Alvarez Parlour acoustic set up
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- čas přidán 27. 03. 2024
- This little Alvarez parlour acoustic guitar was unplayable with a really high action at the 1st and last fret; too much neck relief, totally dead strings and a fair amount of bellying behind the bridge. It desperately needed help to play well again. Incredibly, the owner tells me that it has been like this since he bought it new (cost around £600). That's simply shocking.
Had it been a Taylor then I could have improved it with their bolt-on neck & shim pair system; but had it been most any other brand of acoustic then it would be ready for either a neck reset or to - sadly - go in the burner. But it's not any other brand - it's an Alvarez and those people did something smart : they stepped the bridge down from the saddle to the pegs. That little innovation gives the owner of the guitar SO much extra scope for reducing the saddle without losing the all-important break angle of the strings over the saddle. Without this innovation, there would be nothing I could do except make the nut end play as lightly as possible and inform my customer that after this, it was neck reset or nothing.
Instead, the guitar going back is completely different - but most important of all, it has a good few years of life snatched back from the Guitar Grim Reaper! - Jak na to + styl
Got it. Your mind and commentary is a beautiful thing.
Not to mention the incredible diction and vocabulary.
@@xferme Don't mention it then.
@@ericcrawford9827 sorry england is my 3st longage
Don't mind Eric, he's just messing with you ;-) Well done for speaking 3 languages btw!
@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars 'Messing' with a paranoid schizophrenic is wise, yeah.
This is the innovative thinking we need in the world! That bridge is genius! So simple.
Agreed Bert. Just so simple - and thought out by someone who KNOWS that their acoustic guitar design, like all others, is going to slowly deform over time.
@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars Agreed! I've a Crafter acoustic, it's rubbish. Flowing with praise for Sam is not a slippery subject, it's a bit dodgy, but everything's going to be alright!
It's hilarious that I searched this topic because I have the exact guitar with the exact problems.
It’s a shame. Good luck making it more playable. This video shows what you can realistically do - short of a full neck re-set.
@@SamDeeksRelovedGuitars Your video here was an inspiration. Mine doesn't have a problem with the top yet so I might not have to go as low. I was wondering why it seams like I can never get it to sound in tune. I can't hear hear hear the harmonics with the cursed thumpy tone.
@@bileshake”Thumpy tone” 😂
Good stuff.
My two-year-old MPA66ESHB has uneven frets and I felt that a quick filing might cause more trouble than it solved. It's with a luthier right now and all he has said so far is, the fret work is done but there are other things to do.
I haven't even played it that much.
The sound is great but I won't be buying another Alvarez.
You know, if you're not fascinated by guitars and just wish to enjoy playing a good all-round box that won't cost thousands or give you troubles, I say, go for Yamaha.
When James came to collect this guitar I learned that it was unplayable from the start when he bought it. That’s pretty shocking. You’re right, Yamaha is normally a pretty good bet… but I’m finding that all/any brands of acoustic are, in effect, deforming slowly (or more quickly!) from the day they’re made. The fact is that strength lost out to tone in today’s acoustic guitar equation.
Im absolutely with you with your comments on especially acoustic guitars changing shape on the body over time. Its not even unique to guitars the same thing happens to violins and violas over time. It makes perfect sense from just a general physics standpoint. You want the top of a acoustic instrument to be as thin as possible, flexible to be able to vibrate well but also strong enough to support the tension of the strings and structure of the instrument such as a guitar. On top of that it's not a small amount of tension strings put on a guitar either, you are talking about the weight of a grown human adult at least putting constant pressure and tension on the instrument, so the most flexable and thinnest parts of the structure are going to move or give way first. I'm sure humidity would definitely speed up the process, but to say it's solely due to humidity just isn't true.
Thanks for the comment. A difficult balance of strength vs. tone... and the demands of tone have won over the structure and longevity of the instrument.
Hey Sam 👋 some say never tighten a truss rod under string tension, only loosen. What say you? And what do you think about compensated nuts? I did it to my guitar and I'm a believer in intonation can't all be done only at the saddle. Can I have your number so I can share a CZcams video with you? If not I'll find out the name of the channel and post ot in this videos comments. My guitar has never played so in tune its like a dream come true 👍😊 love your channel ❤️ Ronnie Lopez.
Instead of a cut screw I used rectangular pieces of bone. The CZcams channel is Paco pascual.
Hi Ronnie, I don't think there's any risk of tightening a truss rod when the strings are loaded; sure the threads of the adjuster are under greater load but they're metal and should do the job. I've never experienced a single problem in thousands of guitar truss rod adjustments. It's a bit like the idea that you shouldn't ship a guitar with the strings at pitch. Another 'smoke and mirrors' bit of nonsense as far as I'm concerned.
Nahhh...🤔
How dare you!
When I learned afterwards that this guitar was unplayable from new I felt like cancelling my ‘Thanks Alvarez’ thumbnail sentiment ;)