I was on YouTube for some random reason today and this video was up front.
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@guyjantic
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Well, thank you, I think you helped me make up my mind at last, I have a Martin I don’t play because I have tiny hands and other guitars I’ve pared down to size, it always seemed like a crime to shave down the neck of the new Martin, so I’ve been stuck, unable to play it but afraid to sell it because the rest are relatively crap and my main acoustic seems about to crumble and leave me without one.
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But this video let me know it’s not the fancy sort of Martin, it has the little plate that hides the screw in the neck joint. I still think it’s wood, it’s a classic model - but as they said, it’s less traumatic to reset or replace that sort of neck if I mess it up.
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Also they cut the neck in half so
I saw how deep the torsion bar is - it’s pretty deep, I’m not planning to remove any wood behind it, just the sides, except maybe a little at the end, for shaping.
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Just measuring and marking it so far, but goddammit, I’m doing it.
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Thanks!
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#Guitar@punishmenthurts Looking at the neck in the video more closely, there's a truss rod in there, which I would think could give you more leeway for shaving the neck down. It should be possible to offset some of the breaky-forces with the truss rod, but IDK to what extent.
Wild thought: If your neck-shaving experiment seems to weaken the neck too much, maybe you could reinforce it with fiberglass cloth and epoxy. You know, bondo. I guess that only works if the Bondo result is stronger in specific ways than an equal thickness of neckwood, and I don't know.
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@punishmenthurts Looking at the neck in the video more closely, there's a truss rod in there, which I would think could give you more leeway for shaving the neck down. It should be possible to offset some of the breaky-forces with the truss rod, but IDK to what extent.
Wild thought: If your neck-shaving experiment seems to weaken the neck too much, maybe you could reinforce it with fiberglass cloth and epoxy. You know, bondo. I guess that only works if the Bondo result is stronger in specific ways than an equal thickness of neckwood, and I don't know.
@guyjantic
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yeah, if you take a lot of wood off, you do have to pull it back with the torsion rod a little. But that’s the point, if you’re using the torsion rod, you want some wood behind it. I have gone too far once, hopefully never again, and especially not with this one.
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I’ve begun, I’ll start a thread.
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#Guitar -
@guyjantic
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yeah, if you take a lot of wood off, you do have to pull it back with the torsion rod a little. But that’s the point, if you’re using the torsion rod, you want some wood behind it. I have gone too far once, hopefully never again, and especially not with this one.
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I’ve begun, I’ll start a thread.
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#Guitarhttps://youtu.be/ZIlnaTju4zg?si=5AikQbqcSo0JwgHp
Ted Woodford's latest video does a neck reduction, for info.
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https://youtu.be/ZIlnaTju4zg?si=5AikQbqcSo0JwgHp
Ted Woodford's latest video does a neck reduction, for info.
@RobertJackson58585858 @punishmenthurts Ooh, looks like I'm down the rabbit hole, now.
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@RobertJackson58585858 @punishmenthurts Ooh, looks like I'm down the rabbit hole, now.
@guyjantic @RobertJackson58585858
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. . . and I’m finished already,
LOL.
Not really, I’ve ordered a nut and some powdered stain, called “brown mahogany,” of course it won’t be the Martin colour.
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But basically, I’ve put it together to check the shape, and there may be detail, but I can play it now. -
@guyjantic @RobertJackson58585858
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. . . and I’m finished already,
LOL.
Not really, I’ve ordered a nut and some powdered stain, called “brown mahogany,” of course it won’t be the Martin colour.
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But basically, I’ve put it together to check the shape, and there may be detail, but I can play it now.@punishmenthurts @RobertJackson58585858 Well, that was the goal, right? That's excellent!
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@punishmenthurts @RobertJackson58585858 Well, that was the goal, right? That's excellent!
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@punishmenthurts @RobertJackson58585858 Well, that was the goal, right? That's excellent!
@guyjantic @RobertJackson58585858
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I sweated about it for eight years or more, then it was done in a day. Sometimes, when I finally make my mind up I scare myself for how fast it goes from decision to action. Eish! -
https://youtu.be/ZIlnaTju4zg?si=5AikQbqcSo0JwgHp
Ted Woodford's latest video does a neck reduction, for info.
@RobertJackson58585858 @guyjantic
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oh, wow, I did everything wrong
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@RobertJackson58585858 @guyjantic
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oh, wow, I did everything wrong@punishmenthurts @RobertJackson58585858 I laugh in pain with you, having said this so many times
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@punishmenthurts @RobertJackson58585858 I laugh in pain with you, having said this so many times
@guyjantic @RobertJackson58585858
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it’s all good. All those years I waited, I’ve been practicing on lesser guitars. I didn’t have to refret (not yet anyway), because I wasn’t changing the arc. No jig, no router, pretty organic process of rasps and planes and sandpaper, but it gets you there. -
@RobertJackson58585858 @guyjantic
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oh, wow, I did everything wrong -
@guyjantic @RobertJackson58585858
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it’s all good. All those years I waited, I’ve been practicing on lesser guitars. I didn’t have to refret (not yet anyway), because I wasn’t changing the arc. No jig, no router, pretty organic process of rasps and planes and sandpaper, but it gets you there.I think it's amazing you've done this—I would not have had the guts!
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R relay@relay.infosec.exchange shared this topicR relay@relay.publicsquare.global shared this topicR relay@relay.mycrowd.ca shared this topic
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I think it's amazing you've done this—I would not have had the guts!
@geoffduncan
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I have a few guitars now that are only good for tiny handed people, I want to somehow label them as such and make sure they go to small handed people when they outlive me. -
@geoffduncan
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I have a few guitars now that are only good for tiny handed people, I want to somehow label them as such and make sure they go to small handed people when they outlive me.@punishmenthurts
What is your ideal nut width/string spacing looking like? -
@punishmenthurts
What is your ideal nut width/string spacing looking like?@geoffduncan
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strings 1 3/8”, nut, 1 5/8”
happens to be the spread of a stratocaster nut, but I think the Fenders have three times the arc of the Martin, not sure it will work for this one. I can modify, dig the middle ones out deeper, but I also ordered a bone blank to carve from scratch. -
@geoffduncan
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strings 1 3/8”, nut, 1 5/8”
happens to be the spread of a stratocaster nut, but I think the Fenders have three times the arc of the Martin, not sure it will work for this one. I can modify, dig the middle ones out deeper, but I also ordered a bone blank to carve from scratch.@geoffduncan
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my fingers are short, but they’re fat, that’s too close together already, and surely getting more so as I age, but it’s a trade off, I need that smaller circumference. -
@geoffduncan
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strings 1 3/8”, nut, 1 5/8”
happens to be the spread of a stratocaster nut, but I think the Fenders have three times the arc of the Martin, not sure it will work for this one. I can modify, dig the middle ones out deeper, but I also ordered a bone blank to carve from scratch.@punishmenthurts
One and three eighths…wow. Suddenly all this is making much more sense to me.What about shimming Strat nuts? Any issues with rolling strings off the edge of the fingerboard?
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@punishmenthurts
One and three eighths…wow. Suddenly all this is making much more sense to me.What about shimming Strat nuts? Any issues with rolling strings off the edge of the fingerboard?
@geoffduncan
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I have a Fender and it’s amazing for that, the strings are at the very edge, but I hardly do pull them off of it, I think the tight arc helps that, for small hands.
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I keep thinking about breaking that Tele down and putting the neck on an acoustic. -
@geoffduncan
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I have a Fender and it’s amazing for that, the strings are at the very edge, but I hardly do pull them off of it, I think the tight arc helps that, for small hands.
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I keep thinking about breaking that Tele down and putting the neck on an acoustic.@punishmenthurts
I sort of have the opposite problem: pretty normal-sized but substantial fingers, so I appreciate a little extra width, and I'm forever rolling strings off the edge of some fingerboards (but very rarely on an acoustic).There's always those old Fender acoustics with the bolt-on necks! Although I imagine some of those are now considered "vintage" and priced beyond reason.
