Chase Brady
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 10 Oct 2024 8:25 am |
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I recently purchased a Magnatone Lyric D8 which I'm very happy with except for the string spacing. My arthritic fingers find it uncomfortably narrow. The nuts and saddles are 3/8" stainless steel rod, screwed to the necks. It seems to me that setting the spacing to my taste should be a simple matter of having new nuts and saddles made. The saddles are not slotted, but the new ones would need to be. So my questions are:
1. Is there any reason not to do this that I am overlooking?
2. Would the slotted saddle affect the tone adversely?
3. Any recommendations for someone who could fabricate new nuts and saddles at a reasonable cost?
Thanks in advance. |
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Nic Neufeld
From:
Kansas City, Missouri
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Posted 10 Oct 2024 10:45 am
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Depending which version of Lyric D8 you have...
The two pickup per neck version, with metal tuner buttons and a black fretboard, is the one I have. At the nut it is like you say, a lot like Stringmaster nuts...slotted round bar attached to the neck with a couple screws. At the bridge, it is a plain, unslotted bar, and the string spacing is determined by the holes in the control plate where the strings are mounted. Call this Type A.
Type B is the other, single pickup per neck model, that has clear tuner buttons and I think a white or cream fretboard. Looks like it has a metal slotted nut..but not a bar, more like a traditional nut shape...and a similar slotted bridge that is likewise shaped.
For type A, the only really feasible change to spacing would be at the neck. I replaced a bar style nut like this on my Stringmaster (not to change spacing...but to accommodate bigger strings so that the bar lays flat on top with less downward pressure necessary), with the help of forum member Jimmie Hudson. However, you'd have to think through if this would actually help things out. Widening at the nut but not at the bridge would give you a variable spacing, wider at the nut but getting back to narrow towards the bridge. Where is the narrow string spacing bothering you? If for your right hand picking...that's not going to help you much, it will have narrowed mostly to the original spacing as you get further down that way.
And if you were to try to widen it at the bridge (by doing a slotted bar in place of the plain bar that exists there now) you would have to also consider that the pickups are designed for that string spacing. So you may get string balance issues, eg edge strings losing output, that kind of thing.
For Type B, you might be able to just replace the bridge and nuts outright...with something custom from Ryan Rukavina:
https://www.rukavinaguitars.com/bridge_nut_sets.html
You still have the same potential problem of getting your strings off of the right position for the pickup polepieces. I don't know much about the pickup designs in Magnatones (heck I barely understand the electronics in my own Type A model).
Rereading you likely have the "type A" model and are talking about adding grooves to the bridge to widen the spacing. Basically...yes, its possible, I wouldn't do this to the originals, but a guy like Jimmie H might be able to do it to your specs...but the primary concern I would have is unpredictable effect on tone due to polepiece spacing of the pickups. So definitely hold on to the original unaltered hardware!
_________________
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me |
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Chase Brady
From:
Ohio, USA
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Posted 10 Oct 2024 11:52 am
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As I actually measure it now, I see that the spacing at the saddle is pretty good, but it narrows sharply toward the nut. This seems odd, since in playing, it's the picking hand that is cramping. I wouldn't have thought it would narrow enough between the saddle and my hand position to be noticeable, but it sure seems to be. I pick with thumb + 3 fingers, and the ring finger cramps when I play. I don't have the problem with any of my other instruments. I might be able to get away with just replacing the nuts.
By the way, mine is definitely type "A". |
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