Australian/New Zealand Luthiers Forum

Mate of mine has an '85 Maton Messiah MSIII. When he bought it new it was an absolutely beautiful guitar to play. Over the years, however, it has degraded somewhat and tonight he brought it to me to see if I could rectify a buzz on the high E between 13 and 16. It seems the guitar has been allowed t...

Another beauty, Paul.

Y'know...I never realised that WRC stood for Wood Rat Cast-off

The SECOND sex?!....Geez, and I thought I was quick at a minute and a half!

Deep thinking like this deserves one of these.

(Name me one famous female philosopher)

Forgot to mention that the original bridge position is visible as a bald spot in the lacquer. They have also moved the treble side forward a few mm; possibly an attempt at compensation or possibly just a bodgy job.

Thanks, Kim Definitely got a bridge belly issue. With the chopped-down saddle, the gap from top to E string is 11mm. At the sound-hole the gap is 14mm. Action at twelfth is 5mm. I reckon if I put steel strings on this as it is it'll probably fold in half! :lol: Do you reckon I could add braces aroun...

Well, I made a new nut for it, put on some nylon strings.... Plays "OK" from frets 1 to 5; from there on the action just gets ridiculously high. I chopped down the saddle so that less than 2mm is proud of the bridge slot and it's still a bit high. Bridge also has been previously reset but almost 3mm...

Hi Trevor,

I haven't used it yet but this stuff is supposed be very good in that regard.

http://www.masters.com.au/product/10027 ... 24mm-x-55m

On the site Tod mentioned I found a pic of a No7 with a caption saying it was built in the 1960's so I'm tending to think No9 is probably towards the 1970's.

You Might Find Something interesting here http://kisosuzuki.blogspot.com.au/ :) Tod, that's the site that offered this:- Model #'s... Re: the serial number: on many of the models the first one or two numbers in the serial number stands for the year in which it was manufactured; from the 60’s to the...

Thanks, guys. The neck block is stamped 43 11 23 . I erroneously assumed this to be 23rd Nov 1943. Since it does have a serial No, does that then date it as after '75? I'm really only asking out of curiosity. I wanted to get a beat up old nylon-stringer to do comedy gigs with because the 000 that I ...

Thanks for that, Steve. Definitely had a hard life then.lol

I realised this morning that I told a lie...My first guitar was a Hondo; absolute shit-box! 1/2" action and tone like a shoe-box....must have blocked it from my memory. My first REAL guitar was a Suzuki W-500. All laminated but solid as and still playing well. This No9 looks like it has had a hard l...

Definitely no compensation angle on the bridge. Shaft diameter on the tuners is smaller than on a classical nylon.
Fret-board wear suggests steel strings. Hmmm?
I'll get some pics up tomorrow.

I bought an old Suzuki parlour on ebay and am having a hard time identifying it. Seller said he believed it was made in the 1950's. Based on what I managed to google up about serial numbers,the first two digits suggest 1943. The bridge looks like it is designed for nylon strings however I have found...

Exquisite instrument!
I'm assuming what looks like a heart-wrenching crack in Pic 3 is just a trick of the light?

That's a beaut, Jeff.
Great choice going with Mick Brierley. His pickups are 100% quality.

I have one local music shop nearby, across the bridge. They are oriented to their teen and preteen students and that is reflected in their stock. Besides pricing considerations, what they stock is very limited Once I went across there to buy a set of classical strings--no go Another time for a set ...

If I play on a gloss neck my thumb has too much friction. It's like rubbing a cork on glass. I prefer an oil finish on an acoustic neck but on an electric neck I use poly and then rub the back with 0000 steel wool to give it slip. I found that Feast-Watson Buffing oil came up well on Mahogany but be...

I don't mind a little mark up to buy something locally but I'll be damned if I'll put up with the sort of rubbish Perry has just pointed out. It seems quite common. The bigger issue for me is the rude and unhelpful "service" in most of the local shops. Half the time they tell me 'it's not in stock ...

Change the tuning away from 440 . This will help you to identify if it is related to frequency or if it is a mechanical buzz, I.e., hardware.

Sorry, no good...... Lacquer won't stick to silicone.

AAA for $86.oo? Cheaper than I expected.
I asked GOOGLE to show me "nice pear" and got more than I bargained for. .....still, I did stop thinking about guitars for ten minutes.

It IS beautiful......You do realise, John, that for every action there is an equal an opposite reaction...So that means that somewhere in the world there is at least one person collecting guitars like this and sawing them up to make tables.

Ah, here we are... And this one... But seriously... Mmm, pear...