Ch-ch-ch-Changes....to my L-03.....

[Hudman]

Here's what I did to my L-03 over the past 2 days:

 

1. Bone saddle from Bob Colosi

2. Ebony w/pearl dot inlay bridge pins from First Quality Music.

3. Ebony Grover tuning buttons from First Quality Music (perfect fit for the stock Ping tuner buttons).

 

I kept the same strings on it after I made the saddle swap. It seemed to improve the clarity, sustain and volume (it seems slightly louder - could be my imagination). I didn't notice much of a difference with the ebony bridge pins. The ebony bridge pins and ebony tuning buttons look awesome.

 

I made my saddle a tad bit higher on the low E side (1/32"). It changed the string angle slightly. I had to loosen the truss rod a bit to remove a slight fret buzz. It's playing as smooth as butter with no fret buzz now. [side note to the Larrivee owners: You almost need to be David Blain in order to get the Larrivee "J" shaped allen wrench on the truss rod nut - some less mechanically inclined folks may need to remove their strings to do it].

 

The final thing I did was swap my D'Addario EXP (coated) PB strings for a set of Martin SP PB Lights ( http://www.music123.com/Martin-SP-Acoustic-Guitar-Strings--Phosphor-Bronze-i229153.music ). The SP's are the first set of non coated strings on my L-03. The Martin SP lights come with a .054 E string (vs. the .053 used by most string companies). So far I am impressed with the Martin SP PB's - they sound better than the Nanowebs and EXP's I used so far. I'm going to let them settle down a bit before I really judge them.

 

Next up: My Alvarez RD20SSB. I orginally bought Taylor ebony / abalone bridge pins for my Larrivee. The abalone didn't look right on the under-stated L-03 so I'm going to use them on my Alvarez (the pearl dots look much better). Bob Colosi doesn't carry Alvarez bone saddles in his inventory - therefore, I would have to send him my stock saddle in order to have him make one out of bone. I decided I would make my own bone saddle. I ordered a bone saddle blank from Stew Mac. It should get here this weekend. I look forward to shaping my first bone saddle.

[knockwood]

My observation of the overall change when I went to a bone saddle on my D-1 was pretty much the same: noticeably improved clarity. Not a night and day improvement over tusq, but a worthwhile improvement nonetheless. I'll probably always do bone saddles on my gits.

 

I generally use ebony bridge pins 'cause I like the way they look and I hate the idea of plastic, though I don't notice much of a tonal impact one way or the other.

 

Cool that you've decided to shape your own saddle for the Alvarez. Please keep us posted on how that goes.

 

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/MakeNewSaddle/newsaddle01.html

[egtact]

I remember shaping my first bone-saddle...

 

But then she divorced me!!

 

LMAO!!

 

sorry, couldn't help it....

[babablowfish]

It sounds like you had a lot of fun doing the changes. I know how rewarding it can be when you tweak and fiddle and ring even more beauty out of your guitar. Have fun!

[Queequeg]

Hud, did you try timing your sustain, fore & aft?

And how much end-user saddle fitting/adjustment was required?

[Hudman]

 

Originally posted by Queequeg Hud, did you try timing your sustain, fore & aft? And how much end-user saddle fitting/adjustment was required?

 

 

Timing the sustain is a great idea, I wish I would have thought of it. Notes seem to ring longer and fade at a slower rate with the bone saddle.

 

I spent a good 30 - 45 minutes sanding the saddle to the proper length, width (thickness) and height. It was my second bone saddle from Colosi. It took me a bit longer to polish up the sanded areas because I didn't have any 400 or 600 grit sandpaper on hand (I was too lazy to drive to the hardware store). I used 1500 wet sandpaper to polish it up. That added an extra 10 - 15 minutes to the job.

[kwakatak]

Thanks for the update Hudman. As you know I'm thinkng of making the same changes to my OM-03R. It sounds like you've got more of a head for the technical adjustments than I do, but I need to learn. I have a couple more questions though:

 

For starters, when you said that you had fret buzz before, where was it specifically? My OM is buzz-free below the 12th fret but it could probably benefit from either a taller saddle or a truss rod adjustment.

 

I like to slap the strings for percussive effect and noticed that what I'm actually hearing is the low E string slapping against the frets up around the 17th fret. When I look at the bow in the new to site the neck angle I notice that there a pretty noticable bow so that the headstock seems to be slightly higher than the heel. On my Tak the neck is completely flat.

 

My other question is in regards to contacting Bob Colosi. I need to call him so that I can use my credit card and I'd like to talk to him directly anyway. I don't want to set up a paypal account (I like to keep my financial dealings mostly "offline" and a note with a check seems to be too impersonal and ambiguous. I don't see any "business hours" listed on his website (www.guitarsaddles.com) though. When's a good time to contact him?

[Hudman]

Originally posted by kwakatak Thanks for the update Hudman. As you know I'm thinkng of making the same changes to my OM-03R. It sounds like you've got more of a head for the technical adjustments than I do, but I need to learn. I have a couple more questions though: For starters, when you said that you had fret buzz before, where was it specifically? My OM is buzz-free below the 12th fret but it could probably benefit from either a taller saddle or a truss rod adjustment. I like to slap the strings for percussive effect and noticed that what I'm actually hearing is the low E string slapping against the frets up around the 17th fret. When I look at the bow in the new to site the neck angle I notice that there a pretty noticable bow so that the headstock seems to be slightly higher than the heel. On my Tak the neck is completely flat. My other question is in regards to contacting Bob Colosi. I need to call him so that I can use my credit card and I'd like to talk to him directly anyway. I don't want to set up a paypal account (I like to keep my financial dealings mostly "offline" and a note with a check seems to be too impersonal and ambiguous. I don't see any "business hours" listed on his website ( www.guitarsaddles.com ) though. When's a good time to contact him?

 

The fret buzz was slight. It occurred mainly on chords between the 3rd and 7th frets. I increased the neck relief slightly by turning the truss rod nut 1/3 of a turn counter clockwise.

 

I check the neck relief by fretting the first fret with a capo and 12th fret with my finger. There should be a slight gap between the low E and the 6th fret. If it's touching, you need to loosen your truss rod.

 

I would call Bob any time between 12:00 Pm and 6:00 PM.