A nice acoustic, just needs a little work and some extras to lift it out if the ordinary.
The first thing the owner wants is a bone nut and saddle, to improve the tone a little.
The nut isn’t a problem but the saddle is a very complicated shape, I’m not sure if I’m looking forward to that one! However more of that later…
There are a couple of quite high frets which are causing some buzzing. Some of them are also a little worn fret dress will sort out both problems.
To that end I’ve taped up the fretboard to protect it while I’m working and made sure its level.Using the levelling beam I took off just enough to get to all the low points.With the frets at a common level I now need to round off the tops and re-polish them.Once the frets are done I’ll give the fretboard a lick of lemon oil.Now back to that saddle. I’ve got some saddle blanks but it’s going to take some work.First of all make sure that both sides are even and flat..Keep grinding until the low points disappear and it’s the right thickness.Next that tricky narrow slot on either side. It’s about 0.015″ deep so I’ve used 2 layers of sandpaper clamped under a straight edge with 5mm showing. As I grind it down I’ll get a nice even lower strip.With that done I’ll get the shape of the top sorted out…Coming along…Next the bottom, it’s important that each of the lugs is even otherwise the pickup wont work properly.Lastly the compensation on top, to correct the intonation.Next the nut. Not nearly as complicated…
Almost done, the last thing will be to cut the slots, but that’s part of the setup.
So now to re-fit the strings and a setup…The neck had just a little too much set so a small turn on the truss-rod…The action at the 12th fret turned out to be just right,
That bridge came out OK in the end.Lastly the action back up at the first fret. I deliberately left the slots too shallow, It’s not until the strings are back and at tension that you can tell exactly how deep they need to be.Cut each one down to be the right size width and depth slot..There we go, a little polish and as good as new, or better than new.