Twanger's Corner.

[Brian Thompson]

Fitting The Rosewood Tuner Buttons....(Post #4 of 4.)

...At last, the final part is here! Well done for making it this far kind reader.

Pic 1. Mounting screw checked in insert for a nice sliding fit.
Pic 2. Check slot on shaft....again....
Pic 3. File some more until the perfect fit is achieved, then check again....An accurate but sliding fit on the shaft is important so that the button can still be tension-adjusted as required via the mounting screw, while any 'slop' would just twist the insert around the shaft over time. It has to be spot-on to work....and stay working over time.
Pic 4. Check fit of insert in button, and file any excess off to bring level with base, then superglue it in place. I applied the glue with a cocktail stick and got it in there pretty quickly before it set. I learned that this was important....

On my second insert, I'd got it to this stage and was starting to feel all pleased with myself, when the glue set too quickly and the insert only went in about half way before the glue grabbed it...... Three hours or so later, once I had calmed down a bit....(!), I could only drill the thing out and hopefully start again. Of course, despite wrapping the button with large amounts of masking tape to protect it in the vice, I still managed to press in two large dents into that beautiful wood..... Five hours or so later, once I had calmed down a bit more....(!), I simply stuck a cotton bud up the mounting hole of the button and held it over the steam from the kettle I'd just boiled to make a brew. The wood was still 'there' and the heat and moisture just swelled it right back out again in about 15 seconds...I didn't even have to sand it smooth or level.....RESULT!! Happy again, apart from the fact that I still had this one and four more of the little baskits to construct, I started counting Moorland Blue Sheep.....again.....
Pic 5. Sometime later (ok, a LOT later....!), I had all six buttons fitted and working perfectly and looking rather nice on the guitar. Ben was so pleased with them, and all the effort doing it was nothing compared to the look of joy on his face when he got his hands on his 'new' guitar. You just can't buy stuff like that....you have to make it....... Best of all, he knows just how much we love him.....

Brian.

[Brian Thompson]

Gibson TB-5.

Terrific work Brian, very good craftsmenship........
As i said earlier, i have been following this thread with interest, partly because although, i am not in any way musical, but my old grandad theobald was & used to play the old banjo in the music halls of the twenties.
A great old character, but sadly when he pased on, he left his old giby tb-5 to my brother, where it is now sat in his attic, after his missus kicked up after it scratched the coffee table it was photograped on in pick 1, well it did cost £100 from ikea.
Ive offered him £175 for it, but he would sooner leave it under all that loft rubbish, great shame, anyway here`s a pic or two.

My oh my, that is a beauty, and what lovely provenance too...just think of all that history. Great story Dave, and something to be very proud of as I'm sure you are, a wonderful part of your family's heritage.

Look at the flame on that neck, and the carved volute where it joins the headstock.....wibble! Bet it's best quality quarter sawn timber too, looks to be AAAA grade from the pics...only the best eh! How about that 'mother of toilet seat' back plate too.....that is one of the nicest bits of pearl I reckon I've seen on a banjo....It's beautiful Dave, just stunning. What till Jonah see's it, it'll make his day too I'm sure. Thanks for sharing the pics mate, nice one!! I think I'm gong to get a banjo now as well.....I mean, I really should, shouldn't I....!! And I think you should keep on (and on, and on) at your brother till he caves in and lets you have it...!! Offer him more money, and if that doesn't work try blackmail...you must have summat on him, surely....?!

Thanks also for the kind words (of sympathy!) re my humble bodging efforts mate. Coming from you that is praise indeed. Must admit, I am pretty chuffed with that one...it sure tested my ingenuity (what little I have, anyway!) to the limit to make it happen, and I honestly don't think anyone else has ever tried it before.....Nah, far too sensible!

Brian.

[Brian Thompson]

Ben's Squier Telecaster - Birthday Fit and Fettle Part 2!

Might as well add this one to the pot as well......

The other part of Ben's pressie was a set-up, re-string and fettle of his Tele. This one didn't take so much work as his acoustic, mainly a damn good clean and polish, fret polish and re-string/intonation adjustment (covered in previous posts on bridge design elements.)

Again, that brilliant 'Planet Waves' 3-stage polish mentioned earlier in the thread did a great job on the finish, and really gave that butterscotch paint some real depth and shine.

One fiddly little job was to shorten the 12 tiny height adjustment grub screws in the bridge saddles (see pic 3.) On many guitars, especially at the cheaper end of the market, when you drop the string height (action) to get it playing better they often end up sticking up and digging into your palm. I ended up clamping them lightly in some mole grips, then gripping the moleys in a vice. It was then easy to just trim then down a bit with a cuting disc on a dremel, with a quick file to finish the end and true it up again. Made a lot of difference to the comfort factor and Ben was over the moon...it actually put him off playing it and now it's just the opposite....RESULT!!

Here's a few pics of the finished job.....in glorious 'SidewaysVision' (TM).....

Brian.

[johnrunnacles]

Credit where it's due .........

My you have been busy-busy, Mr. T! And such great results to show for your efforts, too. Puts my puny instrument making to shame.
And what have I missed, Mr. H? I've been looking for a good tenor for a good while, now, and here you are with what might be the gold at the end of the rainbow!
Your original piece does not come up on my version of this thread, Dave. Any chance of repeating it please, with those delicious pics that Brian is raving about? Or perhaps send it all through on a PM, if you'd prefer?
Looking forward ............
JR

[Brian Catt]

Looks good! I might be inspired to do a series on Miniature Railway Coach Bogie Axle Bearings, I'm sure you will all be enthralled...

[johnrunnacles]

Why not, Brian (C), but not on our Twangers' Corner thread, surely?

[dave higgins]

Good old grandad.

Sorry john, i removed it as i did not think it was appropriate for your superb thread, but here`s what it said.
Having enjoyed your thread & admiring the great skill needed to play an instrument like this, reminded me of my grandfather Theobold.
Unlike myself who cannot play a note, grandad was quite a seasoned player, cutting his teeth in the old music halls of the twenties, playing alongside names like lloyd loar.
Anyway when he passed on, his old banjo went to my rather unimpressed brother, who kept it as an ornament in the hall of their house, that was until his wife found it had scratched the new table it was stood on. ( well it did cost £100 from ikea ......)
So it was put in the attic, where it sits under a heap of loft junk, to this day, i did one xmas offer him £175 for it, but no deal, i bet its worth about £500 now....... i think it was a gibson tb-5, here`s a pic of it, on said table......

[Brian Thompson]

The 'Legendary' Theobold Higgins.....

'Course it's appropriate Dave.....I'm still laughing my socks off!!!

Grandad Theobold indeed......ya rascal....!!! Bet he fought in The Great Emu War as well..... Yeah....and my Great Great Great Uncle Cedric welded the only bit on the Titanic that didn't sink.....

Stunning Banjo though, what a beauty.

Cheers for posting it Dave, and for making me laugh!

Brian.

[johnrunnacles]

Thanks for re-posting, Dave. Yep, Brian's right, it certainly looks pretty special to me! Presumably the old chap was left-handed? Or ambidextrous, perhaps? The original instrument looks to have been built for a right-handed player, though. It's highly likely that the strings, the nut and the bridge will have been reversed ............ no great shakes to turn them around. Then just need to swap over the arm-rest and the finger-plate, and Bob's your Uncle! Would love to see it in the flesh, so to speak ............
JR

[Colin Sparrow]

Hey Colin,

You never did update us on progress with your Strat.....how's it going?

Hope you're getting on ok with it and laying down some phat riffs these days!

How about posting a pic and sharing the twangness...

Brian.

Well... so far I haven't progressed past chord playing - Once I sorted out a nice mellow sound on the amp I got reasonably proficient with chords on the top four frets, but that's about it I'm afraid. I've sort of reached a plateau. I get (usually conflicting) advice from my son and my brother both of whom play but sadly I don't make the time to practice.

Winter resolution: more practice, find a way forward.

Shame you're not closer, I'd be up for some lessons...

But thanks for asking

[johnrunnacles]

Perseverance!

I've always been told not to regard it as a plateau, Colin, but as a step on a stairway. You reach one step before progressing to the next, and so on.

Nor does progress on a musical instrument ever follow a straight line on the graph .............. so I am also told!

percy vera (aka JR)

[Brian Thompson]

Zen And The Art Of Peaks And Plato'ism's....and motorcycling....!

That's very good advice John, although I would also add that it can become a plateau if you don't keep striving for that next step.....!

It's very daunting when you stand at the bottom of a mountain and look up at the climb ahead, and often taking the first step is the hardest one of all. Then, when you get to that first plateau and look back on what you've achieved, it's that feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment that drives you on to the next stage of the climb. Nothing wrong in having a rest and enjoying the view for a while before you set off again though... And so it goes....

I used to tell my students that the climbing bit is the best part, because that's when you're really learning, even though it's also the hardest....after all, you don't tend to pick up much new stuff when you're chillin' out on the plateau admiring the view.... But it's also important to enjoy the view, and appreciate the effort you made to get there.

Another good one is the 'spiral' approach to learning new things. If you take a 'linear' approach (i.e. working in a straight line from A to B) you often forget C by the time your battling through H and I....If instead you try to go around in a circle a few times and really master ABCD, then you'll be ready to move up a level on the spiral to EFG and H. After H , go back to A again and revisit everything, and you'll find it's all building into a really solid foundation. Yes, it's painstaking and you need to be thorough and dedicated (and MAKE the time to do it!), but it's a sound approach and actually makes progress faster in the long run.....and this is from a lot (!) of experience as a teacher AND as a student, which I will always be too.

With music and learning to play, it truly IS the journey and not the destination....because none of us, not even the very best, will ever be able to do or know it all....and for me, that is just as it should be.

Of course.....all of this can be applied just as well to motorcycling activities too, when you think about it.....

Enjoy the journey....

Brian.

[Brian Thompson]

Distance Learning......

Well... so far I haven't progressed past chord playing - Once I sorted out a nice mellow sound on the amp I got reasonably proficient with chords on the top four frets, but that's about it I'm afraid. I've sort of reached a plateau. I get (usually conflicting) advice from my son and my brother both of whom play but sadly I don't make the time to practice.

Winter resolution: more practice, find a way forward.

Shame you're not closer, I'd be up for some lessons...

But thanks for asking

Well done Colin, and you haven't progressed PAST, you have progressed TO...!! Honestly.....always with the negative waves man....!! As Yoda the mighty Jedi once said....'Do or not do, there is no try!'

One of the things I love dearly about music is the fact that it's one of the few things in life that has TRUTH in all it's aspects....there is no hiding place. With that in mind, well done also for being honest in admitting that you don't MAKE the time to practice....but don't be sad about it Colin, just MAKE THE TIME!! And no procrastination or excuses, ok....!! Just fifteen minutes a day, working on the 'spiral' approach I mentioned earlier is far better than a three hour session once a week, and once you get some solid progress going it's like a snowball rolling down hill.....it get's easier and faster, and you want more of that feeling of accomplishment!

Having said that, you can only go so far on your own, and an experienced teacher who can tailor things to suit YOU (rather than imposing their own agenda because 'that's what they teach...') can without a doubt get that 'learning engine' going in the right direction a lot easier.

I'll have to see if I can come up with a very easy and simple little lesson for you to post on here and we can try a bit of 'distance learning'.....perhaps a bit of very simple/basic blues scale work you can try, and maybe have a noodle with over a backing track, now that you've got some chords under your fingers.....

I'll see what I can do.....watch this space!:

(....£25 an hour sound OK? I'll do you a discount for old times sake....you know I'm worth it....!! Although I do tend to hand out a lot of detentions.....)

Brian.

[johnrunnacles]

Thanks Brian. You're dead right, as always, of course.

I have to be honest, now, Colin, and confess that I reached a comfortable plateau myself over 40 years ago in my musical "journey".

I had taught myself the three chord trick on the guitar (my first "plateau") then found this transferred quite readily to the plectrum banjo. A couple of local bands were looking for a background banjo thumper to complement their rhythm section. Banjo players proper being in short supply, they were ready to compromise by taking me on with my limited experience. I, for my part, more in panic than anything else rapidly added a few more chords to my banjo repertoire to be able to keep pace with the rest of the band, and to make an acceptable sort of noise playing in most of the keys they needed, and to change key at will without having to ask them to wait whilst I applied a capo!

That became my new "plateau" for the next 30 years. Again, it was a comfortable plateau to inhabit. I had no need to be more adventurous, I was getting paid anyway ............ until the banjo work dried up at the end of 1999! I put my musical ambitions to one side to have a go at Pre 65 Club scrambling .............

Then, about three years ago, a mate who had become aware of my interest in all things banjo, made me aware of his attraction to the sound of bluegrass banjo and "could we perhaps learn to play it?".

I had no experience of picking melodies, never had reason to, but always had a passive affinity for the genre (if that is what it is?) and thought this to be the opportunity I had secretly yearned all those years to perhaps learn to play a tune or two, rather than just to thump away at chords in the background.

Over the years of playing in the bands, I had accumulated a collection of banjos of various types, and these included one of the bluegrass pattern. So, that saw daylight from out of its case (which had resided 'til then under the bed!) and has now seen me take another step on that endless journey in music.

Anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes, we have persevered and practised (a lot, but, as Brian suggests, in 20-minute-or-so bite-size chunks!) and now have a handful of basic bluegrass-style melodies under our respective belts. Whether or not it is a step upward on that stairway is, of course, debatable!

Inevitably perhaps, I now inhabit yet another "plateau" ............. but this time I do know (I have learnt as much, and that lesson took the "magnet of necessity" to draw me on) that I can take another step, also that it is still possible at (shall we say?) an "advanced" stage of life ..........., even though I do find I have now forgotten all those chord shapes I diligently learned all those years ago! Should perhaps have adopted the "spiral" approach then, eh Brian?

Doh!

Go for it, Colin.

JR

[Colin Sparrow]

Well thanks guys for the supportive words. I hereby resolve to practice at least 20 minutes every day, starting after I log off in a minute. My son tried to teach me a pentatonic (?) scale - problem was I couldn't see a use for it just yet.

No hiding place playing chords on an electric with a pick, that's for sure - but for me that's the point of doing it that way. I do have an acoustic (An Ovation), but much prefer the Strat - just handling it is a pleasure (the guitar I mean..!)

Quality guitars are just lovely things to own anyway, aren't they? Very tempted by a 335 that came up in our local auction last week, but common sense prevailed. TW Gaze if you want to have a look at it.