One of those days

[peter.coombe]

I am sure most of us go through this occasionally, but I have had one of those days. Don't you hate it when someone hands you their el-cheepo and asks can you fix it. Well that happened about a month ago, a band member handed me their classical guitar and asked me to make a new saddle because the old one was buzzing. No worries says I, will take aound 10 minutes, but WARNING - buzzing can be just about anything and can be difficult to track down. My friend assured me it was the saddle because he had shimmed it and that was when it started to buzz. So it sat in the workshop for 4 weeks. Today I decided better fix it since I need to return it at the next gig on Saturday.

Took it out of the case and sue enough it was buzzing on all strings. So, whipped off the saddle and made a new one in 10 mins. Popped the new one in and tuned it up. BZZZZZ. Mmm, typical! Long experience has told me that if the customer thinks his instrument needs a neck reset, the nut is probably loose, so the buzzing is probably not the saddle. Groped around inside, nothing appeared to be loose. Mmm, saddle looks a bit crooked, something not quite right there. Whip the saddle out and put the reading glasses on and peer at the bridge saddle groove. Doesn't look right, it is rounded not square. Poke arond and blow me down, it is covered in a thick layer of finish. They must have glued the bridge on and then just sprayed it. Well that will have to come off so scrape it off and restring. BZZZZZ. Shite this is not going to be so simple. Scrape more. BZZZZZ. Scrape some more, BZZZZZ. Bugger me, the slot is not straight, and the bridge is actually plastic!!. Look at the original (plastic) saddle and that is curved, not straight!! More scraping and filing and it is almost straight. BZZZZ. F***! More scraping and filing and it is finally straight. Just a slight BZZ on the treble E string. BUT - the saddle I made is now too short. F***. So make another saddle, install and BZZZZZ. More careful scraping and make sure the saddle is dead on straight, and back to just a slight BZ on the treble E string. Phew, almost there. Then SNAP, the E string breaks at the bridge. ^%$#&. I don't have any classical guitar strings, I make mandolins and steel strings, not classical guitars. So rush off to Magpie Music in Bega. Sheeze, twenty bucks for a set of guitar strings. Daylight robbery! So get back home, put on the new E string and string up. Almost no BZZZ! Wonderful. After settling in, it should go away (fingers crossed). Phew! Put the guitar back in it's case. A few hours later take guitar out of it's case and it is out of tune, but no BZZZ. Great stuff! Just tune it up and we are finished, wonderful. So, start tuning the E string. Then PING, a piece of plastic flies across the workshop. Shite, what was that! Look around the guitar. The treble E string tuner has just disintegrated and mangled my brand new E string. AAAAGGGGGHHHH!!! That is IT. Had enough. Wasted over 5 hrs on this cursed thing. Bugger it, the owner can sort it out. I don't have replacement classical guitar tuners.

Peter

[charangohabsburg]

Although reading your story certainly was much more entertaining and enjoyable than what you experienced I feel with you.

Then PING, a piece of plastic flies across the workshop.

If at least it would have been a piece of ivory, not plastic!