If your remember, last time, I had said how the bridgeplate was a problem in this guitar. After much thought, I shaped two pieces of wood, stuck them together and then stuck and clamped them adjacent to the bridgeplate.
The idea was that this would only lend strength and support to the not-so-stout bridgeplate, helping hold the top of the guitar somewhat in place once the strings start pulling it up.
On a more expensive instrument, I would have suggested to the owner that a Platemate would be the way to go about it. A Platemate is a thin brass plate that is stuck to the bridgeplate and takes all the pull of the strings, protecting the bridgeplate.
Then came the turn of glueing and clamping the bridge itself.
The glue flows and moves into every nook and cranny, and once it cures, it forms a solid bond. But, in the process, the bridge holes also get filled with glue and get blocked so well that you can’t just poke through with bridgepins. The solution, then, is to open the holes using a drill and right-sized bit.
With the holes opened, and before strings came on, it was the right time to show a bit of love to the dried out fretboard. I had cleaned it earlier of all the gunk collected on it over its three-odd year life.
The fretboard scraped clean, the frets were crowned and polished and then the fretboard was given a drink of boiled linseed oil. So thirsty was the fretboard that the oil disappeared in minutes and I had to apply a second coat, which lent it a healthy sheen to the fretboard.
Then came the turn of putting in the saddle and the nut and setting up the guitar to play as perfectly as it should. Things to take into consideration is the gauge of strings used, the neck angle, etc. The nut requires a bit carbon grease in the slots for the strings to ride in them without getting stuck, or posing tuning issues.
The saddle needed a shave to get the action just right without any string buzz. An added consideration was that Snow White was an electro-acoustic beauty and thus, the under-saddle piezo pick-up had to be accommodated for.
That done, it was time to give the strings a stretch to get them used to the tension that they would be put under.
After stretching and tuning the strings a couple of times, it was finally turn to give the guitar body a good rubdown and polish.
Ain’t she a beauty?
