A common repair is when a manufacturer glues the bridge directly onto the instruments lacquer finish, after a period of time it vibrates loose. By keying the area where the bridge is seated the glue has good material to bind with.
The nuts I use are often bone, I find bone has some very good properties and superb density. One of the properties is it looks good after twenty years. Often plastic cracks, discolors badly and typically doesn't sound good, the very cheap plastic nuts are hollow, so there is no hope for them. Setting up the nut and saddle is key to getting the intonation correct.
Modern guitars of any quality have an off-set saddle of some kind to compensate for the intonation of the instrument, for this to perform the nut and saddle setup must be adjusted to the string gauge and string type. If the string gauge is changed, strings that are too light will rattle in the slots of the guitar nut, if they are too thick they will ride up in the slot and not be seated correctly.
The gauge often determines the tension, if the tension of the strings is wrong the neck will pull forward too much or not enough, the truss-rod can compensate for this but instruments that have no truss rod, the problem is considerable. In cases where a nylon string guitar has been changed to steel strings, damage can occur.
I am preparing the bridge for gluing, very delicate business, I finish the guitar and then chisel off the finish before gluing this insures 100 % contact with the bridge and soundboard.
Here we see the saddle has been compensated for a dedicated string set.
Guitars in the first stage of fitting a bone nut.
Old strings have a sound of their own. Legend has it the old blues men use to clean their strings by boiling them in hot water with a touch of whiskey or vinegar.
The formation and smoothness of the grooves is critical for ease of tuning and prevents the string from breaking, the use of graphite helps in this process.
2007 Stephen Stick : Brass string harness with a natural patina, this instrument is eleven years old and has seen a considerable amount of use. I like to use brass as a component for my instruments, it has very good qualities one of them being the patina it gets as it ages.
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I fit the nut before lacquering then remove it to do the lacquering. After the lacquer is dry I do the final install of the nut.
The advantage being when replacing or adjusting the nut in the future it can be removed without damaging the finish.
With my 12 string acoustic guitars I compensate the saddle for each and every string so the instruments intonation is correct, meaning the instrument plays in tune.
The correct break angle is important, too little break angle and the strings buzz as they ride over the nut or saddle. If the break angle is too acute the strings will bind or can snap.
Studio hours : Mon - Fri 10.00 am - 5.30