The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Q&A, discussion, and information for the labels covered by The Guitar Gallery (Specifically and exclusively guitars made by Matsumoku up to 1987)
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PostPosted: Fri 30 Jul 2021 11:20 AM 
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Virtuoso
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. . . the guy who decided to "fix" this very nice old Pan (Aria) acoustic guitar which is for sale locally. He did a lovely job of re-fretting the neck, and re-gluing the bridge.

Then he did this: :-?

Image

He installed a full height nut, and to accommodate it he removed a chunk of head stock real estate AND eliminated the string break angle!

Turned a zero fret guitar into a zero volume guitar, and severely weakened the head stock. :no:
*sigh*

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PostPosted: Fri 30 Jul 2021 11:25 AM 
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:yipes: :yipes: :yipes: :yipes:


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 Post subject: Followup. . .
PostPosted: Fri 30 Jul 2021 02:53 PM 
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I contacted the seller to express my 2 cents worth of concern just in case he wasn't the one who did the work. Turns out he wasn't.

I received a reply, not from him , but from the tech in Toronto who did the work for him! Here's what he said:
Quote:
I think the photo may be a little bit of an illusion because the strings do currently rest on the zero fret and the nut slots are filed accordingly to let that happen. The zero fret is .018 higher than the first fret to enable good playability at the first.

The sanding done at the nut was done to accommodate a TUSQ nut for a customer which is wider than the original. Although it is redundant to install a new nut because the nut in this case is only there to hold the strings in place, the customer thought the Tusq nut would sound better, and sometimes we can’t argue with that.
The sanding done was only to take down the finish to the wood for a flat surface and the total depth would be about .016 which I don’t think alters the structural integrity of the headstock.

He sounds like a decent chap who as mentioned earlier did a nice job on everything else. When I mentioned that some customers needed some education in guitar physics and that the whole exercise was a waste of money, he said in a second message that, "It’s a 10$ lesson in too much forum reading in this case."

Even though he apparently did a competent job I still think it was a stupid thing to do. If I was still in the business I would have politely refused to do that.

So, the moral of the story, I guess, is be wary of what you read in guitar forums from "experts".

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PostPosted: Fri 30 Jul 2021 03:10 PM 
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I've had my share of customers asking me to do something stupid. In most case I was able to advise them otherwise. A few I did exactly as they asked but told them they were duly warned. Another handful I sent packing and refused to intentionally screw up a nice instrument. Would you believe one yo-yo wanted me to install strat pickups in a Les Paul? That didn't fly.

The first and only time I did work for a customer despite many warnings was to re-fret a 70's Gibson SG. He thought the frets were flat. Duh. Gibson called this fretless frets. Basically jumbo wide frets milled down a little lower than standard frets with a wide crown. It really did feel like there were no frets. They were still in great shape, just needed a light re-crown. He had me install skinny tall frets. It went from playing like butter to feeling like a strat. I vowed then never again. I don't know how many times I said "I can't do stupid" when turning away a customer. To my delight none of them ever came back.


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PostPosted: Fri 30 Jul 2021 03:47 PM 
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In my case it wasn't my shop, so even though the owner was a knowledgeable fellow sometimes the bottom line became the prime motivator. On the whole he had concern for the instrument but I was often obliged to do a few things I would not have done had I the choice to do so. *

* Like the time a customer brought in an old classical guitar left in a barn and wanted it made playable again. The F%#^&G thing had mouse droppings in it and stank of pee fer cryin' out loud! I gagged all the way through it.

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Last edited by Barry on Sun 01 Aug 2021 12:14 PM, edited 1 time in total.

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PostPosted: Fri 30 Jul 2021 05:00 PM 
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:barf: :rofl:

I've had computers come in with dead mice in them stinking of rotting flesh and other so caked up with cigarette tar you couldn't see the blades of the CPU cooler.

I worked for a shop like that. I did the work, he paid me pennies and when the customer came in to pick up their guitar HE took the credit. :x


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PostPosted: Fri 30 Jul 2021 08:51 PM 
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Yup, cigarette smoke can muck up electronics real good and stink up guitar wood too!

I too have done my share of computer builds, tear downs and repairs but I've only had to deal with dirt and *cough* dust bunnies there.

We seem to have a lot of overlap in our backgrounds Neal. :(

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