mellowing out a weissenborn

Eric Kilburn · From: Massachusetts, USA

I have a superior weissenborn with a spruce top and palo escrito sides and back that I want to sweeten up and mellow out as much as possible. I'd also like to maximize the sustain. Should I replace the plastic nut and bridge with wood ? Steel? What types of wood would work best for this application. Any thoughts on string guages? Thicker strings apply more tension at a given pitch- does it follow that a thicker string would have more sustain? Thanks for any thoughts.

Steinar Gregertsen · From: Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.

Heavier strings will give a fuller sound that may be perceived as more 'mellow'. I went from 015-056 to 016-060 a while back and it definitely made a difference to the sound.

More sustain? Not necessarily... My reso came equipped with very heavy strings, starting at 018, and I wasn't very impressed with the sustain on the top strings. Put on a set of 016 strings and it got much better..

Replacing the nut/bridge with steel will add brightness, not round it off. Never played one with a wooden nut, but I guess it would make it sound more mellow (may also reduce the sustain, but I'm not sure about that).

Steinar

------------------
"Play to express, not to impress"
www.gregertsen.com
Southern Moon Northern Lights

[This message was edited by Steinar Gregertsen on 17 December 2006 at 10:38 AM.]

Andy Volk · From: Boston, MA

I wouldn't recommend a wooden nut - almost all woods are too soft. John Pearcee used lignum vitae (world's hardest wood) nuts on his ill-fated early 90s Italian Weissenborns but I don't know how they held up. Bone nuts have stood the test of time and tone. Go with bone.

Roman Sonnleitner · From: Vienna, Austria

Graphite nuts (like from Graphtec) usually, give a warmer, mellower sound than bone.

Jim Bates · From: Alvin, Texas, USA

I have a Pearse Weissenborn, made by Musicalia (in Italy or Sicily). It has a wooden nut and a great full mellow sound, plus it is a work of art.

I would not recommend putting any of the heavy 'dobro' strings on it UNLESS you tune it lower - tune to F instead of G or D instead of E.

I'm sure you could contact Musicalia and find out more about the material for the nut, and obtain one from them.

Thanx,
Jim

Forum Index > Steel Without Pedals		Next oldest topic :: Next newest topic

All times are GMT - 8 Hours	Jump to: