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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Quick (dumb) Question--
What kind of strings do any y'all think they put on new Celebrity's?
The reason I ask is I have bought a new CC44, and a sorta new GC057 (factory USED).
Both of these guitars have left black crud on my fingers...
I haven't changed the strings on the CC44 yet.
But this one is (supposedly) really new, and I still got the same black crud.
I'm sitting here playing, and glance at my fingers, and I'm going "Yuck!"
But being the cheap sort that I am, I figured that I would play these until they crash, cuz they sound good. But...
Once again, Educate Me, Pleeze... :p |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 347
Location: Reno, NV | Might actually be the frets. When I got my applause AA13, I put D'addario EJ16's on it and it still turned the tips of my fingers black for a while. EJ16's don't do that on my 1771LX. So it must have been the tarnish on the frets. Its seems to have gotten much better now. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Yeah, Okay... Might be the varnish/oil/whatever from the wood too. I'll give it time. Even though it is new, when I change the strings (which shouldn't be too long) I will still clean and oil the fretboard with lemon oil. We'll see...
Keep those cards and letters and opinions coming. |
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Joined:
April 2007
Posts: 225
Location: Stow, Ohio | The next time you restring the guitar, clean the fret board with fretboard cleaner (any music store)
and using masking tape, tape up each side of the fret, using cloth cymbal cleaner polish the frets and buff with a soft cloth. (any music store for the Cymbal cleaner)
In the past I have used my Dremel tool with a buffing wheel on it and some bufing compound and polished my frets. talk about sweet frets! unfortunately the effect doesn't last a long time. |
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Joined:
August 2006
Posts: 2804
Location: ranson,wva | every time i change strings,wich is once a month i scrub the board down with naptha(lighter fluid) and 0000 steel wool then oil it..works for me....jason |
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Joined:
April 2007
Posts: 225
Location: Stow, Ohio | Originally posted by Jason_S:
every time i change strings,wich is once a month i scrub the board down with naptha(lighter fluid) and 0000 steel wool then oil it..works for me....jason The naptha doesn't dry out your fretboard! |
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Joined:
August 2006
Posts: 2804
Location: ranson,wva | then oil it and its fine. i do all 7 of my ovations and my 2 teles that way every month. no ill effects here. i do repair work as well. do it to every guitar i work on....works for me...jason |
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Joined:
April 2007
Posts: 225
Location: Stow, Ohio | Ok cool,
ya had me scared there for a second. |
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Joined:
August 2006
Posts: 2804
Location: ranson,wva | it was recomended by several members here as well...jason |
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Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | Originally posted by Elliot Meldoy:
Ok cool,
ya had me scared there for a second. Jason scares quite a few people around here.... ;) |
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Joined:
August 2006
Posts: 2804
Location: ranson,wva | jim,but have i given any il fated advice in tha past year?? not that i can rember..lol jason |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 347
Location: Reno, NV | Dunlop 01 Fretboard Prep/Cleaner smells just like some sort of alcohol/solvent. Im not a solvent expert so I dont know exactly what it is, but it smells awfully familiar, Im betting that its just re-packaged bulk stuff you get from the hardware store, maybe Naptha, like said earlier. |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Some crap that costs $60/Barrel...
The rest of the price is packaging/marketing. |
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Joined:
February 2004
Posts: 1634
Location: Warren,Pa. | I'm the unofficial guitar tech at our church (aprox 700). A big part of what I do is take cheap guitars and clean them and set them up so they're easier to play than they were out of the box.
It's been my experience that Chinese-made guitars (among others) seem like they were built in the dirt. I throw the factory strings away. Then I apply a generous amount of Dunlop 65 fretboard lemon oil. I let it soak in for 2-3 minutes. If it soaks in almost completly I add another coat. Then I lightly rub (against the grain) with 0000 steel wool. I get the frets by sort of using my fingernail behind the steel wool to rub where the wood and frets meet.
I wipe everything down with a tissue, again digging in with my nail at the fret. the dirt is AWFUL!
Then I do all that again. Sometimes 3 times...'till I get no more dirt on the tissue.
I realize some of what I get off might not be dirt, but rather a light stain of some sort that they might use to give a more uniform look to the crappy wood (remember...these are not high-end guitars).
I do the same thing to the bridge. Then I put on a set of decent strings and adjust the action so it's as low as it can go w/o buzzing.
It doesn't look or feel like the same guitar after you do all this, and elbow grease was the biggest part of it all.
John <>{ |
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Cheap Strings on New Chinese Celebrity's?