Yamaha Mods

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Yamaha Mods

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n85ae

Posts: 877
Joined: Sep. 7 2006

Yamaha Mods

Your mileage may vary ... But if you play a Yamaha, for the cost of the guitar
(i.e. it's cheap), I think the following is well worth doing.

I reached inside my Yamaha to feel the inside of the top. Very rough, unsanded
glue runs, etc. So I made some custom sanding blocks with the handy bandsaw,
and glued on some paper. Using a mirror, a flashlight and some creativity I
sanded the inside of the top smooth all around the braces, cleaned up the
braces themselves, etc. Then I cleaned it out with compressed air, and a shop
vac. If you have a talented 6 year old with small arms, this is to time to put
him to good use as the soundhole isn't that big.

It was VERY rough inside before I started, lots of wood fur, and fuzz, etc.

Next I sanded a bone saddle blank into an exact match for the factory
installed saddle (i.e. compensation notch, etc). Then adjusted the height
to 3mm at the 12th fret.

Of course when ever I do something like this, I'm always skeptical that the
act of doing it causes a psychological improvement. However, I'm pretty
convinced that the old Yamaha indeed sounds noticeably better.

Of course, as soon as Fedex gets here tommorrow with my new guitar
the Yamaha will probably become history anyway ...

Regards,
Jeff

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 16 2007 13:46:39

JBASHORUN

Posts: 1839
Joined: Jan. 23 2005

RE: Yamaha Mods (in reply to n85ae)

I've already done what you said about the saddle to my Yamaha... It was part of my standard setup. But I'm curious about the INTERNAL sanding... just stuck my hand into the soundhole as far as I can, and you are right... it feels quite rough, and there is some glue run-out. I thought this was strange, since it looks pretty neat and clean from what you can see with your eyes when looking through the soundhole. But more importantly, I noticed that the FAN BRACES are just square-profiled strips of wood... in other words, they have NOT been planed or sanded to a point on top, and there is NO scalloping at the ends! I'm no expert, but this sounds like a bit of a sloppy job... I was taught to scallop the ends of fan struts and make nice "arched" tops. perhaps some of the more experienced luthiers can tell us if all this would make a difference to the sound/tone.

Jb

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 16 2007 13:57:49

n85ae

Posts: 877
Joined: Sep. 7 2006

RE: Yamaha Mods (in reply to n85ae)

I think it indicates that a lot of the basic sound comes from the the pattern of
the braces, at least that makes the most sense to me. Probably the taper
has some effect, but I suspect to a lesser degree than the pattern itself.
Obviously the luthiers would know more.

It was not difficult to sand the inside of the top, although my forearms look
like I was in a battle with the cat after trying to get in there to the furthest
reaches.

For the less than 1 hr. I spent on the project, I definetly feel better about it.
So that alone makes it worth it in my opinion.

Jeff

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Apr. 16 2007 14:27:16