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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2020 14:19:12 GMT
What do you think makes for the best nut and saddle? I'm toying with buying a Yamaha parlour for busking but it has a urea nut and saddle. (For those curious about the guitar it'll be either the Yamaha CSF1M or CSF3M - the 1 has laminate back/sides while the 3 is solid). I'd like to upgrade it but I'm not sure what to go for. Also do you have any recommendations as to the best brand or place to buy it from (nut/saddle, not guitar). I've not bought one before so I don't know where to start looking.
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Martin
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Post by Martin on Aug 12, 2020 15:56:13 GMT
Well, if I was a guitar snob (or if I knew anything at all about tone production) then I'd say bone will generally sound better. But I'm not. A snob or knowledgable. I have really nice guitars with bone and tusq used variously for nut/saddle and I'm loathe to change things on any as I like the tone they already produce. In saying that, I AM shallow, and love the look of well cut unbleached bone, and just last year got a local luthier to cut and fit such items to the nut/saddle areas of a guitar, and boy did it look sexy. Not while I was playing it obviously, but when I had moved a respectable distance away.....wow! Cost me £80 to get it fit and for the three weeks until I sold it, that guitar looked and sounded great Money well spent...anyway, the other thing about bone is that it's a real hassle to work with unless you have the tools. If like me you only have cheap sandpaper for smoothing the plastic on Airfix model planes, then you will be working for weeks days hours quite a while, and the smell is....challenging. Then with a nut, you'll probably need a set of nut files, unless you're a true artisan Good luck with it, but a decent luthier would (and is) my choice for replacing techy bits and bobs. The origin of Urea as a material is interesting. I bet sanding that would be nice.
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Post by jangarrack on Aug 12, 2020 16:36:28 GMT
I think that's good advice from Martin, but to be honest if I was buying any guitar from that bloke in those videos, I would worry more about the bendy, banana like necks. I have 3 guitars with tusq and 3 with bone and very happy with all. The only thing I could add is that I once had a Martin OM28 that during a set up had a bone nut and saddle fitted in place of the original corian or micarta material and I noticed no real difference at all. I think that like so many things with acoustic guitars, there are so many variables at play that improvements or changes are likely to be different from guitar to guitar. I do favour tusq though and have used a lot of tusq bridge pins in the past. Have you tried any of the Yamaha CSF guitars? I'm curious as I fancied one once some years back and tried the all solid version, but it really didn't do anything for me at all. Reviews I read were all very positive though, so it could've been just that one or more likely, just me.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2020 16:58:15 GMT
Haven't tried the CSFs yet but am intending to before I buy. I'm sort of GASsing for Yamaha at the moment. I love the tone and I suspect it's partly a way of making up for the disappointment of finding out the LS56 has been discontinued when I've had my heart set on one for quite a long time.
I think TUSQ might be the best bet and I'll definitely get a luthier to do it. I'm hamfisted at the best of times. I can drop things that are already on the floor. No way I'm going to attempt surgery on a musical instrument. Changing strings and tuning it (annually) are my hard limits.
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Post by Onechordtrick on Aug 12, 2020 17:34:04 GMT
Haven't tried the CSFs yet but am intending to before I buy. I'm sort of GASsing for Yamaha at the moment. I love the tone and I suspect it's partly a way of making up for the disappointment of finding out the LS56 has been discontinued when I've had my heart set on one for quite a long time. I think TUSQ might be the best bet and I'll definitely get a luthier to do it. I'm hamfisted at the best of times. I can drop things that are already on the floor. No way I'm going to attempt surgery on a musical instrument. Changing strings and tuning it (annually) are my hard limits. Annual tuning?! You spoil your guitar ;
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2020 17:46:15 GMT
Haven't tried the CSFs yet but am intending to before I buy. I'm sort of GASsing for Yamaha at the moment. I love the tone and I suspect it's partly a way of making up for the disappointment of finding out the LS56 has been discontinued when I've had my heart set on one for quite a long time. I think TUSQ might be the best bet and I'll definitely get a luthier to do it. I'm hamfisted at the best of times. I can drop things that are already on the floor. No way I'm going to attempt surgery on a musical instrument. Changing strings and tuning it (annually) are my hard limits. Annual tuning?! You spoil your guitar ; Always sounds weird for a few days afterwards but I was playing it in the garden and a neighbour shouted "tune your f***ing guitar for f***s sake". He seemed upset so I compromised and told him I would tune it once a year and refrain from burning his house down as long as he didn't interrupt me again. Anyway, he moved later that year so the problem was solved. Shame. He was the only one round here that I liked.
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Post by Onechordtrick on Aug 12, 2020 18:16:37 GMT
Annual tuning?! You spoil your guitar ; Always sounds weird for a few days afterwards but I was playing it in the garden and a neighbour shouted "tune your f***ing guitar for f***s sake". He seemed upset so I compromised and told him I would tune it once a year and refrain from burning his house down as long as he didn't interrupt me again. Anyway, he moved later that year so the problem was solved. Shame. He was the only one round here that I liked. I think you gave a reasonable and proportionate response.
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Post by jangarrack on Aug 12, 2020 19:28:55 GMT
Haven't tried the CSFs yet but am intending to before I buy. I'm sort of GASsing for Yamaha at the moment. I love the tone and I suspect it's partly a way of making up for the disappointment of finding out the LS56 has been discontinued when I've had my heart set on one for quite a long time. I think TUSQ might be the best bet and I'll definitely get a luthier to do it. I'm hamfisted at the best of times. I can drop things that are already on the floor. No way I'm going to attempt surgery on a musical instrument. Changing strings and tuning it (annually) are my hard limits. Not sure if I've misunderstood what you're after as my understanding is that the Yamaha CSFs and LS56s are very different guitars, both small bodied but but with the LS range being much higher quality and a lot more expensive. Very different characteristics as well, I would think. I've never tried an LS, but was told by a friend who had that it was very special. As for, "I can drop things that are already on the floor," I have many days like that now so very glad to know I'm not the only one.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2020 19:39:39 GMT
No, you haven't misunderstood at all. They are very different guitars. Certainly wouldn't expect to find a urea nut and saddle on an LL56. But I have also learned a great secret and I shall share it with you. GAS doesn't care.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2020 19:43:29 GMT
Why would you be worried about banana necks? I don't understand. He's based in the Far East anyway and he's a guitar tech who does review videos but I don't get the banana necks thing. I like his videos. He has a bit of the thing for fossilised mammoth ivory which can be a bit much but he's informative about the build of the guitars he's playing, he obviously loves guitars and he plays enough that you can get a good idea of what the guitar sounds like.
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Post by jangarrack on Aug 12, 2020 20:41:50 GMT
Why would you be worried about banana necks? I don't understand. He's based in the Far East anyway and he's a guitar tech who does review videos but I don't get the banana necks thing. I like his videos. He has a bit of the thing for fossilised mammoth ivory which can be a bit much but he's informative about the build of the guitars he's playing, he obviously loves guitars and he plays enough that you can get a good idea of what the guitar sounds like. It was just my feeble attempt at humour on seeing these guitar necks distorted through his camera, but it seems my jokes must be on a par with my guitar playing.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2020 20:43:22 GMT
I didn't even notice that.
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Post by andyhowell on Aug 13, 2020 7:11:06 GMT
To be honest I don’t give it a second thought. Am usually more focussed on sound!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 13, 2020 10:08:01 GMT
To be honest I don’t give it a second thought. Am usually more focussed on sound! *Deleted*
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Post by jangarrack on Aug 13, 2020 17:10:28 GMT
To be honest I don’t give it a second thought. Am usually more focussed on sound! And that is the important thing. I've heard other players pick up any old guitar and make them sound good regardless of whatever the nuts and saddles are made of. I think it's so easy to get distracted by details thinking that spending on this or that will make me sound better, I've often been guilty of it and not just with guitars. I took up photography a few years ago and got sucked into constantly wanting better gear until I quickly realised that my hobby was no longer photography, it was shopping. Same with HiFi, I had to replace my amp last year and found that most of the time I was listening to the equipment and not the music. Most of the time now I tend to be pretty happy with (and grateful for) what I've got.
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