Amazing what a LITTLE money and time can acomplish

[bigbike4]

A few months ago I was given a Maestro by Gibson acoustic guitar. The thing is entry level, but this one does have a spruce top and mahogany sides and back. It is black and is a nice looking guitar. BUT the guitar sounded muddy with no clear tones and impossible to maintain any sustain on the instrument.

 

WELL a couple of dollars and hours (less than $30 ) and 2 hours time and now this former entry level instrument sounds like a mid grade instrument. Heres what I did.

 

Replaced the cheapo plastic nut with a bone one obtained from a butcher shop-no cost, time spent to cut and shape the bone to fit and be the proper height? about 1 hour RESULTS?- immediate improvement to sustainability of notes and clarity of notes as well as proper playing height of the strings. No more muddy overtones and no sustain when doing hammer ons and pull offs. Nice Crisp clear sound.

 

Replaced the plastic saddle and plastic bridge pins-about $27 total from music123.com The bridge pins and saddle are both made of TUSQ and the pins have abalone dots on them. Hey if I am gonna dress this thing up might as well do it right! After cutting the TUSQ blank down to size and then sanding it to get the final radius and such the guitar now has proper intonation all over the fret board and is a lot easier to chord and play. The new bridge pins are also TUSQ and hopefully will not break everytime I change strings. The cheapo, crappo plastic ones on the guitar were extremely brittle and every one of them broke in the 3 months I have had the guitar.

 

Other guitarists have now played my "entry level" $100 guitar and can't believe how easy it plays and how GREAT it sounds. When I tell them that it only cost me $27 to make these improvements they are amazed.

 

So folks, if you are not happy with your guitar, try spending some time with it and after reading how to do a set up, actually do it on your guitar. I gotta say I love the differences that the bone and TUSQ make on the instrument. The sound really IS THAT different.

[dem00n]

I did that to my $200 Ibanez and it plays better then the ones triple the price!

 

Awesome job btw.

[zombywoof]

I love seeing folks stand up for the el cheapo guitars of the world. I love 'em and do own a few. And they do get alot of time out of the case.

 

But the one thing that really hurts the sound of the less expensive guitars ain't as much the nut and saddle (some of the best guitars ever made came with plastic nuts and saddles) but the bridge plate. On cheaper guitars they often tend to be thinner and usually made of some soft wood or even plywood which has some kind of unidentifable filler layers. Swapping this out for one made of maple or something is the single best thing you can do for any less than stellar sounding guitar - that and finding the right strings and getting a good setup.

[suburude63]

I love seeing folks stand up for the el cheapo guitars of the world. I love 'em and do own a few. And they do get alot of time out of the case.

 

But the one thing that really hurts the sound of the less expensive guitars ain't as much the nut and saddle (some of the best guitars ever made came with plastic nuts and saddles) but the bridge plate. On cheaper guitars they often tend to be thinner and usually made of some soft wood or even plywood which has some kind of unidentifable filler layers. Swapping this out for one made of maple or something is the single best thing you can do for any less than stellar sounding guitar - that and finding the right strings and getting a good setup.

 

Its true some great guitars come with Plastic saddles and nuts ! But they become exstrodinary guitars with bone or FI nuts and saddles !

BTW changing out a bridge plate for a novice is a little tricky dont you think .