Post by Dessery on Dec 25, 2015 17:12:09 GMT
Hi all
Merry Christmas to you all!! Some of you may have seen through the thead about Michael's blue Dobro, that I one myself a fiddle edged through eBay a couple of weeks back. It finally arrived a couple of days ago but was squarreled away for xmas
Now I have it in my hands though, I thought id share some pics and get some advice. First of all, its in much much better condition than it looked in the eBay pics!! It looked like it had a massive dent in the bottom of the guitar which in reality its just an optical illusion from where the nickel plating (i think?) is wearing away.
As you can see though, no dent at all!!
When i first got it, it was understrung, and using 10's or something, way too light. So first thing I did was to sort that out and put some MM 12-56's on. The action was also really low, but removing the understringing has left it perfect!! Also couldn't help myself and opened it up to see whether it was an offset spider or not.
Im pretty sure this isn't. However strangely the guitar has about 14 and a half frets to the neck so I did wonder if this is one of the strange necks so should it have an offset spider? It does all look pretty original to me though but I don't know if there is anyway of knowing for definite.
I also looked under the cone as it has a pickup but the seller did not know what. It has written on it 'Frontline Piezolectric' and it is stuck to the bottom of the cone. I don't do electric's at all when it comes to my guitars, is having it on the cone going to affect the tone? I can't find this pickup online at all. Does anyone know anything about it?
There is sadly no serial number and no sign there has ever been one on the headstock but I have read that this was the case with some of them, and nothing written inside the body so sadly I haven't been able to identify it any more clearly, is anyone able to advise on this? It was listed as a M62 but all of these I have seen online have been spanish dancer's which this is definitely not. I believe they should also be brass. I have done the magnet test and it does stick, I believe this means its steel. Does that mean it is actually a M32?
Unfortunately, the headstock has had substantial work done to it in order to repair wholes from previous tuners, in the process, it has lost the Dobro decal, does anyone know where I might be able to get another one? Im assuming now Gibson own the brand and don't seem to care about it they wouldn't give me one.
Although it is in pretty good condition, there is a couple of things I would like to fix. First of all, the rust is quite bad, so is this likely to do any long term damage to the body? Im assuming this has been nickel plated in the past. It would be get to get it re-done. Could someone like Dave King or Mike Lewis do this for me? Or would I have to take it to a specialist nickel plating service? I have done some research and a found a couple of places but a lot say they chrome plate it as well to make it last longer, I didn't know if they did though, would this affect the tone or have any other side affects?
The second issue and the more pressing one, is that since I have put it all back together again, the top string unfortunately is resting on the coverplate rather than the saddle, this is creating a lot of buzzing:
I have tried to re-position the cone, at the moment it is as far forward as possible, but it is still sitting on the coverplate. I am not sure wether it was like this before I opened it up. I was certainly playing it at one point with no buzzing at all. Can anyone recommend anything to try to resolve it? If not I may take it for a setup.
Overall though, I am over the moon. The neck is lovely, and in perfect straight condition!! its a pleasure to play and the tone, when its not buzzing is sweet as anything, crystal clear tone, its absolutely beautiful!! I have no doubt once I have the setup sorted its going to be amazing!!
I realise this has been an epic post, with a lot of questions, but any help, comments would be greatly appreciated!!
Many thanks
David
Merry Christmas to you all!! Some of you may have seen through the thead about Michael's blue Dobro, that I one myself a fiddle edged through eBay a couple of weeks back. It finally arrived a couple of days ago but was squarreled away for xmas
Now I have it in my hands though, I thought id share some pics and get some advice. First of all, its in much much better condition than it looked in the eBay pics!! It looked like it had a massive dent in the bottom of the guitar which in reality its just an optical illusion from where the nickel plating (i think?) is wearing away.
As you can see though, no dent at all!!
When i first got it, it was understrung, and using 10's or something, way too light. So first thing I did was to sort that out and put some MM 12-56's on. The action was also really low, but removing the understringing has left it perfect!! Also couldn't help myself and opened it up to see whether it was an offset spider or not.
Im pretty sure this isn't. However strangely the guitar has about 14 and a half frets to the neck so I did wonder if this is one of the strange necks so should it have an offset spider? It does all look pretty original to me though but I don't know if there is anyway of knowing for definite.
I also looked under the cone as it has a pickup but the seller did not know what. It has written on it 'Frontline Piezolectric' and it is stuck to the bottom of the cone. I don't do electric's at all when it comes to my guitars, is having it on the cone going to affect the tone? I can't find this pickup online at all. Does anyone know anything about it?
There is sadly no serial number and no sign there has ever been one on the headstock but I have read that this was the case with some of them, and nothing written inside the body so sadly I haven't been able to identify it any more clearly, is anyone able to advise on this? It was listed as a M62 but all of these I have seen online have been spanish dancer's which this is definitely not. I believe they should also be brass. I have done the magnet test and it does stick, I believe this means its steel. Does that mean it is actually a M32?
Unfortunately, the headstock has had substantial work done to it in order to repair wholes from previous tuners, in the process, it has lost the Dobro decal, does anyone know where I might be able to get another one? Im assuming now Gibson own the brand and don't seem to care about it they wouldn't give me one.
Although it is in pretty good condition, there is a couple of things I would like to fix. First of all, the rust is quite bad, so is this likely to do any long term damage to the body? Im assuming this has been nickel plated in the past. It would be get to get it re-done. Could someone like Dave King or Mike Lewis do this for me? Or would I have to take it to a specialist nickel plating service? I have done some research and a found a couple of places but a lot say they chrome plate it as well to make it last longer, I didn't know if they did though, would this affect the tone or have any other side affects?
The second issue and the more pressing one, is that since I have put it all back together again, the top string unfortunately is resting on the coverplate rather than the saddle, this is creating a lot of buzzing:
I have tried to re-position the cone, at the moment it is as far forward as possible, but it is still sitting on the coverplate. I am not sure wether it was like this before I opened it up. I was certainly playing it at one point with no buzzing at all. Can anyone recommend anything to try to resolve it? If not I may take it for a setup.
Overall though, I am over the moon. The neck is lovely, and in perfect straight condition!! its a pleasure to play and the tone, when its not buzzing is sweet as anything, crystal clear tone, its absolutely beautiful!! I have no doubt once I have the setup sorted its going to be amazing!!
I realise this has been an epic post, with a lot of questions, but any help, comments would be greatly appreciated!!
Many thanks
David