Little Things Mean A Lot!

[Rollie LeBay]

I've had my 1958 Country Western reissue for awhile now, and have done a few things with it that have helped. Maybe some of the ideas could help you.

 

One of the first things I did was rummage through all the various bone pins in my guitar junk box until I had assembled a full set of bone with ebony dot pins and fit each pin individually to each hole in the bridge for optimum fit. Did it make a difference? I don't know, I can't hear that well (and perhaps neither can any other human), ask my dogs. But although the jury is out on bridge pins making a noticeable difference in sound, I like the bone better than the plastic the guitar came with, and they look better. So that was at least a psychological boost.

 

I have also experimented with various strings. The guitar came with, I don't know, maybe Black Diamonds (do they make them anymore?). They weren't particularly good strings. So I tried Gibson Masterbuilts on it, which work wonderfully on my Epi Masterbilts. Well, they're not so great on an actual Gibson, at least not mine. Then I tried DR Sunbeam round cores, which are nice on my Guilds. They were OK, but not what I was looking for. If you play blues and want super slinky string bending ability, throw a set of DR Sunbeam round cores on your short scale guitar. Excellent bendability. But I needed more stability, and went back, temporarily to Masterbuilts. More on that later.

 

This morning, I decided to really get after the guitar, and I started with a truss rod adjustment. The way it came, when I held down the first fret and fourteenth fret on the G string and looked at the space between the sixth fret and the string, there wasn't any. Not a drop. No light between. And yet the guitar did not buzz. Astonishing. But that truss rod was TIGHT, so I rolled off a quarter turn. Too much. Tightened back up an eighth turn. Bingo! The guitar got louder and more resonant.

 

Next, I started looking at the saddle. The height seemed about right, but I noticed that at the point where the strings contacted the saddle, there was just too much material touching the strings. The crown of the saddle was too softly rounded and too wide. So, I extracted the saddle, and using some sand paper on a flat surface, very carefully brought the crown of the saddle to a bit more of a knife-edge. Not an actual knife-edge, but headed more in that direction, reducing the amount of material that the strings rested on. While doing this, I was very careful not to change the height of the saddle. After reinstalling the saddle, the guitar had acquired considerably more shimmer and volume, but without sacrificing any of the bass, or becoming too trebley. I was pleased.

 

The next thing I did was rummage through the guitar junk box and found an unopened set of D'Addario EJ16 phosphor bronze strings. I put those on. They're the best strings I've tried on the guitar yet. They brought the guitar even more to life, and increased resonance and volume.

 

Lastly, remembering that I'm also part of the whole system, I trimmed my nails down to just enough to back up the fingertips when making string contact. I then picked up the guitar and jumped into a driving, almost banjo-picking type rendition of Harry Chapin's "Cat's In The Cradle". The sound was amazing. This formerly sort of quiet little Country Western will now just about drive you out of the room, and the harmonics and overtones have gained even more complexity and shimmer. It really sounds beautiful, and these various little tweaks all added up to a great improvement.

 

About the only other thing I might try is a move up to D'Addario EJ17 medium gauge phosphor bronze strings instead of the current lights. I think mediums will drive the top harder. That should be the icing on the cake. Just thought I'd pass on a few small things that worked well for me.

 

Uncle Buck

[jannusguy]

thanks for the tips buck. most of those are beyond my skill set, except for restringing and trimming my nails. i've got a great guy who is totally tuned in to how i like my guitars. i'm happy to have him do the work as i feel it helps us both out. as a matter of fact, in about 2 hours, i get my new SJ back with colossi bone nut, saddle, pins and a tor- tis pick guard. it's gonna be a good weekend!

[Rollie LeBay]

Man, you're going to fall in love with that SJ all over again JG! Bob makes great pins, nuts and saddles, I think you'll hear a big difference, and that tortis guard is going to be beautiful! I reckon you're gonna have sore fingers by Monday, because you're not going to want to set it down!

 

The mailman just came and brought me some strings and stuff, amongst them some National fingerpicks and thumbpicks, that I bought for use on my Guild F512 when I get in that 12-string mood.

 

I thought it would take me forever to master these things, but after a couple of moments of awkwardness, I caught right on! So I get to spend the weekend practicing my fingerpicking with the new finger and thumbpicks. The tone is amazing, and the volume is almost violent!

 

I'll probably be completely deaf by Monday from the decibel level, LOL!

 

Uncle Buck

[Hoss]

Good call on going to mediums, Buck. IMO, you get a lot more of the fundamental note with mediums, as well. I usually use 80/20 bronze on all guitars except the archtop, cause I love that old time sound.

 

As a matter of fact, I once had an old J45 that I'd kept strung up with lights, out of deference to it's advanced age. I wasn't playing it a lot, and decided to finally part with it. The next time I saw it (I'd sold it to a guitar buddy of mine) it had been strung up with mediums, and you could of tripped over my jaw!! What a great sound! If I'd ever had mediums on it when I owned it, I would never have parted with that old J45.

[Rollie LeBay]

Thanks for the info, Hoss! Yeah, I'm looking forward to trying the mediums, I think it can only improve things as you say. I should try some of those 80/20s one of these days, too. I think bronze was all they had back when I first started playing, but I've been playing phosphor bronze so long I've forgotten how the regular bronze sounds. But old time sound in a guitar is good sound!

 

Uncle Buck

[jefleppard]

wow. i am a newbie but what a wealth of info i've tapped into. you guys know your shite and i am somewhat awed by it. now, i've had a swd for about a month and my love is growing. when you speak of your country western and the augmentations that followed, did you have a goal or were you just tinkering? did you know it coulda/shoulda/woulda sound better? should i think about bridge filing and pin swap-out? i read your entry and thought, 'wow, what if i have a such a beast just waiting to be uncovered?'

the guitarbeast in us all is never happy long, that i do know. that's why we're all here.

[Rollie LeBay]

Well Jeff, when I got the Country Western, it sounded pretty great already, with a complexity of tone that my lesser guitars lack. The plastic bridge pins offend my sense of aesthetics, so those had to go whether it improved the sound or not. And to this day, I'm not sure if bridge pins affect tone in any way that can be heard by human ears. They may make a slight difference. Or it may be a placebo effect.

 

Anyway, based on forty years of playing guitar (since 1968), I just felt that the Country Western had more to give. That was from my experience with an awful lot of guitars over the years. It was good, but I felt pretty sure there was more there. And my goal was to bring that out. Does your SWD have more? I couldn't speculate without playing it. And bear in mind, guitars improve with age. My Guilds are monsters, but it took several years for them to get that way. Your SWD will imrpove with age.

 

Adjusting the truss rod was pretty simple and straight forward. I pressed down on the G string at the first and fourteenth fret and then looked at the space between the string and the sixth fret. There wasn't any. There ought to be a hair's breadth. So I took a quarter turn off (looser), which was too much, then put an eighth turn back. That gave me the hair's breadth space I wanted between the sixth fret and the string, and also started bringing the guitar to life. A truss rod that's too tight, even if the neck relief seems right, can stifle a guitar. And you can usually relieve this by backing off just a small amount.

 

Changing the strings was just a process of swapping out different kinds of strings until I hit the ones that worked on this guitar. Different strings work well with different guitars. There are a number of string brands that are worth trying, the "usual suspects", but the ones that I find most consistently good are D'Addario phosphor bronze. But some guitars respond better to other brands. Generally, though, I'd say the D'Addarios are sort of the standard I gauge by.

 

Now as for the saddle, be very careful messing with your saddle. You can really mess up. If you decide to do anything with it, proceed with care and extreme caution. It's easy to take material off, it's impossible to put it back on. A saddle should fit snug in its slot, square, without tilting. The "crown" should not be too wide, but also should not be too thin. You don't want a sharp, brittle knife-edge. And the saddle should have enough height so the action is right, but not be too tall. A saddle that's too tall can damage your bridge. And of course, too short and the guitar will be buzzing, gutless, and not very nice to play. And I hate shimming material under a saddle. The only right way to shim a saddle is by bonding strips of ebony to the bottom edge. But I even hate that. A properly fit saddle doesn't need shimming. I'd rather just replace a saddle that needs shimming with one that fits right.In forty years, I learned to look at my saddle and have some idea whether to touch it or not. My best advice is, don't mess with it unless you're certain that you know why you're doing it and that you can do it right.

 

Here's a couple of resources I recommend you spend some serious time with before attempting anything that might cause an emergency trip to the luthier.

 

First Frank Ford's website. Add it to your Favorites:

 

http://www.frets.com

 

And secondly, Dan Erlewine's book:

 

Guitar Player Repair Guide, 3rd Edition, by Dan Erlewine

 

And as always, proceed at your own risk!

 

Uncle Buck

[Guest]

Hey Unc,

 

Did you get your CW from Fuller's? I know they have had a late '50s CW model available off and on for 4 or 5 years now.

 

This is mine, a '59 model:

 

Fred

[Rollie LeBay]

Yes indeed, I did get it from Fuller's, Fred! It's a brand new "1958" Country Western, LOL! And I might add, that is one fine looking '59 you got there! That appears to be the real deal, an actual 1959 vintage, and not a reissue, is it not?

 

Now that is what a guitar should look like. I hope my reissue ages into that look!

 

Uncle Buck

[TWilson]

Unclebuck- Re: National thumb and fingerpicks. I used those for about 20 years and for some reason, just drifted away from them to bare fingers and nails. I've recently purchased some new fingerpicks and am starting to get back into it. They allow the flesh of your fingers to touch the strings as well as the metal portion of the pick itself. I like them and they are shaped more like an actual fingernail.Check them out:http://www.guptillmusic.com/propik/fingertone.html

[Guest]

Yes indeed' date=' I did get it from Fuller's, Fred! It's a brand new "1958" Country Western, LOL! And I might add, that is one fine looking '59 you got there! That appears to be the [i']real deal[/i], an actual 1959 vintage, and not a reissue, is it not?

 

Now that is what a guitar should look like. I hope my reissue ages into that look!

 

Uncle Buck

 

Yes, Buck, that's an actual 1959. (Just doesn't have fins and chrome.)

 

It would be an interesting comparison, the new vs the old, but I would bet you dollars to doughnuts that your new one will sound better in 20 years than this old one does now, after almost 50 years.

 

The '59 sounds real good, and is highly playable, but has a thick top, and the lacquer is pretty much globbed on thick too. So it's taken a lot of playing to get it where it is. I suspect your re-issue has a thinner top and a lighter lacquer application, so may 'age in' more easily.

 

Fred

[TheLiveSoundGuy]

Oh will you two get a room already...Mate those things. I want one of the offspring.

[gearbasher]

One of the first things I did was rummage through all the various bone pins in my guitar junk box until I had assembled a full set of bone with ebony dot pins and fit each pin individually to each hole in the bridge for optimum fit. Did it make a difference? I don't know' date=' I can't hear that well (and perhaps neither can any other human), ask my dogs. But although the jury is out on bridge pins making a noticeable difference in sound, I like the bone better than the plastic the guitar came with, and they look better. So that was at least a psychological boost.

 

 

Uncle Buck[/quote']

 

I just put a set of bone pins on one of my acoustics. I thought it made a slight difference in sound. So, I put the plastic ones back on, just to see if I was hearing things. What a difference! Bone pins are the way to go.

 

BTW: Here's my '60:

 

[Guest]

Gearbasher -- what's that behind the Volvo? Looks like a mid-60s Pontiac, but I can't tell.

 

Fred

[gearbasher]

Good eye!! '64 Catalina ragtop. My brother's. It has no top and is sitting on 4 flats (ugh). He's basically using it for storage.