guitar tweaking

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: beachcomber
Date: 01 Jun 19 - 09:53 AM

Thanks for advice all, I will bring the guitar back as I have been in touch with the shop by phone. (It's 45 miles from my home)

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 31 May 19 - 12:27 PM

A new guitar may 'shift' slightly, but you say that the retailer 'brought the action down a little' - I wonder what they did to achieve that? If it was my guitar, I'd take it back to the place it came from and ask them to fix it FOC, or replace it.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 31 May 19 - 12:14 PM

Yes I've bought a lot of 'B'B stock stuff.

I'm not really sure what its all about. I can't see why anyone would have returned the guitar.

Got the Epiphone Sheraton and the Fender Paramount that way. Its been a big saving.

A yamaha transacoustic is at the luthier being doctored for the action. Although a lighter string guage (48-10) seemed to solve it quite a lot _ I still thought I'd like a luthier to check it out.

I love the lighter strings by the way. fender duratones.

I used to hear that lighter strings would vibrate out of tune - but I haven't found that to be the case. Perhaps they have improved strings since those days.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 31 May 19 - 11:39 AM

Get it sorted under warranty, Vintage is a big enough brand to cope with returns and repairs.
Depends on how helpful your shop is...

I used to buy a lot of Vintage 'B stock' cheap on ebay.
There were a few sellers who seemed to be clearing out Vintage guitars with minor issues..


Jon - thanks for the links...

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: beachcomber
Date: 31 May 19 - 11:08 AM

OOOoops ! sorry , shouldn't have left in that "lower". Bad editing.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: gillymor
Date: 31 May 19 - 10:33 AM

Definitely sounds like a warranty issue but if that's not the case you can lower the action by removing some material very evenly across the the bottom of the saddle if you feel capable and assuming there is plenty of saddle left.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: beachcomber
Date: 31 May 19 - 10:19 AM

Thanks 'catters.
Yes, it is a new guitar that was made by VINTAGE.
The action was a good deal higher than I wanted, when I first saw it in the shop (in Waterford city, Ireland) and, I measured it there. On request, they brought the action down so that it was about 3 or 4 mill lower at the 12th fret. I reckoned then that made it about the same as my old guitar.
I measured it again with a "feeler guage" when I brought it home and it played and sounded comfortable and with a lovely bright tone. I had no opportunity to play it again until last evening when it felt wrong and on measuring it, the strings had returned to near the original height at that 12th fret also. The strings are light guage.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: GUEST,Mark Bluemel
Date: 31 May 19 - 10:01 AM

Do you mean a vintage (as in old) guitar or one from the Vintage brand, Beachcomber?

If it is the latter, as I suspect, then I think you should take it back to the shop. If the former, I'd look for further suggestions here - if you give an idea of your location, perhaps someone can suggest a good guitar tech to have a look at it.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: gillymor
Date: 31 May 19 - 09:33 AM

Oops, it looks like it does have a truss rod, the top could be raised from the string tension.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: gillymor
Date: 31 May 19 - 09:24 AM

How old is it? Some of those antiques were built for gut strings and didn't have truss rods. I'd take it to someone who knows about those oldsters or try some lower tension strings like nylon or silk and steel.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: GUEST,Roger
Date: 31 May 19 - 09:04 AM

Back to the shop with it!

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: beachcomber
Date: 31 May 19 - 08:42 AM

Just hanging on to the bottom of this thread, please.
I recently bought a parlour VINTAGE guitar, WITH STEEL STRINGS, and had the shop lower the action before I took it home. Now, after some two months, the action has reverted to it's former height. Does this always happen or is it just my bad luck to have picked an instrument that couldn't hold it's alignment ?
Could I re-tighten the truss rod again or do I risk doing damage ?

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 30 May 19 - 07:28 PM

I agree you can get a decent sound.

I have only made one cd, and I don't really see much prospect of it ever tearing up trees pn the folk scene. So it will probably be my life's work. that and a minor hit record in Germany.

At the time I was making the cd , I decided to buy a quality yamaha guitar - I was impressed with the compass range that Yamaha were just bringing out , I settled on the CPX8. It seemed to suit my guitar technique.

However after a couple of years, I realised I should have bought a solid wood guitar for my magnum opus. There is just something about the resolution on of the sound envelope, the cohesion of the notes in the chord - which is very pleasing with a solid wood guitar, which has been played in.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Jon Freeman
Date: 30 May 19 - 11:43 AM

Eagle Music

Brown Dog Banjos

Andy Banjo

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 30 May 19 - 11:25 AM

I'm looking for somewhere online that sells banjo bridges of different heights...

I've an electic solid body 6 string banjo;
the bridge is slotted and contoured to the curve of the fretboard,
but too high.
There's not really enough wood on the feet to risk filing it down a few mm..
Well not for me.. but someone good at woodwork could probably do it...

I bought an inexpensive replacement from ebay or amazon,
but the advertised height was printed completely wrong,
and it's in reality no lower than the one already on the banjo...

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: GUEST,Nick Dow
Date: 30 May 19 - 10:54 AM

Good for you. Wouldn't mind hearing you play, are you on YouTube?

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 30 May 19 - 10:42 AM

I thought you might have been looking for more sustain, which is usually attributed to brass pins. I tried them on a Martin J-40 a few years ago, but the effect was only slight if anything at all on that guitar, so I’ve never tried them since. I have ebony in both my pin-bridge guitars which, along with Elixir PB 13-56s, do warm things up.

With regard to acoustic guitars, from the age of 14 until I reached my late 40s I played what my wallet would run to - cheap guitars such as my Yamaha FG180 and 360. Did they make me a better player? Probably. Did they make me happy? You bet!

Nowadays my philosophy is that you buy whatever gives you pleasure - if cheap is your thing and makes you happy, that’s fine - do it. In my case, I have four ‘expensive’ guitars, for which I make absolutely no apologies whatsoever - my mortgage is paid off, my kids grown and gone, no grand-kids and no prospect of there being any, I don’t smoke, drink alcohol, own a big house, go on cruises or expensive holidays, drive an expensive car, own a RV, spend fortunes going to folk-festivals every summer weekend, wear ‘label’ clothes, yadda yadda. My only vice is buying ‘expensive’ guitars! Have they made me a better player? Not really. Have they made me happy? You bet!

But each to his own, for sure

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: GUEST,Nick Dow
Date: 30 May 19 - 09:22 AM

The guitar was a bit tinny, the brass pins and a set of Elixirs help to mellow it a bit in this instance. It's always trial and error. I've got a collection of Brass/bone/ebony pins, and try them on any new guitar I come across. There is talk that brass pins brighten up the sound, in my experience they seem to even it out. It's not hard and fast. Each guitar, even if it's made by the same company, reacts in a different way. With my Yammy the brass pins give it a brighter bass and mid range. I picked up an FG310, for not much money. Tweaked it and set it up with brass pins and a bone saddle, then used it one night in Skipton folk club, and sold it on quite happily.
I genuinely believe you do not have to spend much cash to get a decent sound. I always ask the question is this Taylor/Martin/Gibson four figures better than a good quality mass produced guitar? The answer usually comes back as no.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 30 May 19 - 06:32 AM

Just wondering why brass pins Nick?

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: GUEST,Nick Dow
Date: 30 May 19 - 04:10 AM

My poor old Yamaha needs a rest and a re-fret. My second guitar is a Tanglewood Crossroads. (!) Yes I know...but it is astonishing for a mahogany laminate guitar. Tanglewood are a UK firm and know what they are doing. The usual bridge saddle, brass pins tweak, and it's got a tone that it really has no right to have. It needs better machine heads some time but I am glad I got it as a second/practice guitar, and after tweaking it is well good enough to see you through a folk club gig. Look up the price, watch it on YouTube and be amazed! I was.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Murray MacLeod
Date: 28 May 19 - 06:39 PM

I have never owned a guitar which didn't require nut-slot tweaking and saddle adjustment, with the exception of my Collings OM which was absolutely perfect straight out of the box.

The most serious tweaking I have done was 20 years ago on a Lakewood Dreadnought where I had to reshape the neck profile with a cabinet scraper ("card scraper" in the US) to make it fit my hand.

I have done the exact same thing on an Eastman which is currently my go-to gigging guitar. Nice instrument with a 1 13/16" nut which suits me perfectly, but way too much wood on the back of the neck, at the shoulders. I made the neck profile a modified V instead of the chunky C factory profile. Plays much better now.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: GUEST
Date: 26 May 19 - 07:57 AM

I almost never bother with such things.

Re: Yes, good point about bridge position for mandolin.What's the best approach? Simply doubling the nut to 12 fret distance isn't good enough to get the best intonation, especially with compensated 'zig-zag' bridges. Using a digital tuner helps on one string but then pushes the next one out the other way. It's less of a problem on banjos because the bridges tend to be straight and the width of the fretwire is less compared to the overall scale length.

My (Buchanan) mandolin has a fixed bridge so no worries there. With the tenor banjos, a bit of playing around with the help of a tuner will get me to the "best compromise and close enough for me" slope with the bridge if needed.

That said, I did run into some sound issue that started to bug me with one tenor, perhaps after a change of head. I can't quite figure out the whys there and I didn't used to be bothered but what I did was fitted an "Oettinger" type tailpiece. This allows you to adjust the tension per string and solved my problem.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 26 May 19 - 02:46 AM

There are some good tunes played on 'Asian Junk'! ;-)
And if Yamaha was good enough for Jansch, and still is good enough for McTell.....

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 25 May 19 - 10:17 PM

i bought a beautiful Yamaha APX plus flightcase yesterday on facebook local bargains - 140 quid.

And its blue which goes with my new hat!

Asian junk rules!! OK!

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: gillymor
Date: 25 May 19 - 04:16 PM

They do seem to come pre-hotrodded.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 25 May 19 - 04:14 PM

LTD [by ESP] can be stunning value for money, especially in clearance sales...

These level of guitars are great players straight out the box.
No components need replacing for something more expensive...

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: gillymor
Date: 25 May 19 - 03:30 PM

I try out some of the electrics at the local Guitar Center now and then and the stuff that's coming from Asia seems pretty amazing for a price tag of 400 to 800 bucks. PRS, Fender, G&L and probably others carry lines of beautifully finished instruments that sound, to me, as good as their USA-made counterparts. Just gotta figure out how to sneak one in past the wife.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 25 May 19 - 03:03 PM

Thought I'd just add, it's becoming more common for USA & UK guitar brands
to have bodies and necks, all the main woodworking, manufactured in the Far East;
then have all parts shipped from various locations to USA & UK workshops for final assembly and set up...

Those brands that so far admit to it, are doing well enough,
providing good instruments at fairer prices...

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 25 May 19 - 01:24 PM

My MIM Strat (70th birthday present from my lad) is superb. I love it!

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 25 May 19 - 12:46 PM

BWM - I was referring back to Uncle Phil..
but now realise he didn't actually call them 'Asian junk' [I was still groggy from mid day siesta..]

In fact, he also acknowledges it's only the cheap replaceble parts that tend to be a bit inferior..

Cool - mudcat no longer seems so hostile to guitars made in the far east...

Our work here may soon be done...???


btw.. my two '59th and 60th birday presents to myself' brand new USA Gibsons..

[since 2015 - 2018; warehouse over-stock prices plummeted due to Gibson imploding towards bankruptcy]

..were let down by shoddy failing electrics, broken plastic parts, and finish flaws...

I needed to get both sorted under warrranty...

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 25 May 19 - 12:25 PM

....hence my reason for putting ‘Asian junk’ in inverted commas - as a quotation, rather than a statement of opinion on quality!

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 25 May 19 - 10:39 AM

Asian 'junk ' has been objectively superior in construction and quality control
to American mass factory produced guitars
since at least the early 1980s...

The likes of Fender and Gibson can only hold onto their reputations
due to the remaining skilled luthiers working in their custom shops...
But these custom shop instruments are way too expensive for most working musicians.

The reality is that Japan, Korea, Indonesia, China are manufacturing affordable guitars
at least as good as most overpriced factory guitars from USA.
They probably all use CNC machines for the most of the wood working,
Any real long term difference will be in the quality and curing of timbers used and sealed inside the thick Poly laqueurs.
Traditional Nitrocellulose finish will cost more whichever country of manufacture.
Gibson still depends on using Nitrocellulose on their bog standard factory made guitars
as a nod to 'authenticity' and to help justify their much higher pricing than far eastern competitors...

Fender make good quality entry to semi pro level guitars in Mexico,
as well as Japan and China..
Note - not instead of... Mexico is only recently gaining similar respect to Japan and Korean factories.

These are verifiable facts, not mere opinion or misinformed prejudice...

This is not to say China does not still make junk guitars;
they do - illegal counterfeits made in dodgy unaccoubtable workshops,
or even allegedly sneaked out the back door of bigger factories..
But even the wood work of some of these fakes is considered nearly as good as the real USA thing...

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 25 May 19 - 07:59 AM

We obviously came from a more middle class family.

My first guitar was a Rosetti. 4 pound nineteen and eleven.

these were the days when everyone knew their halfcrown table, and before a penny degenerated into a pee.
You could get 4 blackjacks for a penny
Or a packet of Swizzles
Swizzles (my personal favourite) were sort of mini refreshers.
Trebor Refreshers were for posh kids - they cost tuppence.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 25 May 19 - 04:58 AM

I played ‘Asian junk’ for many years, and got enormous pleasure from those guitars. I’m fortunate, in my dotage, to be able to afford high-end American and hand-built Irish guitars but, apart from feeding my own ego, do they give me any more pleasure than my Tanglewood, Yamahas, etc. did at the time I owned them? Probably not. And I certainly worry about them more than I did when I was playing ‘Asian junk’.

My first guitar (in 1961) was a £3/17s/6d no-name ‘Spanish’ guitar with a tail-piece, steel strings, and a 1/2” 12th-fret action, bought for me by my dad from our local electrical/record shop on 20 weeks HP - virtually unplayable above the third fret. I loved it so much I hardly ever put it down, even took it to play on the crapper. And it gave me a real appreciation of those ‘better’ guitars that came along much, much later.

Happy daze! ;-)

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 25 May 19 - 04:42 AM

i suppose it depends what you classify as asian junk. i love the epihones.

the fifty quid dreadnoughts that GAK do seem brilliant and quite playable.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 25 May 19 - 01:27 AM

I was looking at a neighborhood kid’s cheap Asian factory guitar the other day and it got me thinking. The finish was okay, the wood looked decent, and the wooden parts all fit perfectly. My guess is that they were laser cut. However, the nut, bridge saddle and bridge pins were plastic crap, and the tuning machines were junk. I’m wondering if I could make a good guitar from a cheap one like that. I’d replace the junky parts, dress the frets and do a proper set up, but retain the well-made wooden parts. Obviously I’d improve the sound of the cheap guitar, but I wonder how it would compare to the sound of a more expensive guitar. Assuming I could find another cheap guitar with a decent soundboard, of course. Just speculating.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Stanron
Date: 23 May 19 - 08:59 AM

For a standard guitar string length I start with 2 mill compensation on the treble string and 4 mill on the bass. That's for a low action. If you like your action high then the compensation needs to be increased. Once you have a good working string length, write the compensation down. With something like +2.5 on one bridge foot or end and +5 on the other, you will will take all the future guesswork out of it.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 23 May 19 - 08:44 AM

Thanks, that’s more or less what I do, but you notice the high fretted notes being slightly out when you try and record with other instruments. Playing On your own, you tend not to notice.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 May 19 - 07:25 AM

Jerry, I kept removing tension from the strings sufficiently to be able to slide the bridge a bit, and kept doing that until the Gs and Es were both correct. The Ds and As had to be what they were once the two outer pairs were OK.

Might not be ‘text-book’, but it worked for me!

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 23 May 19 - 07:18 AM

Any floating bridge is a trial and error bodged compromise...

.. but I'm actually quite fond of 'em..

It's bloody tune-o-matics I can't stand..

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 23 May 19 - 06:27 AM

Yes, good point about bridge position for mandolin.What’s the best approach? Simply doubling the nut to 12 fret distance isn’t good enough to get the best intonation, especially with compensated ‘zig-zag’ bridges. Using a digital tuner helps on one string but then pushes the next one out the other way. It’s less of a problem on banjos because the bridges tend to be straight and the width of the fretwire is less compared to the overall scale length.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Mooh
Date: 22 May 19 - 03:04 PM

I de-fretted an ebony fingerboard on a five string bass, filled the slots with maple veneer to give me faint lines, planed it, reshaped and refit the nut, and then did a set-up. It was my go to bass for several years.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 May 19 - 12:56 PM

pfr, I use that green, low-tack painter’s tape to mark the position of my Mandolin bridge. Comes off nice and easy and doesn’t leave a mark. I only do it every fourth string-change or so - about yearly - when I want to take all of the strings off and give ‘er a bit of a wipe all over with a damp cloth to get the spit off. Otherwise I change strings in pairs so the bridge stays under tension and in place.

The first time I did the painter’s tape thang, I decided that, after wiping ‘er down with the damp cloth, I’d give ‘er a birthday with some polish. So I peeled the bits of tape off and.....Oh F**k!! Took me forever to get the intonation re-set perfectly. ;-)

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 22 May 19 - 12:14 PM

If I was going to gig with it,
I'd might shove old socks and cut up foam sandals in the F holes...

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 22 May 19 - 12:11 PM

I might change strings once every 15 years or so....

Ok serious.. I recently quickly stuck rough torn strips of masking tape on a rockabilly arch top
to mark the optimum position of it's floating bridge..

That guitar's due another string change in 2035..

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Mooh
Date: 22 May 19 - 11:22 AM

Yup, I tweak guitars all the time.

A few years ago I bought two all mahogany acoustics, a Seagull dreadnought and an S&P folk size. I literally drove them from the store to the luthier's shop for aftermarket pickups, bone nuts and saddles, and fret dressings. Sure, they were acceptable as manufactured, but some refinement was left off for the sake of price (I suspect). They're better post tweak.

Many of my guitars, Josh House and Marc Beneteau guitars among others, have received my favourite machine heads, Gotoh 510s. One House has had a scalloped cutaway added, two soundports added then one filled in, refinish, refret, etc...it's been a huge ongoing experiment.

My little Kala tenor guitar had too twangy a tone for me but brass bridge pins added some mass to the bridge and smoothed out the tone considerably. The pins themselves sat a little too proud of the saddle so I milled a little off the head and polished them smooth.

I often tweak the depth/width of nut slots to accommodate action and string gauge.

Pickups in and out...I'm never happy.

One of my mandolins, a Moon, has a Weber tailpiece, Schaller machines, radiused body binding, cocobolo/bone solid bridge, none of it stock.

I could go on, but yeah, I tweak therefore I am.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 May 19 - 08:38 AM

”I thought the thread title was guitar twerking”

Jeeeeeezus! That would likely put my hip out!

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: BrooklynJay
Date: 22 May 19 - 08:23 AM

Y'all had me quite scared for a minute:

I thought the thread title was guitar twerking .

Time to get new glasses...


Jay

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: gillymor
Date: 22 May 19 - 08:23 AM

I don't do a lot out tweaking on acoustics beyond adjusting the action but I did add a Hipshot D-tuner to my old Lowden which very quickly and accurately will move the low E to D and back again. It comes in handy when backing tune players and you want to switch from standard to Drop-D during multi-tune sets.
On my MIM Fenders, a tele and a strat, I've installed Lindy Fralin pickups and new wiring harnesses, made a world of difference.
+1 on Waverlys and K&K under the bridge plates but my I also have a LR Baggs Lyric mic that attaches to the bridge plate in one of my instruments that's as good as any acoustic PU I've ever heard.

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 May 19 - 07:52 AM

My friend Terry made a clear plastic jig for fitting K&K contacts to the bridge-plate - easy peasy to use, and it places all three piezos at the same time - a piece of piss!

I’ve never heard an under-saddle transducer that I liked, and I will never, ever have barn-doors, pre-amps, volume controls, batteries etc. in my guitars - that stuff belongs outside the instrument AFAIC. But, like most things to do with guitars, pickups are subjective and my poison may well be someone else’s meat!

Keep on pickin’ and grinnin’!

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 22 May 19 - 07:30 AM

well the reason I've bought so many Yamahas is that I like the transducer package - and(although there are exceptionss) the quality control is generally good.

However I put K and K westerners on my Faiths and I concur they're excellent - although you need a painstaking fitter to do the fitting.

So far the brass pins seem to have stabilised the tuning, and the rosewood on rosewood does seem to improve the tone of the LLX.

Anyway back to the struggle!

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 May 19 - 03:42 AM

My pin-bridge guitars always get the pin-holes slotted (by me) and the thermo-crappy-plastic slotted pins replaced with non-slotted ebony or bone pins - not for tonal reasons (I'm not a believer in pins affecting tone much - strings, saddles, and picks have considerably more effect) but in order to preserve the bridge-plate and prevent the kind of damage GUEST above referred to.

Any guitar with that cheap 'n' nasty-looking matt finish on the neck and headstock gets it buffed out to gloss.

I also replace heavy enclosed tuners with open-back Waverlys, as a weight-saver and because I love the 'vintage' vibe of open-backs. The exceptions are my Lowdens, which I've put Gotoh 510 tuners on - those are superb tuners and they're going nowhere!

I've replaced pick-guards on my Martins, from the horrible pixelated-pepperoni-looking things they came with, to 'Delmar' or 'Tortis' guards.

Every guitar I ever buy gets a neck-heel strap-button added as soon as it arrives in my house.

And I've put K&K under-bridgplate transducers in all my guitars, with a standard 1/4" end-block jack.

So I guess I'm a 'tweaker'! ;-)

Subject: RE: guitar tweaking
From: GUEST
Date: 21 May 19 - 06:46 PM

I've experimented with bridge pins before, but they never seemed to have much effect on sound. I find r
eplacing plastic bridge saddles and nuts (the parts that transfer vibrations from the strings to the wood) with bone makes a difference on less expensive guitars. Another tweak that's worked for me in the past is install a metal bridge plate over the damaged wooden bridge plate inside the guitar. It improved the sound on that guitar and seemed to help it stay in tune.

Subject: guitar tweaking
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 21 May 19 - 05:44 PM

I know a lot of people on the site have handmade guitars , that presumably the maker presents to you in the optimum condition.

However my guitars are factory made. i think most of them come from China. Frankly i couldn't afford guitars made of the material i wanted when they were manufactured anywhere else.

i'va had Martins over the years - but they've, which i suppose were they exception - nice well constructed guitars - but ultimately not what i wanted. but even the martins , i had to tweak - change the bridge, the nut, the strings, the action, etc.

However I'm experimenting with bridge pins at the moment, Rosewood ones for the llx rosewood yamaha. Brass ones for the Fender Paramount which seems to have settled the tuning problems, i was experiencing with the shitty plastic ones it came with.

I've bought a set of steel bridge pins, and bone ones as well.

anybody else tweaking at the moment?