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Dom, It took a little over a year to get and is well worth the wait. I'll up load some more pics if I can figure out how to do it as one file. Maybe I'll just do multiple replies. You really can't appreciate the beauty of it unless your looking at it in person. The reflection of the light off the Brazilian is awesome.
Yka, You should give Aaron serious consideration for you next guitar
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How do you like the pegs? Does it make the guitar feel more balanced? Im considering pegs, but machines have worked great for me so far so I haven't really had a reason to change. One of my Conde's is quite heavy in the neck, but I have another Conde that is very well balanced and it has machines. If you could share your thought process on the the decision that would be helpful.
Personally I love pegs. There are advantages and disadvantages to machines and pegs. My decision to go with pegs was two fold. First, if the pegs are fitted properly I don't have any problem tuning the guitar. Although they can be a little temperamental with regards to tuning, with a few tricks its not a big deal at all. Second, I really like that old world instrument look so it seemed appropriate to go that way. As far as balance between machines or pegs, I have both types and honestly unless the luthier has used a particularly dense piece of wood for the neck, thus adding to the weight hanging out there, I don't find it to be an issue. I can imagine, depending on how the guitar is being held, the lower bout on the nee or waist on the nee, that weight might be a factor but other than that I don't find it to be problem.
You got me, but if I were cutting trees over time and keeping records, I'd have a pretty good idea how old the trees are. I'm just passing on the info.
Those that already know the process of tuning with pegs, just bear with me and please feel free add your own tips and/or tricks or a completely different method.
Starting from the presumption that the pegs are fitted properly and the strings are up to tension. When you need to adjust a strings pitch, lets say any of the first 4 strings, place the thumb of your right hand, on the fret board in the area of the second or third fret, so you can pluck the string to be adjusted with your first or second finger. This will give you much more control over your adjustments and prevent putting an undo load on the neck/body joint. When pegs sit in a position for a while they often tend to take set or settle into that position and it takes a little force to crack it loose (poor choice of words) for adjusting. Given that, take advantage of the tension of the string. Whether your going to tune up or down, always tune down first. Now when I say tune down first, I'm just talking about moving it off that set point. At this point, you should be able to freely move the peg to bring the string to its proper pitch. To adjust the 5th and 6th string, the procedure is the same except that you place your ring and middle on the fret board and pluck the string to be adjusted with your thumb. A couple additional notes, as with tuning machines, after a while, you begin to get a sense of how far you have to turn that button to get to the pitch you want. The same goes for tuning with pegs. Although machines are a geared ratio, and pegs are nearly 1 to 1, and as such they require a little more sensitivity, but your brain will adjust to the appropriate movement. Additionally, because pegs are fitted with a taper, and if their just to tight to move them resonably, just back the out of the hole so their free to move and push back into the hole when your at pitch. Also, I was told or read somewhere that Sabicas use to fine tune his guitar, we're talking subtle changes, by pulling up on a string on the sound hole side of the capo to lower the pitch, and push down on the peg side of the nut to raise the pitch. The pressure of the capo would hold the change. I know that when all this is laid out in detail, it sounds like a pain......its not. All this becomes very second nature after a while. Like learning a new piece, after you've got it down, you don't think about what note comes next, it just seems to happen. Besides the look of pegs which think is cool, I can change strings on a peg head in a quarter the time it takes me to change them on a machine head. This carries a LOT of weight for me.
I hope this helps a bit. These are techniques I've learned by my personal experience. If anybody can add to this, please do.
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