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@@ronnielopez9644 hi Ronnie - more force of habit, but it is also useful as a ‘diagnostic’ of the general condition of the neck. Most, if not all, of the chokes on bends occur when pushing the high e and B across into the ‘G track’ so I like to take care of the treble side of the neck first. Once in over the hill (the centre line of the neck) then I’m coming down to the bass side, looking to alleviate or remove ‘fret slap’ from those thicker, wound strings. You could do the whole thing in reverse if it suited you that way :)

It's a SIGN! :D (Disclaimer: Reloved Guitars accepts no liability for the accuracy or otherwise of the views contained blah blah blah...)

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars LOL and Thanks Sam :) It's a sign of what... that's the fun part!

Yes - someone spotted it and linked me to it :) His was a good review / assessment of the method along with some ideas to improve it. Thank you for your appreciation :D

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars , thank you, we're trying to bring it to ya as well. Just to show the appreciation. I'm about to do the first string on with the bananna. Gonna do the Taylor k26ce. I've added 7 frets so far. I may add the rest but I got tired and my fingers are cut up from the sharp frets. Talking to Taylor and trying to get some shims before I move on. I've just about got it ready. Taylor also doesn't have a rep in my area and are looking. Central valley Cali.

@@ergohogg ‘Proxy intonation issues’ - good expression!

Thanks! Appreciate your comment.

I think you're right.. but it only sets the location in one dimension ie. side to side. Someone still has to judge how high / low to set the screws.

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitarson my specimen the holes are not full depth so the screws go at the bottom of that groove.

It's a DIY Katana. I've bored people with the story of WHY I do it this way so let's see if I can do it in the fewest words I've ever used: "bought Katana / raved about it on my vids / inventor sh*ts on me for using 'wrong words' and showing close ups so that Chinese can steal his invention and starve his kids / ends up calling me the devil and giving me my money back so I'm no longer a customer & doesn't have to apologise for being an a** / BUT I'm converted to the method & damned if I'm going to promote his tool - SO improvise and learn to use a DIY version very effectively for the last 10 years" There is a final line to the story: "Got artistic revenge by writing eBook and popularising the DIY approach to help thousands of people to make & use their own 'Banana'". The name Banana is of course a poke at the original tool's name. I've never claimed ownership of the method; I always credit it to the Katana but as soon as I mention said tool it begs an explanation of why I was such a big fan yet ended up NOT using it... :)

Shorty answer: probably, yes.

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars Thank you 👍

100%

I'm not quite sure what you mean? The bolts on this guitar went in fully and positively. The tiny gaps are a natural consequence of the changing angle - which is why Taylor uses different colours of putty wherever there is the hint of a gap.

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars sorry, I sometimes don't communicate well. I mean, the heel came apart and inside the heel were chunks of wood that were being chewed up by the neck bolts. That to me seemed like an indication that they were not able to tighten down all the way, which was what I found. The bolts were grinding into the inside of the heel. Hope that helps

@@ranman58635 Ah - got you. Too long bolts by the sound of it (or too shallow holes drilled for the threaded inserts. Its one of those things you have to be really careful about when using threaded inserts - the insert can be short and still do the job but there has to be enough space overall for the whole length of the bolt you're using. If you get it wrong - and they may have done so at the factory for some reason - then the insert will continue to try to pull the bolt in; the tip will hit the wood and the insert will continue to pull it until it compresses and mashes up the wood at the end of the hole in which the insert is fitted.

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars , bingo! And new thought, I hate ebony. It chips too easily. I've watched so many videos on how to pull frets the right way. (Opening up the gap with adjusting the truss rod and using heat if there's glue but this one, I couldn't avoid it. I can fix the chips but I have to stop at 2 frets or risk damaging more than I care to. My stress level just went up. I'll just do a level and crown and call it fixed.

That sounds an interesting project - be interested to hear how you get on!

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars , so far, I took some wood shavings that I got from a hardwood that resembles the Coa and I used UV resin to form the missing part of the heel. Then I used some shavings and thin super glue to finish it off. The heel has separated from the neck and I played, fill in the gap. The fretboard was also slightly damaged and I just put what I had left back and super glued that too. I then stained the wood dark to match the sorta burst pattern that was already there. What I do is make the guitar tell a story with art. You can see the wounds but would never know it was that badly damaged. I'll actually make a video of the after. It's quite amazing as all shops told me no way would they try to fix it. I decided to pull all the frets too and re radius it. The only thing is, Taylor says it's a 15 but my gage says 12. The cost would exceed the value. My nick name is Fretzilahhh! Lol! You've made me way better too.

That's one good son for sure!

@@LegsON that's what he kept saying! I have my doubts. Ie lost the other one that was identical and smashed this one.

@@ranman58635 Good Lord! This father is like a punching bag.

Uh... can you elaborate pls? I don't know the point you're making.

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars i had a guild that the frets just kept wriggling out as i filed them down. never again. ca glue, thin. it wicks in after the fret is set. then the fret will never come up and double the tone. 3 inch soft wood dowel tap end with fretting hammer. the dowel absorbs shoch and tends to push the fret in with each tap. much better results. excellent results. the fret stays down.

I'm not familiar with hollow body PRS guitars. However, this particular model is certainly a looker. I do wish Sam would give his viewers a quick look at the back at the beginning of his videos. Sam, your vlogs are always educational, informative, and entertaining. They hold my attention, so even if I cannot finish watching one in a single sitting, I always enjoy coming back to it later; often starting over from the beginning. I do not tire of listening to you and your personable delivery.

@@rogerspalding5673 Thanks Roger - much appreciated. I apologise - I didn't linger on the back of this guitar!

@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars Sam, thanks for your reply. I like to look at the back so I can see where, how many, and how large any access panels might be.

I agree with you on that. Unless we shift to that way of doing things we're doomed!

Just about... I think this thing looks great and IF (as it seems) that this roasted maple neck is generally this good on all of them, then it's better than Squier.

Hi Michael - drop me an email samdeeks@gmail.com - many thanks

That's the thing I couldn't remember - thank you! These arcane voting systems... really need cleaning up! Cracks me up that Trump fans continue to call him 'President Trump' throughout this whole Biden administration when his title should be 'Mr Trump'.

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars Actually, his title should be convicted felon.

Yes. You either stop short with your semi-hemispherical frets or you go to the edge and end up protruding so that players don't like the feel.. There's nothing wrong with the 20-30% bevelled fret with some careful rounding off, I say! :)

@@ericcrawford9827 Should have been an episode of Blackadder :)

It's always risky to share any real views - but it shouldn't be. That's a massive part of the problem we're facing! In my world, we unconditionally respect each other's right to hold a view... and for the sake of all our futures we should value our shared humanity above and beyond any opinions we hold. But there's the problem: a growing number of people love their own viewpoints more than they care about other people.

Interesting. Always going to be some small issues here and there. I think Jet could put most of the ones I picked out right at the factory..

Hi Mark - thanks. This was interesting - I was especially pleased with the resin burn-stick fretboard edge repair :)

Totally. I never fell into one camp or the other. As a kid it was very lonely because all the heavy rock kids ALL had one kind of hair, wore one kind of denim & leather jacket, liked only one genre of music etc etc. Like some foolish outcast I liked Beatles, ABBA, Queen, Rainbow, Clapton, The Eagles, The Specials, pink Floyd, Joni Mitchell, The Everly Brothers, Earth Wind and Fire, The Bee Gees…. You see my problem? I didn’t belong anywhere. And it’s been like that ever since. I don’t align with any one group… or ideology… or movement. I can find useful and inspiring things in all kinds of places. Almost anything and everything interests me in some way or another. When I play with people in bands who say “I hate Queen” or “Can’t stand reggae” I just don’t understand how you can find nothing good in all that music because of a superficial boundary you’ve put round it ie the name of the band. That you use to exclude things from your life’s menu. Just bizarre. I like most music in some way or other… very little I strongly dislike and certainly no categories or genres that I opt out of as a whole. The same applies to politics: even of I knew clearly what each party stood for (I don’t, never have) it’s not in my nature to conveniently agree with all those stances but no others. This identification with roped-off, exclusive groups has never worked for me and I don’t believe it works for humanity in the 21st century either.

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars Amen, man. We're in the same boat.

For me, the wonders of the natural laws of the universe that create the sunrises and sunsets that we enjoy are thrilling, humbling and deliciously intriguing. I don't believe in a god - in no small part because I was guided that way by the family environment I was brought up in, as I suspect you were in having a belief. I find that parallel fascinating; how easily I could have been a Catholic, Jew or Muslim if only I'd been born into such a family and culture. But it is as it is and I have no need for religion or belief in a supernatural creator. Unfortunately, all too often the need to tell me I'm wrong, that I DO need one (I just don't know it) comes hand-in-hand with others' belief systems. It's THAT I find divisive and annoying, not that someone else has a different story about the world and their place within it than I do.

Hi Ranman - don't worry; wider frets make zero difference to intonation because the intonation point is the same i.e. at the very top (centre) of the fret, regardless of how wide it extends either side. It's only a problem if you flatten the fret - in which case the 'intonation point' moves to the bridge-side of the fret mid-point. That has a small impact on intonation. I've never done a partial re-fret; for the reason that if I did, I would still have to level the new frets down to the height of the old ones anyway so I might as well start them all off and enjoy new, tall frets. And the cost difference between 6 and 22 frets is relatively little anyway :) Thanks for your kind feedback -- glad there's something useful for you in my videos.

Hi MountainRiverGuitars - I get them from wherever is most convenient (usually meaning quickest) at the time I need them. Sometimes I buy direct from JHS (the UK distributor of GraphTech stuff) with whom I have a 'Repairer Account'; more often I track down the nuts I need on Amazon (to take advantage of the fast Prime delivery) or I locate them on other trusted UK suppliers that I've used before. This of course may be different depending on what country you're in. My sequence goes like this: • Measure customer's existing nut with digital calipers. Priority order is 1) e-to-e spacing 2) width (side to side) 3) depth (front to back) 4) height. 1) has to be exact so as not to change the feel for the player 2) needs to be the same or greater (you can sand away the excess), 3) needs to be the same or greater and 4) needs to be the same - ideally greater (leaving room for fine tuning using nut files). • Open the GraphTech PDF catalogue on my desktop; search through the pages of nuts for the priority dimensions (e-to-e, width, depth and height) and write down product numbers of best match and 2nd best • Check with JHS UK (especially if I need multiples) • Check with Amazon • If no luck with either of the above, wider search in Google prioritising UK companies I've bought from before • If no luck there, then widen search and include places I've not bought from before It's quite time-consuming if I'm honest... and no, GraphTech don't really make too many 'drop-in' or exactly matching nuts for specific guitars. A few are; many more claim to be but turn out not to be... and a load matched something once but now apparently no longer do. So I recommend you don't look for "Tanglewood T37 parlour guitar Tusq nut" but go through the measuring / searching process I described. You'll end up with a close match that you need to be prepared to carefully modify (using a flat sanding block and repeated careful measuring with digital calipers).

@@michael4591 I hope you can understand that what these guitar are called and who plays them is the least important thing to me. I don’t mean that I don’t care, just that it doesn’t have any real impact on setting up. I understand that fans of Metallica or this brand are more interested than me in those details :)

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars Totally. I mean LTDs are known for being not the best guitars. Nuts installed crappy, paint cracking… these are typical issues with those. Also it is not even a cheap version of what fanboys expect because the neck dimensions are totally different from the real ESPs

I do know that, sorry if I gave the impression that I didn't!

So long ago I can't remember - but occasionally when I find something ultra-challenging or risky I do it off-camera simply because I don't need the added stress... It might have been that.

Thanks William! Lest I risk sounding like some 'sorted guru', I spent the majority of my life falling into and out of relationships without a clue really. Had no idea how to choose consciously to get into one... and even less clue how to draw one to a close. Result? Mess... lots of it :D The only saving grace is that I think I finally worked out how to stay in one AND choose to make it important and to make it work... (but I could be fooling myself still LOL)

I enjoyed that rant - sorry for the late reply to tell you so! :D I'm curious as to what it is about PRS that you don't like? (I'm on the fence; I've not had a 'spark' with any that I've encountered so far but that could just be me / bad luck / not met the right one...) Actually I did a set up on a lower end one (a Hollowbody) the other day and the neck was technically as 'bad' (or only as good) as any other guitar I've set up. Full of 'hills and valleys' with the strings slapping the frets all over the place.

It's a class guitar. I think that will be sought after one day like the Yamaha late 1970s / early 1980s SGs are now...

Thank you for your kind comment... I'm just about to buff out another Gio that someone donated to me; I've re-finished it, changed the bridge mountings for a Wilkinson bridge and will be re-assembling soon :)

@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars awesome! Looking forward to watch that one.

Converting is a good way to go if you need a very wide fingerboard...

Wow. The bridge adjuster thing is fixed and purely for show?? That's ridiculous. But I'm not surprised, I still haven't figured out how (or why) Wilkinson would make a bridge like this... :D Yes - you're right you can just ignore the dopey bridge design and it's a great guitar otherwise with a good set up.

C'mon man. It's personal preference :)

Yes, that neck is as bent as... :D