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Improving a bad guitar .....
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El Kiko
Posts: 1243
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: Now living near Cork
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 Improving a bad guitar .....
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Learned people of the forum and those that work with wood and stuff...
Questions for you if you dont mind.
I have a second flamenco guitar that is , how can I put it , not of the best quality and I was thinking of experimenting a bit to try and compensate it to be a bit better, without a massive ammount of work ..
This guitar plays OK (feel) but is a bit quiet, and not very good on the treble side
I can change the bridge and saddle ( non-compensated I notice) for some bone ones will that help a bit ?
By the way, what do you do if you file a bit too much off and get a slight rattle ?
Also I hear about people messing with struts and bracing etc. inside the guitar , shaving bits off and removing some , what effect does it really have ?
What could i do realistically , if anything , to try to improve it a bit ,,.
I do have the time to do it but, I'm not too good at woodwork , a bit like this thing I did for you
 Attachment (1)
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Date Nov. 18 2011 16:15:09
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El Kiko
Posts: 1243
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: Now living near Cork
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RE: Improving a bad guitar ..... (in reply to Sean)
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interesting suggestions , if I was any good at crafts or knew what I was doing I would be tempted to try and take the top of and make a new one ...
quote:
Life is too short to drink cheap wine
and thats where the cheap wine comes in , Saturday night drunken lutherie , seems like a good idea until sunday morning.
It has got polyurathane on it , and it probably is thick , but sanding it all off would be a challenge , and what happens to the rosette ? and would it all be by hand. and how do you get in the corners around the neck and bridge?
I think I would make it worse, it might be an interesting project for an apprentice luthier though.
Still thinking ,, thanks for the suggestions , really....
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Date Nov. 18 2011 22:18:45
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Flamingrae
Posts: 120
Joined: May 19 2009
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RE: Improving a bad guitar ..... (in reply to El Kiko)
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quote:
without a massive ammount of work ..
Errrrr......if you really want to go down this route, it's not like building from scratch, but it will involve a few late Saturdays, and a few bottles of (not soo cheap) wine.
I'm in the middle of a new construction so my conundrum will have to wait but if it was me..........
What the other guys say will make a difference - forget the back and sides. Mask them off, paint stripper on the front and gently scrape off. Light sand and scrape - french polish.
Bone fittings for nut and saddle. Possibly lower the action?
Check the break angle on the bridge - possibly re-do string holes?
Slightly better machines? Thin and smooth the neck - refinish?
If you are not that set up for going inside - dont! Set it up and play - keep as a second best or a traveller.
My eventual project will probably involve the above, but I'm going to go inside. I'll take the back off, lower the sides (classical at the mo), thin some of the bracing and general tidy up. Back on and put some nice binding on. Refinish the top and probably give it a new bridge. Guitar I picked up in Spain so memories, and if I can give it a bit of my character, then I will.
Best of luck whatever you do, just do it and move on. If you are careful, you should make a positive improvement.
Cheers, oh and save a really nice bottle for when you are done.
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Date Nov. 18 2011 23:35:53
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El Kiko
Posts: 1243
Joined: Jun. 7 2010
From: Now living near Cork
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RE: Improving a bad guitar ..... (in reply to keith)
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Ok ..First thanks to all you good luthiers that have given me something to think about.
and I am considering it, I just love messing with things I shouldn't . but really I wouldn't do anything until next year anyway as it is too close to Christmas,
So I am just on a fact finding and advice mission now.
I am interested in the comments about the polyurathane covering .
So I am forming a plan , as a project , to maybe actually do it next year sometime.
I think that the wood on the soundboard is a bit chunky anyway and if i were to sand or plain or somehow remove the poly then it would do no harm to actually deliberatly take a small bit off the thickness of the front anyway.
I also think the neck is a bit chunky as well compared to other guitars so I could shave the back of that a bit too.
I can see the point of a bone bridge saddle, as the vibrations pass through it to the wood , but not so much do I see the advantage of it as a nut , due to much of the time I would have a capo on anyway,
Maybe I will get all the info together in my head and start next year , and post how it was going and then after it's all done I will make a video of how it is OR have a nice warm fire .. 
Pity I dont live near any of you , but there you go , I'm sure one of you can keep me right on this Foro..
So at the moment I'm just think about it ,
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Date Nov. 19 2011 15:09:01
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