Custom GD Gold Top

[GoDrex]

See that's just pride and arrogance. He knows better how your guitar should feel to you than you do, and how dare you question his expertise. I think these guys forget that they're getting paid to set it up for the customer - not for themselves.

 

[Nando Vallart]

See that's just pride and arrogance. He knows better how your guitar should feel to you than you do, and how dare you question his expertise. I think these guys forget that they're getting paid to set it up for the customer - not for themselves.

Ditto, man  :icon_thumright:


I think pride of their work/capacity is good in the high self-esteem sense... when this kind of B.S. start to come is just stupidity and arrogance... Do the think I do: when people ask me, I say: everybody says he does good work, but I have this problem... To biggest part of guitar players I know, I understand a little of guitar and they leave the idea to go there... Am I'm trying to f**k him? No I just say what happened to me and I say what others guys think, usually good things...
(in deed, I think it was made by one of his "treinees", but the guy told me that they measure the height of the strings with eye, no rules...  :doh

 

[DocNrock]

I still say he did the work after hours, while inebriated.

 

[Nando Vallart]

I still say he did the work after hours, while inebriated.

"He does like, He does like c........e"  :laughing7:

 

[blue313]

Don't waste your energy trying to make sense of crap, forget about him and chalk it up to experience.  The only one who truly lost in the long run here is him...the word of mouth that his business COULD HAVE gotten is now dust in the wind.

Knock that nut out of there, throw it in the trash, and put a plastic cheepie in for now (Available in any guitar center).   After that here's some GOOD reference material for ya:  http://www.frets.com/FRETSPAGES/Luthier/Technique/Setup/NewNut/newnut1.html

Here's a dead balls accurate nut from that article done by Frank Ford on a 1940 Martin 000-28

As far as never needing those tools again if you buy em.  The files are also perfect for bridge saddles and smoothing out any other nut/saddle you ever buy.

 

[Mor Paul]

Anybody know of a good shop in NC? I could send it to one of you dudes if you want. Don't have any wine to send, though.

 

[GoDrex]

Don't waste your energy trying to make sense of crap, forget about him and chalk it up to experience.  The only one who truly lost in the long run here is him...the word of mouth that his business COULD HAVE gotten is now dust in the wind.

Knock that nut out of there, throw it in the trash, and put a plastic cheepie in for now (Available in any guitar center).   After that here's some GOOD reference material for ya:  http://www.frets.com/FRETSPAGES/Luthier/Technique/Setup/NewNut/newnut1.html

As far as never needing those tools again if you buy em.  The files are also perfect for bridge saddles and smoothing out any other nut/saddle you ever buy.

thanks for that pic - I had to turn it so it could be seen better:

just in case anyone missed it the first time...

You're right about just forgetting it. I will. And I'm going to put a Tusq nut on there and see if I can get it on there right. The nut that is on there is pretty much perfect in every way except the spacing, so I'm going to use it as a guide for the other dimension. The action is actually very good now. If only the spacing were right I'd be very happy with it. It's just a matter of millimeters that's making it junk.

 

[DocNrock]

tsk tsk

 

[guitlouie]

Anybody know of a good shop in NC?

Hey kiddo, we have one of the best right here in north Raleigh, not too terribly far from you.  He is right on Capital Blvd.    He studied under the very Frank Ford that you may have heard about on this board (see a couple of posts ago) and has worked for Ed King of Lynyrd Skynyrd.  He is also a very cool guy who has absolutely none of the "Guitar Shop A**H**e" attitude being discussed here.  He is the only one who works in his shop, so sometimes it may take a few weeks, but the man works some serious Mojo into a setup.  Anyway, hope this helps.  Here is the link...

http://www.darrenriley.com/main.html

 

[Mor Paul]

Thanks!

What all is needed in a basic guitar set up? And you know his pricing?

 

[riverbluff]

Another really good place to go in Raleigh is Dave Underwood at Zion Guitar Tech.  They are a 100% custom shop, but they do all guitar repair work as well.  He has done the electronics and set up on both of my LPs.

Bill

 

[OzziePete]

On the contact section there is a way to send him an e-mail.  Tempting....

I thought just the same, Brent! :evil4:

:toothy12:

If Gary was game, we could just send him a link to this thread.

If the dude represented himself as doing work for Martin, maybe Gary could give them a ring to confirm his credentials.
If he does do work for them, maybe Gary might like to fire off an email and a photo of that nut to them so they know what this guy's work quality is like. I am assuming, of course, that Martin have a high standard in who they assign guitars to.

There is a guy in New Jersey that I know of via the net forums etc. who seems to do some really neat set up work. He also assembles guitars like us here, and modifies stock instruments too.

Here's his link if it's any help... Very disheartening to read of your woes there, Gary. I hope the next luthier fixes all the problems.

http://www.frettech.com

 

[GoDrex]

He claims to work at the Martin factory in Nazareth PA. I thought about doing what you said but I don't see why anyone at Martin would take me seriously or care about what he does on the side.

Thanks for the link. That guy seems like he knows what he's doing. It's a bit of a drive to get where he is though so... maybe someday, but I'm done driving this guitar around for right now.

 

[GoDrex]

update: I got a TUSQ nut in the mail today, pre-cut, and I compared it to the mammoth cock, and it looked pretty close in size - so I installed it and it's great. Perhaps someday I'll have someone real do a custom fit nut, but for now this one is just what the doctor ordered. I was amazed it fits nearly perfectly. I have a really really good action, which I didn't expect and I didn't need to do any filing on the slots at all. And of course the slots are spaced perfectly unlike the crap job I had done (twice).  So I'm back to being happy again for now. Enjoying the LP though my Blackheart and it feels really good.

 

[Nando Vallart]

Nice to hear the nightmare has gone!  :blob7:

 

[blue313]

Tusq (by Graphtech) wears good and has decent tone.  Since pre-cuts rarely are perfect right out of the package its nice to hear that it's doing the job for you!

I'm also glad that the Guitar Gods sent some good karma your way!  :rock-on:

 

[GoDrex]

Tusq (by Graphtech) wears good and has decent tone.  Since pre-cuts rarely are perfect right out of the package its nice to hear that it's doing the job for you!

I'm also glad that the Guitar Gods sent some good karma your way!   :rock-on:

Yeah I was sure I was going to have to do some filing, but it really doesn't need any. At least for my comfort it's good. I don't feel anything weird and I'm not getting any open string buzz. But it is as low as it can be I think. I should be good for years with this thing hahaha   As for the tone, it seems a tad brighter which is fine.

 

[tfarny]

Congrats on that, funny how a $10 mail-order part was better than a 'master luthier's' best work (twice)

 

[DocNrock]

Here I thought this stuff about mammoth cock was a joke.  This is for real?

Glad you got your nut right.  :icon_biggrin:

 

[GoDrex]

Here I thought this stuff about mammoth cock was a joke.  This is for real?

Glad you got your nut right.   :icon_biggrin:

yeah it's a joke - it's actually supposed to be fossilized mammoth ivory, which would be tusk. But since Fred cocked it up so badly I just started calling it that for the fun of it. :laughing8:

And I'm glad too. It feels great.