grovers&plywood

[keith angus]

FROM GUITARELIC@ALBERTA: TWO LINES OF INQUIRY. FIRST: HOW MUCH 'PLAY' OR 'WOBBLE' SHOULD THERE BE,IF ANY, IN THE STRING POSTS OF A SET OF GROVER ROTO-MATICS? DOES THIS 'WOBBLE' INDICATE ANEED FOR REPLACEMENT? SECOND: IN GUITARS OF ORIENTAL PROVINENCE(CORT,YAMAHA ETC.) IS IT CORRECT TO ASS-SUME(IKNOW,IKNOW!!) THAT IF THE GRAIN PATTERNS MATCH BETWEEN SIDES & BACK PIECE-SETS, THATTHESE ARE NOT PLYWOOD?I.O.W; ARE THEY INSIDIOUS &INSCRUTABLE ENOOUGH TO MATCH THE OUTER LAYERS OF PLYWOOD TO GIVE THE ILLUSION OF SOLID BACK&SIDE SETS? I,M NOT ALUTHIER BUT APLAYER OF GUITARS ACCOUSTIC WITHAN INTEREST IN ALL THINGS THEROF.  TWANG!!

[Mark McLean]

Keith

To pick solid wood from ply - It is not whether the grain pattern of the sides look like the grain pattern of the back.  The test is whether you can see the same grain pattern on the inside of the guitar as you see on the outside (i.e. some distinctive bit can be seen to go right through the wood). 

Makers of ply guitars can easily get similar looking veneers for the back and sides.  But they will never have matching veneers on the inside and outside of the same ply sandwich. 

On the tuner question, I often see a bit of wobble in string posts and they sometimes rattle a bit when the strings are off and there is no tension on them. 

Mark

[Paul Verticchio]

Hello Keith.  Mark gave you a very good answer to the wood issue.

I'd like to expand upon his Grover tuner answer just a bit.

Yes, the shafts wobble a bit if they're not under string tension, especially if their bushings are off or loose.  Once they're properly strung, the wobble is eliminated.  This is common to almost all tuning machines and has no negative effect on the tuners' performance.

Three paramount maintenance issues with Grover Rotomatics are:

Keep the tuners' buttons "tight" by adjusting the tension screw that runs through them.  Tension them to your liking but they should never  feel loose or wobbly.

Loose screw-in bushings are a major cause of rattles.  Each time you restring, take a 10mm deep well socket and assure the bushings are snug against the headstock.  Getting it finger tight using the socket is perfect.  Over-tightening will fracture & break the bushings and then you'll have a real problem.

Finally, make sure the tuner's screw is snug on the back of the headstock.

If you follow these 3 simple suggestions with most any type of cast tuner/bushing assembly, they should last for decades. 

Best of luck (:

 

[Dave]

I don't know modern instruments from Asia, but I have seen pics of a (very) early Guild F-50R with an arched laminated BRW back in which the veneers were so well matched inside and out that more than one luthier thought they were solid (and carved).

[keith angus]

FROM GUITARELIC@ALBERTA: THANX FOR THE GET-BACK GENTELMEN & THE INFO IS MUCH APPRECIATED. I TEND TO GO TO FAJAESTADTS BLUE-BOOK FOR THE ARCANUM, BUT IHAVE THE GREATEST RESPECT FOR THE VOICE OF PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.