Month: May 2024

How many of you rhythm players, who play with a plectrum/pick, find the bone saddle and nuts are a little too responsive and the sound a little too loud? How many of you feel that it would be so much better if the response was mellower and even a little subdued?

I think I have the answer.

If you have been a regular visitor to this blog, you know how much I fancy bone for nuts and saddles over any other material. However, for a good part of a year, I have been messing around with the thought: what if buffalo horn was used in its place?

I studied some, listened to what respected luthiers had to say, and talked to some guitar-builder acquaintances here in India. Almost everyone had the same idea that buffalo horn was much softer than bone, and thus, much harder to carve. This further prompted me to think, and the result is the following.

In Western country music (as in other genres too), a technique called palm muting is used, where the palm of the playing hand partially rests on the strings near the bridge. This has a dampening effect on the sound that is produced. While using a horn nut and saddle, you can play freely without concentrating on palm muting but still get SOME of that effect.

Additionally, what you get is an accentuated bass response and a mellower treble response. Again, this set up helps those players who play with a pick or plectrum.

If you ask me, the arrangement is perfect for when you are accompanying yourself/somebody on stage and even when you are recording. Also, the music will be that much more uplifting if you’re playing for yourself, by yourself.

Needless to say that the arrangement is not so great for finger-style players.

If you wish to have a go at horn, Lucknow Guitar Garage will be happy to accommodate you by fashioning a nut and a saddle meant just for your guitar – to your playing style. What’s more there are bone bridgepins to indulge in too to complete the set!

Believe it or not, Yamaha can make a good acoustic instrument too!

That was a joke! Yamaha makes excellent stuff once you cross the Rs 22 – Rs 25K price threshold. I am the unfortunate one that I have encountered only their Rs 9 – 10K models, of which I have opened my heart out on more than one occasion (Search ‘Yamaha’ on the blogsite).

So, when the youngster was pulling out the guitar from the gig bag, unconsciously my eyes rolled up, as I spotted the ‘Yamaha’ logo on the headstock.

But this was a different guitar. Imagine my surprise, when I discovered on inspection that it had a solid spruce top!

It was basically in for a “buzz on the 3rd fret”. I surmised that like all other instruments, this too was suffering from low-humidity weather. A little turn of the truss rod and the instrument was well, thrilling the young owner.

But actually, the first thing that I noticed in the guitar was the plastic nut and saddle in it and the eye-poker that the extra length of the ‘e’ string was. The owner was chided for it.

It also needed a string change (the youngster had not changed them in a year!).

But, the thing that actually jumped at me was the “noose around its neck”. I explained to the young man the dangers of the move, and he agreed to get a strap button installed.

It’s a simple enough procedure but not if you do it for the first time.

I also noticed that the fretboard hadn’t been cleaned in a long while

With the strings off, the divots beginning to form in the first few fretwires also sprang into direct sight.

The fretboard was cleaned and the fretwires were burnished, removing almost all of the pitting. A very small dimple remained but I purposefully let it be.

After the fretboard was squeaky clean, it was given a rub of the love potion, as was the bridge, and then it was ready for new strings. The owner had chosen these

I had tried to explain the wonders of bone elements to the owner, but I had also told him that it could be done at a later stage too. I think he chose to do it at a later stage.

I leave you with the customary last views of the instrument

Remember how I say trouble comes to me in twos and threes?

Well, soon after the visit of the Fender CD140,

Guitar repair – The pain of fretwire-levelling!

as I sat down to wipe the sweat of my brow, came in this Yamaha FX 280. The complaint: terrible fret buzz all along the thinnest two strings.

The guitar seemed to be a seemingly new buy with the staple plastic nut and uncompensated plastic saddle in place. It was a very pretty guitar but full of smudges. The thing with sunburst finishes is that though they look stunning, they are fingerprint magnets, requiring constant cleaning.

I explained the wonders of bone and compensated elements to the owner and he agreed to have them replaced.

On the first run with the fret rocker, I found these (look for the fretwires marked in red)

I won’t bore you with the details, but if you wish to know the rigorous back and forth dance that fretwire-levelling can lead, the link is above.

However, before I even marked the high fretwires, I checked for neck-straightness. It had a little more relief – not too much – than what I would have preferred to see. I dialled that out.

And so, when you level, crown and polish the first few ‘upstanders’, others seem to magically appear. When you level, crown and polish those, some among the first set that you seemed to have dealt with, have gone out of sync.

Treating the entire fretboard at one go, on a new guitar, is a bit harsh (in my opinion). If in the initial set-up one has to shave down all the fretwires, what will happen 10 years down the line?!

By the time I was through with the fretwire-levelling I had pulled out much of my remaining hair and I was breathing ragged!

After a break, I began work on the bone nut and saddle. Now those of you who own/have owned a Yamaha acoustic, you may have noticed that the company uses a very slim piece of plastic for a nut. Measuring how much I had to shave off it, I discovered that half the nut would have to go to dust.

The second photograph of the nut (though not very clear) shows how much the height needed to be reduced. These dimensions I got measuring the old nut.

Likewise, the saddle was measured and marked.

Looking at the mark, it should have occurred to me that the saddle slot was canted towards the treble side. It didn’t.

After everything had been sanded and shaved and put in place, the time was right to clean up the body of the guitar before strings got in the way. A good warm water scrub and the body was shinning again.

The owner had provided his strings of choice

which were thrown on after a slight twist in the tail.

Once, I tuned them to pitch and went about setting it up, I noticed that the action on the bass side was considerably higher than the treble side – which was just right.  The strings were loosened, the saddle pulled out, shaved and returned to its slot.

Then when I tuned up the strings, the action was just right – both on the bass and the treble sides.

It was a happy owner who picked up his guitar, and nothing makes one happier than a happy customer!

Here’s a final look at the guitar