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I don’t mean to be self serving, but I am going to recommend Santa Cruz Mid tension strings over the E17 mediums. The SCGC will distribute the tension more evenly and will give you near equal volume without excess tension to the top. It is very important to adjust your action to counteract the added pull of heavier strings. Before you change the strings; measure the string height at the 12th fret. That is your target for string height via lowering the saddle from the bottom with Mid Tension strings, IF your neck relief is within tolerance. Check here for instructions: http://www.santacruzguitar/careandfeeding.
Without taking these precautions, the increased tension from added string height can distort your top or compromise structure. We can schedule you for this service here or refer you to someone closer to home if you’d like. Best to call us at 831 425 0999. We will be at the Winter NAMM in Anaheim from 1/24 to 1/27.
All the best, Richard
That’s a fun wood question Zorro thank you! I don’t have a wood problem! I could quit anytime I want… but not today.
“Wood of Life”: Lignum Vitae has been spoken of in mystical tones, at least since I began paying attention to woods back in the last millennium. Crickett balls, Bobby’s Truncheons, Merlin’s magic wand, Submarine bearings and Pete Seeger’s long banjo neck. Most of those applications could have chosen the wood because of it’s weight, durability, bruising, instead of bone breaking density and its self lubricating qualities. these all make sense; except for Pete’s banjo neck. I don’t know how the maker got the fretboard to stay glued to this otherwise versatile material.
This brings me to speculation about how compatible it is for guitar making. Opinion only here; because of its self lubricating nature how do you get components to stick together and if used for sides and back its density would contribute to a very bright tone. Would such a tone be desirable or aggravating? I did find a back and sides set for sale on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/253956911551 so someone thinks its appropriate for guitars.
If you do pose the question elsewhere and get some definitive answer’s please report back so that I can sound smarter the next time I get asked this question. Until then…
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
All the best,
Richard
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Hi Hassome,
I’m going oi give you an “opinion alert” here as I haven’t had a lot of experience with Kaura cases yet. Let’s assume that they follow a similar logic array as we did in designing our SCGC cases. That is to have an initial fit that is very snug and allow the padding to progressively conform to the precise shape of the guitar through successive placements of the instrument into the case. We dialed this in to work perfectly with each of our different models.
Unfortunately, even with your photo, I can’t assume that the Kaura padding will compress enough to allow the lid to close without undue pressure on the guitar. I strongly suggest that you contact Kaura to find out what their target measurement is for the guitar’s depth at the tail for their OM style case and compare that to your SCGC OM at within +/- 1/16″ of 4.25 inches.
If Kaura targets a Martin OM you should be OK. Martin claims a depth of 4 1/8″, though I’ve seen Martin OM’s vary to as much as 4 1/4″. This means you should be safe if you don’t try to store a song book or strap on the top of your guitar before closing the lid.
All the best, Richard
Hi MC,
You’ve already had a great response to your question which should validate your wise choice of String Brand. As per your Short Scale OM; your thinking is accurate; shorter scale equals less tension. Indexless should have settled any fears that the low tension set might be too low. As to what to expect with Mid-Tension strings on the same guitar; you will enjoy increased volume with a corresponding feel in string tension. It’s a pretty cheap and reversable experiment to try both styles on your OM to determine what suits you best. One caveat: you may sometimes want to adjust your truss rod and/or saddle height to maintain the same action in response to the difference in overall tension between the two string categories. Thank you!
Best, Richard
Dear Zorro,
That Really makes me happy! It was great spending time with you here at our 40th celebration. That adds to my gratitude for your thoughtful description of the influence your guitars have had on you and your outlook on life.
Guitars are only our vehicle;. Our purpose is what they can do.
All the best,
Richard
Thanks Tad and Matt!
Those are accurate and helpful answers. We have NEVER drilled an access hole through the fret board brace. It wouldn’t be necessary nor would it even it line up with our truss rod.
To mbabin 5288: Regarding your other “SC guitar’s” that do have truss rod access holes; the only explanations I can imagine is that they have been modified, or heaven forbid, they are counterfeit!
I just noticed that you have left a phone number. I will give you a call and try to help solve the mystery. Thank you!
Best, Richard
Hi Matt,
I can direct you to the proper luthier if I understood the challenge a bit better. Worn and lumpy or something else? You’re savvy enough to know if there is enough material to mill the existing board without compromising the integrity of the neck, though if there are other factors that make this a challenge, call me up and we can have some fun finding a solution.
All the best, Richard
Haasome,
Aside from personal preferences; the reason we default to ‘Satin’ finish on the neck is because it presents less resistance to your moving hand. On a magnified scale you would observe that the satin surface is irregular and has less contact surface to overcome, A gloss surface is smooth and presents more contact surface to slide over. Think of pushing a clean finger across a sandblasted glass surface vs. a squeaky clean window.
That’s the physics, regardless of opinion. The market challenge is that Crows and Humans are attracted to shiny things and find them more desirable; thus the bias towards Gloss necks and the reason we offer them as an option..
Best,
Richard
Good job SM! Gotta love that.
JJW would be pleased with your rendition, no doubt. He had an affinity for Santa Cruz town and we got the pleasure of him hanging out on our couch occasionally to hear some of the un-broadcastable versions of his calssics.
Nice legacy of Americana chronicles from that gifted guy. Thank you.
Good job SM! Gotta love that.
JJW would be pleased with your rendition, no doubt. He had an affinity for Santa Cruz town and we got the pleasure of him hanging out on our couch occasionally to hear some of the un-broadcastable versions of his calssics.
Nice legacy of Americana chronicles from that gifted guy. Thank you.
Dear Mr. Twangtown,
I can help, call me.
This may not be your story, though you’ve given us a chance to help others. The majority of players assume that the manufacturer of their guitar is the last place you would want to go for expert service.There is some validity to this concern because the maker may be expert in manufacturing, but that doesn’t equate to expertise in diagnosis and proper technique for restoration and repair. This is an art unto itself and one would be better served going to a practiced professional with an established reputation for these services. Some will rightly suspect that a large company will also do their best to avoid taking ownership of any single warranty claim out of concern for the potential accumulative financial obligation when making a couple hundred thousand guitars each year.
We at SCGC are not manufacturing guitars. We are a custom shop of luthiers often doing one of a kind instruments that require a thorough understanding of how the guitar works and what makes them sound exceptional or can keep them from their full potential. This translates to only about 475 guitars each year with less than 1% service even considered as warranty repair. We are also a staff of top notch repair and restoration experts capable of the most modern techniques, along with the knowledge and ability to bring priceless vintage instruments back to life while keeping the integrity and originality up to collectable market standards.
For your Tony Rice, there is no one more appropriate than us to evaluate your guitar and recommend the proper course of action. One rule is to NEVER diagnose a problem without a physical inspection of the instrument, though heck, we have to start someplace! Your lack of stability could be structural, as in cracked or dislodged brace(s), especially if the guitar was fine for the first 15 years or so of its life and only “a few years ago” begin to exhibit movement.
This timeline points to some finite event that changed the guitar, rather than progressive effect of wear and tear over time. It doesn’t cost anything to talk about it and you will gain peace of mind beginning with our first conversation. Email at SCGC@santacruzguitar.com or better…call me or Carolyn at 831-425-0999 to explore a permanent solution for these aggravations. Until then…
All the best, Richard Hoover
All bridge pins are not made equal! Especially wooden ones. We fit each pin precisely to its corresponding hole and all is good…until they get mixed up during a string change. Although we do our best to educate players to keep these in order when removed, sometimes the dealer will miss this caveat if changing strings during the guitar’s showroom stay.
I love the recommendations for indexing the pins with numerals or hash marks as Matt suggested. This secures your peace of mind for the future. For your current conundrum; I suggest de-stringing your guitar and try each pin in the same hole to find the best fit. Remember to leave the appropriate string in the right hole and nestled in the string channel and position the pin with the groove against the string for an accurate appraisal. Do the next hole with the remaining pins and so on until you have six matches. If the last couple are too loose; you will want to start again favoring the fatties for the larger gauge string holes. When you’re satisfied with your choices remember to keep them in order visually and/or mark them in sequence for reference the next time.
All the Best,
Richard.
Dear SM…P.S.
The SCGC RS model is still available, as are most designs from our last 40 years of custom lutherie. Some designs can fade into the background in reaction to market demand, though never hesitate to ask us!
Best,
Richard
Thanks, as always, for your contributions SM.
Roy Smeck was like the Eric Clapton of his day; beloved and wildly popular. His name evokes a fine legacy, but also represents a trade name that doesn’t belong to us. Nonetheless; we are poor counterfeiters, or more accurately, we don’t even try to replicate vintage instruments because we can’t resist the temptation to apply the improvements of the ensuing years. We also can’t help but put our own vibe and design sense into the efforts. For the RS model I went off photos, physical observation and listening to some examples of the old Roy Smeck’s and similar models then went from there without feeling obligated to “hold true” to the original.
As a historical lesson; we took relentless flack when making Tony Rice a guitar that met his requests for many personal modifications and tonal improvements over his revered, but tubby old ’34 Bone. A unique new design for contemporary acoustic music incorporating jazz phrasings and articulate single line lead work. As a result we were faulted, and still are, by those that feel we failed in the attempt to faithfully copy the old icon ala Maestro John Arnold or the Merrill Bros. Lesson learned; we’ll leave reverent reproduction to those that inspired to do so.
More to your question; the SCGC RS honors the body depth and shape, sound hole size and string length of the original . We also kept in mind the overall spirit of the artist and a sense of the ethos of the era in which it was born. Otherwise we did our own thing.
All the best,
Richard
