Guitar Myths #002 - Are acoustic guitars' tops really flat?

Flat acoustic guitar top… really?

Once again urban myths strike again.

After making the big decision to part with one's hard earned money, a guitar was purchased. It was all perfect… was it? Playing the brand new guitar in private, admiring its beauty, savoring its tone… suddenly a slight bulge about the guitar bridges' area was sighted. Perplexed by it, immediately turning to internet to seek for an explanation.

Most people fear the unknown. Needless to say, many guitar owners assumed the worse. As such, it triggered their paranoia quests for solutions to this mysterious phenomenon. So the million dollars question; Are acoustic guitar tops really flat? If it isn't, so the guitar is not in perfect condition, right?

Total String Tension

First let's take a look at how much force is acting on a 6-string acoustic guitar's top board when all six strings are fully tuned to standard tuning. In D'Addario's website, the force in both pounds and kg for each string is listed. Below is an excerpt from D'Addario's EXP PB 12/53 string's technical specifications. 12/53 gauge is chosen because of its commonality.

Taken from: http://www.daddario.com/DADProductDetail.Page?ActiveID=3769&productid=87&productname=EXP16_Coated_Phosphor_Bronze__Light__12_53

There is no rocket science in determining the total force acting on a guitar top board. Just add them up.

In KG; (E)10.6 + (B)10.57 + (G)12.9 + (D)13.03 + (A)12.74 + (E)11.05 = 70.89kg or 156.29lbs

How much does a regular dude weigh?

Thickness of Top Board

Next, we shall consider the typical thickness of acoustic guitars' top boards. There are actually many considerations in determining the thickness of an acoustic guitar's top board. It isn't practical to go at length about it herein for obvious reason. Lets' take the word of a guru, Ervin Somogyi as a good guide. He mentioned in one of his many articles the preferred top board thickness is 3/32" or 2.34mm in thickness. You can read his full article here: http://www.esomogyi.com/top_thickness.pdf

We are going to rewind a little to figure out the reasons for guitar owners to assume that acoustic guitars' tops are flat.

Points of sale; firstly there is virtually no good reason for buying a guitar except for professional guitarists. We buy guitars on impulse, simple as that. Under impulse, no amount of intellect can help a guitar fanatic to discern facts from fiction. A guitar sales guy would say whatever the potential buyer wishes to hear. That includes generating an impression upon the potential buyer that the guitars in the shop are in perfect conditions. It isn't too hard to connect the dots right?

Acoustic guitars' top boards appear to be flat to our naked eyes. Most guitar buyers wouldn't question validity of this point. So it is not difficult for the sale guy to complete the sales with the buyer thinking and agreeing that the purchased guitar is in perfect condition which includes a perfectly flat top board.

Limited knowledge; while many guitar owners are passionate about playing guitars, however that has little to do with the motivation to learn adequately about guitar's construction. Flat Top guitar, this common jargon has convinced guitar owners that acoustic guitars' top boards are indeed flat or they must be flat. It is indeed factual that acoustic guitars' top boards are flat during the construction phase. All that will change when a constructed acoustic guitar gets into the quality control (QC) section. The freshly constructed guitar with a perfectly flatted top bulges immediately when the QC dude loads strings on it, for the purpose of inspection and setting up.

It isn't the end.

If this guitar gets shipped to regions with high humidity climate, the guitar continues to absorb moisture of the surroundings. Thus the bugle increases.

Answer to the million dollars question;

Lets' take a look at this picture.

Taken from: https://c3.staticflickr.com/3/2867/11215257453_6d98faf631_b.jpg

So does that answer the question? Just do an image search with this phrase "bulge guitar top" on any search engine to enlighten your mind.

Summing UP

Bulged top board is not a defect. It is an inevitable usage outcome of ALL acoustic guitars. It is perfectly normal for acoustic guitars to have a bulged top when in normal use.

Earlier we have found out the total six string force, that is 70.89kg or 156.29lbs as well the typical thickness of acoustic guitars' top boards, that is 3/32" or 2.34mm. It is also a common knowledge that wood would compress or flex under force loading.

If we put these facts together, it is not hard to understand that acoustic guitars will bulge under normal usage.

When a force of 70.89kg is allowed to perpetually act on a piece of wood of 2.34mm thickness, how would this piece of wood remain unchanged structurally?

In addition, when an acoustic guitar has absorbed excessive moisture from its surrounding, it will also contribute to the bulge.

In closing, I would submit to all readers of this blog post that top board bulging in acoustic are caused by these factors,

1. String tension
2. Thin top board
3. Wood's natural compressible and flexible properties
4. Absorption of moisture

Don't loose sleep over your bulged acoustic guitars. They are in PERFECT conditions!

Featured Restoration (A Dad's Guitars)

Lightning never strikes twice … think again.

In February 2011 one of my clients brought to me 2 acoustic guitars. When they arrived, it was cleared that they were in desperate needs for restoration. The only unusual thing about the guitars is they don’t belong to my client. Instead they were his Dad’s old guitars that were docked at some corners at home for years. We know what can happen when our jogging shoes were left unused for years, right? Surely I have stressed the amount of jobs needed to get them back onto the road. That didn’t deter him and the jobs were undertaken.

In brief, both guitars underwent bridge re-gluing, change of saddles and nuts, change of bridge pins, polishing of the metal parts, set up, clean up, total re-buffing, etc. Among the two, my client took a liking for one of them and more attention was accorded as I was instructed to “zhng” one of the two. Life is like a box of chocolate … a few months after both guitars were back on the road, my client switched his attention to “the other one”, the “not zhnged” one to be precise. How many times did we missed the essence that was right before our eyes, right? As it turned out, “the other one” became the favor of all time. Below are the pictures of both guitars.

The Zhnged One

"The other one", with the original bridge

After that, we have met on several occasions for other restoration jobs. He has sung praises of “the other one” but not long after, the box of chocolate theory struck again … The joy ended when the bridge of "the other one" has given way to stress, a crack line appeared along the row of bridge pin holes. See pictures below.

Crack line cuts across the pin-holes

Bridge's Full View

Upon inspection, the bridge has not lifted except the bridge was cracked. It was rather unusual for such thing to occur. The likely causes were bending stresses and also its long service period of more than 2 decades. His attitude towards restoring his Dad’s guitar was unrelenting. He has requested for a bridge replacement. It would have been so easy if it was a Martin, Taylor, Gibson, Ibanez, Yamaha or Crafter as locating spare parts of such big brands was easy. However it was not like that for “the other one”. The “batman” looks bridge was not a regular shape. For weeks I tried many places in Singapore to get some leads but the effort was proven futile.

My recommendation was narrowed to getting Jeff Yong to duplicate the bridge. Timing was of essence for it to work. Firstly, he is located in Kuala Lumpur (KL) and then was a hectic period for him because of the Montreal Guitar Show he will be attending. He was busy with preparing his guitars for the show then. To make it work, I have to travel to KL to get it done. In his workshop, crafting a bridge wasn’t difficult but I have to be there to do it. Another hurdle was the mounting cost for all the time and effort spent in completing the job.

After some explanation to him regarding the expected investment to make it work, he has given the green light to proceed. Jeff carried out the major cutting and left the finishing parts to me. It has taken a few hours to duplicate the bridge. Of course I have to travel to KL to get it done … how is this for serving the community? Just kidding, I didn’t mind going to KL to meet my “Si-Fu” because there are plenty of things to learn from him. The picture below shows the original bridge (Rosewood) above and the new bridge (Macassar Ebony) beneath .

Above, Origin (Rosewood). Beneath, New (Macassar Ebony)

Once the new bridge was brought back to Singapore, the rest of the steps were pretty regular and straightforward. I will let the pictures talk instead.

Sanding away the glue residue

Areas where sanding don't work, chisels can do wonders

Re-glued and clamped

New bridge glued

The new bridge with new bone saddle, after strung up

It is finished AGAIN!

As cliche as it sounds, everyone deserves a second chance. Don't we yearn for it when we are at our lowest or broken? It is only when we know that a second chance is impending, we then find strength to recover, renew and rejuvenate.

"But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

Hidden Clauses

How many times did we ogle at the many beautiful guitar photos on the internet? After reading the best descriptions of a given guitar, we made mental calculations regarding the exchange rates, freight charges, GST, etc. and after some hesitation we click the “buy now” button. The rest of the administrative processes are self explanatory to most experienced online shoppers, I presume.

Eagerly the buyer waited for the package to arrive praying for a safe delivery. Finally when it arrives, very quickly the guitar is tuned up and the first sound was produced … by and large there are two typical outcomes. The quality met the buyer’s expectations and they both live happily ever after until the desire to sell it comes back in the future. The other one is a sad story … both live unhappily but never ever after. The buyer will be thinking of ditching this “not up to expectations” piece soonest.

Generally, most common visible blemishes should not escape the capture of photography. If there are certain visible issues, they should show up in the pictures unless the seller “photoshop” the pictures or deliberately avoided angles that will illuminate the blemishes. In any case, the outcome is not going be desirable. Not limited the issues listed below, these are the common ones related to acoustic guitars that pictures will not reveal their presence.

1. Truss rod is broken
2. Loose braces
3. Inoperative electronics
4. Thin or Low Saddle

Certainly there are ways to surface these “hidden clauses”. For online purchases, the buyer can probably ask some relevant questions to evaluate the true conditions of the on-sale guitar. Below are a few sample questions.

1. Is the truss rod working?
2. Are there structural issues with the guitar? (This implies any lose joints on the guitar)
3. Are the electronics devices operative?
4. What is the maximum height of the saddle above the bridge?

Will these questions eliminate the possibilities? Well, it will probably not but it is wiser to ask than to leave it to pure trust. Judging the responses from the seller, you can sense if the transaction is worthy of proceeding. If you’re confused by the seller’s responses, send it to some experienced friend for another opinion.

As for local purchases, you can inspect the on-sale piece with great thoroughness to surface any hidden issues. However many buyers are simply struck dumbed in the presence of wood beauties (amygdala hi-jacked) to remember to inspect. Try your best to remain compose … Here are 2 real examples. Without mentioning the guitar brands and models, both acoustic guitars possessed the same issue, i.e. thin or low saddle. See below picture for better illustration for example one.

Saddles and Shim

The picture above shows a regular saddle, a piece of wood shim and one of the guitars’ saddle. Shim functions to increase the saddle’s crown height in the event the saddle is made with insufficient crown height to achieve a good set up. While shims are good for such quick fixes, there is a trade off in terms of tonal qualities. Too thick shim will affect the tone of the guitar. This stems from the fundamentals of wood density and hardness. We know that hard materials conduct sound better than softer materials. Sound is actually vibration of air molecules. Likewise, a thick enough wood shim can absorb the strings’ vibration significantly until the overall tone of the guitar is diminished.

The wood shim in the above picture measures at 1.5mm at its thickness section. The wood shim will occupy a certain amount of space within the saddle slot, which means the saddle is making less contact it should with the saddle slot and in turn the bridge. Moreover the bottom of the saddle is not making direct contact due to the wood shim. If the shim is thin, the effect may be insignificant but with a thick shim and made of soft materials, tone will suffer nevertheless. All these are contraindicative to the principles of good saddle fitting.

Fortunately it is not irrecoverable but it will make well-made guitars to sound like a dog. A change of saddle will solve the problem … provided the new saddle is properly made.

Example two: One of my clients encountered this issue with one of the guitars that were purchased online. After the guitar has arrived, it was played and left in the case. My client sensed the lack in tonal quality even this guitar was expected to perform well. By chance, I had a conversation with the buyer who is also my client and I mentioned the possibility of a thick shim as the woe was the quality of tone. A quick inspection indeed revealed a plastic shim seated in the saddle slot. The saddle was low in its crown height which wasn't surprising. This plastic shim was 1 over mm in thickness, and it was made of soft plastic. See pictures below.

Thin or Low Saddle and Plastic Shim

Original Bone Saddle View 1

Original Bone Saddle View 2

After some discussions, my client decided on replacing the original one with a handcrafted saddle. I got my client to snail mail the shim and the saddle to me and I duplicated the saddle with factoring the shim thickness using Fossilized Mammoth Ivory (FMI). Here are a few pictures of the finished FMI saddle and the original. By the way, FMI is totally legal and traded internationally.

Original and duplicated FMI Saddle View 1

Original and duplicated FMI Saddle View 2

Original and duplicated FMI Saddle View 3

Ideally the new saddle should fit like a glove to the guitar but many unexpected things can happen. It is not unusual to do some fine sanding to get the saddle into glove fit with the guitar even it is a duplicated one.

So the next time before you commit to any pre-owned pieces, do exercise some prudence and you can avoid such situations.

10,000

Since the creation of this blog in September 2010, it has been rewarding for my personal growth in many aspects. In particular the craftsmanship relating to guitar restoration has been challenged and augmented repeatedly during this short journey from 0 to 10,000 visits. This posting contains my thoughts and revelations that are derived from this journey.

Firstly, I should pay tribute to guitar4christ, a members' drive online forum. Joining this online forum has moved me to step forward in providing my services. They have played an important role in marrying the guitar players onto a common platform in creating learning and sharing opportunities. Before that, I have been volunteering my services at my friends who play guitars, and nothing more. With some pushes and encouragements from those friends who have benefitted from my help, I made the decision to engage the guitar community through my guitar services.

Knows the market, wins the battle. As such I did some facts finding that allowed me to appreciate the desires of the local acoustic guitar players, a.k.a. consumers. Along with the consumers’ taste, I have learned the strengths and weaknesses of these existing guitar restorers operating within the local guitar community. The sentiments for these local guitar restorers are not homogeneous; instead there are great disparities when viewed from various aspects like, prices, workmanship, turnaround time, attention to details, customer services, and the highly subjective likableness. Possessing the knowledge helped me in pitching the angle of entry into the market.

The contrast between a restored and tarnished tuner knob

More than a decade ago when I started learning guitar, I was not even aware where to seek help when my guitar was in trouble. Today, the many guitar restorers are marketing their services through internet and reaching them has never been easier. The standards of restorations have definitely increased not only through time, very likely through the opened competition among the providers as made possible by the internet.

I was aware of my interest in restoring stuffs beyond just guitars since young. Meddling with spoiled items was as exciting as playing with my Darth Vader action figure. As I grew, so has my knowledge for guitars. The curiosity to restore my own guitars was overwhelming. It was a matter of time before a series of adjustments were made on my second acoustic guitar. There were both successes and failures. Through years of playing guitars, I have also experimented repeatedly on all my guitars in various aspects. All the outcomes have contributed to the craftsmanship I have obtained today. The progress has been gradual and I have not expected my work to yield any monetary rewards from other guitar players.

One of the many radical experiments ...

It wasn’t about guitar restoration only. There were many benefits beyond my expectations. Many clients have turned into my friends. There were great guitar players who I have met. Watching these great players expressing themselves through guitar tunes in close range was simply elating. Some possessed great knowledge about guitars and I have learned tremendously through conversations. The beginners form the most impressionable group; they are so eager and curious to learn. Certain critical customers went no holds barred when offering their comments on my work, which has indirectly augmented my level of craftsmanship. As the blog resides in the open domain, it has invited its fair share of criticisms too. It was indeed interesting to manage these external fires. One of the greatest perks is the chance to play many guitars, regardless they are top-notched pieces or budget line guitars I have enjoyed playing them thoroughly.

Very few guitars are build with such fine craftsmanship
like the Yamaha LL36. It was a pleasure to play it.

There were numerous literatures written about guitars, especially in the technical aspects. As such, it was tricky to determine the appropriate angle to pitch the blog content. Well, certain clichés weren’t avoidable; yes I have included them in the blog on the basis of functional requirement. The tricky part remains; how to benefit the readers? Apart from showcasing efficiency and fine craftsmanship on this blog, I hope to share with the readers who presumably are guitar players too, certain implicit perspectives about guitars and the interest in learning to play it. From my lens, playing guitars isn’t just a mere past time activity. There lies tacitly tremendous amount of insights that will help us in personal growth in the form character building. I have met youth who are disoriented with lives but have found their anchors and foundation in learning to play guitars. There are full-grown adults who have found peace through playing guitars in the midst of this ultra paced society. The patience to attain success in playing guitars is analogous to building a successful life, shared by some of my clients. Most profoundly, during my quest to be a better guitar player, I have discovered the essence of creating music from reading interviews publications of many accomplished players, i.e. playing the right note, at the right moment and with the right touch. How different is life from creating music? I personally saw many close connections that have opened my sights.

Play only what is good for the tune

Taken from: http://leebrownhill.files.wordpress.com/2007/08/johnmayer.jpg

Not forgetting the supporters and friends who have helped me in one way or the other, regardless indirectly or directly. The blog exists because it serves your interest. It was certainly humbling and fulfilling to create something useful for the community. Guitaring Passionately greatly appreciates you and is deeply gratified by your active responses. It will continue to change to adapt to your needs.

Above all, there is God. In year 2009, I was still meddling with my guitars and things took a turn. It was like a tipping point for me. Things about guitars restorations have became vividly clear to me. The reasons that account for aesthetic, feel and tonal qualities were readily comprehensible and crafting guitar parts were never been more interesting and enjoyable. It has reached a point that I felt ready to benefit the community. I could not determine any rhyme or reason for the sudden growth in interest and ability except to attribute to God's blessings being bestowed onto me.

Still honing by God's grace

Last but not least; “And I have filled him with the spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship.” - Exodus 31-3.

Featured Restoration (An Instructor’s Guitar)

Yet another challenge presented to me, to restore a guitar instructor’s guitar. It is a Taylor 314CE and the owner is a very talented and passionate local guitar instructor. To find out his identity, go to this blog @: http://alanguitarworks.blogspot.com/

Instead of the usual in-person meeting, we met through our blogs. Soon we realized that we are in agreement in many perspectives about guitars. And with these commonalities, naturally we became friends too. In a warp sense of humor, fixing a guitar instructor’s guitar has proven to be challenging because of certain stereotypical reasons… what can you think of?

Perhaps, some possible stereotypes …fussy, unreal expectations, good in playing but clueless about repairs, excessively directive,” ai pi ai ci” a.k.a. optimize the restorer to the max, the know-it-all, etc.

There are many of such stereotypes created for different category of people in this society, e.g. an owner of many expensive guitars usually can’t play. Have you come across that before? I am sure you have encountered exceptions to this stereotype. So we can say that stereotypes aren’t true, can we? One thing you can be sure about stereotyping is its autonomous nature. Such thoughts appear in your mind without your consciousness and much less with your permission. Is it all bad to stereotype? Since we have no holding on stereotypes, can we be held guilty of it? I am sure if this topic is left in a forum, it should invite immense amount of views. Feel free to comment in my blog’s comment if you wish to.

For those who have certain knowledge in psychology or life skills, you may agree that stereotyping helps us in managing the huge amount of information that bombards our minds. It gives you the ability to make judgments or draw conclusions quickly, without the need to deeply analyze situations or events. Imagine if our minds are required to consciously process and analyze every bit of information we receive. Our minds will literally explode. However the accuracy and quality of the judgments and conclusions are totally not connected to the ability. While stereotypes protect us it creates problems for us too. In another words, there is no running away from stereotyping but it does speak volume of one’s character if someone has the courage to acknowledgment the ripple effects generated by one’s stereotypes. Use it wisely, won’t you?

So are guitar instructors like the description earlier? It was all a joke and it wasn’t even half serious. Actually they can be exactly opposite of the mentioned reasons, i.e. an absolute unassuming and thoughtful customer. Something unique about this guitar instructor; very meticulous and detail in the way the restoration jobs were requested. Every requested job that can be labeled on the guitar was done. The rest of the required jobs were listed clearly on a note. There was no running away from the list and the labels. See below pictures for illustrations.

Talyor 314CE

A crack on the fingerboard

Crack line down the mid binding stripe

Binding is not level

Slight bridge lift

Tarnished tuning machines

Uneven gloss finishing at the cutaway apex area

No guitar restorer can possibly miss out those requirements, right? As mentioned earlier, guitar instructors can be customers who are absolutely unassuming and thoughtful and it is true herein. Summoning my courage, I advised against certain listed and labeled restoration jobs as they were not necessary because to engage those jobs, it will propagate into a larger extends which may incur high cost even they appeared to be small and easy repairs at the onset. The advices were accepted with understanding. Such acceptance and understanding was very assuring to any guitar restorer because it signals a vote of confidence in one’s judgment and evaluation. Of course it doesn’t imply by the complying with a guitar restorer’s advices makes an ideal customer. The essence here was the willingness to listen and appreciate different views.

The owner produced a note with all the required jobs itemized. See picture below.

The list of requested jobs

For clarity, the list is re-produced in verbatim as below.

1. Replace with bone nut and saddle

2. Refretting

3. Full Setup

4. Seal HOLE in fretboard

5. Seal Crack line at pickup area

6. Seal protruding edge at neck joint area

7. Seal gap at bridge reglue area

8. Cleaning and polish tuning machines

9. Matt finish at cutaway section (if possible)

Is that a mouthful or what? While the list was pretty long, I think the effort was relevant and useful as the guitar restorer will have little doubts of what to execute. The effort made in presenting things clearly was greatly appreciated.

Item 6 & 7 were placed on hold. Item 6 requires leveling the binding with the adjacent two surfaces that inherently has accessibility issues. After weighing the amount of work involved, it was better off to remain status quo. Item 7 is the typical bridge lift due to dislodged glue. The amount of lift is very minor that makes applying glue difficult and much less effective. As such, it stays until the state changes. The first job (Item 2 & 4) to tackle was replacing the first three frets because they are functional components of a guitar. The rule of thumb is to eradicate all structural issue as priority. In this case, there was no structural repair. Many guitar restorers should agree that changing all the fret wires is easier to do. There was much detail to observe when replacing only three. Nevertheless, it was done. A picture to show that it was in progress.

In progress, replace new fret wires

There after, a set of unbleached bone and saddle (Item 1) was hand crafted for the 314CE. See picture below.

Handcrafted Bone Nut and Saddle

The rest of the jobs that follow are cosmetic related. Item 6 received my attention first. When see the picture below, you will notice the unusual position of the guitar. There was a crack line near the jack area, which is located at the end block of the guitar. You will intuitively understand from the pictures.

In an unusual position

Leveling the crack line

I then moved on to Item 9. There was a crack repair job done on the apex of the cutaway some time ago. The repair job has left a layer of semi-gloss coating that differs slightly from the satin/matt finished of the guitar side. The owner has requested to have the semi-glossed area to be transformed to satin/matt finish, as like the rest of the guitar side. Some times I was there was a 10-year series solution to such jobs. By following a formula mindlessly, I will arrive to the desired outcome. However it was all but the 10-year series solution I can rely on. After thinking through, I went ahead with my intuited plans. By God’s grace, it was decently done.

There are many customers who expect their guitars to be cleaned but this owner has emphasized the polishing of the tuning machines on top of that. Cleaning jobs are not exactly a glamorous job in this society as many people have stereotyped it this way. However, the positive effect it can provide is tremendous even it is always underrated. The request to polish the tuning machine was respected and adhered to my best ability.

After a few days of work on the 314CE, the main work bulk was accomplished. Finally, the guitar was set up and dehumidified. The outcome was satisfying I reckon. Here are the pictures of the completed work for your viewing pleasure.

Before and after looks of the tuning machines

Hole on the fingerboard was sealed

Crack filled and leveled

Before and After looks of the re-finished job

New fret wires, the first three

New bone nut - View 1

New bone nut - View 2

New bone saddle

It is finished!

I am glad to have undertaken this restore job. I got paid, I got to play, and I know one more nice person and I have one more friend.

Where greatness lies in the smalls …

The guitar nut and saddle are often regarded as two functional parts that hold all the strings in their place. In the acoustic field, the nut and saddle also perform the role of a transmitter of acoustic energy from the strings vibration to the top wood of the guitar. The other widely discussed topic regarding guitar nut and saddle are the materials of their make. In fact, this topic is saturated with comments, views, opinions, claims, scientific theories, etc. It seems usual to leave the guitar nut and saddle as they are when no anomaly is detected, i.e. if they look fine and don’t move, they can be left alone to perform their role in silence and with faith.

Some adventurous guitar lovers often make modifications on their guitars, all in the name of enhancement. Of course the outcomes are varied. By paying attention to small areas, it is possible to achieve great outcomes. In this article, I would like to illuminate the “smalls” within the guitar nut where greatness lurks.

Recently, I received a request to reset a parlor guitar. The owner found that pressing the guitar strings within the first three frets required more effort than usual.. After a quick evaluation, one of the identified areas to be modified was the nut. It was evident that string relief created by the guitar nut can be altered to improve the playability. This functional aspect was not too tough to rectify. My observations are, I noticed that the nut slots are unusually deep. It was indicative of excessive crown height of the nut. The slots’ width were also wider than the string gauge which indicated the tools used during its making may not be suitable. See pictures below.

While these observations may seem to suggest a lesser quality of this guitar, it is not entirely true. For guitars that are targeted at the entry level tier's market, putting extra attentions to those mentioned attributes are usually not the priority. Speed and quantity are probably on the top of the list. Therefore when put into context, this guitar is what it should be and the owner simply wished to enhance it further. That is why the guitar restoration market is alive thus keeping me alive too. Paradoxically, I may be indirectly blessed by the existence of such manufacturing processes.

Original Bone Nut View 1

Original Bone Nut View 2

Original Bone Nut View 3

Rectifications needed; reduce the crown height so that each string is seated partially into each nut slot, round the corners of the nut, re-cut deeper slots with suitable files, sand the nut to buffing finish, buff the nut to hi-shine. These suggested jobs are not going to take away big chunks of materials from this guitar nut. After all, it was considered a finished guitar nut; therefore big take away was not possible. Instead, attention to detail must be given to perform those mentioned jobs in order to achieve noticeable enhancements on the original guitar nut. With some delicate touches and strokes, the guitar nut was transformed. See pictures below.

Transformed Bone Nut View 1

Transformed Bone Nut View 2

These aren’t difficult jobs to execute but they do require certain hours of practices to get them right. The adventurous ones would have tried it before. Well I hope the enhancements are noticeable to you as they are to me. This is where greatness lies in the smalls …