So how fussed do y’all get about the appearance of your instrument? I’m curious because my good classical is just over 8 years old, has never sounded better but is starting to become really scratched up. (Western Red Cedar is one of the softest tone woods I know, and it’s just frightening how easy it is to put a scratch on it with your fingernail.) It came by every one of those marks honestly; it shows how much this instrument gets played and I’d much rather have a guitar that I want to play all the time versus some poor thing locked in a glass case.
So how much do you freak out about marks on your axe?
In the save vein, I’m also curious how folks maintain newer instrument finishes. I have two newer (two years) solid body guitars that I use regularly, and when I change strings I wipe down the necks and spray 409 or Windex onto a soft rag and get rid of all the finger-smudgies on the body. I also keep around a can of compressed air and blow the dust off dusty places like the bridge and the headstock even when it’s not time to to change strings. I also have a cheap semi-hollow (epi dot) with a satin finish, but it’s three weeks old so I haven’t yet thought about how to clean it.
I wipe them down with a soft cloth after playing. I get them checked out by a tech once or twice a year. Beyond that - not much. My guitars get gunky and beat - I don’t abuse them, but I don’t worry about “good, honest” wear as **Enginerd **said.
Le Ministre - you should see the cover of the last Fretboard Journal- it has a close up of a Martin that who’s top has almost been played through, like Willie Nelson’s guitar Trigger.
Right when I finished my Tele Special homebrew electric, I dropped my heavy brass slide on it and hit the butt of the guitar against my amp during a gig. Sigh - a couple of nice, obvious dings front and back. What can you do? I made it to play it…
When building a guitar, I border on OCD with my sanding technique. I just have to get out every single sanding scratch. Same goes for buffing and polishing. Dings and scratches at that point are imperfections.
But when the guitar is finished and I begin to actually play it, I treat it like a two-bit whore. Dings and scratches at that point are signs of character.
I’ve spent weeks on the perfect finish only to ding it up in the first week of playing it and it doesn’t really bother me. Weird, eh?
I had a Martin D-18, bought when I was 16 & used for over 35 years. It was a disaster. It had more dimples than a golf ball, several cracks in the side and the finish was a mess where it had come into contact with a vinyl covered stand. Never bothered me a bit. I am a bit more protective of my Lowden, but not much. I hope it survives its occasional encounters with my nephew.
Here’s hoping you can keep at it. As for the 12, don’t give up hope. Some do have a ligher action than others. I had (until it was stolen) one of the first Japanese Aria 12s, and it was very playable. Just keep an eye out.
A jazz player showed me a “trick” that hadn’t occured to me until then, that goes along with this…
Play a melody, while simultaneously picking the string and using a free finger to “hit” that note’s harmonic. It’s a different effect, and can be interesting if not overdone.
I’m down to one, my LP Custom. I figure, that’s all I need.
Takamine? I friggin’ LOVE those things! And fine business on getting another 12 too
OK - all this talk of gear has given me a GAS attack and as a result, I’ve started building a new Tele - actually an Esquire. For those of you that don’t know, an Esquire is a Tele without the neck pickup and some special wiring that gives some interesting sound choices from the remaining bridge pickup.
I have a two-piece walnut body blank lying around the shop doing nothing that is now destined to become a very special Esquire. I’ll get some of the parts by taking apart the last Tele I built for myself that just isn’t doing it for me anymore:
I always liked the feel of the neck on this one - it’s just that the sound I got out of it wasn’t what I thought it would be. And while the finish came out pretty good, there were some asthetic things about the body that didn’t come out the way I had hoped - the mahogany strip running down the middle being the biggest culprit.
So my question is would this build be something you all would be interested in following? If so, I’ll start up a separate build thread. If not, then you guys aren’t nearly at the level of guitar geekery that Wordman and I are.
If you don’t mind, I’m really strongly considering swapping out the machine heads on my cheap Strat. What would you suggest I look for in replacing them?
As far as your tuning keys are concerned - you have to be careful to get tuners that are going to fit the holes that you have drilled in your headstock. Here are the usual suspects and sizes:
When you take the tuners off measure the diameter of the hole preferably using an accurate caliper, but if you don’t have one, just get a ruler that has 64’s of an inch marked off. Once you have the size, then you can narrow down the choices to one or two of the above makers. They all make a quality product and will serve you well.
That being said, there some issues to consider. Even though you measure your holes and get something that is supposed to work, more often than not, the tuner grommets won’t fit easily. Sometimes they’re off by a hair. If that’s the case, get a piece of dowel material that’s a little smaller diameter than your hole and wrap some 120 grit sandpaper around it. Stick that through the hole and use it to remove that hair of wood that’s in the way. Keep in mind that the grommets should be able to be pushed into place and fit snuggly. No glue of any kind should be used.
I would not suggest buying a bigger diameter tuner in hopes of drilling your holes bigger to make it fit. If you don’t have a drill press, this could end in disaster very easily. So just stick to the ones that are the right size.
Do you use the tremolo bar much? If so you might want to get a set of locking tuners to prevent string slippage and tuning issues. You can also get “staggered” tuners which have posts that get progressively shorter from low E to high E strings. These reduce the need for string trees which cause tuning issues through friction when using the whammy bar. You can also get staggered locking tuners!!
Also, Sperzels are notoriously hard to install nice and straight. If you end up getting some of those, best to have a pro do it for you to get it right.
Heh. Oh, I have a drill press. In theory, I could prrrrrobably build an entire guitar from spare tree bits. I’ve got everything. Table saw, bandsaw, router, you name it. But no, I don’t use the whammy. Thanks for the advice.
I am just back in the office and have a ton of backlogged work I need to get through - but BigShooter: hell yes, I would love to follow your work. And E-Sabbath, BigShooter is giving you great advice on the tuners. Straight drop-in’s are easy, if all you need to do is clean out the hole a bit, you’re solid, but if anything cute is required, I would stop. Even if you know wood well, unless you are prepared to trash the neck - which can happen easily if you aren’t careful - then don’t do a lot of work on the wood. Having said that, it is very easy to get the right-sized replacements so it should be no big deal.
As for my preferences, you know, I love locking tuners like **BS **mentions, and if I have any tuning concerns like a guitar with a whammy, would recommend them. However, if the guitar has no real tuning challenges, I tend to go old school with “slotted shaft” tuners - the shaft that the strings wrap around have a slot in them and a hole in the very center; to re-string, you cut the string to a bit longer than the tuner, stick the string down into the hole and then bend it into the slot to start wrapping it around the shaft (I did a quick search to find pics but didn’t have luck and don’t have time). I like these because the lock into the tuner solidly (no string slippage at all) and don’t leave an open string end to fray and look sloppy. Super easy to use…they were stock on Fenders for a long time…
If anyone is interested in a step-by-step, very well documented recreation of a 1959 Les Paul Burst, then look here on the TDPRI, a telecaster forum. This is just one of a number of meticulous builds that Gil Yaron, a luthier in Israel has documented. Mostly he documents his telecaster builds, but he had a real '59 Burst in his hands and was able to take measurements. Based on his previous builds, the telecaster faithful were clamoring for him to do this Les Paul build on a telecaster forum.
This one is in-progress and includes such attention to detail as casting his own pickup rings because he didn’t think what was available was accurate enough. It is fascinating to see this come together, and he is very good at explaining why he is doing something the way he is. If you like this one, look for his recreations of early telecasters, strats and p-basses too.
