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Guitar chord forum - chordie → Posts by Guitarpix
Saw it again tonight, its in the right margin ad section. I don't know how these people are even in business.
Found it and have checked it out. You're right, looks like all they sell is imitations that they attempt to pass off as real. I'll pass the message on to Per with a link to the site and see if we can do something about it.
Thanks guys.
Tops and mkm, Yea I've been spending lots of time on the beach as well 
Talked to the captain of a local charter boat the other day and he turned me on to a "secret break" These are sacred so I had to try it out 
Headed out to Sunset Island about 4:30am yesterday morning and then had to hike almost 2 miles with my board and cooler to the south point of the island... That wasn't too bad but the break was offshore about a 3/4 of a mile past the end of the jetty so I had a heck of a paddle to get to the bar and the current was against me. I made it eventually lol and the surf was up so I had a good time with it all to myself....
If it's a cheapo guitar and you're willing to attempt the work yourself you can try this....
But keep in mind that if you mess it up or go too far, you will have to buy a new nut and bridge insert and reshape them to the specs you need. (Also not hard)1. Take a measurement with a ruler at the first fret of how far the distance between the top of the fret and the bottom of your strings is.
2. Once you have this distance, cut it in half and write it down. (This is the distance you will be lowering your nut the first time)
Now comes the fun part....lol.
3. Take that measurement and mark that distance on your guitar nut from the bottom.
You should wind up with a line close to the bottom of your nut.4. Now remove the strings from your guitar and remove your nut.
Do this by scribing (Cutting away) the laquer where the nut and wood meet up with a razor blade.
If you dont do this, you will crack the wood in the next step and have a ruined guitar.5. After you've scribed completely around the nut in all the places where you can see the finish bonding the nut to the guitar, get yourself a wooden dowel or short pencil shaft. Brace the neck against something soft and put the dowel/pencil-shaft against the nut and tap the dowel/pencil-shaft lightly until the nut pops out. You may have to tap it from both sides to get it loose.
6. Now once you have the nut out of the neck you can lower it. You do this by finding a perfectly flat surface, laying down some sandpaper and then sanding the bottom of the nut until you sand it down to that mark you made on the nut in Step 3. SAND EVENLY ON A FLAT SURFACE!!!! If you mess this up, you will have to try and even it out later...not easy. My preferred method is to slide the nut on top of the lain sandpaper, not the other way around. That way you can put pressure on the nut from above while holding the sandpaper in-place on the table/floor/flat surface.
7. Once you have sanded the nut down evenly to the mark you made on it, clean it off with a piece of paper and also CAREFULLY clean out any chunks of glue in the slot for the nut on the neck. Do not gouge the neck slot or your nut won't fit right.
8. Now place the nut in the slot and string up your old Low E-String and your High E-string that you took off earlier. Tune them to pitch and see if you like the new distance of your strings at the nut. If you do not like the distance and want it closer, repeat steps 1-7 (minus cleaning the nut slot...lol...once is good enough)
9. If you are happy with the distance, you're finished lowering the nut for now. Now you can work on seating the nut back in the slot permanently and movin on to the bridge.
10. Okay, remove your Low and high E-Strings again and put them aside.
Make sure there aren't any shavings or pieces of anything in the nut slot or on the nut. Take a small dab of elmers glue and lightly coat the bottom of the nut. You want enough elmers glue in there to hold the nut in place but without it gushing out all over the place. If it does spill don't worry...it's elmers glue. lol.11. Slide the nut into the slot and make sure it is placed evenly in the slot and not hanging over to either side.
12. Restring the guitar and make sure that the nut is adjusted properly according to the way the strings are comfortable at tension. Once you have restrung the guitar and the nut is adjusted/seated properly, give it a good 30 minutes for the glue to dry. Once it has dried, tune the guitar to pitch and try playing chords at the first 5 frets. See if you like the action better.
THE BRIDGE
13. After the nut is done and dried, try playing higher up on the neck closer to the body. If your playing action is good there after lowering the nut, leave the guitar alone. However, if you would also like to lower your action at the 9th fret and up...you can do the following...
14. Take a measurement with a ruler at the 12th fret of how far the distance between the top of the fret and the bottom of your strings is.
15. Once you have this distance, cut it in half and write it down. (This is the distance you will be lowering your bridge)
16. Remove the strings from your guitar and set them aside again. Once you have removed the strings, take a pair of calipers/pliers and remove the bridge insert from the bridge of your guitar. It's that cream colored thingie that stis in the slot at the spot where your strings go into the body of the guitar.
17. Once you've removed the bridge insert, take that measurement from at the 12th fret and mark that distance on your bridge insert from the bottom. You should wind up with a line close to the bottom of your bridge insert, make sure to mark it all the way across evenly so you can sand it evenly.
18. Now once you have the bridge insert out of the guitar you can lower it. You do this by finding a perfectly flat surface, laying down some sandpaper and then sanding the bottom of the bridge insert until you sand it down to that mark you made on it in Step 17. SAND EVENLY ON A FLAT SURFACE!!!! If you mess this up, you will have to try and even it out later...or replace it. My preferred method is to slide the bridge insert on top of the lain sandpaper, not the other way around. That way you can put even pressure on the insert from above while holding the sandpaper in-place on the table/floor/flat surface.
19. Once you have sanded the bridge insert down evenly to the mark you made on it, clean it off with a piece of towel paper.
20. Now place the bridge insert in the bridge slot and string up your guitar with the strings that you took off earlier. Tune them to pitch and see if you like the new distance of your strings at the bridge. If you do not like the distance and want it closer, repeat steps 13-20.
If you have any questions, feel free to message me or ask here.
=]
Dm
Sup det? Sorry, but I'm going to disagree on some of these....
About #1.... This really can't be trusted... What if the problem isn't at the nut or it's only the outer strings due to it not being set to the neck radius? Most cheaper guitars come with almost no real set up and for that reason I think the nut should always be adjusted in place. It should be done by adjusting each string slot so that the strings are the same height across the nut matching the fretboards curve/radius. This is really rough (made fast one evening for tony) but gives a rough idea of how I measure and adjust a nut http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KdBZ3vL5ZY
I do the saddle a bit different than you describe as well... Say you have an action of 5/32 at the 12th and you want 3/32.... that gives us a difference of 2/32 or 1/16... now we take that and double it to 1/8 and that is what needs to be removed from the bottom of the saddle to bring us to our desired height at the 12th... I do mine roughly like this ( another quick vid I made for tony, for some reason I could not my d chord to ring clearly in the vid the way I holding the guit...:lol:) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjXMH7Uw8G4
I plan to redo these vids more professionally and cover a set up from beginning to end to help people with these questions as soon as I have time...
Hey tandm3,
I haven't seen the ad.....
I'm sure if it's a misleading ad selling "other than advertised" merchandise we'd want to remove it from Chordie! I'm pretty sure undesirable ads can be blocked from the site... Keep an eye out for it again and let us now where to find it so it can be looked into!
I hate waiting for them to load too! I keep the newest free version of realplayer installed and just download them... It only takes a minute or 2 and then I have them saved to use even if I'm offline... You can also burn them to DVDs for practice away from the computer which I really like! I find it much better than wondering if it's ever going to load or freeze half way through
Some of you may have noticed that I haven't contributed much here the last couple of weeks.... My computer has been on the fritz and only working occasionally. Finally got my new hard drive in today and have done some swapping out and various other tinkering and am up running smooth again (I hope!) Now I've got lots of posts to read and catch up on It's good to be back amongst the fine people of Chordieopia
Yea that site has really gone down hill.... I've reported it all, contacted admin, and when I got no response there, I looked up who the domain was registered to and have contacted them but no one seems to care...
Chordie is the only way to go!
Well this isn't even remotely music related, but I wanted to share it anyway... Been spending a lot of time surfing lately and have been working with my 9 yr old on the beach with board positioning, pop ups, and such.... Well today I put him in the water for the first time on a board. We worked on balance and paddling for a bit and he caught on great. So we paddled into the break and I let him catch his first wave and he made me proud Little dude got up on the first try and cruised her all the way to shore I was/am so stoked for him!! It's hard to explain the feeling for those that don't surf but it's really a life altering experience for most of us! He was so pumped and I had to drag him home this afternoon
I've had a few Martins and a few Taylors and have found that I much prefer Taylors to Martins overall for my style of play... For Bluegrass/flatpicking it's hard to beat a martin (IMO) but for most other things I like Taylors My one guitar that I really regret selling is the last 314ce I had....:( 
Lyrics here http://www.harptab.com/lyrics/ly2382.shtml I couldn't find an audio sample or the chords/tab though...
I believe your artist is going to be Albert Collins.... I'll see if I can find the lyrics and chords and get back to ya....
It's a good question and I'm not sure I can answer it....
If you have a song in your book and it is removed from the host site that Chordie borrows it from , then the song is going to vanish.
The part I'm not sure about is the actual chordie archive... It may or may not automatically search alternate sites to replace the tab/chords for a song already in the index if it goes missing.... If so, it could still be slightly different coming from an alternate site.
Printing is a good safeguard, as well is copying and pasting to a notebook/pad or other pc based storage program...
I do believe that it is a PVA formulation, likely not too much unlike the Ronseal product.
Only the Titebond II is PVA (polyvinyl acetate) and it's the one known to fail... Original Titebond is an aliphatic resin emulsion and Titebond III is an advanced proprietary polymer.
Just thought Roger may want to know in case he needed to compare them with whats available in his area...
Hey Doug, I like titebond III, It does have a stronger bond (rated at 4000 psi). The original titebond is rated at 3600, which is slightly less but I still like it more because of the lower viscosity (especially on softer woods like cedar or spruce)... Seems to get more penetration and is easier to work with when injecting into tight spots IMO... I think either glue would be fine for this application though. I just trust the original formula from using it for so long with good results I guess... Now the titebond II, I've had fail several times on bridges when I first started doing repairs. I stay away from it now. -Pix
Oh man hate to see that Roger.....
I agree with doug on all points... I'd use Titebond interior wood glue for the repair and remember not to clamp it too tightly and squeeze all the glue out. Gorilla glue is good stuff but I wouldn't use it for this repair... Alignment is key and gorilla glue has two disadvantages here IMO. You have to wet both sides for the glue to activate, and once it activates it expands like foam and can shift parts if you're not careful. The glue also has a tendecy to foam up and spill out of the repair which can be bad for the finish. Titebond is tried and true... Again use interior though because the exterior doesn't have the same holding power. Just my .02... -Pix
You guys are confusing me....:) Wouldn't that be 5th string 5th fret (D note) 7th fret 5th string would be an E note....
I'm confused. Does an extra sound hole increase volume that much? It's aimed at the player, does that create a fazing problem? What does it do to tone? Hay I'm a newbie.
I'm going to cheat on your questions and send you a link to my first soundport project post.... I believe all your answers can be found there http://www.chordie.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=12387
Have you done this to an Ovation yet?
Haven't done it to an ovation yet but they are known for their durability and I imagine the bowl material would be very stable and easy to work with... The shape of the back could be a factor with ovations though.... Not structurally but acoustically, Just not sure how it would accept it and of the outcome.... I'll do some checking up on this and see if I can find someone that's tried it. If I find anything, I'll send it to ya.
Look great, lucky its some one elses guitar!
Thanks! I've done all my acoustics except for 2... I'm going to do them as well, I just haven't decided on a design...
OK back with a little more info for ya....
"In 1935, Gibson started making another in-house budget brand called Cromwell. Unlike the Kalamazoo brand, Gibson hid the fact that they were “Gibson� made, opting for phrases like “Guitars By Master Craftsmen� . The two largest distributors of the Cromwell line were Continental Music in Chicago, IL and Grossman’s Music in Cleveland, OH. Both were also big Gibson distributors and Gibson wanted to maintain the “Gibson� name as the best brand (and most expensive), while offering the Cromwell line as a separate brand name. Kind of like Michelin making all Sears-brand tires. Cromwell was basically GIBSON'S house brand. The idea was to have a line of guitars that could be sold by jobbers (large musical instrument distributor that carried many brands) to music stores who weren't franchised Gibson dealers and couldn't get Gibsons and Kalamazoos. The majority of Cromwells were sold by Continental Music (owned by C.G. Conn, the band instrument manufacturer), with others such as J.W Jenkins (a large mid-west Gibson dealer in Kansas City), as well as Coast Wholesale, and Gretsch & Brenner (not to be confused with Gretsch Guitars).
The G-2 flat-top is quite rare and few exist making them more valuable. The arch-tops G-4 and G-6 were the most popular, and many examples still exist, and not as valuable. In 1936, the Model G-8 was introduced as the top of the line, but the much higher price hurt sales, and was discontinued soon after., and makes it one of the most valuable and collectable Cromwells. The difference between the models was based on the Model number (low to high). The G-4 was the least expensive; the G-6 had an inlaid logo and fancier black & white checkered purfling (similar to the Kalamazoo KG-32). All had Gibson tailpieces, but usually Grover-made pickguard brackets and the most recognizable feature all the Cromwells, besides the large stenciled logo on the peg head, was a white stripe running down the center of the fingerboard. Most experts agree that Gibson probably made the Cromwell brand starting in early 1935, but stopped sometime in late 1938, or possibly early 1939."
You can find more, including photos, at the website:
http://www.fox-guitars.com/Gibson-Made_Brands.html
The only correction I'd add to the above is about the white stripe running down the fretboard... While it's very common on Cromwell's, it's not on all of them. I've seen several examples with dots and a few with block inlays...
As for value.... It's hard to say cause of condition and not knowing the exact model but I'd "GUESS" 6-7 hundred for the lower end models and more as you move up their line. There's a lower end model on Atlanta's craigs list now for $950...
Now for the repair.... It's hard to say for sure without pics but most splits can be repaired quite easily.. Humidity will often close the crack and glue can be injected and it cleaked from the inside to stabilize it. Being on the back minimizes the harm on resale, as a back crack has almost no detrimental affect on tone....
Funny thing for you to post this... I was just reading up and researching the brand a few weeks ago
Dude I'm short on time and will chime in more in an hr or two but The crack can be fixed and if it was reasonable go get it now Cromwell's were made by gibson as a house brand from 1935 to late 38-early39. Gibson was using solid woods then and the top was spruce and the back was usually birch but some had maple backs as well... You'll notice the logo looks similar to gibsons(on the higher end models, The lower end had just cromwell across the headstock.... They go for a pretty good penny. Sorry I'm cutting it short but I'll chime in again soon.... Busy at the moment.
My playing gets better the more I practice, but my voice will never change!
You may be surprised how much the singing voice does change/improve with regular practice... I couldn't sing a lick when I first started but now some desperate souls actually request a song or two
Glad you guys have enjoyed the band
MKM, Sorry didn't mean to mislead ya Yea, I do surf!!! That just wasn't me in the vid.... A friend and I are working on putting together some footage though.... I'll be hitting the break Saturday at first light for some sunrise surfing and will try to snap a pic or two to share,
Thanks, But that wasn't me surfing there.... It's just one of the local breaks I frequent
Roger has it right. I just had my guitar worked on last week. First he loosened the truss rod bcuz the neck had a little too much bow to it. The he filed the nut a little bit and then shaved off some of the bridge. Truss rod is not for lowering action.
To remove bow he would have tightened it The truss rod runs from the head to the heel (pretty much) and as you tighten it it pulls the head back to counteract the forward pull of the strings. Loosening it allows the strings to pull it further forward adding relief or bow....
Just wanted to stop in real quick and share a killer band with you guys....
Here's "The Plank" by The Devil Makes 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=talqltbO … re=related
And just in case any of you wonder were I vanish to during the warmer months, Here's a minute or so of the song set to some surfing at my local break... Though I prefer the break about half mile up beach.... http://www.youtube.com/user/Guitarpixx# … SYWuqulzzg
As for the weight, Check with the manufacture! They can tell you what tension/weight the top is designed for... Some guitars are built to sound best with mediums and some with lights. Putting lights on a heavier built guitar will lesson the responsiveness, and putting mediums on a guitar designed for lights can cause major structural issues! Always check with the manufacture!
Tone is so subjective and what I like you may not, so I'm not going to try to tell you what's best for you. Just try different brands and compositions till you find the ones that suit your style and guit...
As a side note... Don't get too hung up on string weight (light,xtra-light,medium,etc...) every brand has different tensions for their strings... Some brands xtra lights have the same lbs of tension as others lights, some mediums will feel like another brands lights as well. You can find string tension charts online that will tell you which brands carry what tension.
Here's a quick breakdown of some of the more popular brands and their strings lbs of tension at various tunings..
This first section is using D'Addario strings:
STANDARD TUNING E A D G B E TOTAL
LIGHT 26.0 29.9 30.5 30.2 23.3 23.3 163.2
MEDIUM 29.0 34.0 36.8 35.3 26.3 27.4 188.8
HEAVY 31.9 38.8 44.7 38.0 29.3 31.5 214.2
TUNED DOWN 1/2 STEP D# G# C# F# A# D#
LIGHT 23.2 26.6 27.2 26.9 20.8 20.8 145.5
MEDIUM 25.8 30.3 32.8 31.5 23.4 24.4 168.2
HEAVY 28.4 34.6 39.8 33.9 26.1 28.1 190.9
TUNED DOWN FULL STEP D G C F A D
LIGHT 20.6 23.7 24.2 24.0 18.5 18.5 129.5
MEDIUM 23.0 27.0 29.2 28.0 20.9 21.8 149.9
HEAVY 25.3 30.8 35.5 30.2 23.2 25.0 170.0
DADGAD D A D G A D
LIGHT 20.6 29.9 30.5 30.2 18.5 18.5 148.2
MEDIUM 23.0 34.0 36.8 35.3 20.9 21.8 171.8
HEAVY 25.3 38.8 44.7 38.0 23.2 25.0 195.0
OPEN D D A D F# A D
LIGHT 20.6 29.9 30.5 26.9 18.5 18.5 144.9
MEDIUM 23.0 34.0 36.8 31.5 20.9 21.8 168.0
HEAVY 25.3 38.8 44.7 33.9 23.2 25.0 190.9
OPEN G D G D G B D
LIGHT 20.6 23.7 30.5 30.2 23.3 18.5 146.8
MEDIUM 23.0 27.0 36.8 35.3 26.3 21.8 170.2
HEAVY 25.3 30.8 44.7 38.0 29.3 25.0 193.1
NOTE: FIGURES SHOWN ARE IN LBS USING A 25.5" Standard] SCALE LENGTH
FOR A 24.75" SCALE LENGTH MULTIPLY TENSION FIGURES SHOWN BY 0.95
FOR A 24.90" SCALE LENGTH MULTIPLY TENSION FIGURES SHOWN BY 0.96
FOR A 25.25" SCALE LENGTH MULTIPLY TENSION FIGURES SHOWN BY 0.98
FOR A 25.40" SCALE LENGTH MULTIPLY TENSION FIGURES SHOWN BY 0.99
For 12 strings:
Martin 12-String 80/20 Bronze Extra Light Acoustic Strings
D'Addario Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings - 12-string Light
010/010 014/014 023/008 030/012 039/018 047/027
Standard tuning: 258 lbs.
1 halfstep down: 230 lbs.
2 halfsteps down: 205 lbs.
Elixir Acoustic Guitar Light 12 String
010/010 014/014 023/009 030/012 039/018 047/027
Standard tuning: 262 lbs.
1 halfstep down: 233 lbs.
2 halfsteps down: 208 lbs.
D'Addario Phosphor Bronze Acoustic Guitar Strings - 12-string Extra Light
09/009 013/013 021/008 029/011 036/016 045/026
Standard tuning: 224 lbs.
1 halfstep down: 200 lbs.
2 halfsteps down: 178 lbs.
Dean Markley Bronze 12-String Acoustic Guitar Strings - Medium
.012/.012 .016/.016 .026/.010 .034/.017 .044/.024 .054/.030
Standard tuning: 366 lbs.
1 halfstep down: 326 lbs.
2 halfsteps down: 291 lbs.
Martin Marquis 12-String 80/20 Bronze Light Acoustic Strings
.012/.012 .016/.016 .025/.010 .032/.014 .042/.020 .054/.030
Standard tuning: 330 lbs.
1 halfstep down: 294 lbs.
2 halfsteps down: 262 lbs.
Elixir Acoustic Guitar Heavy 12 String (for C# tuning)
.013/013 .017/.017 .030/.014 .039/.018 .047/.027 .056/.035
3 frets down: 323 lbs. Surely no one tunes these up to standard. We'd have heard their guitar imploding.
Elixir Acoustic Guitar Medium PolyWeb Coating (6 string)
.013 .017 .026 .035 .045 .056
Standard tuning 192 lbs.
Other manufactures specs are available online....
Guitar chord forum - chordie → Posts by Guitarpix
