FESTIVAL SPEAKERS AND CONSULTANTS

(TheTruth

About

Guitars and Other Lies) Matt

Umanov

In this article,Iwillpass along

some

of the

more

significant things I have learnedovertheyearsabout

what

to

do

and

what

notto

do

with,for,and aboutfret- ted instruments. Most of

you

are into guitars, so1

wUluseguitars asexamples throughout.

It is

more

important than

most

people think to be careful witha guitar. This doesn't

mean

babyingyour instrumentand tuckingitin everynight,butthere are a

few

sensible rules that shouldbereligiouslyfollow- ed,viz:

1.

Avoid extreme temperature

changes

No

one says that

you

can'ttake yourguitarinto brightsunlightorplayitin thecellar,but don'ttryto rectifyitscondition

by

im- mediately exposingittoan extreme opposite. I once built a guitarfora friend

who

didn't think twice aboutleaningitagainst the airconditioner over night.

Thiswasright afteritsat

on

thebackseatofhiscarall

©

1971 Matt

Umanov

day,sans case, inmid-July.1

couldn't begin totell

you

about the tears that were shedthefollowing day.

2.

Get a hard-shell

case

How

expensive

you

say, and

what

a pain to lug it

around.

Annoyance

though they

may

be,they're really worthitif

you

haveanyin- tentionsof takinga

good

in- strument out ofthehouse.

Good

hardcases areusually

made

of pressed

plywood

andlinedwith

some

sortof softmaterial.Thereare also thenewerjet-age fiber-glass caseswhichwilltakeanin- crediblebeating.

The

card- board-type cases areO.K.

forashort time,but water destroys

them

and the handles always fall off.

Heavily padded soft cases arepreferred

by many

for theirportability,but I'ma bitleeryofaflexibletype ofcase.

Note

A.

The

first thing to

do

afteryou'veboughta

new

hard-shell case is to

make

sure thatit'snotlock- ed.

Then

throw

away

the

key. I guarantee that the firsttime

you

lockthe case

you

willimmediately lose thekey.Besides,it'sjust as easyfor

someone

to steal a lockedcasewithaguitar in it asit isto stealaguitar withouta case.

Note B. It pays to be paranoid about Hyinginan airplanewith an instrument.

New

F.A.A.regulation pro- hibit carrying instruments

on

board,and it all goes

down

the

same

hatchasbag- gage(HA!).Here hardcases areamust.

And

besure to loosenthe stringscomplete- ly.

Note

C.AlthoughIper- sonally have not found it necessary,

some

peoplelike to keep de-humidifers in their guitar cases.Thiskeeps theairinthe case at'a fairly constant moisture level.

A

fewguitarcompanies

manu-

facture these but a small,

damp

spongeorapieceof applewill

do

just as well.

Hereiswherethefeath- ers reallybegintofly.

Many

self-taughtmusicians havea hazily-formed opinionthat if they learn to play

by

themselves, they canalso

do

simple but adequateminor repair

work

themselves.For themostpart, this just ain't so. Guitarsare alot

more

delicatethan

you

couldever imagine.

Wood

is

composed

of tubularfiberswithpoint- ed ends and these fibers range

from

1/8"- 1/2" in lengthfor

hardwoods

(rose-

wood, mahogany)

tol"-3"

in length in soft

woods

(spruce,the most

common wood

for guitar faces).

When

a breakin the grain structureoccursforanyrea- son,the

wood

must beper- fectly lined

up

beforeitcan beglued together.Thisre- quires

more

patience than most peoplehave. In caseof asudden catastrophe loosen the strings completelyand speakto acompetentrepair

man. The

worst thing

you

can

do

istofun outand

buy

lots of

epoxy

glueand/or Scotch cellophane tape and goto

town on

yourguitar.

Epoxy

isprettypermanent stuff,the only

known

sol- vent being

LSD,

whichwill dissolve anything. If the

wood

isn'tperfectly aligned

when

thegluedries,you're introuble.Cellophanetape, another scourge ofguitarre- pairmen everywhere,is al-

mostasbad.

The gum on

it is detrimental to

many

finishes, and it leaves a sticky depositwhichisdiffi- cult to remove after the tapehasbeen peeledoff.If tape isamustfor atempo- rary repair, use masking tape(ScotchBrandisbest).

It is easily peeled off,al- thoughiflefton for

more

thanafew daysitwillalso leave a sticky deposit. Also, watchout for thosesmall sliversof

wood

that

come

loose

from

theinstrument.

Everylastoneisimportant.

There are

some

of

you who

will insist on doing your

own

repair

work

any- way. Thereisnot

room

or reason herefor

me

to give a lengthy dissertationonthe various facetsoffrettedin- strumentrepair.Ican,

how-

ever,

make

a few sugges- tions.

Make

repairsusing a

good

quality water-soluble glue(Elmer'sistooweak.) and don't clamp anything too tightly. Supplies are available from H.L. Wild,

510

East 11thStreet,

New York

10009.

Think out eachstep care- fully,

work

slowly,and be preparedtore-doit

when

it doesn't

come

outquite right thefirst

two

or three times.

Finishing (lacquer, etc.)in- formation and suppliesare available

from

Behlen Brothers, 10 Christopher Street,

New York

10014.

There is

more

contro- versy about string action amongst people

who know

nothing than thereisabout anythingelse.Hereare

some

facts.

A.

The

lowest possible actionon anacoustic instru-

ment

isnotnecessarily the

bestone.

Some

people have theerroneous notionthatif anelectricguitarcanhavea near-zero action,socanan acousticone.

The

difference lies in the nature ofthe bodies.

On

most electric guitars,vibrationofthetop

isaninsignificant,ifnot un- desirable factorasthe elec- tronic circuitrydoesallof the work.

An

acoustic guitar, however, relies on theresonating

power

ofthe

box

foritssound.Ingener- al,thetopwill

move up

and

down

likeso:

That

means

the strings will

move up

and

down

ac- cordingly,andiftheaction is too low,thestringswill hitsuccessive frets asthey vibrate.

When

a string is pressed

down

atanyfret,it

must be able toclear the top ofthe nextfret,with added

room

for its

own

vibration.Inorderto get a good, cleansound ateach fret,itisbetter tohavethe actionabithighratherthan abitlow.

B.

The

secondfactor de- termining string height is theshape ofthefrets.Vir- tuallyall

modern

guitarsuse the

"T"

typeoffrets.

®^

They

are

hammered

into slots cut into the finger- board andareheldinplace

by

smallbarbsonthetang ofthefret.

On

goodguitars eachfretisshaped andfiled

by

hand, preferably to a thin,highprofile.

@fcD

Low,

fiatfretsgenerally producea

muddy

sound.If thefrets

on

yourguitar are

worn

flat

from

use (or a kitchen-tablefretjob)itis advisabletohavethewhole neck re-fretted. Replacing justa fewwillnot always sufficeasthe

new

oneswill havetobefiled

down

some- whattomeettheheigluof theremainingold ones.

C. All this bringsusto theverydebatabletopicof neck straighteners, adjust- able trussrodsandthe reset- tingofnecks.Thereisthe greatfallacy that adjustable truss rods are groovy be- causeall

you

have to

do

is

crank

down

the rod and

presto-down

goes the ac- tion.

What

alaugh!Adjust- able truss rods have only one functionandthatisto keeptheneckstraight

from

thenutto thatpointwhere theneckjoinsthebody.It works

by

exertinglongitudi- nalpressurealongthelength oftheneck,andisplacedin sucha

way

that

when

the hex nut is tiglitened, the neckitselfisbentback from themiddle.

Tightening the truss rod past the pointofstraight- ness therefore, can lower theaction,but onlyat.the expense of havinga

warped

neck,whichwillinvariably resultinhorrendous buzzing aroundthe7thor9thfret.

In theory, the truss rod principleworkswell,butin practice, aneckwillusually twist a little rather than

bend evenly, because

no

neck hasexactlythe

same

grainstructureon boththe bass and treble sides.

The

Martin

Company

avoids this problem

by

never usingad- justable truss rods.

They

select their

wood

carefully so that an adjustable rod isn't necessaryandsupple-

ment

thiswithanon-adjus- tableT-bar

embedded

inthe neck where

you

can't seeit or foolwithit(diagram #5).

fiSS?)

In recent years,Martin has changed

from

aT-bartoa hollow squarebar(diagram

#5A)

Martins with 12-fret

dp

necks haveastripof

ebony

insteadofsteel,becausethe neck is shorter and needs lessadded support (diagram 5B).

Out

ofalltheMartinguitars Ihave played or

worked

on, onlyaveryfewhad necks

warped

badly

enough

to warrantmajorsurgery,and most of these were

made

during World

War

II,

when

steelwasata

premium,

and

guitarmanufacturers hadto

do

without.

A

precaution- ary

word

tothose of

you who own

guitars withad- justable trussrodsand

want

to fool with

them—

don't.

They

are

by no means

un- breakable,anditisbetter to let

someone who knows

whathe'sdoing takecareof theadjustments.

A

broken trussrodisavery involved (read: expensive) item to replace.

Now

that the neck of your guitar is reasonably straight and the frets are cool,

you may

stillhavea problem withatoo-highac- tion.

You

can followone of

two

plansofattack.Ifthe saddle rises

more

than 3/32" abovethetop ofthe bridge,itcanbefiled

down.

It

must

befiledevenly and polished, asopposedto dig- gingsix notchesintoit.

A

notchedsaddle will

dampen

stringvibrations.

The

height ofthe saddle,however,will affect the

volume

andthe stiffnessofthestrings.

By

stiffness,I

mean

the

amount

of "give"a stringhas

when

itisplayed withapick or your fingers. High saddles producealoudsound anda stiffaction.If

you

use aflat pick and/or play heavily

i high saddles are for you.

'

And,

conversely, low sad-

i dies fora loosefstringac-

; tion.Bearthis in

mind wh&n

having your guitar worked"

on.Plan

#2

istohavethe neck reset. This involves

, changingtheanglethatthe neck

makes

withthe

body

their necks reset after a

humber

of years (althoughI

have a theory).It'sjust a fact oflifethat hastobe accepted, but rest assured that once it's

done

itwill probably never need it again.Iftheactionishigh,

you

can tell if the neck needs re-setting

by

looking alongone edge ofthe finger- board.

A

noticeable dip where the neck joins the

body

willindicate that are- setisinorder.

strings is the Folklore

Center-Fretted

Instru- ments brand or Darco Black Label.

They

are identicaltoand

made by

the

same

manufactureras

many

ofthehigher-priced brands.

The

only differ- enceisinthepackageand the price.

(An

unsolicited plug: Folklore Center, 321 Sixth Ave., N.Y., N.Y. 10014.

^mH)

P.S.Don't even think ofat- tempting to fix this one yourself,unless

you

are pre- pared for almost certain disaster. It's

more

than tricky.

The

threetypes ofsteel stringsare asfollows:

;.

BRONZE WOUND ON