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Post subject: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 4:14 pm
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It's been drastic surgery time this week.

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Five Strats, one Telecaster and one Jazz Bass, all restrung, neck reliefs measured, truss rods adjusted accordingly, actions set, intonations set, pickup heights tweaked a little, crackly pots blasted with contact cleaner, one switch replaced, everything cleaned off with Ronsonol and a drop or two of linseed oil on the rosewood boards.

What are YOU doing to keep your guitars in tip-top condition this week?

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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 4:22 pm
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nothing needed to be done ... :)


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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 4:41 pm
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Doing a little polishing and rosewood fretboard conditioning this weekend myself!


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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 4:46 pm
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You're supposed to perform maintenance on your guitars?
:lol:

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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 5:06 pm
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Ahhh... maintenance. Have also been doing it... all the same type of stuff... but just on the old '62 RI. Tweaked pickup heights... re-set action... Lemon Oiled the Rosewood... Re- set the float.... Not only is it fun in it's own "geeky" kind of way... but, it also seems to be oddly therapeutic at the same time.
Guess there is really is something just a little bit "Diff" 'bout us Guit-Fiddlin types.

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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sat Nov 09, 2013 9:00 pm
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yodacaster wrote:
You're supposed to perform maintenance on your guitars?
:lol:


Don't make me post the facepalm pic again

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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 12:16 am
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just getting the new to me gibby sg , full setup , sanded the back of the neck down to bare wood , top wrapped the tail piece , adjust pup hights and was good to go 8) , cheers
Alan

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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 6:41 am
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Truss rod/action/intonation adjustment (in that order) on multiple guitars this weekend.

Slight problems with one 2012 MIM Tele Thinline '72 RI, in that the E6 string can't be made long enough for perfect intonation.
The screws that's supposed to secure the bridge plate aren't screwed nearly far enough in to secure anything, which means the tail is pulled forward, which means not enough space to pull the string far enough back.

I can't just fasten the screws either as it appears the holes aren't deep enough. It hasn't just come loose - it lacks quite a distance to be fastened, and never were.
I will have to remove the bridge, drill deeper holes, and fasten it for the first time. The mind boggles, because the people doing QA in Mexico must have noticed that the entire bridge plate slid freely when putting on strings, and they chose to send it out anyhow. This seems like a tooling problem, so I wonder how many others went out like it.

Good news:
The PRS SE I picked up a month or so ago is turning out great. The truss rod had been tightened all the way to the end. Apparently the former owner wanted easy barres and didn't care whether it rattled. Several generous applications of oil also brought back life to the fretboard, which turned from dead charcoal to lustrous rosewood. To do: Replace the bridge pup with one more precise. Pearly Gates, perhaps.


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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 7:36 am
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arth1 wrote:
The truss rod had been tightened all the way to the end. Apparently the former owner wanted easy barres and didn't care whether it rattled.


Ugh. I just never understand people who do that. It's not difficult to set a guitar up so it's easy to play and doesn't buzz, especially a reasonably well made guitar like a PRS. And if you've really got to compromise then I'd rather set the neck relief so there's no buzz.

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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 7:56 am
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GilgaFrank wrote:
arth1 wrote:
The truss rod had been tightened all the way to the end. Apparently the former owner wanted easy barres and didn't care whether it rattled.


Ugh. I just never understand people who do that. It's not difficult to set a guitar up so it's easy to play and doesn't buzz, especially a reasonably well made guitar like a PRS. And if you've really got to compromise then I'd rather set the neck relief so there's no buzz.


Most of the PRSes are set neck, so there's no neck relief. But still, with the (excellent) PRS bridges, you can lower the action as much as you like on that end. Of course, that's adjusting twelve screws plus the pickup heights instead of just one...
This one had a clearing on the 8th fret of minus 0.30 mm. Sure, it was dead easy to barre, but...

It's my first PRS, and now that it's set up right, I'm quite frankly impressed. It's so easy to play, and truly well made.
So it might not be my last.


Last edited by arth1 on Sun Nov 10, 2013 8:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 7:57 am
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Umm... I guess I played a couple of them recently. They seemed okay. 8)

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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 8:17 am
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CRGuitarMan wrote:
Umm... I guess I played a couple of them recently. They seemed okay. 8)


Always good to be positively surprised. But brand quality changes over the years too (certainly true for Fender, and even more for Gibson), so I always want to check guitars out before making a verdict. Right now, I rank PRS and Music Man very good value, but that may change on a dime.

They still don't make Telecasters though :)


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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 10:03 am
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GilgaFrank wrote:
yodacaster wrote:
You're supposed to perform maintenance on your guitars?
:lol:


Don't make me post the facepalm pic again


I'd love to be able to do this more often.
As those with multiple guitars know, its either too time consuming
or too much money to take in to the shop.
I have neither time nor money to keep on top of it as
regularly as I would like. They usually get the yearly treatment.

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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Sun Nov 10, 2013 10:45 am
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yodacaster wrote:
I'd love to be able to do this more often.
As those with multiple guitars know, its either too time consuming
or too much money to take in to the shop.
I have neither time nor money to keep on top of it as
regularly as I would like. They usually get the yearly treatment.
Yep, indeed, Yoda, it's tough to stay on top of all of my guitars, currently numbering around 70 at last count. 2/3 are in cases at any given time, the rest are usually hanging on the walls in the climate-controlled Music Room.

When it comes to light maintenance or string changing time, I usually do about 6 at a time. My hands don't sweat when I play and I don't abuse my guitars, so extensive maintenance is not an issue for me most of the time.

I will say that my most extensive guitar "maintenance" occurs at the time of purchase, when I take everything down to the nub and clean, restring, set up and restore as I go.

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Post subject: Re: MAINTENANCE! (Again)
Posted: Mon Nov 11, 2013 8:42 am
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Well Frank, you inspired me to check when I last changed strings and I was astounded to realize it had been three months, which is highly unusual for me. So three got serviced and strung yesterday and one will get it tonight. Pretty amazing the difference in tone from three month old strings. Funny how we get busy and the little things slip by.

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