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Post by lexluthier on Mar 1, 2015 22:48:01 GMT
Recommend anyone who can get to see the first two on Iplayer to do so, very good, wish they where longer. Looking forward very much to part 3 next Saturday.
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Post by lexluthier on Feb 28, 2015 23:24:32 GMT
Love Toby's playing and he comes across as a really nice chap too! Loads of stuff on Youtube(got 'em all on downloaded) and lessons available I understand. Never bought a lesson yet but would probably buy his if I did.
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Post by lexluthier on Feb 27, 2015 22:53:33 GMT
Hi. Personally I've never had any problems with tuners other than the very cheapest of brands. Even when worn and have a measure of slack which you can feel when changing direction, they will hold tune, the slack is just annoying. Apart from what Michael has pointed out about bridge pins, I have found the nut to be the source of most tuning problems, especially, but not exclusively, if string bending is involved. Sometimes simply the pressure of fretting a chord can slacken a string if the nut is gripping the string for whatever reason, those small ticking sounds when tuning up can be an indicator of this problem. I always start with making sure the nut slots are not too tight and are lubricated with graphite(soft pencil lead) Rarely does this not solve tuning problems.
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Post by lexluthier on Feb 26, 2015 23:28:49 GMT
Hi. In the last year or so I have gone out of my way to familiarise myself with and/or work on as many resonator guitars as I possibly could, having fallen in love with the tone so much. I have to say I still haven't got my hands on any high end examples yet as they are pretty rare in this neck of the woods and my ability to travel is restricted. The guitars I have worked on have been of the sub £700 variety and I've spend hundreds of hours(I kid you not) learning all I could about their construction and how to get the very most out of them via set-ups, bridge materials etc. I've learned a lot for myself and don't regret the time spent, however, I now dismiss all of these guitars out of hand and wouldn't waste any more time on their like, or suggest to anyone who asks me or brings me a resonator to set-up to do so either. I recently converted an MM blues 14 to a southpaw for a customer and I have to say it blew everything I have worked on/played out of the water tone-wise and have concluded that my advice to anyone would be these guitars are the minimum standard I would personally spend money or time on in the future. I assume from reading and listening that Busker guitars measure up to the same standards as the MM guitars. No amount of setting up and swapping out parts will get you 'that' tone if aspects of the basic construction aren't right in the first place, you can't polish a turd as they say!
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Post by lexluthier on Jun 28, 2014 11:14:37 GMT
A good effort from a young man, nice voice! Got to the end of this clip and noticed what I thought maybe an extravagant claim on another clip, so clicked on it, not so extravagant perhaps. Love to know what others think of this, I'm an absolute novice player and easily impressed, but is this not very cool?
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Post by lexluthier on May 5, 2014 22:47:11 GMT
Hi Billy and all Museums and antiquities collections have always had the problem of handling and stabilizing objects that oxidize and corrode. This problem is at its worst with collections of arms and armour which tend to be made of raw iron or steel which, even with a high polish, will show a finger print in a short amount of time after being touched or will just develop a general layer of oxidisation even when stored in normal atmospheric conditions. The excepted solution to this problem in the conservation world for quite a few decades now has been the use of Renaissance Micro-Crystalline Wax, effective in protecting many surfaces and finishes but especially good on raw steel. If its good enough for protecting 15th century suits of armour in the Royal collection, it may be of some use to vintage resonator owners. Google it, check it out!
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Post by lexluthier on May 4, 2014 22:32:33 GMT
Hi Billy Wow, cool! Leaving as much as possible, as original as possible is good advice, including the fingerboard. The fingernail scalloping is groovy(pun intended) and all distress is a badge of honour. The folks here on this forum will give you good advice from their experience with this type of guitar that I don't have, however I will just say this. I use to work in museum conservation and regularly had to deal something we called 'Dust concrete'. Dust gathers and if undisturbed and gets exposed to even atmospheric moisture at some point, it will harden into 'dust concrete'. Not a problem to remove on something as substantial as steel and aluminium, even wood and wont have caused much harm. You did however describe it as 'mud', if the guitar has become soaked at some point, say in a basement flood, the wooden elements need checking for distortion before you do anything else. I'm suspecting from your photo's its the former but its worth establishing before you decide on your course of action. Best of luck mate, look forward to seeing your progress if you share it here further.
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Post by lexluthier on Apr 23, 2014 20:01:20 GMT
Hi Danny! Glad you have posted so I can thank you personally. I had all the threads, photos and video of your guitar downloaded onto my laptop before I even bought mine and It gave me a fair amount of confidence in dealing with what I might have to do if I bought an early continental(...and did!) Had to do all the things you mentioned, got rid of the counterproductive neck block, replaced the shim with a full length one and as result have got rid of the hump in fretboard! I had no need to replace the curved neck stick but had to re-glue it, all fine now and once packed out and braced, is now solid. Thanks to you going there first, you saved me a stack of time and gave me the confidence to have a go. As time goes on I'm only more pleased with my decision to buy it, and while I still have a way to go yet to get it just so, I know there's a good guitar there, despite its faults and scars. In 35 years of owning basses and guitars I've never given one a name before(not telling you what, that's between me and her!) Thanks again Danny.
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Post by lexluthier on Apr 23, 2014 18:38:15 GMT
Hi fredcapo Thank you for your input. Its always difficult in these situations to understand or assess where the question asker is re: skill sets or level of understanding of the subject in question, a problem I have admired Michaels patience in overcoming in his altruistic efforts to help budding and even more experienced resonator lovers. Just to clarify, the previously uploaded images are from shortly after I received the guitar and was disassembling it in order to inspect its construction and problems. I have since done a considerable amount of work on the guitar. I wont list all the work but enough to say as a result and many experimental set-ups I seem to have achieved a good level of volume, sustain and that punch you get when everything seems to be tight and in balance. I cant seem to pull anything more out of it since rebuilding and setting-up, so that's what I describe as 'first set-up'. I have now let it settle for well over a week as all this work is a real trauma to the instrument and everything needs tighten up and remember its a guitar again. That's the point I am asking my questions from. My guitar friends are astounded at the transformation in tone, volume sustain projection already, say it sounds really sweet, but I know there's an certain element missing, a zing to the strings so to speak that I can only now conclude is the cones, hence my question. Just a note on the body at the heel, the design seems to be a prototype of some sort and not been messed with after the fact. 'a bit of history' as Michael rightly pointed out, so no metal bashing here, have made a wedged shaped shim to suit the set-up and all is tight and fine! Hi resonatorman Thank you for you input. I suspected from the very rough looking manufacture, unevenness between the three and their early production that the cones may not be up to the job. have been reluctant to just bin them as I like to try and keep things as original as possible. As I have covered everything else I can currently think of, I thought it worth asking those that know better. I thought it a little harsh to say a Continental from this time frame is a pile! I will assume that you mean only because of the cones unless you tell me otherwise. Hi Michael I ask the question about neck angle as much out of curiosity than anything. When assembling a tricone from scratch I thought it would be interesting to know from where one starts before making adjustments(?) I have come to realise from months of reading threads on this forum that you are a gentleman and have no want to trash any companies or persons workmanship, and as you have stated before no wish say negative things about guitars people own, quite right too. I hope my questions about Continental cones haven't made you feel you are being asked to do anything of that sort, I apologise if that's the way it might have been perceived. I am a little dyslexic and have to spent quite some time and care when reading or writing messages. There is a fine line between a justified critique and just trashing something which I know you have to deal with on this forum all the time. We are however all making judgements on what's good, what's not so good, what doesn't work when discussing the things we are passionate about are we not? No doubt as previously stated Continental cones are great now, how were they when they first start in comparison is my only thought before I buy some new ones. Thanks to all for your time and patience.
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Post by lexluthier on Apr 22, 2014 22:08:48 GMT
Hi again. Despite my previous gripes and a long list of things wrong with this guitar that I've not and wont go into, I've fallen in love with it and not sent it back to its former cruel owner! A substantial sum was refunded after the gentleman was reminded of items on the previously mentioned list that he had overlooked or forgotten, the guitar then came in at the price of the cheapest current Asian imports and has bags more character and charm.(IMO) Michaels comment about it being a bit of history held more resonance than the guitar did when it arrived and really helped me rationalise things so thank you for that Sir! The guitars rehab is helping me understand the nuances of a tricone and to further bond with and understand this one (...and help me not go mental since being made redundant, setting up a tricone gives you a lot to think about!!!) A few more questions if I may.... Is there a standard neck angle for tricone guitars? The design seems to suggests the neck be parallel with the body. After removing the neck and centering it to the body, this is what Ive done for my first set-up. The break angle seems OK (read every bit of advise you given this Michael), the volume is good but the tone, while powerful, lacks some treble, especially on the thicker strings. I'm making comparisons with National guitar.com you tube demos as they are good quality sound and new freshly set-up guitars. All of Lennys guitars have a more distinct metallic 'clang' while mine is very, very mellow. The answer may come from my next queston. Continental cones have now become an industry standard of sorts and as Robin at Busker has confirmed, made by people who know what they are doing! Ive heard that before 2004 this may not have been the case(my brothers 2000ish Johnson seems to support this) Listening to Mike Lewis talk about how hard this is to master leads me to ask if Michael or anyone else knows when the guys at AMI got it right. My tricone is from 1992 and only No.39 off the production line, had they cracked it by then or am I flogging a dead horse trying to pull a sound out of my tricone that the cones cant produce. All thoughts on this and the history of Continental cone will be very gratefully received.
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Post by lexluthier on Mar 23, 2014 18:54:12 GMT
Thank you very much for your insights Michael Although I've been repairing and setting up guitars for 25+ and have had many through my hands, I've had no personal experience with resonators other than my Johnson, pretty rare beasts here in the wilds of Lincolnshire! With that experience and a background in precision engineering I'm very comfortable with how Resonators basically work and how to set them up(learning all the time of course!) The reason you saw the screws, supports and packing pieces missing is that I have removed them to try and cure the problem of the neck seating flush with the body. When the guitar arrived I could get a credit card under the heel! With the packing removed and the neck stick brought up to the pan, the gap disappears but the neck is then too far back making a kink in the fret board. This along with the curve in the heel point/flat point on the body issue lead me to the conclusion it was a marriage but I happily bow to your knowledge and experience. I can only suppose it being so early in the production run, Herr Graff was still experimenting! I notice he tried what he must have considered to be 'improvements' to the original, the curved neck stick being a point in case, perhaps supposedly allowing better sound projection being not so near the cones. The block under the neck stick at the heel being another example. Just a bit gutted at the quality of this body compared with others I've researched but you live and learn! I'll find a 'cure' for the above mentioned problems I'm sure, just wanted to share the information, and have a winge! Thanks for listening.
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Post by lexluthier on Mar 23, 2014 1:14:24 GMT
Hi again, struggled with that, can re-fret a guitar in my sleep but a complete IT idiot! Showing is a photo of said heel area, hope you can see the feature I'm referring to, also a picture of the cone well, which to my surprise is steel.(I know nothing) I made the assumption all the early Continentals where German silver, I've now learned this may be not the case. This body is brass, not at all well finished before plated, a lot of sharp edges too. The heel point is slightly curved where it meets body, as if it should be on a properly curved shouldered body. The neck stick is right and it has the correct label inside(1992 I think) Thanks people.
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Post by lexluthier on Mar 23, 2014 0:52:49 GMT
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Post by lexluthier on Mar 22, 2014 22:36:01 GMT
Hello everybody, really glad to join this forum, have been dipping into it for a while now and found it totally invaluable since discovering resonator guitars (where have I been, My life is changed!!!) Found a 14 fret Johnson without a mark on it for £175 and thought I'd give it a go. Sounded like regular guitar I and everyone else thought, so with a lot of advice given on this forum and much You tubing, got the thing resonating. Sings like a bird now(or quacks like a duck as my Brother says!) So to the 'help!' bit. After a lot of research and decision making, just bought my first tricone. Decided to buy second hand rather than new Chinese and do any work needed myself. My guitar arrived and there was the quality neck of an early Continental I was after but the body didn't look right straight away. The quality and finish just seems crude but what really caught my eye was the body at the heel point. Instead of a sweeping unbroken shoulder curve there is a flat area where the neck is mounted, as wide as the fingerboard, going from front to back. Looks really odd and ugly, never seen this feature before on another tricone, let alone a Continental! My question is does anybody recognise this distinctive feature? I fear I've bought a marriage and if so need to address the seller quickly. The advice of the good members of this forum will be massively appreciated. Thank you in advance.
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