Setting up a cheap acoustic

[pugsley]

Hi guys,

In a couple of weeks I am heading over to Peru, where i will probably spend 6+ months. When i'm there i plan on buying myself a cheap acoustic guitar (not risking taking my MM Blues), and plan on setting it up mainly for lap style, but also for bottleneck.

So, really i'm just after some advice on setting up a cheap acoustic and getting the best out of it. e.g. What type of strings? MM Newtone's? Should i buy a higher bridge to attach?

I have a nut riser, tone bar, slides, finger picks.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[Michael Messer]

Hi Pugsley,

It is difficult to advise you without knowing what guitar you are going to get, but certainly a good set of MM strings will help bring life to a cheap acoustic guitar. I think I would take more than one set.

If you need to raise the bridge, a couple of matchsticks should do the job.

Your travelpack of - slides, picks, tonebar and a nut raiser, should be the perfect survival kit.

If you get into problems with it, try and get online somewhere and we'll do our best to help.

Have a great trip,

Shine On
Michael.

[robn]

Wow!

6 months in Peru sounds fantastic Pugsley.

Michael is right - your little survival kit and a few sets of good strings will be fine. If you are going to buy a cheap guitar out there you just want to check a few things to ensure that you can get the set-up you want.

Make sure the truss rod works.

Make sure there is plenty of bridge out of the saddle slot and a good break angle down to the peg holes.

Make sure the neck is not warped.

From there you should be able to get any set-up you want.

Take a couple of sets of heavier strings for lap style (16-56) and tune down a little.

Mind you - if I was going to Peru for 6 months, personally I'd be inclined to have a look at the local music scene and see if I could learn to play a local instrument and sit in with local musicians. I have no idea what style of music you will find where you are going but I'm sure the experience of immersing yourself in a new style would do wonders for your musicianship in general. It would certainly help mine

Robin

[ken1953clark]

Wow, Peru, I was there in '76, although then it was like dropping off the end of the world, these days they have internet cafes and all sorts.

Not sure you'll have a lot lot of choice in guitars there though, everything having to be imported, it might be better to source a cheap instrument here (3/4 size or something) that you won't mind losing.

But on the positive side, try to source a Charango, a small 5 course (10 string) instrument where the back is traditionally an Armadillo shell, though I suppose that's not ethical any more and they make them out of Carbon Fibre, pig poo or something else. Its very small, smaller than a Uke but wider neck. Tuned like a Uke but with an extra high course (GCEAE).



I missed one on ebay last week, which was annoying, especially since the seller knew nothing about it. Claimed it was African, but Armadillos are only found in the Americas. D'oh!

might sound good with a bit of Blind Willie McTell

[gaucho]

I recently did the same thing. I bought a couple of cheap beat-up Stellas and set them up for bottleneck. I had fun fixing them up. I put bone nuts and better bridge/saddles on them and play them with light strings.They actually sound really good when played in the Delta style. I can get more RJ sound out of them than any of my resonators!

[pugsley]

Thanks for the replies guys, very helpful.

However, not only am i fairly new to slide guitar, i'm fairly new to guitars too.

So would it be possible to explain these concepts in lay man terms?

Michael - how do i raise the bridge using matchsticks?
Robin - how do i check the truss rods and break angle?
Ken - i will certainly try to check out one of those charango's

Sorry for my lack of knowledge, but i find this forum very useful as a novice.

Thanks