Will it be a Hummingbird or a Hummingturd?

[dodger]

I was very how the lacquer sinks into the wood on an old guitar and how you can see the grain. Hope yours is a good Un @defjef

[Deleted]

It's coming to me today, yikes! I was mulling over those bridge pins again and suddenly hoping it was like that because somebody at Cash Gen didn't know how to string a guitar so just bodged some in wrongly! Not long to wait till I find out.

[Deleted]

GUTTED. Sat at my desk, working away then went to make my first coffee of the day and saw a 'we called to deliver but you were not in' card by the front door. Warrawarrawarra?!

My desk is about 10 feet from my front door and I haven't left it all morning. No radio on, no phone calls being made, light was on and I was sitting by the window. I saw no one! Who the hell did that card delivery, Larry the Leprechaun? And what did he knock with, a rabbit's tail?

Still, on the upside at least I can take a comfort break now!

Now it's gonna be Monday ... Hummingturds.

[marit]

Oh noooo @defjef!!! How can they leave us waiting like that!

[Deleted]

Mar 2, 2017 11:15:10 GMT marit said:

Ooooo nice one, @defjef !!! Hope all is good!

That is one odd looking bridge. Can you replace that yourself? I'd suggest ebony bridge pins for the 3 bassy strings and water buffalo horn for the upper three

Looks like that bridge has sprouted buffalo horns already.  I'm hoping those pins sound bright and classy. OHHHH, WHERE IS IT???

[dodger]

Still no sign @defjef? I'm usually very patient but waiting on guitars is a different matter!

[marit]

@defjef: those don't look like buffalo horn pins, or was that a joke? I think @defjef doesn't have time to be here, he's sat out front waiting

[Deleted]

I was referring to those pointy bits that make the bridge look like a smile marit .

Well it arrived ... in a case! Result.



I'd say that's pretty close to the actual colour. Not Noddy Clownburst but older and browner than that.  Perhaps Brownclownburst.

The lacquer is nicely sunken in to the, definitely laminate, top.



All good so far then.  Now then, those bridge pins.  Has anybody got a clue what these are?



They seem to be slightly staggered.  And that saddle looks as though it's come off a 12 string judging by the notches.  Bridge looks nice and tightly attached, that was a worry I'd been harbouring, and I've tapped around the body top and can't hear any buzzes or rattles indicating dodgy bracing or a loose bridge plate.  

I did have one interesting moment when shaking the guitar and hearing a lot of internal debris.  I turned the guitar over and a half-smoked doobie fell out (not a Doobie Brother, that would be silly).  This indicates that, although the this guitar looks superficially like Keith Richards' Hummingbird, it can not have belonged to him - no way would he have half-smoked a doobie...unless he fell asleep mid demo of course.

At the moment I'm letting it settle and aclimatise to my house or I'll be forever tuning it and getting annoyed.  It was overly pitched anyway when it arrived and I've tuned it back down to concert pitch for the moment.

Initial observations tell me that this is quite a bit lighter than I remember my old borrowed Hummingbird to be and it is nowhere near as nicely finished. Scratchplate has been slightly oddly applied and may need moving a bit.  Fret ends are ok but average.  That zero fret is (thankfully) a slightly larger gauge than the other frets and I reckon I may have to level the third fret under the top E but I need to let it settle after detuning it so much and it being in DX Deliveries van all weekend.  I can't see much relief on the neck anyway so that may be my first call.

It strikes me that this guitar has been owned by at least one player who knows what he wanted in terms of sound and may have made the change to the pins in pursuit of that sound.  It's nicely bright, not at all bass heavy so zings along nicely and chimes clearly.  The strings seem VERY bendable but may not be the best choice for this guitar as they are also adding toppiness.  Not badly but I'm interested in what sounds this guitar may eventually achieve.  The wood itself sounds like it's got potential to put out a nice sound.  I'm tempted to whack on some old cruddy strings to give it it's worst sound first.  If I put some fresh Elixirs on I'll fool my ears into thinking it sounds bright and fresh when it's the strings doing most of that work.

It's a work in progress and there's plenty to do with it if I'm keeping it - saddle change for sure, bit of fretwork.  Obviously need to assess everything inside my return window but not a bad bargain for £96 including a case...and that oddly original looking Gibson headstock logo!  The lawyers'll be round

[dodger]

looks great @defjef - case is defo a bonus - about £50 for the cheapest ones these days - nice colour as well and even laminate tops improve with age

[Deleted]

They do dodger. My 70s Epiphone has a lovely laminate top to it that seems to emit a papery sound that my 90s Tanglewood can only dream of. It seems to me that 70s acoustics had a LOT less lacquer on them than they give them these days. I had a horrible Fender acoustic bass a few years back with a satin finish but it felt like the lacquer was like icing.

These Suzuki instruments have a reputation for using some nice laminates so I'm not too concerned there.

[Deleted]

Just discovered a worry. Inside this guitar is one of those adjustable rods that reaches from beneath the underside of the bridge and braces itself against the tail pin end of the guitar. What the heck are those things called? I've completely forgotten and Google hasn't been much help. They're like a truss rod in the opposite direction. Anyway this combined with the unusual pins and light strings are making me wonder whether somebody wasn't trying to save a dying instrument. That said, the bridge seems good and any bulge behind the bridge is more than acceptable and expected and there's no sign of belly dip or tilt on the neck side of the bridge.

Now I'm torn. This work seems to have been done very professionally which would be an expensive task to carry out if the guitar was a piece of junk. I wouldn't bother doing it to my Tanglewood for instance. But I fear adding extra tension if I up the string gauge. How do I find out what gauge of string is already on this anyway? As I said before they are very bendable. 10's? 9's?

[dodger]

Is it a JLD Bridge Doctor @defjef?
I've never seen one but have seen them mentioned a lot on the Epiphone acoustic forum. Always positive things said about them and usually used to fix a bit of bellying to good effect.
I like at least 11s or 12s on an acoustic. I love Elixir 11s on my EJ160e but prefer D'Addario 12s on my HB

[Deleted]

That's the thing, dodger . Thank you so much. I read a lot about these some weeks ago, particularly regarding making sure they didn't work their ways sideways off the end block. But could I remember what in god's name they were called 'internal brace rod fix belly bulge' went my Google search, to no avail.

I've queried this with the shop as I'd like to have a good delve around inside before rejecting it. I have heard good things about them too even for guitars without belly bulges, and this guitar certainly hasn't really got one. Not now anyway!



Oh, and look what I just found when Googling JLD Bridge Doctor. Those flippin brass pins are included.  Couldn't find them before!

[dodger]

Elimentary my dear Watson! Mystery solved! Should be able to withstand heavy strings then?

[Deleted]

Might be essential dodger as I can't budge the truss rod. Wonder if old Japanese truss rods need different Allen keys? Sheesh, I'm starting to lose patience with this air box.