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Posts: 440
Joined: Feb. 23 2005
From: La Jolla, Ca
Flamenco 14 - back 2 the shop...
My baby is 'on the lift', so to speak. A couple things arose, so I addressed them.
1. I was having trouble with the KTM-9 watebased lacquer. Where your skin would touch it, it would cloud a bit, and, unlike other finishes, would not really re-polish. It IS compatible with French, so I just sanded and am French'ing right now.
2. The neck was too thick. More classical feel. Although there were no complaints, I was not happy, and just decided to get to it and reshape it. That came out nice, however, I forgot to 'wash' the cedar with a damp rag to raise the grain upon final sanding, and when I French'd it, THAT rose the grain.... Kind of a pain, but it's okay. Now...Just more sanding... My punishment!
3. The pegs? Yes, I did misunderstand the directions when explained to me, and threaded them wrong, HOWEVER, they were glued in, so that dosn't explain the slipping, and 2 of them still clunk-clunk-clunk as they tune. 2 clunk, 2 slip, and 2 work perfect.
Brian Burns, who is re-selling the pegs, and puts the dots into the tops, is selling me another set with bone dots (a nice touch). He assures me they will be checked to be perfect, and if not, he will MAKE it right. Good guy to deal with. And he sent me a killer CD of David Serva, circa 1962....GRACIAS!!
Here's his link. Builder, teacher-to-build, player, and kool guy;
So while she's up on the rack, I re-checked the frets, found some 'clickers', and am kind of re-hitting those to be perfect.
Sooooo....Lesson Learned. I would consider an older nitrocellulose lacquer for the body, but if I do build again and want that, I'll head over to Sevillano Guitars in TJ, have him tape off the top and spray the guitar (THIN), and then I'd French the top. Otherwise, just all French. A little time, but great stuff, easy to repair, etc.
Off to sit in on a Solea por Buleria dance class. John Moore (Juan Moro) sits in now, so I look at these things like a free lesson! Nothing better for your compas than to have 4-10 people looking at YOU for timing!
RE: Flamenco 14 - back 2 the shop... (in reply to Ramón)
What do you mean by slip? Do they unwind, or does the actuall planetary gear system internally slip? I just bought a couple sets of these and noticed that if you pull on them while turning, they can spin very easily, but when you push on them, they get hard and almost lock up, kinda like a real peg. So if it's just unwinding, try pushing the knob in maybe? I don't know, but it's worth a shot.
Posts: 440
Joined: Feb. 23 2005
From: La Jolla, Ca
RE: Flamenco 14 - back 2 the shop... (in reply to Ramón)
Yes, that's correct. Push up to lock. However, 2, one of them especially, you would NOT lock.
My new set arrived with bone dots, from Brian. They all seem smooth and clean. I will be installing in a week or so.
The first set? Don't know... Brian says he wants to take a look at them. Chuck just said that it's "almost impossible to have a problem. Out of like 50,000 pegs sold, only 2 or 3 bad ones"
So................... Hoping these work well. Brian said they will, or he'll make it right.
I'll final sand today, and then do one final coat with oil, then cure-time for a week.
RE: Flamenco 14 - back 2 the shop... (in reply to Ramón)
Unfortunetly I read your post about the quality control of these pegs after I bought my two sets from another luthier. Mine all seem to turn fairly well, but I couldn't believe that they didn't even take the time to file off the flashing from molding process. That's really bad form, and any good injection shop will do that anyway for next to nothing.
RE: Flamenco 14 - back 2 the shop... (in reply to Ramón)
quote:
And he sent me a killer CD of David Serva, circa 1962....GRACIAS
So what's the deal! I put you on to Brian and he sends you a CD! No fair! LOL
Yes, Brian is good people and stands behind what he sells. He reworks the pegs and resells them for the same price as Chuck. I didn’t like the finish on the flat part of the pegs so I did some light sanding with 400 WOD and buffed them up. They now look about as close to real ebony as possible.
Brian took his time to call one of the local top builders to give him some tips on installing them in my DeVoe. I plan to take it to him in a week or so. (Cool...that rhymes).
Posts: 440
Joined: Feb. 23 2005
From: La Jolla, Ca
RE: Flamenco 14 - back 2 the shop... (in reply to Ramón)
Wow....Thanks Ron. I was a bit afraid to go into more detail, as I didn't want to be too long-winded and bore everyone! Gracias!
I have my new pegs, and they have the bone dots. The bone is a tad too white - looks almost plastic, so I'm going to try a furniture touch-up pen on a spare piece and see if I can get a little more 'natural' bone look to them. (If anyone orders them, I'd ask Brian for unbleached bone).Otherwise, they all seem to be very smooth, and the string holes have actually been opened up a bit, too, which helps me, as I like to re-loop the B & E strings back thru, so they don't slip, but look clean - not like a knot. Overall finish is very nice...What should have been done. Kudos, Brian.
KTM-9. I talked with Señor La Falseta, and he said there have been complaints of 'ghosting' with the KTM-9.... Impressions that won't buff out, and some guys have used some type of hardener to help eliminate that.
I just finished the final 'oil coat' on the guitar today, so it's a week's cure time, now, then a quick polish, re-set the pegs, and string... Re-crowned the frets and fine sanded them, so a polish there, too, will be done during the final stage.
The 'Super Blonde' shellac has added a touch of gold color to the finish, and the neck looks FAR better than before. Remember, on light woods, the KTM is okay, as the 'milk color' doesn't show, but on the darker cedar, it made the neck look anemic, so I had to do 3 coats with an amber shellac in the middle of the process to give it some life.
Now, the neck's color is gorgeous. The colors and grain show well, and the cypress back and sides have a bit more color and life to them. :-)
Getting anxious to get her into my hands again.... (Patrick...Just played a guy's rosewood/spruce DeVoe here in San Diego...Wow...S W E E T !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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