Lee Callicutt
Sep-28-2006, 8:22pm
So I spy this guitar in a neighbor's street garbage (I think it even spent a night or two in the rain), and it calls out to me. #I just can't leave it there, so I take it home, thinking at the very least it'll make an interesting piece of wall art, or at best, something #you'd expect a genuine bluesman to pull out from behind a chair and wail on at the end of the day. #Kind of interesting in its own way, with its slotted peghead and Fender Wildwood style, dye injected sides and back.
The previous owner had strung it with steel strings when it was probably only ever meant for silk and steel and then cranked them up until until the screw-on bridge pulled away from the top before he tossed it out.
The biggest challenge was removing what can only be described as decoupage, or bar top thickness plastic from the body to get at the genuine Luan. #Underneath this heavy coating, the soundboard was actually covered with a paper photograph of spruce and rosette that was even harder to remove than the heavy plastic finish.
The bridge saddle was shot, so I made one from aluminum, glued a cracked brace on the soundboard and cobbled together a bridge backing plate where there had been none and glued/bolted the bridge back onto the soundboard.
I've had it strung up to pitch with silk and steel strings #for five nights now and it plays in tune and stays in tune over night! #How does it sound? #Better than I ever thought it would for an all plywood piece of you know what -- kind of punchy, but perfectly adequate for someone just starting out who would rather learn drums anyway -- and that's where it's going this weekend, to my precious sixteen-year-old niece who's just getting back into life after a horrible car accident that took her sister's life.
My special thanks for the baking soda/cyanoacrylate tip #(it helped me get rid of a nasty buzz on the low E string after my "setup") and for the confidence to tackle this #foolish labor of love.
The previous owner had strung it with steel strings when it was probably only ever meant for silk and steel and then cranked them up until until the screw-on bridge pulled away from the top before he tossed it out.
The biggest challenge was removing what can only be described as decoupage, or bar top thickness plastic from the body to get at the genuine Luan. #Underneath this heavy coating, the soundboard was actually covered with a paper photograph of spruce and rosette that was even harder to remove than the heavy plastic finish.
The bridge saddle was shot, so I made one from aluminum, glued a cracked brace on the soundboard and cobbled together a bridge backing plate where there had been none and glued/bolted the bridge back onto the soundboard.
I've had it strung up to pitch with silk and steel strings #for five nights now and it plays in tune and stays in tune over night! #How does it sound? #Better than I ever thought it would for an all plywood piece of you know what -- kind of punchy, but perfectly adequate for someone just starting out who would rather learn drums anyway -- and that's where it's going this weekend, to my precious sixteen-year-old niece who's just getting back into life after a horrible car accident that took her sister's life.
My special thanks for the baking soda/cyanoacrylate tip #(it helped me get rid of a nasty buzz on the low E string after my "setup") and for the confidence to tackle this #foolish labor of love.