Hello folks;
I have a couple of questions that I should know the answers to, but either do not, or I am having yet another "seniors' moment".
The guitar I'm starting to have trouble with, is a Washburn "Woodstock" cutaway that I bought new in 1980.
I play this guitar about an hour a day these days.
a] I have some fret wire wear in the first 5 frets...I've see mention of "recrowning" fret wires in some old posts here, but the material and method is not mentioned....is it a solder, or a "cold" technique ?
b] The intonation seems worse than it used to..I recently bought a little Korg GA-30 tuner, and am getting a slightly "sharp" reading on all strings at the 12th fret....maybe it's my imagination, but my really old Roland tuner didn't show this problem up.
c] I recently put on a set of Chinese Martin Lights (.012-.054)...I used mediums (.013-.056) for the previous 25 years on this guitar. It will now not stay in tune for much more than 10-15 minutes, and strings go both flat AND sharp, in random fashion.
I am mainly a flatpicker, bluegrass, but also some jazz & blues. Play fairly hard.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions and/or help rendered.
Note: action is good...the rod setting gives me 5 thou clearance using Nils' 1st & 14th fret method, with no rattle. My string height at 12th fret is same as Nils' recommended height.
"A child of five could understand this...send someone to fetch a child of five !"--Groucho Marx
Recrowning does not add material. It means filing what you have to the right shape. So you get smaller and smaller frets.
Your intonation may have changed due to the heavier strings.
You've put lighter strings on - that's why strings are changing pitch. There's less tension on the neck... your neck relief is set up for the tension of medium strings.
I'm not familiar with Martin Chinese - but standard Martin 92/8 strings in .012-.054 put on a total of 164.8 pounds of tension; your mediums at .013-.056 put on 186.2 pounds.
Taking that extra 20 pounds of pull off the headstock means you've got too much neck relief. After you put a string in tune, the neck is bending backwards just slightly - that makes the string go sharp. It also changes your intonation, because the string length from bridge to nut is now a hair longer, but your 12th fret hasn't moved in relation to the bridge.
I'm guessing the strings going randomly flat is the typical stretching on new strings. You're just noticing it more, because some strings aren't stretching as much - so they go sharp because of the neck relief.
It's an easy fix with a truss rod adjustment. That's actually what truss rods are for, making fine adjustments to neck relief - not for tweaking the action, which is what many folks believe.
Guitar teacher offering lessons in Plainfield IL
Thanks for the prompt feedback.
The strings going flat are not from any lack of "stretching-in", from my old band days, I know how stretch-in a new string in a hurry.
I'm tempted to go back to medium strings before I try anything else...looks like I'll have to go for a re-fret anyway.
Noteboat, your "pull on the headstock" explanation looks logical to me.
BTW...Martin Chinese look like any other Martin string I've had, except there's "Made in China" on the box (not on the envelopes inside though.)
"A child of five could understand this...send someone to fetch a child of five !"--Groucho Marx
