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Help: Improve guitar sound....
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Help: Improve guitar sound.... |
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Subject: Improve guitar sound.... From: GUEST,Duffy Keith:guest Date: 04 Jun 02 - 08:14 AM Hello guitar buffs....I bought an old guitar in a yard sale a couple of years ago, it has a great action, and a great feel, but the tone is rather quiet, does anyone know if i could sand the top (flat top guitar) down a few 32nds of an inch to improve the resonance...the guitar is a Japanese clone of a dreadnought, with the brand name "MAYA", and is a really cool guitar in so many ways, but just not loud and resonant....i'd be happy to know how to improve the sound...Thanks...DK |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: RichM Date: 04 Jun 02 - 08:21 AM This isn't what you want to hear: Sell it, find a guitar that sounds good , buy it... |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: mooman Date: 04 Jun 02 - 08:30 AM Dear Keith, What string gauges are you using? If the action is low as you say, upping to, say, 13-56 (medium gauge) might be the cheapest way to improve the volume and drive the soundboard. There are many other things (mostly complicated) it is possible to do to improve the sound but these may not be worth the effort or cost involved so this would probably be my recommendation for starters. Best regards, mooman |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: Mooh Date: 04 Jun 02 - 08:54 AM Keith, I'm inclined to agree with RichM on this one, but... If it's a ply/laminate top, do not sand it. In fact, sanding the top is a very iffy thing anyway and may not give you the tonal results you're looking for and has great potential for physical failure too. A pro set-up is necessary. Make sure the nut and saddle are of a quality composition (I like bone), and fit the slots cut for them snuggly. This allows for better sound transmission. Ill fitting nuts and saddles eat tone. Make sure the string pins fit well and that the ball ends of the strings are seated against the underside of the top. Tuning machines should be of a quality brand, well fitted, and maintained. A fret job is worthwhile, including dressing, intonating, replacement and reseating if necessary (loose frets eat tone). Experiment with string types (bronze, phosphor-bronze, etc) and guages. Some guitars just seem to sound better tuned down a half-step or two, but if you do this, guage up in string size to maintain tension. Check for loose braces and net joint. Make sure anything that can loosen (like strap buttons and tuning machines) are snug. The bridge should be securely fixed to the top, but if it needs glueing it has to be clamped because glue joints which are too thick eat tone. Structural cracks should be glued and clamped, particularly when they're in the top or between the fingerboard and the neck wood. I see dozens of lousy sounding guitars every year, and all of them would improve with a simple set-up job. Several months ago I bought a "factory second" guitar which had the worst fret job to come out of any major maker I've seen ever. A quick pro dressing and set-up made it wonderful to play. Good luck! Peace, Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: Devilmaster Date: 04 Jun 02 - 09:05 AM Now, let me just start off by saying, I know not if this works. I don't know if its worth what you would pay. And let me also say that I'm not a guitar player. I only offer the website, perhaps other catters have tried it or seen someone who has it.... anyways.... JLD Bridge system Steve |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: Steve in Idaho Date: 04 Jun 02 - 09:33 AM Interesting concept - and I don't know if it works or not. Thanks for the link though!
Is the guitar worth saving? The posts above probably tell you a beter story than I ever could - I'm still working on what really makes the guitar sound the way it does - and consensus is not available!
Steve |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: 53 Date: 04 Jun 02 - 10:35 AM Take it to a guitar repair man and let him make the decision. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: van lingle Date: 04 Jun 02 - 08:48 PM Hi Keith, I had an old Japanese Terada which had a high gloss finish and at the suggestion of a friend I sanded it off, didn't take the wood down just the finish, and put sanding sealer on it. It didn't improve the tone but it made the guitar noticably louder. I didn't have any problems with it after doing this but that's not to say you won't. vl |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: GUEST,John H.Hills Date: 05 Jun 02 - 05:48 PM Try having the strings supported at both bridge and nut on brass. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: kendall Date: 06 Jun 02 - 12:40 PM You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: JohnInKansas Date: 06 Jun 02 - 08:25 PM One example of what might be affected by sanding the top: Luthiers refer to the "tap tones" of the top and bottom, and go to great lengths to get the "tones" where they should be. Usually, the top and bottom are a note or two apart. If the two surfaces are tuned alike, the sides can both move in the same direction at any given time, and the "air volume" stays constant - even though the whole guitar is rattlin' like a tin lizzy. NO significant amount of air can go in and out of the soundhole unless the volume inside the guitar changes - dead guitar (i.e. no "projection"). Removing "mass" from the top should raise the tone. But removing thickness lowers the stiffness, and hence lowers the tone. Without considerable experience, its a crap shoot which way it's going to go. If you have a guitar with significant potential, it's worth having someone with some experience look at it before you start changing stuff. They might even suggest something it's reasonable for you to do yourself. . If you've got a guitar that's not archaeologically significant, and you just want to see what happens when you play around with it - then play, and have fun. (Personally, I think that "tap tone" stuff is just something the luthiers tell us to keep us thinking they really know something. They're very hard for most people even to hear.) John |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: zac Date: 06 Jun 02 - 09:35 PM |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: zac Date: 06 Jun 02 - 09:51 PM Tap tones ,whether you can hear them or not,tend to be guidelines for an experienced builder to control to some degree the volume and tone of an instrument. I haven't seen the guitar, but I think if I were trying to improve the tone and volume , I would concentrate on the braces of the back first,(re-shaping braces), then the top bracing, going ever so lightly on the top. |
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Subject: RE: Help: Improve guitar sound.... From: GUEST,guitarfixer Date: 07 Jun 02 - 01:29 PM A proper setup makes a guitar sound much better and somewhat louder. The reason is simple. The physics of music. When the harmonic overtones and fundamentals are in close alignment they re-enforce each other. When they are slightly off, they fight each other. A bone bridge saddle will improve harmonic structure and make the sound richer, not necessarily louder. Lighter braces will make an instrument louder. Better to attack the bracing than the top. Go no further than coarse sandpaper. Compare your guitar's braces to others first. Wood bridge pins sound better than plastic, but any pins need to fit well. "Ramping" the strings at the bridge will give more volume. Make a handle from a 4 inch long dowel, cut a 3-4 inch section of a coping saw blade. Stick it in the dowel and Superglue. Now you have a handy saw. Use it to cut a slot from the center of the bridge pin hole back toward the saddle. Enlarge the cut slightly with a needle file. With the string "ramping" more sharply off the saddle down to the pin hole, the string tension (and volume) is increased. Don't use this technique on valuable instruments. Check out the C.F. Martin Road Series and 14 Series guitars. Look at the angle of strings over the saddle. See how they achieve that angle. Freshness of strings is as important as brand. Get your strings from a store that orders often. Big stores often stock up and buy strings in huge quantities, but don't buy often. The most popular brand at a small store is probably fresher from the string factory. If the store buys strings from "jobbers", not the factory, they will be old before their time. GHS sells direct to dealers only, no long pipeline to the store. If the dealer doesn't buy a 6 month supply at a time, those can guarantee "newer" strings. Check out their "Contact Core" guitar strings. Some string brands like John Pearse have greater tension than the others. They will give you more volume. Pearse Lights will please many players who think only Mediums will provide the big sound they want. String tension will directly affect guitar life. Many fine Martins get new tops when the owners could have switched to Lights and enjoyed the sound of the old, aged wood. |
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