the guitar with the ‘e’ and ‘G’ strings broken and the others loose (first photo), and with the complaint that when up to full tension, the action at the 12th fret was “5 mm”!!!

‘5 mm! 5 mm?,’ I asked him incredulously, and he nodded in affirmation.

However, there was no way to check that with the old strings and I had no other option but to work with new ones. The young man chose these

So, the old strings were taken off and while the strings were off, it gave me a chance to get the dirt and grime off areas that seemingly had never been touched before.

Also, while the strings were off, it gave me a chance to look into the belly of the beast. 

Again, I was unable to put my finger on the type of wood used for the bridgeplate, but what really shocked me was the gouge where the ‘A’ string ball-end would rest. It certainly didn’t look like wear, and even if there is an element of doubt, I must say that it looked like a manufacturing defect.

How long before an ‘A’ string ball end chews through the bridgeplate and the top, is hard to say, but yes, it happening is a distinct possibility. And that is why the headline of this post.   

For now, the guitar had been cleaned, polished and oiled, and new strings were thrown on. As is their wont, even new strings are liable to breaking and so, the unlikeliest of all strings – the ‘B’ string broke. That was replaced and the action was measured at the 12th fret.  The young man hadn’t been lying when he called the action at 5 mm. It was very close. Measurements were taken on the bass and treble sides, some arithmetic and some numbers were arrived at.

The strings were loosened and the saddle was pulled out. The numbers arrived at were transferred to the saddle. This amount had to be removed from the saddle. Now, remember this was a plastic saddle we were working with. A bone saddle I could easily have thrown on my sanding machine and be done with in a matter of seconds. A plastic saddle needed more care because the high speed of the machine heats and melts the saddle more than cuts it.

And so it was sanding by hand, using elbow grease.

Some 20 minutes later, the saddle was ready to be tried on the guitar. I did and the action was near perfect. (My math teacher from school would have been proud!) 

And of course, the final look at the instrument

When the owner came to pick up the guitar, I think his comment was ‘Feels like a whole new instrument, man!’

I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you!

 

Recently, I received a call asking me if I would look at an acoustic guitar with a belly. I said that I most certainly would, but added that my efforts to reduce it may or may not succeed.

Despite the disclaimer, the young man – actually a chef at a city hotel – landed up with his guitar.

However, the belly was far less than what I had been given to understand. But I did peep inside to take a look at the bridgeplate and its surroundings to check if there were some loose braces.

From what I saw, I wasn’t pleased. The bridgeplate seemed to have been fashioned out of the first piece of wood that the manufacturer laid his hands on. It wasn’t a hard wood and it wasn’t maple (or at least the varieties I recognise). If the bridgeplate and the belly stays the way it is for a few more years, I’d concede and say that it was made out of stable material. Right now, I am very hesitant to make that claim.

However, there was a different problem that needed tackling. The bridge of the guitar was lifting and thus, the action had got raised. Again, though the action was high, it was not unplayable.

So, I explained to the owner the actual problem with the instrument and he gave his go-ahead to tackle it. Also, I told him that there were a couple of ways to handling it: I could try and push glue under the bridge and clamp it shut, which may or may not work, or, I could go the proper way, pull the bridge off, clean its underside, clean its footprint on the top of the guitar and then glue it back on. He understood the issue and chose that the problem be fixed properly.

He also pointed out that he experienced string buzz at a few places along the neck. As I checked it, the neck was straight and indeed, there were a few fretwires that were standing up.

Further, he pointed out that the tuning machines on the bass side were very stiff, and indeed, I had to use pliers to get them to turn. I told the owner that I would oil the machines and see if it helps, otherwise, he may need to get the set replaced.

After he left, I got working, and the first order of business was the bridge – taking it off. Out came the pallete knives, the heat gun and whatever else. As I slowly worked my way under the bridge, the odd but familiar crackling sound of the adhesive breaking up filled me with a kind of fear. Super Glue?

Indeed it was super glue. Once the bridge came off I could plainly see the tell-tale shiny streaks.

And because it was superglue, there was damage too, to the top.

Some part of the bridge was left stuck on the top, while wood fibres had lifted off the top, which needed to be stuck back in place.

In the last photograph you can distinctly see the margin of finish left under the bridge, which keeps the bridge from adhering properly to the top. This needed to be cleaned, as also the rest of the footprint of the bridge and the underside of the bridge.

I began by just cleaning the margin of the bridge footprint.

Then the rest of the bridge footprint was cleaned from the top

And then it was the turn of the bridge itself

The last photograph shows the bridge cleaned of all super glue. The scratch marks that are seen on it have been intentionally put on it so that the glue has some space to get in and thus, the ‘glue-up’ is that much stronger and more effective.

After the clamping, I left the guitar undisturbed for 48 hours. Meanwhile, there were other things that could be done while the bridge was being glued to the top.

I cleaned up the fretboard and rubbed the tarnish off the fretwires. Earlier, I worked on the fretwires that had risen and were causing a buzz.

Also, now was the time to work on the tuning machines, tighten the bushings on the headstock and the sort.

The tuning machines were oiled and left overnight for the oil to seep in. The next day when I tried them, they turned well for a while but then got difficult to turn again. I was all set to tell the owner that he would have to replace those, but thought of taking off the tuner buttons and oiling the shaft too. Miraculously, that cured them of their malady.

It being time to take off the clamps, I took those off and let the guitar rest.

I had even convinced the owner to get a bone nut and saddle installed instead of the man-made set which had been factory-installed. I put in the new nut, knowing I would need to take it down for the action to be good at the 1st fret.

You may have noticed that I had not taken off the old strings. While I put in the bone nut and saddle, these old strings helped me reach very near where I needed to be with string height.

   

I leave you with one last look at the guitar