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Topic: How I improved my Liberty resophonic guitar |
Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 15 Sep 2002 7:04 pm |
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I bought a Liberty Palm model resophonic guitar a while back and I've mostly had it hanging on the wall. The top string was always buzzy no matter what, and I just couldn't get a good tone from the guitar even with a replacement cone.
This evening I decided to change strings again to see if a set of Martin resophonic strings would make a difference. While the strings were off the guitar, I removed the treble half of the bridge (it's a split bridge, apparently made of bone) and reversed it, so the string slots were going the other way.
I also fed the strings into the tailpiece from the top rather than up from the bottom. It took a bit of work to get the strings to stay in place while I brought them up to pitch, but the results are amazing.
I apparently reversed the treble half of the bridge at some previous time and didn't notice it. That change plus the added tension of having the strings come through the tailpiece from the top made all the difference in the guitar's volume and tone. Now it plays evenly up and down the neck and sounds much louder than it did before.
I guess the bottom line is sometimes you can do minor tweaks to a low-end instrument and get it to sound better than you expected. Especially if you're not paying attention! 
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Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
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Mike D
From:
Phx, Az
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Posted 16 Sep 2002 11:05 am
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Brad's post helps illustrate what's wrong with many inexpensive spider bridge guitars. The neck is set too shallow and doesn't allow enough break over the saddle. Look closely at them when you buy and make sure the neck has enough of a backset. The best way to check is to sight down the fretboard from the nut end. If you were to lay a straightedge on the board it should clear the top of the Spider's saddle slot by about an 1/8". This will allow a proper height saddle and give you the down force needed to get good tone and volume (and keep the buzzies at bay)
Brad's method of understringing the tailpiece is commeon, it's a pain to string and can shorten the life of the TP though.
All of this applies only to roundneck guitars played in the Spanish position. |
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Brad Bechtel
From:
San Francisco, CA
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Posted 16 Sep 2002 1:54 pm
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Interestingly enough, this is a squareneck model. Someone (Pete Grant?) suggested I try this stringing technique and it seems to work great, although it's a hassle to get the strings to stay in place until they're properly tightened.
As far as the reversed bridge insert goes, I'm sure I put in back in the wrong way when I installed a new cone. Normally I'd just change strings one at a time to minimize changes in string tension and to keep the bridge in place. Now I know what to do if I get weird buzzes next time.
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Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars
[This message was edited by Brad Bechtel on 16 September 2002 at 02:55 PM.] |
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Russ Young
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 16 Sep 2002 2:41 pm
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| I recently restrung my old Oscar Schmidt-built (?) roundneck lap steel using the same technique. (It has a resonator-style tailpiece in place of the original, which was probably a "trapeze.") It made a big improvement in tone ... but Brad is the master of understatement when he says it's hard to keep the strings in place! |
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Gregg McKenna
From:
South Windsor, Connecticut, USA
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Posted 19 Sep 2002 6:58 pm
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Brad, Use a piece of masking tape over the tailpiece holes (while restringing) to prevent your strings ends from poping out of the tailpiece (until enough tension is on the strings to keep them in place).
Some coverplates and tailpieces sit up "higher" than others, that is why you see them come from the factory with the strings run from the bottom (to give them enough back pitch). You see many Regals strung up like this. |
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