Made a great guitar even better

[Lars68]

Last night I made some minor modifications to my beloved Sheryl Crow SJ.

 

First, I sanded the long through saddle so that the curves at the outer ends perfectly matched the outline of the bridge itself. It now has a perfect fit, and it looks so much classier. Also, at the same time I glued the saddle in place using liquid hide glue. I am not anticipating removing it for a long time, but if I ever need to, the hide glue will soften with some heat. I have had some problems with a couple of Martins where non-glued saddles have distorted the slot and started to lean forward. I want to prevent this from ever happening to this guitar.

 

I also slotted the pin holes and replaced the slotted bone pins with unslotted ones. This is a mod that is rarely discussed on this forum. I also spend a lot of time on the Martin forum (UMGF), and this is a very common mod among Martin owners. The mod might sound drastic but is really quite simple. First, I used a 5-degree reamer to make the shape of the hole correspond to the taper of the pin. This will secure a better fit. I then used a tiny saw to cut a slot for the string inside the pin hole. By then using solid pins, there is much less risk for future damage to the bridge plate. With slotted pins, this will happen over years of use, when the ball end of the string sits halfway inside the pin slot and wears against the wood on the edge of the hole. This is especially true if the pins are made from soft plastic and bends from the preassure. In theory, the mod is also supposed to increase the energy transfer in the pin area, because each slot is cut to fit the string it is designed to hold, there is no extra width in the slots. The ball end will also not hang on the edge of the hole. It will be secure on top of the bridgeplate, without being able to move. I cannot say that I could hear any improvements in tone, though, but string changes are much faster and my strings no longer get caught up in the slot in the pin.

 

I am extremely happy with the results and really recommend these mods to those of you who have "keeper" guitars and want to prevent future problems.

 

Lars