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Joined:
August 2007
Posts: 4
Location: Grand Rapids, MI | I just bought a used Ovation Applause, Korean made, very decent neck, very good sounding. I've got D'Addario EXP Ultra-Light strings on it, which sound great. There's no pickup that I'm aware of, no place to plug a cord in, so I'm putting an EMG ACS in it. I do a lot of rock and a lot of blues bending, and the action is a bit higher than I like, so I have have to work pretty hard to do some limited bending, so I'd like to lower it. However, the high E buzzes at the nut, so it's too low--something that's absolutely got to go, and means I certainly don't want to lower that end of the bridge saddle. It could be (and likely is) a defective nut responsible for that).
I've almost always played an elctric, so this is my first experience with an Ovation acoustic.
I noticed that the bridge saddle is higher on the heavier strings than it is on the thinner ones, so I figured a simple, quick-and-dirty fix for all of those problems would be to simply to remove the bridge saddle, flip it around, and put it right back in, so that each end would then be at the opposite end from where they are now--the thinner strings would be higher and the thicker strings would be lower.
Of course, there's always the opportunity to take it to a show, but doing it yourself is often just as good and a whole lot quicker.
The nut evidently was not even glued on, so it came off when I loosened the strings. (I could have just put the nut back on, but I thought, here's a great opportunity to get a really good nut). There was a real deep groove in the nut in the high E string slot.
So I attempted to remove the bridge saddle. It would rock back and forth from side to side, but would not come out. There are no bridge pins. I have tried several times, but still cannot get the saddle out. Can anybody tell me how? And does anybody think that just reversing the n :confused: ut will fix the action? If I'm going to get a new nut, it would be just as easy to get a new bridge saddle. Any thoughts? |
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Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | I believe the saddle should just pull out like all the other Ovations. It might be a little hard to do, some of mine were that way, but if you use a pair of needle nose pliers, it should pull out. Now here's the disclaimer.... If you destroy your bridge trying to do this, don't come after me! Just use some discretion when trying this... |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Never had an Applause, but on my Ovation/Celebrity's the bridge just pulls out with alittle persuasion.
As to flipping the saddle, it should work, since this is acoustic only.
Depending on your local shop... and how they act... You could get a new saddle for about $3.
I got two new saddles for my Johnson for three bucks. I wanted to lower it, so I took it down to Apple Music for advice.
The Luthier-dude gave me directions on how to sand one down, then sold me one, and threw-in another...
[For when I screwed-up the first one.
But I got it right the first time.]
Good luck, but you may consider getting another saddle, then modifying as needed. :cool: |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | How about a trussrod adjust,and sticking a small piece of felt under that high-E at the nut..before contemplating major surgery
this link will provide you with many answers, Scroll down to :
Of interest to players
..and "click" on the appropriate topics..
http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/pagelist.html
Have Fun :)
Vic |
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Joined:
June 2006
Posts: 7307
Location: South of most, North of few | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
Never had an Applause, but on my Ovation/Celebrity's the bridge just pulls out with alittle persuasion.
Man, I hope not :eek: I would hope the bridge stays attached to the top and the saddle pulls out.... and, I don't think reversing the nut is an option. |
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Joined:
August 2007
Posts: 4
Location: Grand Rapids, MI | No, reversing the nut is not an option. Because most of the strings sit on top of the groove, it actually makes the action higher. And it sounds absolutely awful. It did, however, get rid of the buzz on the high E string. I tried it for a second without gluing the bridge, and then removed it. This was just an easy way to test the feasibility of flipping the bridge--which has no grooves. Adjusting the truss rod, as far as I'm concerned, is major surgery. Putting a shim under the nut, I think, is putting a band-aid on a more serious problem. I have a machinist friend who works at GM who could find a more practical way of raising that high E groove. He hasn't emailed me back yet. And the shim would not affect the action at all, and both of these would change the amount of tension on the neck--and there's nothing wrong with that. There's also nothing wrong with the nut, other than the high E groove being too low and it no longer being attached. Getting a new nut and saddle at my local shop would be a really good fix and probably not too expensive, but they're really good, and so they have quite a backlog of repairs, which means it's likely to take a long time, during which I won't be able to play the guitar. The prime advantage of flipping the bridge saddle without modifying it is that it leaves the tension on the neck just exactly the way it is. Because there are no string notches in it, other than the fact that the action on one side is now the action on the other side, it changes absolutely nothing. I would also think my machinist friend would be able to figure out the best tool and way to remove the bridge saddle safely, since he works with both metal and wood.
On my electric guitars (one is a Paul Reed Smith), I do all of the work myself, and always have.
When a repair or adjustment is beyond my competence, I don't hesitate at all to take it into a shop. A repair done wrong is a major headache. I did some Googling and concluded this job was within my ability, whereas adjusting the action by sanding the bridge saddle probably was not. A quick-and-dirty fix is something that does the trick without the guitar sitting a long time in the shop. I do make appearances and make money with my Paul Reed Smith, and acoustics are really popular where I live, so I'd like to do so ASAP with the Ovation as well. The Paul Reed Smith has a GHOST acoustic piezo saddle system in the bridge (it's just sitting there as the bridge, not wired up) which is due to be connected after the summer. That's major surgery, because it will transform the PRS into an acoustic guitar. While the PRS is in the shop, I want to play the Ovation, so I'd prefer not to do major surgery on the Ovation until after the Paul Reed Smith comes back. I don't mind it, it's just that there's a practical reason for me not to do it. I took the PRS in to install a 3rd EMG 89 humbucker in April last year and got it back in September, because of the backlog of repairs, so I know the repair could take a long time. |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | ...I meant a piece of felt in between the String and the Nut ..not a shim under the nut..
Vic |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 2491
Location: Copenhagen Denmark | ..if only I knew how to post pictures here.. |
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Applause Quandary
