frets blues - tight-tune shim

[Deleted]

hope that too man!

but if the theory is correct, then what happened to the first bushing hole? why is it perfect, so tight to the point the color just got "scratched" there?

[sumgai]

Scratched?

Without seeing exactly what you're talking about, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it might be "checking", a condition where the humidity was not controlled during the drying process, and the finish dried at different rates. While it's rare for that to show up right away, it usually becomes visible several months after the guitar has left the factory - and depending on what part of the world it went to, some places are drier than others.

But our resident wood butchersurgeon cynical1 really should be offering up his own thoughts on this kind of thing, his experience is far greater than mine.




sumgai

[Deleted]

Oct 1, 2012 13:42:09 GMT -5 sumgai said:

Scratched?

Without seeing exactly what you're talking about, I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that it might be "checking", a condition where the humidity was not controlled during the drying process, and the finish dried at different rates. While it's rare for that to show up right away, it usually becomes visible several months after the guitar has left the factory - and depending on what part of the world it went to, some places are drier than others.

But our resident wood butchersurgeon cynical1 really should be offering up his own thoughts on this kind of thing, his experience is far greater than mine.




sumgai

pretty plausible theory samgai!

[Deleted]

Oct 1, 2012 13:42:09 GMT -5 sumgai said:

Scratched?

sorry for my bad english. what i meant is that because of the pressure some tiny chip of finish seems a little bit off. That is what i meant, so i cannot explain how from the ultra tight treble-side hole, we go to the ultra loose bass-side hole.

[sumgai]

pyrros,

Well, that explains a bit more deeply....

In fact, finishes are not 100% reliable that they will do as we expect. Maybe 99.999% of the time, but there's always a little gremlin that pops up once in awhile.

My own Fender Strat, an American Deluxe built in 2005, popped out a penny-sized chunk of paint/undercoat from the body, just underneath the neck and centered between the two sides of the pocket route. Why? No one can explain it, but it happened at something like 5 or 6 months after I bought it. Since then, nary a problem, just that one little blemish. I never even fixed it, it's hidden from view unless you go looking for it.

For the life of me, I have to say that from all your descriptions in this topic, I do believe that the guitar was built in a bit of a rush, and was not allowed enough time at each stage to dry, cure or whatever was needed before moving on to the next step. But of course, I could be completely wrong on that score.



sumgai

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2012 1:58:30 GMT -5 sumgai said:

pyrros,

Well, that explains a bit more deeply....

In fact, finishes are not 100% reliable that they will do as we expect. Maybe 99.999% of the time, but there's always a little gremlin that pops up once in awhile.

My own Fender Strat, an American Deluxe built in 2005, popped out a penny-sized chunk of paint/undercoat from the body, just underneath the neck and centered between the two sides of the pocket route. Why? No one can explain it, but it happened at something like 5 or 6 months after I bought it. Since then, nary a problem, just that one little blemish. I never even fixed it, it's hidden from view unless you go looking for it.

For the life of me, I have to say that from all your descriptions in this topic, I do believe that the guitar was built in a bit of a rush, and was not allowed enough time at each stage to dry, cure or whatever was needed before moving on to the next step. But of course, I could be completely wrong on that score.



sumgai

super possible, your theory seems very right.

Also, all these woods are not tested traditional euro-american woods but asian woods whose characteristics are a little bit unknown. Maybe they sound fantastic or have other pros, but it is still a game with probabilities.

[sumgai]

Oct 2, 2012 2:01:56 GMT -5 @pyrros said:

Also, all these woods are not tested traditional euro-american woods but asian woods whose characteristics are a little bit unknown. Maybe they sound fantastic or have other pros, but it is still a game with probabilities.

I think you've hit on the real underlying reason here. To my way of thinking, it's gonna take another generation of players (at least 20 years) before Asian woods are "accepted" as good enough, and Asian luthiers/factories have enough experience to produce a worthy instrument.

Of course, by then we'll all have moved on to wood from some other continent, as we look for "the next greatest thing......"



sumgai

[Deleted]

brothers and sisters!!!!

I GOT MY NU IBANEZ!!!!!!

and DOES NOT BUZZ ANYWHERE!!!

the tail piece is dead flat on the body!!

and it sounds funktastic!

some quick measurements :
relief around 0.20mm
action @12th high E : 1.7mm
action @12th low E : 2.2mm
action @24th high E : 2.0mm
action @24th low E : 2.5mm

didnt measure pup action and nut, cause i was busy riffin!!!!!
down tuned drop-D with 10s!!! and NO BUZZ yeah!!!

THANK YOU

Now... THIS IS AN IBANEZ....

expect ultra power chords down tuned soon!



ps

it will take ages before i touch it with an alen, screwdriver, etc.... swear to God.

[Deleted]

Oct 2, 2012 11:49:41 GMT -5 sumgai said:

Of course, by then we'll all have moved on to wood from some other continent, as we look for "the next greatest thing......"

[cynical1]

Oct 1, 2012 13:42:09 GMT -5 sumgai said:

...But our resident wood butchersurgeon cynical1 really should be offering up his own thoughts on this kind of thing, his experience is far greater than mine.

Sorry, asleep at the switch... I've been building a run in for the horses and either run out of time or stamina at the end of the day to catch up on things around here.

The loose bushing could be blamed on a bad inspection at the factory, either with the bushing tolerances or with the CNC job. The Asian wood issue is something I've mentioned here before, so that is a strong contender for the root cause.

Asian woods are faster growing and therefore softer than European\American hard woods. It's just Mother nature and the human desire to turn a quick buck.

And I'm glad you didn't try the Super Glue route on the loose bushing. The best way to fix the issue is to drill the existing hole out, glue and press fit a hard wood dowel, flush and re-drill. It sucks, especially on a new guitar, but it's the only way to ensure the problem doesn't re-surface a few months down the road.

Returning the guitar for another one is the best course of action. I don't see too many new instruments these days, so the state of quality from builder to builder is something I can't really speak to. I do have to say the Ibanez Mikro bass I picked up on eBay was a pleasant surprise...albeit really cheap...

The more I hear about new instruments the more convinced I am that Pawn Shop diving and rehab is the best way to go.

Glad it all worked out in the end.

Happy Trails

Cynical One

[sumgai]

pyrros,

Glad to hear it! ;D ;D




sumgai

[Deleted]

1st impressions :
it is so good, almost a different instrument :
- nut is lower
- does not buzz. In order (always with daddario 0.010s) to create the same idea of buzz that I had with the previous one (the lemon one with the problematic tailpiece) when tuned in E standard, now i have to tune it Drop-C !!! At Drop-C it still plays cleaner than the lemon. (So now it is a true drop-down tune demon!)

And i do not know if I can attribute this dramatic decease in buzz only to the tailpiece. Maybe fret work is now also better... (and at first sight, fret work is excellent, i dont know if they are PLEK'ed or not, but this is just wonderful).

Also i measured precisely the action with the filler gauges and this is :

action @12th high E : 1.5mm (exactly what the book says)
action @12th low E : 2.0mm (exactly what the book says)
action @24th high E : 1.9 mm
action @24th low E : 2.2 mm

Pups are pretty low tho. Didn't measure their action but i will do this evening.