I finished one of my guitar projects, for the most part at least. I have had it for a long time, but I have let it sit. Now I have started to really work on finger style so it thought it was time to get to work on it.
It needed the bridge to be reglued and a new nut made for it. The saddle seem ok. I did all these things this last week and It seems playable and it sounds pretty good. It is also intonating well.
Unfortunately i am not too good at putting on nylon classical strings. I completely muffed the tuner wraps. Haha yeah they will need to probobly come off because they are out of tune really bad within a couple of hours. I do love it though. The neck is crazy wide. Wow.
Here are some photos of before and after. Not bad for a broken guitar and a good deal. I dont know anything about the brand or manufacturer either.
Yeah the tuner wraps partly don’t look perfect
But you can loosen and retry.
I’d wait before exchanging the tuners.
Those nylon strings take a bit of time before they settle, some types are faster, some take longer (above all cheaper strings often take longer).
That is typical for nylon strings, it is not a sloppy wrap or a tuner issue. When you first put strings on, they define in real time as you watch.
I tune a full note sharp and leave the guitar over night. Tune back up the next day 1/2 note sharp and leave over night again. After that they settle in pretty quickly and once they do stay in tune very well.
Nylon strings are also sensitive to humidity changes.
Wide nuts take some getting used to. I play 52 mm classical, like yours and 46 mm steel. I can’t even play a 43 mm nut anymore. I have small hands too. Just remember, barre chords will be harder on the flat, wide nut. Doable, but different.
Attach a picture of the label and maybe someone here will know more about it.
Aquila makes some baritone strings for a standard scale classical guitar. As low as
A-A tuning. Very fun!
Question from a non-initiated in the dark arts of lutherie: when gluing the bridge, how do you know where to put it? I mean, if you had the previous mark, it might be somewhat obvious, but I suppose even as little as half a millimeter off will change intonation dramatically.
Do you take careful measurements, or approximate and fine-tune it at the saddle later?
Thanks for the tips. Lots of good infor. You guys are all right because they actually seem to be settling out some today. I was suprised. The Aguilas sound cool.
Yeah this guitar did have a decent build up of finish that I was able to use as a guide to replace the bridge. But I did do the mesurment just to be certain.
The way you do it is to take a mesurment from the nut to the 12th fret. (if you double that number to get your scale length, not needed for this).
Take the nut to 12th fret distance (I had marked it on a piece of tape on my ruler and now go from the 12 fret to the body and that will be the location of the saddle. You will mark it on the body and then need to figure out where it lays in relation to the bridge. I marked this out on the guitar in pencil on the tape. Its easier with a diagram probobly to explain. Luckly it lined up right up perfectly relived also and I didnt worry about it anymore. I was able to move on to the glueing.
Oh, Joshua said the same thing on the settling of nylon strings… and you even seem to have some settling now - great! It will be fine soon then. The strings are certainly fine, it’s often a matter of preference.
On the photo with the strings - there’s already your next project lying? I have lots of sympathy for giving life again to old (and possibly even unsused) instruments!
I also find this is a very rewarding hobby!
Haha., I’d like Scotty to beam me up to your place and have some chat and repair job together’!
Yes, but depending on strings and scale length, there’s some addition of length to the “lower half” needed, to compensate for the bending of the string and pushing it into the frets a bit. You can find tables for this I think. I once googled this for ukes I repaired and it had to be set like 2.5mm backwards of that theoretical position (uhm, that was for the thickest string!, I think to remember. (but this number was for a nylon string on a certain scale length uke and is varying quite a bit!) And then, there’s the compensation based on the exact string in addition, like the low E string on a steel string guitar and an unwound G string is considerably back as you can see on an electric.
There is an Adalid maker that seems to make pretty high end guitars. Double top and such. Yours looks a bit more like and entry level guitar, but hard to tell. The label looks like a licensed label to me. Such that the famous luthier would license the name to another manufacturer.
You may find someone who knows something more accurate over on the DelCamo classical guitar forum.
I am not a fan of the ProArte strings, I find the G dull all the time, however, they have a lot of love and are probably more than adequate strings.
There are too many options to make any specific recommendations. I do like Curt Mangan and Aquila. Aquila probably makes the substrate for most g, b and e strings out there, except for D’Addario, who probably makes everyone else’s.
Yeah there are some really important steps I should be doing, i am sure I missed some.
Oh yeah. This is my Aspen. It is one of the Lawsuit guitars from the 70s. I have done a lot of work on this one already. It had all sorts of issues, but I have finished the body and now on to the neck. It needs its own thread. I should start one for it. Its gorgeous really, and I am really looking forward to playing it.
I was really bummed out last week so I was olaying my guitars for like 12 hours every day for escape. Seriously by friday my fingers were so raw, I just needed to geive them some healing time so I have been hitting the repair projects hard the last few days. This has been a very good push with a lot of progress.
I am guessing its entry level. But its sounds nice at least, good sustain.
Yeah I agree especially thes smaller guitar makers. Interestingly I have this little 3/4 sized Yamaha jr classical I picked up a few months back. I was playing with but I will probobly let it go now that I have a real classical now. Also I already have a good 3/4 sized Luna branded acoustic. Maybe just keep it and give it to some kid. Who knows.
I was considering the tuners in the Yamaha are nicer and in better.condition, I am wondering If I should swap them out. I wish I had thought of that 2 days ago then I could have given them a fit test.
Edit: whats funny is I am not really into classic but it has started to grow on me watching our new mod @Silvia80 and her awsome videos. There are a couple of classical songs I really would like to learn and I consider my dream pieces.
Classical gas would be no small feat. Firmly in expert territory. Best of luck! On my list, but maybe next decade…
I would suppose that most full size guitars, classical or other, sound better than 3/4 size in many ways. Even a good parlor can struggle a bit and the 3/4 size are often not top of the line.
Are you sure the Yamaha tuners are really better and not just newer and shinier? Maybe clean and lube the current ones first.
I guess you’re right, but there are always exceptions, like smaller guitars that sound exceptionally nice. And in terms of parlor guitars you’ll probably meet my really nice small one in the next OM, if any bad sounds will come out of it (yes, very probably) it won’t be the guitar’s fault
@Ontime Did you compare both guitars? I would also think that the “real” one, the bigger would sound nicer, but who knows?
I have classical Yamaha (full size) from around 1975 and I really like this one, sounds very nice although it wasn’t a really good model.
You know Justin’s Lesson on the three categories of songs one should practice, Campfire, Developer, Dreamer?
So I approve your choice if that’s what inspires you! Approach it with curiosity and be happy if it’ll take time to nail maybe just a few bars ! I started my journey as a big dreamer and I learnt really a lot along the way by wondering “ok, now how I do this? What do I need to achieve that? How does this thing work?”…put some problem-solving at work and you’ll be having fun in your learning!
Please remember about your Campfire and Developer songs as well!
Oh yeah I have a bunch of the first 2. I love my songs in the first 2 categories. Although tbh, I probobly dont have enough in my dreamers list because it would be too long.
One of the arems is bent some, i did do a little straighting in the vise and also cleaned them up some. I tightened the sloppyness as best I could too. They work well enough. They give it the mojo I suppose .
No Kidding its tough. But a little at a time. Its not biggie. We palyed it in DCI when I was young so it would be cool to play it on guitar.
For sure the full size sounds better. Its got more sustain and a deeper tone. I am still a big fan of 3/4 sized guitars and I have decided to keep the yamaha jr classical. It will just hang out in the livingroom for guests or whatever.
I have a 3/4 steel string acoustic that I use as a living room guitar and truck guitar. I absolutely love it. It will never sound like a dread but its has it sounds great when camping or at the beach and takes bairly any space and I can get a good sound out of it for strumming and other campy easy fun songs.
Approach it with curiosity and be happy if it’ll take time to nail maybe just a few bars ! I started my journey as a big dreamer and I learnt really a lot along the way by wondering “ok, now how I do this? What do I need to achieve that? How does this thing work?”…put some problem-solving at work and you’ll be having fun in your learning!
