A return customer brought me this to set the action on, for a set-up, and “do whatever I deemed fit”. I was struck by its beauty – especially the bridgepins
, but the action on the guitar was decidedly high,
while the nut slots were cut too deep
In fact, the B string was caught in its slot, sounding muted each time it was plucked.
This is my second encounter with a Sire and the more I see of it, the more I’m impressed by it. If you would like to read about my first encounter, it’s here
As I pulled off the strings and began to work on the instrument, I was convinced that the nut and the saddle were plastic or some synthetic material, but I was wrong. They were really of bone.
So, I marked off the portion on the saddle I thought needed to be taken off and shaved it down. Likewise, I shaved the nut but this I did from the top. After this, I had to refile each slot and then reshape the nut.
Before I put on new strings, there were other things that needed attention: the fretboard for example. There was quite a bit of dirt deposited on it. Also, the fretwires had begun to develop grooves in them.
After I was through and the fretboard and the bridge had been cleaned and oiled, they looked like this
It was time to put new strings now. The strings used were provided by the owner
All that work on the nut had been successful, for the B string was ringing true and was no longer getting pinched in the slot.
Also, minor irritants like scratches on the body and snugging up/loosening of the tuning machines were taken care of
Here is one last look at the beauty. The owner was pleased with the results.
beautiful