Author: Amit Newton

And that – look at the photograph – my friends, is enough to raise the action appreciably. It’s another thing that on this  guitar, the bridge was lifting and the instrument had a healthy belly too: the three big reasons for high action on an acoustic instrument!!!

But we’ll come to that in time.

The guitar came to me in a terrible condition. Not only was it filthy, it was on the verge of giving up the soul!

Starting from the top, the now-crusty strings had been terribly wound

The nut, it seemed, had been the favourite chew-toy of a teething pup, with its corners missing and the saliva of the pup deposited and dried on it!

Meanwhile, the saddle had got crushed under the ‘G’ string – no pun intended. Both the nut and the saddle would have to be replaced. The owner was convinced to put in bone elements.

The accumulated DNA, grime and dust on the fretboard told me that it hadn’t had a bath ever since it was born!

And if the fretboard hadn’t been cleaned, it’s only normal that the fretwires showed signs of utter neglect too (Look carefully at the photograph below)!

But all these faults which I have listed were more or less superficial, cosmetic and easily dealt with. The major problem was the belly, the bridge lift and the heel coming unstuck. Without these attended to, the guitar would just remain a show piece, never actually played.

The bridge was taken off, and it came off with minimal damage to the top.

With the bridge off, the field was now clear to tackle the belly in the instrument.

And so bound remained the guitar for a good two days before the clamps were taken off.

While the instrument was still in clamps, I worked some on the underside of the bridge.

Half done, it looked like this. The next step was the bridge reglue. But before that could happen, the bridge footprint had to be cleaned completely of lacquer and old glue.

The glue up process was a breeze, but again the instrument went under clamps for two full days.

And while under clamps, I got to work on other areas of the instrument: the fretboard and headstock, for example.

Meanwhile, the nut and saddle too were readied to exact dimensions of their slots, but with a slight twist. The saddle, measuring 76mm was placed in a 78 mm slot because the owner was uncomfortable paying the extra amount for the longer saddle. Unfortunately, I had 76 and 80 mm saddles at that time.

The saddle was thus shifted and placed in such a way that 1 mm space remained on either end and not 2 mm at any one end.

The next jobs were getting the heel glued back to the body and installing a strap button.

Now all that remained to be done was to drill out the bridgepin holes and throw on a set of new strings.

The guitar left me squeaky clean and a happy owner

This Taylor

came to me with a simple enough problem of the bridge lifting.

However, from the looks of it, the instrument seemed to have been left standing somewhere with dust, grime and their entire clan having made their home on it!

In addition to all that it seemed that the instrument was very dry and in urgent need of some TLC.

I took it in but failed to notice the three Allen screws sitting comfy behind the saddle. These, in fact, were three pickup sensors, with Allen screw adjustments to calibrate their position, I learned later. Now, this was a problem. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it – pun intended!

So I took off the crusty old strings and tried pulling out the saddle. To my amazement, it would not budge. It was then that I noticed the three Allen screws. I thought maybe it’s a new mechanism to hold the saddle in place so that it does not fall out.

On a hunt I went to find a wire-thin Allen wrench which would fit the screws. I rummaged through my entire collection of Allen wrenches – believe me, I have a few – but could not find one as small as the screws.

Disheartened, I turned to the e-commerce giants, and THERE IT WAS!!! However, the giants wanted half a kidney, quarter of a lung and a knee cap – or the monetary equivalent of those organs. With the job at hand, there was no other way but to purchase the thingy and be done with it. So, I bit the bullet!

The Allen wrenches arrived within a few days and it got the job done.

If the size of the wrench did not surprise me, the size of the screws certainly did.

Yup! Those are not rat droppings but Allen screws!

Also, imagine my amazement when this dropped into the guitar

This distinctly looked like some kind of a pickup, which should have nothing to do with holding a saddle in place. However, when I tried removing the saddle, it easily slipped out, no problemo!

Anyway with the road ahead now clear, I proceeded to take the bridge off, which came off very cleanly.

A little bit of scraping and cleaning and it was ready for the glue-up job.

A healthy dollop of glue, some trustee clamps and enough time was how I did it.

And as is the customary practice, while the glue cured, I cleaned up the guitar and oiled it . After two days, the clamps came off and the instrument was ready to receive a fresh set of strings.

AND…I AM BACK!!!!!!!

I’ve been unable to connect with you, my dear readers, for a few months now, and all because the blogsite has been playing up and refusing to let me sign in.
Then when it let me, it wouldn’t let me upload the photographs! If you are reading this, know that it is finally up and running.  But there’s more formatting work to be done as you can make out by the type size of the text and the spacing and such.
And in the midst of all this, I am getting extra spam mail traffic!
Anyway, more on that later. Today, let’s talk guitar, or rather, bass!

This acoustic bass came to me with a complaint of higher than comfortable action.
As I checked the guitar, there was an appreciable belly that had developed and even the bridge was rising.
 
And by now, I  hope you know the story behind pearl dots on bridges! For those new to the blog, or not knowing, these mask nuts and bolts that (seemingly) help in holding down the bridge. How much they help in holding down the bridge, can be gauged by this example!

Note: Those of you wishing to buy a new guitar/bass should desist from buying such an instrument! The hardware does nothing to hold down the bridge, and in fact, when the bridge lifts, it does so tearing out the top. I’ve seen many such instruments and the cost of repair increases exponentially.
Thankfully, things had not come to that pass in this bass. The bridge came off with some effort but without much damage. 

The first thing I did was not clean the underside of the bridge and its footprint but try and remove the belly in the instrument.

While the clamps stayed in place for two days, meantime, I cleaned up the underside of the bridge. After two days, when I loosened the clamps, the belly was gone, but that was no guarantee that it wouldn’t return!
I worked on the bridge footprint (see the outline of where the bridge sat in photographs above) – a long tiring process – cleaning the area of the finish and old adhesive, before the surface was ready to receive the bridge. The rest was simple. Slather on some glue, slap on the bridge, throw on some clamps and leave the entire system to cure over a few days.
One other thing I did was plug the holes in the top and put the pearl dots in place on the bridge (without the screws, of course). 

And while the glue cured, I got to work on the guitar body

the fretboard and the fretwires

the headstock

and even the nut and (later) saddle, cleaning them of months of dust and deposits.

I did not have to restring the instrument as the owner said that he would do it himself.

One can always make out the difference between an instrument that is in play and one which was stood up in a corner and forgotten about.

For me, it’s always a joy when stood-up-and-forgotten instruments land up on my work table. It shows that somewhere, something sparked the desire to pick up the instrument and play. And why is that a good thing? Because it’s my long-held belief that you can’t find a better friend and companion than a musical instrument.

That said, it is also true that stood-up-and-forgotten instruments are a lot or work due to the rot that tends to set in over time. And while there might be a few obvious things that need correction, there are many more lurking inside, in places you can’t reach, which also require your attention.

Take this Westwood for example

If there was anything that could be wrong in an acoustic guitar, this instrument exemplified it!

The bridge was lifting and the guitar had a handsome belly

There were loose braces

The fretboard had dried up so much that there was fretwire sprout all across it.

The hardware on the headstock was almost falling off, holding strings that should have been buried last century!

Work began with taking the bridge off. With the bridge off, the field was nice and open to level it

The instrument stayed like this, clamped, for two full days, before I let up on the pressure and removed the clamps. Then it was the turn of the braces, which had come loose in parts, to be reglued to the top.

Unfortunately, these are the before photographs and not after the braces got glued. But I do have a few of the process.

A piece of wood had chipped in the process of removing the bridge. It was duly glued back in place

Here you can see the glue-up in progress as also the cleaning up of the bridge footprint. Once all that was finished, I decided to check on how much belly we had been able to remove from the top. A simple test was most encouraging.

That done, the bridge was ready to be glued on.

Again a two-day wait period before the clamps were taken off.

Meanwhile, I dealt with other issues. The fretwire sprout was dealt with and the fretboard was cleaned and oiled, as was the bridge

The hardware on the headstock was snugged up, and now the guitar was ready to receive new strings. The owner had provided me with these.

Personally, I would have liked bigger strings, but since the owner had these on him, I put these on.

I’ve said this many times before, but I will say it again. You want your guitar (more so an acoustic guitar) to stay in an environment where the humidity is 45 – 55% all the year around.

If not, you can be assured of some not very good things happening to your guitar.

• The centre seam on your guitar top can separate
• The braces can come loose
  
• The neck-to-body joint can separate
  
• The bridge can crack in line with the bridgepin holes.

• The fretboard can develop a crack just about anywhere

• The fretwire ends can protrude out of the fretboard, making playing very painful, if not completely impossible: a condition referred to as fretwire sprout

• Dryness in your guitar will also hasten a belly forming behind the bridge

The main photograph of this post is a screenshot taken on Saturday morning and gives you an indication of the humidity level in our city – Lucknow. The situation is more or less the same in all cities of the state and much of North-Central India, and will remain the same come mid-June and the horrible humidity.

But humidity is your guitar’s friend – believe me!

There are many contraptions available in the market to get the humidity at the level where you desire it to be. However, the easiest and the most economical one is to loosen your guitar strings, lay your guitar flat on its back and place a bowl of water inside, through the soundhole.

Now, this exercise should be carried out once you know that you won’t be playing your guitar for at least a week.

Take a marker and put markings at regular intervals on the bowl. Fill it up with water and note till where you have filled it up. Place the bowl inside the guitar and then cover the soundhole with a plastic cover or something that will ensure that whatever water escapes from the bowl, stays inside the soundbox.

Once the water level drops in the bowl you will know that your guitar is drinking water.

However, before you do any of this, you must check for one thing. Shake your guitar and check if there is something shaking inside. Ball ends, plectrums, dust, etc are fine. However, if you find something like this

please throw it away at the first instance.

This is a desiccant (moisture-absorbing agent) usually found in shoe boxes and boxes holding electronic gadgets to keep them dry. Left inside your guitar, it will suck up even the last bits of moisture there.

Take care of these things, and maybe, you’ll require to see less of me! As the wise adage goes, ‘Better safe than sorry’!!!

I don’t make a distinction when I’m taking in guitars for repairs, brand names and model numbers mean little to me. Yet, I will rarely touch a Rs 3.5 – 4K toy with a barge pole – too much effort, results unsure and the owner dithering on the cost of repairs. But, if the owner is sentimentally attached to the ‘thingy’, understands the limit and scope of repairs, and is willing to pay, I do (try and) repair it. In my journey, I have got to see a broad spectrum of constructions – ranging from the good, the bad to the ugly – if not the entire gamut.

Yet, it is only when you have something sterling in hand do you really appreciate the craft of the builder and the pains taken in putting an acoustic guitar together. Big name guitars like the Martins, the Gibsons and the Taylors do make you take a step back and admire what you have on the work table.

This Martin was one such instrument.

Not a top-of-the-line Martin, but an HPL (high pressure laminate – made by pressing together reams of paper) instrument, its sound quality could never belie its raw materials.

The owner was a young man moving to another city for a new job and wanted bone bridgepins installed in the guitar. But why bone bridgepins?

Now, if you put your mind to it, the strings remain in contact with just the saddle and the nut, which give the instrument its characteristic sound, its volume and sustain (depending upon their material). If there’s a third place that the strings touch and help somewhat in the transfer of sound, it is the bridgepins. Thus, it helps if all three things are of the same material.

This is what I pulled out of the guitar – perfectly good bridgepins, but plastic, and replaced it with a set of these

But again, like in the case of the nut and saddle, these are not just replaced – or at least should not be. I like to shape bridgepins before installing them.

The one on the right is the original bridgepin, while the one on the left is after being shaped.

The owner also brought me a set of his strings of choice to be put in.

But before all of this was put together, a little cleaning of the guitar was in order. The top, the fretboard and bridge was cleaned and given a coat of love.

And as always, I leave you with some shots of the finished job

You might remember this one from some months ago. The Black Beauty which became Humpty Dumpty!

If you don’t and would like to acquaint yourself with it, here it is

Guitar repair – It hurts to be this Humpty Dumpty #hertz!

This time, the young lady brought in the guitar for high action and a change of strings. I looked up the guitar to find that the bridge was lifting appreciably. I told her that I would need to take the bridge off and then reglue it back again. Wide-eyed, she had nodded sagely then, but I suspect that she already knew that the bridge was lifting and that it would need mending.

Now, every time I see two extra white dots on the bridge of a guitar, my mind goes, ‘Aw, crap’!!!!

That is because seeing those two extra dots convince me that there is a nut and bolt set trying to hold the bridge down. Extra work getting them out and then plugging the holes.

I put a mirror inside the guitar, called the young woman over and asked her to take a look at the nuts and bolts. She saw the hardware, nodded and broke into a broad smile, as if surprised that I knew what was inside!

Anyway, the first thing to be done was to take off the strings and then try to remove the plastic pearloid dots which were hiding the screws.

To my surprise, they weren’t simple nuts and bolts but wood screws.

These were binned and the bridge was taken off, which was naturally followed by the labour intensive cleaning process.

While the bridge was off, I noticed that the instrument had quite a bit of belly, which also contributes to high action. And there’s no better time to tackle a belly on a guitar than when the bridge is off it.

Besides, reglueing a bridge to a curved top is never a good idea.

So, corrective and preventive measures were taken

and the guitar was left clamped for 48 hours. After that period, the clamps were taken off and the belly was near negligible, and ready to receive the bridge.

The bridge was thrown on and clamped up for another 48 hours, to give the glue enough time to cure and form a solid bond.

And I’m told all’s well with the world (except Satanyahu and his doddery, demented and senile friend across the pond)!

This #yamaha FS80C came to me with simple problems (and, of course, in a very dirty state) but as I got into it, the problems began unravelling one after another.

But as always, it was a pleasure!

As I was taking off the strings, I noticed that each tuning peg was crammed with string winds

not a very happy scenario. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we require no more than two-and-a-half to three-and-a-half turns on the wound strings (Low E to G) and five to six turns on the unwound strings (B and e). Those number of turns on the tuning peg will give you maximum tuning stability and accuracy.

If you don’t know how to do it, I encourage each one of you to learn how to string your own guitars. No point running to this shop and to that character to get new strings put on your instrument. It should come as easily to you as getting the tank of your bike filled with petrol!

The fretwires had some decent amount of pitting (wear) 

and the fretboard was dry.

Also, the plastic nut and saddle were all but crushed under the tension of the strings. Also, the saddle was leaning a bit too much in its slot. I suggested to the owner that they be changed and he agreed to get it done.

Here, I would like to clarify that when I say that ‘I swapped the plastic nut and saddle for bone elements’, it is not as literal as that. There are a lot of measurements involved, which are dialled into the elements by sanding them appropriately. Thus, each nut and saddle put into an instrument is specific to that instrument and will (generally) not fit another instrument. That is why even this operation takes time and a lot of effort.

As I removed the saddle from its slot and was greeted by this

a bit of worn out card sitting under the piezo element, but only where the ‘e’ and ‘B’ strings would ride. I pulled out the paper shim and saw this:

There was a ledge that had been created in the bed of the saddle slot. Look carefully at the slot and you will be able to see the ledge.

My understanding is that while the slot was being routed, either the router bit slipped, or, the person doing it got distracted. 

Anyway, the problem had to be rectified and certainly not with a piece of card. So, I pulled out tools that I had bought knowing I would need them some day and went to work on the saddle slot.

The tool on the left almost functions like a micro-chisel and the one on the right is actually a file with a coarse end and a fine end. 

I went to work with these, slowly and patiently carving away at the ledge, trying to level it with the rest of the saddle slot bed. Interestingly, the walls of the slot had a problem. While placing the saddle in the slot, the treble side would grip it much firmer than the bass side.

So, I shaved away portions of the treble side wall till the saddle sat in perfectly, and with the handy little file, I sanded the bed as smooth as I could.

And that was the debris I managed to collect.

That was the major work done on this instrument. The rest was routine

oiling the fretboard and burnishing the fretwires

snugging up the hardware on the headstock

stringing up the instrument after oiling the bridge and putting in a new bone saddle.

The new bone nut had corners a little too sharp for my liking, so I knocked them down with a file.

And, of course, the customary few parting shots of the guitar.

P.S.: In a recent development, the owner wasn’t too thrilled with the amplification he was getting with the new bone saddle but was happy with what the original plastic saddle was doing. I think he swapped out the bone saddle.  

Just a quick one this Sunday to keep all you loyal readers of this blog in good humour. But I promise you there is big one coming.

This Hertz came to my work table with a simple request of a change of strings and the regular cleaning and oiling.

Assessing the instrument, I am happy to report – as I did to the owner – that it wasn’t a bad instrument by any stretch of imagination. I have seen some very average instruments carrying some very big brand names.

I suggested to the owner that he swap the factory-fitted plastic saddle and nut for bone elements for a much improved volume and sound quality. He agreed.

Another reason for the change was prompted by the original saddle being a couple of millimeters smaller than the slot cut for it. Look carefully in the photograph above and maybe you’ll be able to make out.

Otherwise the fretboard and bridge were very dry from months of neglect.

And if you wanted more proof of the neglect,

Oh, whatever! No big deal.

I just went about my work and cleaned up everything the best I could.

The guitar was a whole new instrument – or so it seemed – once I got through with it.

And while I was trying to string it up, I thought the tuning machines were just a tad loose. So, all the ferrule nuts and the screws holding the tuning machines to the headstock were snugged up.

A while back  this #ashton came to me in this state

Not only was the bridge split through the line of the bridgepin holes, a (possibly) leaning saddle had also split it open in line with the saddle slot. See? If that was not enough, the bridge was lifting so much, I had to probe and poke to see what was holding it on!

If it had been just one of the splits and not both together, I would have still repaired  the bridge, why, you will learn soon. But this one was beyond redemption and just had to go.

It wasn’t a bad guitar and the construction quality was quite alright, except for the dry fretboard,

quite a common ailment in the instruments that come to me, but even the best guitars can fall apart if not taken care of properly.

With this #ashton, there was nothing which could be done except replace the bridge. Now, I am always wary of replacing bridges for I don’t have the space to possess the wherewithal to fabricate a bridge from a piece of wood. I am left with two or three shapes of bridges that are available in the market.

Given the number of guitar companies out there, each bridge is slightly different, and if I have to replace a bridge, I choose the one closest in shape and size to the original.

But first the original bridge needed to come off and it did pop off though the (CA) glue used to fix it to the top refused to let part of the bridge part with it.

After the partial cleaning, the bridge footprint looked like this

There was still lots of CA glue deposited on it, which needed to be removed, but more on that later.

Without the bridge on, I could plainly see that string tension had worked on the bridgeplate and a not-very-good-quality bridge, causing it to split. Just from the outside, I was sure that the bridgeplate too would have been split, but peering inside, I was happy to note that that tragedy had not struck. The bridgeplate, though, had buckled somewhat under string tension.

So, the next logical step was to remove the belly and try to straighten out the bridgeplate.

While this process was on, I selected a bridge that could replace the original

The replacement bridge had bridgepin holes marked but they had to be drilled through. That was done and then the diameter of the holes was checked by pushing bridgepins through them, to see where they sat.

Almost all holes needed to be reamed, and so, each hole was reamed some till the bridgepins sat perfectly.

Then I tried setting it on the guitar itself by pushing two outside bridgepins through the bridge and the top.

Carefully inspect the corner of the bridge closest to you. Do you see it?

While the ‘e’ bridgepin hole lined up perfectly with the hole in the top, the other five moved progressively inside the line of the holes in the top. The only solution was to plug the original holes in the top, stick the bridge and then redrill the holes, so that the bridge sat in the right place (without affecting the intonation). AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHY I DITHER FROM REPLACING BRIDGES!

So, I went about plugging the holes with these spruce wood violin sound posts which I had bought many, many moons ago, because I knew one day I might have use for them – exactly for this purpose. That day had come.

Very briefly, sound posts are installed inside violins and other instruments belonging to the violin family (violin, viola, cello, double bass). Not only does the sound post support the top of the instrument, it can also alter the tone dramatically, and completely change the sound depending on the position or angle.

While I enlarged the holes in the top a bit to receive the posts, I sanded the posts themselves a bit so that the fit would be a snug one.

After all the holes were plugged they were cut and sanded flush, such that if one ran a finger along them, he would not feel even the slightest lip.

Now the stage was set for the new bridge to be stuck to the top. I did that and made it sit perfectly on the footprint of the original bridge, but – believe it or not – forgot to take photographs of the process!!!

Anyway, the bridge stayed in clamps for two days, during which other areas of the instrument were given love: the headstock, the hardware on it, the fretboard, the fretwires…

After the clamps came off, new holes were carefully drilled and the new, very dry bridge was given a coat of love which made it shine, while making the grain in it pop out.

All that was left to do was to string up the instrument and see if everything was in order. The owner had chosen these strings for his guitar.

Here are the final few parting shots of the #ashton, looking every bit the billion dollars it wasn’t! The bottom line though, was that the owner was mighty pleased with the results.

Oh! Did I mention that the instrument got a lovely set of bone nut and saddle too? It did!! 

And I’m back after a break!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FOLKS!!! May the year be one of fulfilment, peace, happiness and prosperity!

Some time ago, this older #Yamaha F310 came to me with a complaint of action so high that it was unplayable beyond the 5th, 6th fret.

It had a rising bridge,

which in the process of its lift,

had pulled the top too along with it, giving the instrument a more-than-healthy belly. A look inside showed the main cause of the problem – the ‘X’-brace arm on the bass side had come unglued.

Seeing the loose brace, the belly and the rising bridge, I was pretty confident that the action problem could be solved pretty easily. That was my undoing.

More on that later.

I started work with taking the old strings and the bridge off the guitar.

Not the cleanest of jobs I have done, yet nothing that I could not remedy. So, the first order of business was to get all the fibers of the top glued down to create an even surface for the bridge to reglue to.

Once this was taken care of, I reglued the loose ‘X’ brace arm, which to my understanding, was the main cause of the belly bulge and action.

The reflection in the mirror shows the brace pushed against the top, and if you look really carefully, you’ll be able to see the glue squeeze-out too.

After this was taken care of, work to cut the belly down to size began.

With each 48-hour effort, the belly was reduced some. The following photographs show the results of the last two efforts

Once I was satisfied with the results, it was time to bring the bridge and the top together. 

And while the bridge remained clamped for another 48 hours, it gave me time to work on other neglected areas of the instrument – like the fretboard.

Oh, and there was also an under-saddle pick-up attached, which the owner felt had outlived its utility. He asked me to remove it. Removing the under-saddle piezo element meant creating a shortfall in the height of the saddle. 

Considering all the work done on the guitar, I was sure that the saddle without the piezo element would fall terribly short and would have the strings flapping around on the fretboard. So, I buttressed the saddle not with one, not with two, but with three plastic shims. It helped that #yamaha uses plastic nuts and sadddles in the F310.

Now, all that remained to be done was to string up the instrument. The owner had chosen these

I tuned up the guitar and to my horror, it had an action high enough for a double-decker bus to pass under! I tried shaving the saddle, I tried fiddling with the truss rod, I even dialled in a lower than usual action at the first fret, but all these brought about mere cosmetic alterations. 

It was then that my attention went to how and why the top under the fretboard extension had broken loose and was jutting forward in the soundhole.

I could make out that the neck block inside the guitar had come loose, and tilted forward, and with it moved the portion of the top under it. In fact, so severe was the move that the portion of the sides glued to the neck block had also moved – just about an inch on either side and along the very top of the neck-to-heel joint. I forgot to take photographs of it.

My earlier thinking that I would just be able to tap the neck block back into place, after smearing some glue behind it was grossly flawed.

Unfortunately, the neck block must have moved under string tension during the months of extreme heat, when the glue must have melted somewhat. The glue then dried on the block, sealing it in a tilted position, pulling forward everything in its contact, thus leaving no room for intervention.

The only way to solve the problem was a proper neck reset, which was too much for this old guitar – the owner’s first. As sentimental value goes, the owner would have to continue to play up until the 5th, 6th fret – after all the time and effort put into the instrument. 

Though each instrument which I fail to correct, saddens me, this one was probably the saddest of all, for I knew that the owner had set his heart on playing his beloved guitar right up and down the neck and not just on the first five frets!

To those unfamiliar with the brand name, Seagull Guitars and Simon & Patrick are sister brands under the Godin company, a Canadian giant (To know its worth just check out its selling price in India).

I received this model to work on, recently.

The owner, a knowledgeable young man, brought in the instrument after he saw the action rise on it and discovered that the bridge was rising.

As I went over the excellent construction of the instrument, one point rankled me – the nut and saddle on such a pricey instrument was of a micarta-type material. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m sure there are many who find nothing wrong with the material, but in my book, nothing matches up to bone except ivory! If you don’t fancy too bright a tone, I could do buffalo horn for you.

Anyway, the customer was all for the bone replacement after I extolled its virtues to him.

Strings were taken off, before the bridge was gently prised off. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the bridge had been glued on with regular wood glue (they still find the time to do such things???)!

I’m joking, of course! In an ideal world you want the bridge to be glued on to the top with wood glue, so that when people like me need to take it off – for whatever reason – it comes off clean without damaging itself or the top.

But did I say it came off clean? It did, well almost, except it pulled up a little flake on the treble end of the top. Nothing that good old wood glue wouldn’t cure.

While this dried, I went to work on the bridge.

Despite getting glue and little wood fibers off it, there was still an odd boundary marked on it, probably left by the margin on the top.

Do you see it? I cleaned that up and I cleaned up the bridge too. But then there was still a step to go before I could glue the bridge to the top: checking whether the bridge was flat enough to be stuck to the top.

Simple, mark it with pencil and then keep sanding till the pencil lines disappear. But actually, not so simple. It required a lot of elbow grease, and with it, time.

Finally, I got it looking like this

With everything ready, I glued and clamped the bridge to the top.

While it cured, other areas of the instrument were paid attention to like the fretboard, the fretwires and the hardware on the headstock.

There was just a bit of a problem: the nut was just a hair short in its slot. Meaning, the width of Seagull guitar necks is slightly more than what I am generally used to working on. It was a mistake and I told the owner so. He was gracious enough to say that if the instrument played correctly, he did not have a problem with minor aesthetics.

So, here are a few close-up shots of the nut in the slot.

Meanwhile the glue had cured under the bridge and the clamps were taken off and the bridge was given a ‘coat of love’. Look at it glow!

The strings the young man chose were Elixir 12s.

With a swanky new bone nut and saddle and fresh set of strings, this baby could sing (I knew that without these three in place).

When the owner came to pick up the instrument, he was pleasantly surprised  – maybe even thrilled! 

Here are the parting shots not just of this blog post but the last blog post of 2025.   

Have a blast ushering in the New Year, but stay safe, people. More importantly, keep your guitars safe!!!

Until 2026…!!!!!!!!! 

This landed on the workbench recently, and I still haven’t been able to figure out its name. The label read one name and the headstock quite something else but quite illegible.

A completely laminated instrument, it had some years on it and the job card was a litany of woes.

A probable reason for that could be that it was not a personal instrument but belonged to an office, passing through many hands.

So, the guitar had a healthy belly, a crushed saddle was leaning in the bridge, and the bridge itself was lifting (naturally the action was sky high).

Did you notice something? Someone put the saddle in the reverse position. Wonder who was playing what on this instrument!

If that was not all, the guitar was missing a couple of ferrules on the front of the headstock

The dehydrated fretboard was sporting a large crack, spanning a few frets,

And, of course, the fretwires were tarnished while the fretboard itself carried a complete DNA record of who all had played it – or it seemed so.

The first thing to do was to take off the bridge to gain access to the entire area, so that the belly bulge could be dealt with.

And maybe, it’s time that I stopped repeating that the bridge was glued on with cyanoacrylate (super) glue.

With the bridge off, efforts began to push the belly out of the guitar.

After a 24-hour clamp time, the belly got reduced but had not gone completely. A second attempt was made with changed clamping positions.

Another wait of 24 hours, after which the belly was reduced to negligible levels. While it was in clamps, I decided to clean the bridge of all the CA glue and wood remnants.

After the clamps were removed, (the belly seemed appreciably reduced) the bridge footprint was cleaned up and readied to receive the bridge. For a good glue-up job, a good wood-to-wood joint is desirable.

Now, with everything in readiness, the bridge was glued to the top, clamped and left to cure for a good two days.

Of course, before the glue-up, I dealt with the crack in the bridge. Complicating matters was the fact that there was not one crack running through but two cracks that seemed to line up.

The two cracks were dealt with and this is the result

Also, the fretboard was cleaned of all its crud and the good wood shone through.

Also, a new saddle replaced the old crushed one. Since the owner(s) did not wish to put in too much money into it, the replacement saddle was also made of plastic.

The missing ferrules were replaced, screw holes were plugged to receive screws and hold the tuning machines in place.

Strung up, I was happy with the results. So was the owner(s).

I say ‘The return…’ because it is after a long-long time that a Yamaha, and that too a F310, came visiting me!

I had started to think that going by my consternation – which I have seldom tried to hide –  for this particular model (sold in India), owners had shied from approaching me. For those of you who don’t know the reason for my angst, you need just go to the search bar of this blog and type in Yamaha. See what (all) you come up with!

Anyway, when the young man walked in with a Yamaha F310, my eyes just rolled up of their own accord, and he just stopped dead in his tracks. I controlled myself and asked him how old the instrument was. I think he said eight or 10 years old, which immediately brought relief to me, and I remember telling him, “Then there’s hope for you and that thing”!!

What was it in for? Just action adjustment, fresh strings and itty-bitty things here and there. As I inspected it, my wonderment grew by the second. Despite its age, there was no more than a hint of a belly on it. The bridge was stuck fast to the top and despite the crusty old strings on it, it carried a punch.

As my eyebrow rose in pleasant surprise, I had thought to myself – maybe aloud – ‘This must be from a time when Yamaha India had not become obsessed with money-making, when it started putting in crap pieces of wood together and started calling it a guitar”!

So, I got down to work and began to take the strings off (of course, after measuring the action on it). But as I got to the headstock, a nightmare stared me right in the face. There, smirking back at me, were six of the best Luthier Knots, waiting for me to undo them!!!

TIME FOR A RANT! Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, you don’t need a knot to hold a guitar string in the tuning peg. It is not a string string; it is metal. Wound right, guitar strings will stay wound on their respective tuning pegs till kingdom come! But should you decide to change strings, those knots will convert a 10 min job into a 45-min one, and if you’re anything like me,  you’d be mouthing profanities for all of those 45 minutes!

I remember getting myself a drink of water after I finished taking the strings off.

A thorough cleaning of the body followed and as I kept the guitar aside, I went to work on the saddle to reduce the action. Another rant: you do not play with the truss rod to reduce action. You shave the saddle to reduce action! The truss rod has been provided to dial in an amount of relief that you find comfortable. IT IS NOT MEANT TO REDUCE ACTION! Yes, when you dial in or dial out relief, it affects action but it does not mean that action is to be corrected with the truss rod.

So, saddle shaving it was.

You will be pardoned for seeing sniff lines, but in fact, that’s just dust from the plastic saddle that Yamaha India so generously provides to its patrons.

Anyway, once I had taken off as much as needed to be taken off, I slipped the saddle back in its slot.

The fretboard, dry as tinder, and with tarnished frets

was cleaned and love shown to it, after which it shone. The bridge too, was paid attention to.

Time to restring and the moment of truth. I think the owner had provided me a set of strings to put on which I did, and WITHOUT any knots on the tuning pegs

I’ll leave you with the last few photographs to admire the F310!

And the run of black dreadnoughts continues!!

This time it was a #hertz

with not just a cracked but a lopped off headstock

Thankfully, the owner, a sensible young lady, did not try and get adventurous with glue, but instead, brought it to me.

Even if the headstock had not fallen off, the guitar seemed to have seen better days. That’s proven by the rust on the hardware on the headstock.

Besides, the fretboard and bridge were in a pitiable condition – dried to tinder.

I dry-fitted the two parts and they fit well, telling me that this would turn out to be a good and strong joint.

The next step was to take the hardware off the headstock, so that all that weight of the metal would not act against the glue trying to keep things together.

As I kept each tuning machine and its parts in order, I did clean and polish it up, so when it came time to put them back on, I would not waste any time cleaning them.

Thereafter, I applied glue and clamped the two parts together. That was the smallest job. Cleaning up the squeeze-out from around the clamps was the bigger problem. That too was done.

After two days of drying, I took off the clamps and as I had imagined, the joint was a good clean one.

However, while the seam was more than evident on the neck, on the face of the headstock the glue line was ragged and with missing pieces.

What followed was a very involved process of colouring, drop-filling, sanding, more drop-filling, more sanding till  everything appeared seamless, well almost!

I had marked off the area to be sanded and worked within its boundaries. Later, that area needed a coat of something to make it similar to the rest of the headstock. Spray can lacquer seemed like a good bet.

Again, I masked off the area to be sprayed and sprayed on lacquer. That was my undoing, for I underestimated how far the overspray could go. Do remember that this is two surfaces that I am talking about, each of which required different masking and different treatment.

I was very satisfied with how things turned out on the neck of the instrument but I realised I could have done a better job on the face of the headstock.

While the paint dried I went to work, cleaning up the entire guitar with special attention to the fretboard, the fretwires and the bridge.

After all the spray and paint job had dried up, I went about putting on the tuning machines

and the strings followed. The owner gave me these strings to put on

This was the real test of the job – whether it had been done well. If the joint did not hold, all the effort would have been for nought.

But everything did hold together.

The owner was thrilled with the results and even made little of my regrets about how the overspray had spoilt the entire look of the headstock. I was ready to sand it back and respray/buff it out evenly but she would have nothing of it.

In truth, from two feet off, one would not be able to see the overspray, but yes, to the player, or someone sitting very close, it would be painfully evident.

The young lady left me a glowing review, one that left a very satisfied glow on my face. However, you will never be able to read that review even if you try to find it, for it never appeared. The young lady had sent me a screenshot of the review she posted on Google and that is how I know there was a review of services rendered.

I hunted high and low for some contact in Google, even asked friends, customers if someone knew of a way. Finally, sifting through pages of the Net, I found a way to contact Google, and they asked me for this, they asked me for that and finally wrote back to me saying they couldn’t find anything wrong with my account!

So that was that. I seek satisfaction in the fact that my customer is happy with the work I did on her instrument.

I leave you with these two photographs

I have often commented on the strange coincidence that similar instruments or those with similar problems seemingly find their way  onto my workbench. If you’ve been a regular reader of my posts, this is the third consecutive black dreadnought to stumble into the Lucknow Guitar Garage, and who’s to know that there are no more to follow???!!!

This Squier came to me with its bridge having lifted enough to park a few trucks in the shade!

That was the problem but what caught my eye immediately, was the ‘modern art’ on the headstock of the guitar. The extra length of the strings had all been twisted into circles at each of the posts. I saw it and now I can’t unsee it!!

So, here goes my why-not-to-do-it explanation and a rant to boot!

The manufacturer (in his goodness) provides strings of a certain length. He does not know what type of a guitar you possess. Maybe you’re a jazz music enthusiast and have an archtop, endpin-type string restrain with a floating bridge.

This type of guitar takes up much more string length than your regular flattop guitar. This does not mean that because the manufacturer has given you that much string, you HAVE to use up every micro millimetre of it even if you own a flattop! Realise that you are at complete liberty to snip off  whatever falls beyond the post!

Your twisting and turning the extra length into various shapes (modern art), only does one thing: creates a string buzz that I’ll be damned if you can make out where it’s coming from. I think ‘experts’ call it a sympathetic vibration.

In any case, if you think your headstock is looking pretty, it does not (not at least to my eyes).

Anyway, getting back to the guitar on my workbench, I did don surgical gloves before I touched the strings – or anything on it. Those were probably the crustiest strings I had laid eyes on.

Work began with marking the bridge outline on the top, taking it off, cleaning its underside and its footprint on the top.

Once that was done, it was time to reglue the bridge. Now, this was the time when the rain was beating down, thick and fast and there was excessive amounts of moisture in the air. One had to be careful to give the glue enough time to cure.

Glue was liberally applied to both surfaces and then they were clamped together

This arrangement was left undisturbed for three days.

However, in those three days, other areas of the guitar were paid attention to – areas that needed attention direly.

The headstock, tuning machines were cleaned and burnished.

The fretboard was cleaned and oiled. The fretwires were cleaned and polished

And then when the clamps came off, I gave the entire guitar body a proper bath and then a polish. Thankfully, all the crud deposited on the body came off and the guitar shone like new!

Then, I let the guitar rest for a full day before throwing on strings.

Meanwhile at the headstock end, things looked like this

I’ll leave you to it with these last two photographs

This Cort was brought to me only for a change of strings. As I quickly examined it, I realised that there was much more than dust and grime that needed to be cleaned off it.

There was a jagged crack that ran almost the entire length of the bridge.

A crack like this begins (almost always) in between the bridgepin holes and is caused due to three or four reasons. One is when the hole is too small or the bridgepin is larger than usual. Invariably, string tension helps pull the wood fibres apart even as the bridgepin is pushing to make room for itself. This is the main reason.

A second reason is when the manufacturer uses inferior quality material for the bridge. A good hard wood like ebony, rosewood or walnut will resist the temptation to split under pressure for much longer than just any other dyed piece of wood. Not to say that the aforementioned woods will not split; they will but after much longer.

A third possible reason could be using strings far thicker than prescribed for a certain model of the instrument. Here in India, a majority of players are youngsters who are starting off, and while they are into their first-second guitars, the budget usually remains under Rs 17K (around $190). In fact, the lower the better.

In that range, one would be lucky to get a solid top. The back and sides are almost always laminate. So, in such an instrument, if one was to throw on 13s, they are most likely to create havoc with the bridgeplate, the bridge, the neck-to-heel joint and other such.

A little fun fact: the best selling guitar in India (from a reputed Japanese name) costs only around $100!!!! And in that $100, you even get a gig bag, a guitar strap, a few picks, an extra set of strings, and probably a string-winder too!!! I leave it to your imagination the quality of the guitar itself which comes with so many freebies for that price!

Anyway, I got working on what was before me and with some labour, it looked like this

With some more effort, it looked like this

But this bridge was a little different. Usually when I work on bridges, you can hardly make out that they have been worked on. Here the scar was painfully visible. But structurally it was solid.

The owner had tied a noose around the neck of the guitar. On my suggestion he got a strap button put on the heel of the guitar (the ideal place). Here is evidence that I did, in fact, put the strap button, though the photo with the strap button installed, I forgot to take!

Also, on my suggestion, the owner opted to get a bone nut and saddle installed in the guitar in place of the plastic crap already there.

If you look carefully enough, you will be able to see that it is already calibrated to where the height and width of both needed to come down to.

The owner chose these strings to throw on his redone guitar

And soon, all was well and the customer was happy!

I think I have worked on this instrument before – a set-up, bone nut and saddle – but I’m not very sure. But it recently came to me in this state, with the owner naturally none too happy.

He said that the instrument was in its case and when he took it out to play, he found it like this. From the looks of it, the break was along the seam of the neck joint, but it  was a break. It wasn’t as if the seam had opened up.

But besides the obvious problem, it was also apparent that the guitar was dry to quite an extent. The bridge and the fretboard bore testimony to this.

It seemed to me that the entire headstock was being held together by the cracked faceplate, which could have given way even by just trying to detune the guitar. I did that and in fact, took off the strings and the hardware on the headstock. Contrary to my fears, the two parts of the headstock stayed together, held by the faceplate.

A simple glue-up job would have sufficed, but I thought that reinforcing the joint would not hurt anybody, least of all the instrument. So, I cut four dowels to place them along the seam of the break. These I called My Four Sentinels!!!

But first the glue-up. Glue was liberally applied and then equally painstakingly taken off as it oozed out of the joint under clamps.

Thereafter, I let the instrument sit undisturbed for two days. After that period, when I took off the clamps, I knew just by looking at the joint that it would hold but I wasn’t ready to take chances.

Holes were drilled to receive My Four Sentinels and they were glued in place.

These were then shaved off to make a seamless joint with the headstock.

If you look closely enough, you will see a pencil line just beyond the two E string tuning machine holes. This was the line I drew to tell myself till where I needed to sand the entire surface.

Not very clear in the photograph, but I also drew a ‘V’ on the neck with its end point running in line with the centre line of the neck.

On the front face of the headstock too, there was a similar area marked. These had to be sanded for two reasons: a) to knock back any areas standing proud along the seam lines, and b) so that when paint is applied to the area, it has something to adhere to.

But before that the area had to be sanded

Of course, due care was taken that the name on the headstock face did not get damaged in the process.

Once this was done, the sanded area was painted dark and even got a coat of lacquer. The idea behind the effort was two fold: a) to hide the seam lines of the joint on the front and the back of the headstock, and b) to hide the existence of the dowels.

While I succeeded in my first mission, I failed in my second. My Four Sentinels still stood out proud!

To be fair, if you were to look at the instrument from even four feet away, you would not be able to pick up that the painted area was hiding a repair. It looked as if it was part of the headstock design. Besides, the owner was a stage artiste and to the first audience member, standing at least 15 – 20 feet away, nothing would be apparent.

And there we were, at the moment of truth: stringing the guitar up to see if it could take the strain of strings tuned to pitch. The strings that the owner had chosen were these

I strung up the guitar, tuned it up, and left it for a day or two to see how the instrument would react under stress.

IT HELD!!!

Just a small, quick one this Sunday but about a very disconcerting trend among the youth today. There is a shocking lack of basic information – about the acoustic guitars that people own, and just about everything that concerns them (the youth).

Day in and day out people (primarily youngsters) come to me and call the saddle the bridge, the nut ‘the white thing at the top’, don’t know the difference between the fretboard and the neck, not knowing what action is, not have any inkling about the specifics of the instrument that they own, and are happy to remain blissfully oblivious!

Paradoxical, wouldn’t you say that there are people like this around in today’s day and age when oceans of information, on everything under the sun, are available at the click of a mouse, or a swipe of a finger on the smartphone.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with not knowing the basics of things, only it makes one a sitting duck for unscrupulous elements in society. And they exist – and thrive – because the uninformed outnumber them 10 to one.

The other day a 27-28-year-old came to me with his guitar – a Hertz.

He said it was “very hard” (to play). One look at it and I had to agree that indeed, this would be hard to play

This is the 12th fret and you could easily push John Cena under there!

The other sticking point – literally – were the string ends with which you could murder a person, or else, be able to commit suicide with!

But it had a very pretty fretboard with abalone appointments

I checked things on the instrument and found that the relief in the neck would have been enough for five guitars!

Also, the saddle in the guitar had been put in the inverted position. The bass end of the saddle was towards the treble end of the bridge (and vice-versa)!

I pointed out the issues to the owner and asked him to return the next day to pick up the instrument.

I tried to coax him into getting a bone saddle and nut but he baulked at the idea as if I had asked him to take a sip from the toilet bowl. However, preferences – religious or otherwise – need to be respected.

After he left, I started working on the instrument. I loosened the strings (he didn’t wish to have them replaced) and pulled out the saddle from its groove, and to my amusement, only half came out with the other half securely lodged in the saddle slot!

And since the owner did not want a bone nut and saddle, and I had run out the plastic stuff, I asked him to get me a plastic saddle.

Meanwhile, I removed as much of the relief as I could. After the plastic saddle came in, I put it in, tuned up the guitar and took measurements. According to my measurements (.160 inches on the bass E string), more than half the saddle had to go for the owner to be able to play the instrument with some degree of comfort.

I did that which left just a sliver of the plastic thingy to hold up the strings.

Naturally, once I was done, the action stood at a very healthy spot.

Meanwhile, I also snipped off the string protrusions, giving a nice, neat look to the headstock.

Though the young man left satisfied, I urge all youngsters to read up, learn and become aware about everything that concerns them. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain!

UNTIL NEXT TIME, FOLKS!

Hello there, beautiful people!

Long time no see. Long time no hear!

Well, only I am to blame! Partly staying busy and a greater part, my laziness! Mea culpa!

I am here now and bring to you this Hertz that was brought to me by a returning customer.

It had some years on it but I could make out that once healed, it could play and sound good.

It’s problems? Well, the bridge was lifting and the saddle was tilting forward and had an odd curvature to it as it stood in its slot.

As a result, the action was sky high.

This was even though the owner had tried to shim the front face of the saddle in an effort to make the saddle stand straight.

I told the owner that once the bridge is reglued, the action will come down much, but once I make the saddle stand upright, it will again raise the action a bit. He understood.

I also told him that this would be the perfect time to get a bone nut and saddle installed, which would improve the sound of the instrument – in quality, volume and sustain. He understood that as well.

I began work with taking the strings off and as I tried to remove the saddle, it came out like this

However, my main worry was the bolts and nuts hidden beneath the two plastic dots (on either side of the bridgepins) on the bridge. Look at the photograph showing the paper shim and you will know what I am talking about.

I have often dwelt upon the uselessness of this hardware, and also the fact that they do more harm than good. Good surface-to-surface contact, enough glue, enough clamping pressure, and enough curing time will ensure that the bridge lasts on the instrument for a good two or three decades! Bolts and nuts ensure that the top is torn apart, if the bridge begins to rise.

So, the hardware had to go. The plastic dots were gently prised out of their spots and the hardware was removed. I could almost hear the guitar let out a sigh of relief!!

Then began the task of gently trying to remove the bridge. It came off but not too clean, but not too bad either. I’ve seen worse.

Both the underside of the bridge and its footprint were cleaned, glue applied and stuck together with enough clamping pressure. After that I left the instrument to dry and rest.

Unfortunately, I have lost all the photographs I took of the process – right from cleaning the bridge and its footprint to the clamping and curing process. How it happened, I am still scratching my head.

Anyway, love was also shown to the fretboard, the fretwires and the bridge. Sanded clean and with a touch of oil, they shone.

Work was also done on the swanky, new bone saddle and nut to make them fit their slots perfectly, and once they were in place, new strings were put on to get the saddle to stand straight and for optimal action to be dialled in.

From here on, it was a saga of tuning and loosening strings as I tried to dial in the correct action at the 1st fret and the 12th fret.

Here are some photographs of the finished job

Most gratifying was the reaction of the owner to the changes to his guitar. He was mighty pleased with where the action stood and remarked ‘Bone se farak to bahut hai (Bone, indeed, makes a difference)!

Hope to see you all here, soon!

There are times in guitar repair – as are in life – when you get the feeling that the Almighty is testing your patience and resolve!

A simple job like a bridge reglue, where you basically repeat steps that you have repeated umpteen times before to certain success, will yield horrifyingly discouraging results!

Take for example this Ibanez that came to me a couple of months ago.

Yes! It was presented before me exactly like this with the Hydra-like tentacles sticking out, as if searching for a prey to sting! There were other eyebrow raisers too.

The winds on the post left a lot to be desired

The nut slots were a little too deep for my liking

There was enough dust on the guitar to say that it had been in a state of disrepair for quite some time. The state of the strings also told a story of neglect, rusted and corroding as they were.

However, the main reason why it was on my counter was

this gap under the bridge through which you could drive a bus and park.

As I had told the owner, there were two options before him: 1) I could try and push glue under the bridge, clamp it shut, and hope it stuck, or, 2) take the proper route, take the bridge off, clean its underside as well as its footprint on the top and then reglue them. The owner chose to take the the “proper route”.

But before the bridge could come off, the strings had to come off. In that process occurred a tragedy and a discovery.

The bridgepin breaking off in its hole was the tragedy, while

the state of the fretboard was another instance of disregard for the instrument: dry and with months of grime caked on it.

But the task at hand was to reglue the lifting bridge, for which the bridge would have to be first removed. It came off, though grudgingly, but the more important fact was that it did not take much of the wood from the top.

What you see in the photograph below is evidence that random spillage of super glue was used to hold the bridge to the top. Whether it would hold for more than six months was no concern of the manufacturers.

What followed was the cleaning of both surfaces.

Once the top was cleaned of old CA glue and splinters, another problem presented itself.

The lifting bridge had managed to lift the top enough to create a step-like lift, right in the centre of where the bridge had to sit. This ‘step’ would not allow a proper surface to surface and contact and needed to be flattened for the bridge to sit correctly and stick securely to the top.

Repeated efforts over a few days and heat and pressure treatments flattened it out.

During the flattening process, I even checked inside the guitar to spot loose braces, but there were none. Satisfied, I proceeded to glue the bridge to the top.

And that is where trouble began.

After two days, I released it from the clamps, put on the strings chosen by the owner

After a day, I called the owner to come and collect the guitar. He came and happily took it away, only to send me a photograph, a day later, showing the bridge rising again.

I called the guitar in, told the owner, I will try to push glue under the bridge and clamp it shut, hoping that it would stick. If it did not, I would have to take off the bridge again, and reglue it all anew.

I pushed glue under the bridge and clamped it shut. When I released it from the clamps, I strung it up and waited for two days before again asking the owner to come and collect the instrument.

Before he could arrive, the bridge started lifting again!!!

I stopped the owner and waited for my exasperation to end – not talking to anyone. The next morning it was back to Block A – removing the bridge, cleaning both surfaces and reglueing.

This time it stuck. Why? Someone please tell me.

The same process, the same clamping pressure, same number of days left in clamps…

Ah, well…guitars can get moody at times, I guess!

Yeah!

A troubled soul contacted me recently, asking if could repair his Mohan Veena. Now, to those who were enjoying teenage in the mid 90s, Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt winning the Grammy on his acoustic guitar improvisation – the Mohan Veena – was a big thing. At least to me it was. Why? I don’t know. His name and the name of the instrument just got stuck in my memory.

So, after all these years, fancy being bumped by a pleasant memory!

I took one look at it and I said that I would do it. The tailpiece had somehow split but it seemed a simple enough break. And so, I got to work – on the instrument and not just the tailpiece.

For the uninitiated, the Mohan Veena has umpteen strings (yeah, I didn’t bother to count), but most of those are sitar strings which pick up the resonance of the heavier strings vibrating above and start vibrating too (sympathetic vibrations). The instrument is played employing a slide.

I cut off all the strings and then cleaned each ferrule and string post. The fretboard – which doesn’t have any fretwires and sees no fretting – was cleaned too. The headstock was dusted, cleaned and polished and the floating bridge was cleaned and oiled.

Here are a few before and after photographs

The last photograph in this sequence shows a little interesting detail, Which I feel I must highlight.

At the nut and the bridge, there is no nut or saddle but a thin brass pipe, easily bent by a finger’s strength. That strings actually ride over these and do not crush them is rather interesting. Both of these were just sitting in their grooves, ready to fall off. With the owner’s permission, I glued these in so one could have two less pieces to worry about. But this was done not before I polished up the little brass pipes to a warm shine (You can see that in the last two photographs.

The tailpiece came last with both pieces going together perfectly, except for a little missing sliver of wood on the top of the tailpiece.

The two became one and so I thought

The owner happily took his instrument home, only to call me a couple of days later, and tell me that the joint had failed!

Interestingly enough, he had a second Veena, the back of which had come undone, and which someone had already tried to fix once and failed. I took a look at the globs of glue sitting in the open back and expressed my inability to be able to do anything with it.

Now this had a metal tailpiece.

To get the first Veena in working condition, it was decided to replace the broken tailpiece with the metal one. The operation was duly performed, and successfully at that.

A new (wooden) tailpiece has been ordered, and till such time as when it arrives, the metal one will have to hold strong.