Mastodawn

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama

Made up my mind to make my best guitar fit better, I’m paring down the neck of my Martin 00-15M at last, after having a been stuck about it for eight or nine years .
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i’ve removed the nut and taken the width off of the frets so far.
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Next I want to think about how to remove a bunch of wood without offending my poor old hands, I need a grinder or something.
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 11

I need to order a few Stratocaster nuts, the spread is good and I like the look of them on my leftovers guitar (pic attached) - and a piece of bone to carve from scratch, because that’s what’s really proper. But the strat ones will be good to set it up.
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 12

Well, it passes my test, I can touch my tiny finger to thumb around it at the eighth fret. Needs finishing, but I had to put it together to make sure I’d done OK, and it seems good.
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 12

even the temporary nut went well, bloody serendipity. I had a few old, garbage ones of about my measurements for string spread, and of course they weren’t the right height, so I guessed and put two layers of tie wrap under it for starters.
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Because of the tie wrap bits, the nut was above the slot for it, and when I glued it on, the bass side tilted out - and it’s almost perfect, totally playable, LOL. Parts on order, but it already feels terrific. 😀
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The new nut and the colour says 1 - 4 weeks, so everything’s put away, workbench is my coffee table again, house is normal, like it never happened, one day. Kind of weird.
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#Guitar
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EDIT TO ADD: two pics. Also, the nut is a little high on the A string, but I’m trying not to take a knife near it just for the temporary one.

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 13

Cleaned up the back of the neck some more. It’s a guitar from rhe back, with the neck sanded down and wanting stain and finishing.

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 13

Played it for a minute last evening, after that bit of sanding, but today my hands are, as the guy says, Just like two balloons - I mean, not all that, but enough.
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Getting the colour off and the shape right around the heel, where the neck meets the body is really tricky. So far this one’s smooth there, and it’s the first one that is. 😬
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The thing is terrific, I’ve waited eight years, I want to play it, but I don’t need the association of what it will sound like if I play it now, when it’s hard to make a fist. I want that experience to not be any sort of disappointing. Mostly my tooting thumb is killing me. 😘💜

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 14

I just got out another table and my vice, set it all up in the living room, I was going to unstring the guitar, take the tuners off and sand the colour off of the back of the headstock so if the new colour isn’t perfect at least the whole back of the neck is the same colour. Plus, with the tuners and strings off I thought I could put the headstock in the vice and dress the fret ends - so I got all that set up and then I looked at the tuners and their brand new little Phillips screws and thought, what if the colour is OK and I damaged that factory perfection for nothing?
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so I dressed the frets with one hand and no vice, pulling the strings out of the way and put the vice and the table away again.
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Patience. Don’t hurt it pre-emptively because you’re impatient or bored. 👍
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/7
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 14

depressed, because this will make me officially out of excuses
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right now I can’t remember a single tune I think I can play. That’s why it took so long because I never thought my abilities were worth the price of this guitar, I guess I forgot 😠💜
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delayed buyer’s stress, I’ve finally committed to it so it’s like I just paid for it 😬
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EDIT TO ADD: I mean, I have seriously impacted its resalability, a small handed person might pay for the work but there’s no such market, I’ve probably just lost at least half the value. It really was just sitting in the bank until now, but now as I like to say, I’m committed, or I should be. 😜
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/8
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 14

OK, stop, you fool! It’s small enough, maybe the smallest one yet, scaring myself. 😬
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I’ve got the lines straight, I mean you can’t hide the taper and I think there’s a bulge right at the nut on the treble side, but I’m not going to take any more off for the temporary nut, I’ll address that when I install the new one.
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Decided I need to stop putting oil on it, it’s small enough, I can’t be sanding the surface off again for the stain, so I need to not start playing it regularly yet. Come on, US Mail (and customs and Canuck Mail), let’s go 😈
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/9
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 15

I don’t want to be tempted to touch it anymore, but I’ve been obsessing a bit about the width of the neck and that bump at the nut, so I got out the yellow guitar, the old Framus semi-acoustic and measured it to check a few things, and I did find a little peace.
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The Martin’s neck is now the same size as that one, and good news, that one has a stratocaster nut - better news, that one has enough room betwen the strings and the edge too - the Martin seems a little close to the edge right now, with that temporary old nut on it.
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Now I’m pretty sure it will all be just fine with the new nut in place and that I’ll be able to get the wood right then too. 👍
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Now put it away and leave it alone. No tracking yet, just, “label created.” 💜
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/10
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EDIT TO ADD: so this thread’s over for a while. Cheers.
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Update, fed ex thinks the stuff may get here by the end of the month, but reminds me that winter has not yet ended in Canada.
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 18

Still ten days away, I couldn’t stop or wait, I made up another temporary nut and set it all up, still a practice setup, it’s still bare wood, but I’ve dressed the fret ends, feels smooth and safe, and I aligned the new nut which is more like the final measurements.
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Except for the pink, multi-piece nut and for no colour and lacquer on the back, this is what it is, what it will be. Pretty stoked. 😀
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/11
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 18

Suddenly every other guitar’s nut looks like a snowball in a coalbin, this sudden bright thing that has no place among the wood, LOL. Tonally, I like this silliness. 😜💜🎶
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It’s driving me nuts wanting to put the other one away and play this one, but it’s bare wood waiting for colour in the mail, and it’s not just a matter of having clean hands, it’s my thyroid, I play for three minutes and start sweating, at almost any temperature, I don’t want to be sweating on it.
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I still haven’t got a full recording of Changes yet, that’s what I want to do on it. 🙄😇
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/11
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 18

OK, I need to be more careful with the permanent nut, this one’s spread is wider than the first temporary one, I’m going the wrong direction. 🙄🤨😀
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I dragged the e string over the edge on the first song, eish. A moment of pre-despair panic, but even if this was the forever one, it’s a trade off my little fingers need to make anyway.
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But I will make sure the new one is stratocaster wide or less. 😬
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/12
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EDIT TO ADD: OK, second song. 😬
But seriously, this is amazing. 💜
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 28

Ooh, less, much less. I got a little braver than I meant to paring it down and the stratocaster spread is too close my new edge, this guitar will be the smallest one yet. I need to carve the new nut with only 1/4” between the strings, I mean centred at 1/4”, whereas the strat nut seem to have almost 5/16” between, centred, adding up to >1 3/8” total spread, and I need this one to be at 1 1/4” to leave any room at the edges, which I suppose should be half of the distance between strings, so >1/8”.
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I haven’t got any old nuts that small, and only the one new blank to carve - and really, not the right tools, you can buy a set of six graduated size blades, I should but I haven’t. I’d love to farm the nut out to a pro with the right gear.
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Big joke about the stain I ordered - I ordered the stain that looks like brown mahogany - the bloody neck IS brown mahogany already, that stain just made the grain disappear!! LOL, what a fool. 😠
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I bought a liquid stain, “Kona,” colour, laid that on and it’s close, maybe needs some more colours, I put some Red Mahogany on top of the Kona and I’m happy enough, already spraying the lacquer, should finish that tomorrow. It’s all masked off for that, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the neck’s new colour matches late tomorrow. 💜🎶
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I’m scared it’s so small, but we’ll see. On the one hand, my fingers keep getting fatter and won’t fit between the strings, but also I think reaching around it will get worse too, and I’ll need them smaller still. I’ll see. 😬💜
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/13
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 28

Y’all ought to be half horrified by my largesse here and half in awe of my zenness about it 😬😀🎶💜
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/14
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama 6d ago

OK, my goodness, that is a process, carving a custom nut from a bone blank, huh?
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You do not want to go too far, so it’s tune it up, loosen a string, carve your notch a little, string it up again to check, repeat, just a little at a time, every micron helps, but a micron too far is too much.
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I think I only went through all six maybe eight times, scratched the headstock a bit as usual - even fairly expensive guitars never see this much care and labour, but it’s worth it, I suppose more worth it the smaller and weaker your hands are.
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you do expire some strings doing that, predictably lost a G and an E string, not new ones, I’m finally learning that, setup with old ones.
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I no longer fear the dreaded F chord because of this extra attention , LOL 😀
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I managed to create the measurements I talked about, see the pic 😀and it seems playable, although it is my smallest one yet, it passed my test all the way up.
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I’m pretty happy, it’s not too bad for being done with an old ginsu steak knife. 💜
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/15
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama 5d ago

So that means it’s done, unless I can talk myself into wiping the colour off the neck and trying another stain, I’d like to try the red mahogany first, otherwise I’m out of ideas for colour. But that could be done without unstringing it, it’s done.
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There are some finishing issues, I don’t really have the patience for fine work, there are a few sandpaper scratches against the grain I didn’t find until I was done, around the heel and around the nut, and the nut’s a bit proud side to side, I can never get it flush there without continuing to whittle the wood around it away too, and I can’t do more of that, so I’m settling for smooth, no sharp edges.
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(I know, take it off and sand the sides down, but I did that before I put it on already and it’s difficult as Hell, the thing is brittle and not square so my huge vice is no help holding it, and my fucked up hands can’t hold the thing either, I gave up on that.)
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The nut seems whiter than the saddle, I’m thinking about the pink nut I had for a minute, about painting the nut and the saddle the same colour, maybe not pink, that was nail polish, I have some yellow paint.
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Plus, as I started to say, the Kona colour isn’t red enough to match.
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But it’s all solid colour and the nut is all one proper piece, it looks pretty good from a distance, almost proper, my most proper one yet as well as the smallest - and it feels amazing. Of course shaving the neck down doesn’t hurt that great sound. 💜
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Sad it took me so long to do it, but I guess I’m glad I didn’t try it first, when I first bought it upon retirement, and learn on it by screwing it up (like the other one).
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Pics after I wake up a bit, and if it’s a good day, we’ll see if it passes the ultimate test for size, if I can play Blackbird on it. 😀🎶💜
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/16
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama 5d ago

just more pics. 💜🎶
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/17
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama 5d ago

little update: I think I can make the stretches for Blackbird but I can’t play through it once to show you, this is not a good music day, even for me. I pick one bar and my hand tenses up
and won’t move, I mean my whole body does.
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I mean my hands are puffy, I worked them yesterday on this project. But also, I’m just apparently super tense today. 💜
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/18
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama 4d ago

Well, I’m trying for the colour again. Problem is I was getting stuck, didn’t want to keep putting the required coats of lacquer on if I was going to try to change it, and I got scared that if I let it pass for a while I might never do either.
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So it’s the nasty lacquer solvent and then sand the colour out, try again with the “red mahogany. So far I like it but I’ve said that before. 😘💜
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Ah, better. I think I can make my peace with that. Ran out my lacquer on this first new coat, I’ll have to buy another can.
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/19
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#Guitar

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama 2d ago

OK, colour and lacquer are done - except I just noticed the body on the guitar isn’t so shiny, maybe I want to finish the neck with a coat of matte - but I’ll think about that, that’s an easy thing at any time. I notice the body is getting shiny where it gets touched and my shiny neck will probably get duller with time, and eventually it will all match.
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Really happy with the colour, if anyone wants to know and doesn’t, the Martin mahogany seems to be stained, darkened with a red mahogany coloured stain.
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I did get the nut off again and shaped it some more, and I’m painting both nut and saddle yellow, because either I ordered the wrong coloured blank or I’ve just suffered too much normal variation, they’re different shades. I’ll sand the paint off the edge of the saddle and I filled the slots on the nut with toothpaste which should wash away so there’s no paint contacting the strings.
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Glue the nut back in tomorrow, then a fresh set of strings, it’ll be done, pics after that again. 💜
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/20
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#Guitar

Anti Faisisteach Saebhiar 5d ago

@punishmenthurts hydrating helps me

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama 5d ago

@xmacdonald 💜ty

@punishmenthurts
Ouch!

The Great Llama

@punishmenthurts
I've always been a big fan of that synthetic Tusq material. Works, looks and feels like bone, but it has a bit of lubricity that makes tuning more stable.

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 12

@TheGreatLlama
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thanks, I’ve ordered both. 💜

Geoff Duncan Mar 11

@punishmenthurts
This is not my wheelhouse, but are you trying to make the neck *slimmer* or *narrower* (or, I guess, both!)?

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 11

@geoffduncan
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I wish it could be thinner, front (fretboard) to back, but that’s where the danger is, so I’m settling for narrower. Telling myself it’s about circumference, and not front to back slimness. I like a sharp V but again, that’s scary. It’s a bit of a leap. 😬

Geoff Duncan Mar 11

@punishmenthurts
I’m not a luthier, but if you’re confident in your woodworking skills it’s doable. “Narrower” side to side probably means removing the neck, which is usually non-trivial.

I imagine folks have recommended finding another guitar with a neck profile that better suits you, though, and that you have your reasons for going down this path.

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 11

@geoffduncan
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thank you, I do, my fingers are literally the length of AA batteries, I am far beyond the available variance commercially.
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I’m not removing the neck, there’s no help narrowing the fretboard up there, on the body, I’ll just taper it from the 12th. fret to the body.

Geoff Duncan Mar 11

@punishmenthurts
Wow, that’s more courage than I’ve got—I look forward to seeing how it turns out!

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 11

@geoffduncan
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I’ve been aftaid of this for years already, now I’m finally getting excited. 💜

The Great Llama

@punishmenthurts
Brave! I don't think I'd have the guts to be that aggressive on a Martin.

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 11

@TheGreatLlama
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like I say, took several years, and it does feel a little mad. 😜

Moss da Bard 🇨🇦🇧🇧🇲🇽🇬🇱Mar 12

@punishmenthurts
You amaze me with the work you do on instruments. I don't think I've ever told you that.

Goiterzan/Amygdalai Lama Mar 12

@bardmoss
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Thanks. Feeling pretty hit and miss, I’m not very happy with what was my main acoustic, that’s part of what finally got me doing the hot rod at last. It’s going to be so great, I should have done it ages ago. 💜

Scott the F is implicit Baxter Mar 12

@punishmenthurts I used a bench sander, but it was on a $75 Chinese neck.