John Bushouse
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Posted 3 Mar 2005 9:05 am |
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So I'm taking my 1937 National Electro-Hawaiian 7-string into the shop to get a little TLC. My local shop is Gryphon, so I believe I'm in good hands.
I'm looking at doing the following:
(1) modifying the original so that the 7th string is the lowest string, rather than pitched between the 3rd and 4th string. My options are modifying the original nut or replacing it. I'm leaning towards replacing, as I'd like to keep the original nut. Any thoughts on whether or not keeping the original nut is necessary? If I replace the original, which is bone (I think), what material should I use for the replacement?
(2) changing the saddle at the bridge. The bridge pickup has a hand rest. The saddle is a piece of what looks to be very hard plastic that drops into a slot in the bridge. It is grooved to spread the strings out so that they're over their respective pole pieces. I'd like to replace the saddle with something else - bone, or some other material. What material would make a good replacement for the saddle?
(3) I'm going to replace all four pots. They are all scratchy, and have sudden volume jumps when I press on the knobs. I'm going to have the same values put in to replace them, unless there would be a good reason to try something else.
The electronics setup is complicated: one master volume control. One knob labeled "Natural/Haw." which is the volume knob for the bridge pickup. One knob labeled treble and one know labeled bass, which control 4 hidden pickups. There are two pickups hidden under a middle position and two hidden under a neck position. The pickups each cover about 3 1/2 strings. The treble knob is the volume control for the neck and middle pickup for the top 3-4 strings, and the bass knob is the volume control for the neck and middle pickup for the bottom 3-4 strings.
Are there particular pot values I should consider for the bridge, treble, or bass volume controls? What about the master volume control?
(4) I would like to get my magnets recharged (the only person I know who does this is Rick Aiello). It would be a royal pain in the a** to pull out and remove all of those pickups. Is it possible to recharge the pickup magnets without removing the pickups from the guitar?
(5) I'm planning on leaving the amphenol connector alone, because it seems to work pretty well and I have cords for it. But I'd be willing to go for a 1/4" jack replacement if I would get a better sound from the guitar (i.e., higher quality cables? I don't know). Any thoughts on replacing the amphenol connector with a 1/4" jack if it doesn't appear there's a problem with the original connection?
I'd love to hear your thoughts. Any and all suggestions will be considered.
P.S. I have some big sample chunks of corian - mandarin orange, bright yellow, and "festival" which is white with confetti in it. I was thinking any of those would have a strong visual impact if I used them for the nut and saddle. |
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John Bushouse
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Posted 3 Mar 2005 12:10 pm
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Rick,
I think when I go in tomorrow I will take apart the guitar with them and see if we can pull the pickups. If we're able to pull the pickups out, then do I send all five to you as is? Assuming they didn't unravel during the uninstall process, necessitating a rebuild. I know Gryphon will need to keep the guitar for a while due to their workload, so I may be able to have them pull the pickups, send them to you, have them do setup work, and then get the pickups back from you and have them reinstalled by Gryphon.
It would be nice to do part (4) while everything else is being done.
I'll ask a pot question on the other thread. |
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