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!
