Post by CTGull on Jan 22, 2017 20:27:53 GMT -5
Yesterday I actually worked on a guitar, for the first time in 3 weeks. My wife had bought an Oscar Schmidt (Washburn) folk size electric acoustic at a pawn shop 2.5 years ago, and never used it. I was going to sell it but I figured it would be a good one to "force" my daughter to learn the guitar. She plays the ukulele a little. She's afraid of the guitar because there are six strings and it hurts your fingers. So I'm setting it up with Elixir Nanoweb extra lights. The action was a mile high (both ends). I did my best (at the time when she bought it) but the nut action was so high I filed thru the low E slot into the hollow center. And the cheap plastic saddle had grooves where some of the strings rode. So yesterday I made a new nut & saddle from scratch using Corian. I think it's only the second nut I've made, they are kind of difficult. I would have bought a TUSC one but they don't make one close enough to it's size.
Today I finished it. It's nothing spectacular. The call the finish Flame Transparent Black. I call it Faux Terrible Black. There is some finish blushing on the headstock (front & back), neck and back of the guitar. I tried using a hairdryer (assuming it might be moisture trapped in the finish) and polish (assuming it's on the surface), but neither had any effect. So, it is what it is.
Here's the finished guitar.
When I was fitting the saddle I noticed the "pickup" wire wasn't sitting flat in the slot, there was a big dip in the middle! That's not going to do much for the amplified sound!!
When I removed the wire I could see why. The drilled holes for the wires but left the edges sharp, there was no room for the bend in the wire, so the wire sat high at the ends.
So I used a drill bit to round the edges of the holes towards the inside. I didn't get a good picture of that.
Here is the old nut & saddle. Groovy, eh??
Filing the nut slots in my nut & saddle vise. I bought the vise at Harbor Freight for $23. www.harborfreight.com/2-1-2-half-inch-table-swivel-vise-97160.html Then I used the Stew Mac Vise as an idea to design ones for this vise. I had them made at work, hardened and ground. I can file and sand and don't have to worry about them getting scratched.
The nut in progress. The stock nut was a slightly crowded 1.38" string spacing. The new one is 1.43". The nut width is 1.72" but the frets don't go all the way to the edge of the binding on the neck. The usable fret area is more like the same for a 1.69" nut.
Here's the saddle in progress.
And the finished nut & saddle. It was really hard to take pictures of them, the camera wouldn't focus on them and they'd be out of focus and/or washed out.
Today I finished it. It's nothing spectacular. The call the finish Flame Transparent Black. I call it Faux Terrible Black. There is some finish blushing on the headstock (front & back), neck and back of the guitar. I tried using a hairdryer (assuming it might be moisture trapped in the finish) and polish (assuming it's on the surface), but neither had any effect. So, it is what it is.
Here's the finished guitar.
When I was fitting the saddle I noticed the "pickup" wire wasn't sitting flat in the slot, there was a big dip in the middle! That's not going to do much for the amplified sound!!
When I removed the wire I could see why. The drilled holes for the wires but left the edges sharp, there was no room for the bend in the wire, so the wire sat high at the ends.
So I used a drill bit to round the edges of the holes towards the inside. I didn't get a good picture of that.
Here is the old nut & saddle. Groovy, eh??
Filing the nut slots in my nut & saddle vise. I bought the vise at Harbor Freight for $23. www.harborfreight.com/2-1-2-half-inch-table-swivel-vise-97160.html Then I used the Stew Mac Vise as an idea to design ones for this vise. I had them made at work, hardened and ground. I can file and sand and don't have to worry about them getting scratched.
The nut in progress. The stock nut was a slightly crowded 1.38" string spacing. The new one is 1.43". The nut width is 1.72" but the frets don't go all the way to the edge of the binding on the neck. The usable fret area is more like the same for a 1.69" nut.
Here's the saddle in progress.
And the finished nut & saddle. It was really hard to take pictures of them, the camera wouldn't focus on them and they'd be out of focus and/or washed out.