I love your restraint with the glue - I also watch Jerry Rosa who splurges the titebond like a bukkake party, and always thought it was a complete waste and extra cleanup work.
Yeah but check out the great attitude. We don't know what happened off camera, but looks like he kept his cool. Gotta appreciate that in this age where emotions are often not kept in check. Great job all around when things don't always go correctly
Patience is key when doing craftsmanship of any kind. If you can’t keep calm it won’t work or you must get away from it for several hours or days before trying again. Don’t ask me how i know it.
@@daviddowdy5966 What do you mean by this age in which emotions are not often kept in check? I'm pretty sure that frustration has always been part of the human condition.
@@xdoctorblindx hey there! I like to read old books authored by the likes of E.P. Roe or Harold Bell Wright, and it seems to me that at the turn of the century society was more formal, and they may have cared about decorum somewhat more than we do now. Edit: I’m the same person btw, just happen to have signed in under a different profile!
“ when working by hand, mistakes happen much more slowly” Lol, I can relate. Nothing quite like the low speed horror of watching every small, carefully considered move being a baby step towards failure. I have even put the job down thinking it might go differently tomorrow only to pick up right where I left off. I believe it is destiny my friend, not yours (or mine) but the destiny of the thing being working on. My currently favorite guitar is a Takamine. It’s a full size acoustic from the 1990’s, no cut, no electrics, entirely in mahogany. I did an easy set-up when I got it (used). It plays great and sounds rich and full. just a touch muffled but it has really nice bottom and records well. It’s quite unique sounding in my collection, I have other instruments that have much crisper top end tone but it pleases my ear and can be quite inspirational. I plan to keep it a long time.
When I saw your hand jerk, and saw the P/U was angled bad coming through . . . I just knew it was gone wrong before you even paused. The suspense of your videos puts one on the edge.
Nice to see a real world SOP screw up, fixed responsibly by an honest repairman. I dropped a 10-32 screw into the intake manifold of a 327 chevy once... a $60 carb repair instantly turned into a $600 engine rebuild . That was 2 weeks profit back in those days. Good thing it didn't tear up the block too much. Oh, well, the client always wanted a 350 anyway.
I completely understand and want to reinforce your reservations about the onboard circuitry. That box will fail. Guitars last decades, even centuries, little digital electro-musical accessories die like rats. In a few years or maybe even a decade that guitar is going on someone's bench with a dead preamp and a guarantee that whatever the manufacturer is doing by then will NOT fit in the same hole. So it will be someone like me and maybe, if we are very lucky it can be repaired without schematics, because I can assure you that those aren't even available now, never mind in 9 years when that fails. Love watching you work. Great stuff.
About The aura system, you can pivot the system by lifting the battery tab on the front, then you have easy access to the Battery and the pickup input terminal screws, and yes they are small but it's easy once you have the pickup system flipped around.. About soldering the wire together, you should really rap a piece of coppertape around the inner heatshrink and solder that to the grounds, high impedance inputs are "hum detectors" even a few millimetres of unshieldet wire can pick up hum, this is why there is the small shielding box over the input terminals on the preamp, like you pointed out.
I know that OH SHIT! moment well, from 35 years of electronics repair. Not often, but always unforgettable. I must say your soldering skills are outstanding.
Your video's are great. Very interesting and informative. Miss a clip occasionally....not a thing. Appreciate what you do and look forward to new videos.
I have an OMC-PA1, very similar. For an electronics person, those screw connectors are a piece of cake. The screws only need to be loosened, the wire ends come right out and you pull the pickup and wire out unmolested. It was designed for production work, so easy - if you know how. They actually go in easy too. Also, the first series "Performing Artist" models have bolt-on necks, just like Taylor. Except Martin decided to glue them as well.... The F1 Aura? It's digital. It's got 10 different sounds that sound like a piezo pretending to be a microphone. But the tuner is darn handy.
Hostile Engineering, what a great description. The design started with good intentions and ended up in a corner. There was no time to start over, only enough to finish it up in a one way dead end. It happens a lot and is the fun part of evaluating designs.
Completely agree with you Ted on the internal electronics. Acoustic instruments should be just that. If it needs amplifying use a mic or an electric guitar or as you say a bunch of pedals or magic boxes on the floor. Just built a uke for someone and they wanted an under saddle piezo, which I did for them but there was as much work in planning and fitting the pickup as in the rest of the instrument put together!
Well, I work on watches and guitars and i understand how it is to work in tiny spaces and execute tasks you wouldn’t dare to when in your perfect mind! Great job. Not trying to tell you how to do your job but one thing i do on electronics, when soldering tiny cables, and would like to share it here. I cut the leads reversed when possible leaving both wires with one end shot and the other end long. I.E. If cables red and black are parallel I cut opposite lengths. On your case, being a mesh and a wire, I’d shrink the long leg on the mesh then solder it to the short leg, next I’d proceed to the red wire in reverse lengths and would only shrink it if necessary. I’m pretty sure you know that but thought it could be useful for someone here on your channel. Thank you for sharing your precious time with us!
Wow! That looks like a high-end “Made in Japan” Takamine too! Makes me think twice before ever purchasing one. I agree with you about keeping as much of the electronics out of the guitar as much as possible. The Aura system sounds awesome but I’d prefer to have the electronics in a (rather expensive) pedal.
I’m learning quite a bit from your videos because you have a very nuanced and detailed approach I really appreciate the information you put out there and what Is identified and more specifically what really matters in a Repair .That’s invaluable
While working as a repairman at B&J in Toronto in the 1970's we were the exclusive distributor for Ovation guitars. The bridges were glued with epoxy right onto the extremely thick polyester finish. I don't believe we ever had much problem with any bridges lifting. Also, there was about a 1/32" cavity routed into the bottom of the walnut bridges to assure a very thick glue. It seemed to work fine...
Preamps are usually easy to remove by pulling the knobs and unscrewing. As for mini terminal blocks, well usually you only have to loosen the screws, not remove them all together. If you really can't get it disconnected, then simply cut the wire. You can re-solder it fairly easily. Or even do a favour for the next guy, and install a connector of some sort. As for the Takamine pickup, this style of pickup with 6 piezo cylinders and an aluminium channel is used by several other guitar manufacturers. Notably Maton, here in Australia. Yes it looks like a clunky system, but it is a very nice sounding pickup. Maton are careful though, to glue the bridge directly wood to wood. The bridges are lacquered separately, and the face is masked with an exact bridge shaped masking sticker. If memory serves, they use titebond for bridges. It is very very rare that bridges cause problems. The pickup wire in a Maton is clipped into the preamp using a telephone type connector. They used to have a regular mini jack, but they would frequently pop out in transit. Ted, if you ever get stuck with a guitar electronics problem, feel free to contact me.
Ah mate that sucks. You have a good attitude to it though. Always absorbing the learning and developing your methods. Best thing is you share it with us so we have a better chance of dealing with these things if they come our way... Or avoiding them altogether!
So I’m glad you made this video. I’m restoring a Harmony exactly like the one you previously restored and when I removed the bridge my pallet knife dug into the the top. I’m hoping to use my thinnest feeler gauge so I can work my glue in and hope it will hold.
I have a Martin DC-Aura GT. I love it. It has 4 settings available to scroll through quickly, by push button; piezo, and 3 aura voicings. I then go through the Boss TU-3 tuner, and into, wait for it, the DBX Go-Rack. I can mix in my mic signal from a Shure Beta 58, add compression and feedback limiting. Because it has a master volume out, I can control my sound without a sound tech at the desk, which is often left turned on inside a locked cabinet at my church where I play 2 or 3 times a week. I don’t have to worry if the desk is set to line or Mic. When you only have 15 minutes or so to bump in and sound check between services, this set-up is quick, flexible and reliable. I took the legs of a boom stand and mounted the hub to mm Pedal board. Boom, the PB acts as the legs of the stand. Now I don’t need to use the Fishman Aura Pedal mounted on the PB I previously used with a Yamaha Acoustic. For me this works a treat, but Thank You for the piezo information. I had the bridge lowered due to the expected bowing recently, neck re-set next in a few years. I know you don’t read these comments but you did ask specifically and I’ve used both the Aura Pedal and Guitar, both great but different. ✌️❤️🙏🇦🇺
I used to install those Fishman pickups all day into Guild guitars back in the early nineties, and I learned pretty quick it's always better to desolder those pickups at the preamp end and always install them from the front. As you say, that right-angle where the wire meets the pickup is very much the weak spot.
You're like this awesome mix of every guitar luthier I've ever worked with! complete with the hilarious sarcastic rants and the famous "Eh... It's functional." lines..... lol
I hate the under saddle pickups, you definitely can’t mess with them much, very fragile. And I just think they rob tone. The pickups that super glue to the bridge plate are so much better!
I just wanted to express my appreciation for this video (and others of course). I'm an amateur (and even that is exaggerating) but I learned a lot from this. You have a knack for explaining the problem, the solution, and mitigating circumstances very clearly and concisely.
I love the Aura system, it can save 4 presets, each with it's own pickup EQ and "emulation" EQ, plus pickup level and "emulation" level, and it's so easy to switch between them. They give you access to a huge library of "models" to try, and it makes the guitar sound very different. I have too much on the floor as it is to add this in a pedal.
Takamine are well made instruments. My EF-340S is almost 40 years old and apart from the dents and scratches and a couple of frets wearing in spots, it has maintained its structural and acoustic integrity very well. The bridge pick up still works fine as long as you change the 9V battery regularly. I recently discovered that this particular Takamine guitar model was subject to a patent/copyright infringement claim made by Martin Guitars many decades ago. The dreadnought design is unmistakably Martin
Your pronunciation is about right according to Japanese friends and a son who spent 12 years living in Kyoto. Tah kah MEEN ay. Family name. Means 'high peak'. My best guitar is a Takamine P6JC jumbo that I never refer to as a 'Tack'.
not to make the aggravation of the martin pickup worse, but unless i'm really missing something you're supposed to just pop the knobs off the preamp, undo it from the side of the guitar, fish it out and undo the little terminal block screws! it should have been like a ten minute job to remove the fishman element. (how do you think they installed it after all?) also, those tiny terminal screws don't actually come out of the block because yeah, drop one of those and it's game over i've replaced those digital aura preamps before (they sound OK but i'm with you, USB ports don't belong inside guitars) and it's an entirely "bolt-in" job also, was that bridge actually ebony or was it that weird artificial stuff they sometimes use? any opinions on the right glue for "richlite" or whatever they call it?
1) Thanks for a fantastic video - I am impressed both with the luthierian skills and the video making! 2) It is hard to believe that a renowned guitar manufacturer like Takamine could make such grave design errors as you clearly show us, leading to the early destruction of the bridge. Your chilling comments about you and "his mother" being utterly disappointed with the designer's work is unforgettable. 3) I have as from today started subscribing to your channel, following now both you and mr Jerry Rosa. To compare the two of you and your different approaches will be part of my CZcams pleasures from now on. 4) Being the perfectionist that you are, I am sure you will want to replace the "Thanks for watcing" with a correctly spelled version at the end of this video!
I like to have as much of the electronics, like say, the Fishman Aura, or anything bulky or with a battery for that matter, outside of an acoustic guitar for the reasons you stated. A setup I've found very reliable, easy to service, and authentically acoustic sounding at even loud stage volumes without feeding back is a K&K mini or mando twin running out into an LR Baggs DI box.
i vouched for you in the takamine forum when everyone said the opposite about your skills and this video. to me, in canada you are 👆, one of the best there is. people in the forum just did not see that when i made a comment awhile ago over there.
I’m not surprised on the Martin to see swirl marks under the glued in bridge. I worked at a prominent USA custom shop before some lay offs right as covid hit in late March early April. I’d regularly see them use a Dremel to take off the primer and top coat I’d spray on it before hand. Unfortunately as i was laid off, so was the guy who had worked there glueing the bridges. He had been there for at least 15 years if I remember correctly and taught someone else how to do it in a couple of weeks before he was also laid off.
I really like lots of stuff you cover. I really like the skill and thought process. Most of all I really like the honesty. If it goes wrong you don’t shy away from it. Don’t know if I could solder (solder in Canadian 😉) as fine as that. Nice work and great video as usual. Cheers.
Yes, I’m with you that the Aura system definitely belongs inside a box (not in the guitar) - Not sure if that means you already knew this, but the first versions of that system were (and still are) inside a stomp box pedal you put on the floor; Aura Sixteen and the Aura Spectrum DI, the latter of which is for multiple instruments as well as guitar. I bought the seemingly still little known Aura Sixteen (>10 years ago) for my late 1990’s Taylor 410 (dreadnought) which has a Fishman piezo and Prefix Plus (factory installed) before they later moved to the Taylor ES System. It transformed the typical ‘quacky’ piezo sound into something really very, very good and eminently useable for live performances. The Aura Image Library of sounds of tone woods and guitar shapes is also really very impressive - though sadly the many Taylor’s it has does not include my 410CE Ltd which has Sitka top and Hawaiian Koa back and sides (looks and sounds gorgeous), but still managed to find some remarkably good fit/sounding profiles. Does it sounds like the original mic and guitar combination? Who knows - I’m sure I never will - but to my ears it sounds at least as good, if not better, as most if not all of the other alternatives out there, including the LR Baggs offerings. You can still pick up the odd new, old stock Aura Sixteen online for dirt cheap but even the Spectrum DI is still being made and is way, way cheaper than it was nowadays - in fact I’d considered buying one as the preamp and other features alone make it work the money. Think David Gilmour used one live for quite a few years (perhaps still does?)
TAK-A MEEN =Takamine is how it is pronounced. And these are meant to be intermediate or pro standard instruments and the black tangs are locators for the machine that places on the bridge. Top channel, thanks man.
Use a gel resin in a syringe when soldering it will make it flow better. try and use good quality solder You can interlace the wires fiddly use a piece of cotton on either side tighten them tight and then solder applying the resin first
We just had a VOX Folk 12 string with a bridge similar to the Takamine. had to replace a lot of wood. My boss teaches me when he can and I jump in without looking a lot. under saddle pick-ups for instance. seen them a million times but had to remove it this time. anyhoo love the vids I learn a lot.
Another great video, that Martin sounds perfect, a well glued bridge probably helps :) Please let us know what finally happens about the Takemine, hope you get to document the repair although how would you reinforce or bridge the remaining material? A new bridge plate would sit between the bridge that full width metal pickup. Longer screws, muffled pickup, can't wait.
That’s a PALATHETIC PICKUP: Using six individually shielded piezo-electric elements, the Palathetic™ pickup is not a just a UST. It employs twelve times the element mass of the typical under saddle pickup. Palethetic Steel The core element behind the amplified superiority of Takamine acoustic electric guitars is the proprietary Palathetic pickup. Using six individually shielded piezo-electric elements, one for each string, the Palathetic pickup is not a just a UST (under-saddle pickup). In fact the Takamine design employs twelve times the element mass of the typical under-saddle pickup. The six elements penetrate the bridge plate, soundboard and bridge to make direct contact with the saddle creating a sonic linkage with the string. The pickup casing is mechanically attached to the guitar's top and bridge creating a sonic linkage with the soundboard. The result of this design is a signal that possesses the articulation of an isolated string signal and the rich harmonic content delivered by the resonating soundboard for a full, complete and accurate acoustic guitar tone at high sound pressure levels.
I live near Athens Ohio where StuMac is located which makes it nice to stop in, talk to them and grab stuff. I have a few acoustic builds under my belt and it's not easy getting an instrument right and true I know that much. Some day if i ever hit the lottery I want a Greenfield custom build, prolly one of the best sounding musical instruments I've ever heard.
It sucks you paid to work on that Martin, but it could have been worse - I’ve heard that American hospitality workers have to ‘tip out’ their projected tips to back of house staff, and often the Sunday church crowd don’t tip at all, meaning you can pay to work at a bad restaurant on your weekend.
Big soft spot for Yamahas here too. Got really lucky to have my first guitar be a FG-470SA and I would seriously put it up against any Sitka topped flattop. It’s been refretted twice, each time at a cost higher than an excellent quality eBay replacement 470, but wouldn’t trade it for the world.
I have a Taylor 512ce with the Expression 2 system and an Eastman E20OM with a K&K Pure Mini. The Taylor sounds so much closer to natural but I’ve also got to say the K&K sounds way better than any under saddle pickup I’ve ever heard. So yeah, props to K&K, and you can get it for under USD100.
I actually have a similar model an ompac3, that has the aura system. I like the sound from the unit but it needed a full replacement 7 years after purchase. Hopefully it lasts... mine has Richlite as a fingerboard and bridge and this model has the ebony which I would have preferred. My only other complaint with this guitar is the frets that seem soft and divot pretty fast in positions 2 to 5. Thanks for the great video!
Fascinating as always. It occurred to me that, once you were at the point of deciding you needed a bigger hole to get the PU through, that might have been a good time to cut the wire. Then, drilling the hole bigger would have been simple, and you would not have had to been so worried about making a solder splice at the end that was small enough to fit through the original hole. And maybe even big enough to accommodate connectors of some type rather than a hard soldered splice, to make future repairs easier. Thoughts? I had a bridge pop off once on an Ibanez Artcore. There was lacquer under the bridge! So the repair guy carefully scraped that all off before regluing. But my Fishman died during the repair. I felt really badly for the repair guy but he insisted on doing the replacement at his cost. Good fellow. Bad guitar design (or at least bad construction).
Man, the fact that you have to pay for the pickup replacement seems so unfair. I like to think there is some force in the universe that balances things like this out (e.g. you get a winning lottery ticket).
I had the same issue with the undersaddle pickup in a guitar of mine, a guild om240e. I really don’t get them, you just can’t move them, it’s like if they build the foil straight and could be bend just once during installation. I have to say it, I felt fine knowing that it happens even to big professionals. Great video!
I'm so impatiently waiting for the next episode. The fact that repair was not finished in one video made some real elements of suspence to the channel.
On my accoustic guitar the bridge started to lossen. Instead of gluiing, I removed the string plugs and used a small washer to hold the strings. Holds perfect, sounds the same and the bridge is back on its place.
I’m a retired engineer.
We have a saying:
If it ain’t broke, it needs more features.
LOL
Are you german? Nevermind, I think their saying is, "if you need a patent, you aren't making it complex enough".
Modern car design moment
Greatest comment I have seen in weeks!
Reminds me of the new cars now.
Man, that talking-to from "your mother and I" was bone-chilling.
"She won't talk to you, you should just leave." Sounds like someone has been given that talk before, I know I have.
@@videopeaberry My favorite parts of Twoodfrd content!
That is what i call Floating bridge. Eat your heart out Floyd Rose
A couple of quarters shimmed in there will fix it no problem
I love your restraint with the glue - I also watch Jerry Rosa who splurges the titebond like a bukkake party, and always thought it was a complete waste and extra cleanup work.
Man, when someone as meticulous and skilled as you are has things go wrong, what chance do the rest of us have!
Joe Bikeguy NONE - you’re pretty much fucked.
Yeah but check out the great attitude. We don't know what happened off camera, but looks like he kept his cool. Gotta appreciate that in this age where emotions are often not kept in check. Great job all around when things don't always go correctly
Patience is key when doing craftsmanship of any kind. If you can’t keep calm it won’t work or you must get away from it for several hours or days before trying again. Don’t ask me how i know it.
@@daviddowdy5966 What do you mean by this age in which emotions are not often kept in check? I'm pretty sure that frustration has always been part of the human condition.
@@xdoctorblindx hey there! I like to read old books authored by the likes of E.P. Roe or Harold Bell Wright, and it seems to me that at the turn of the century society was more formal, and they may have cared about decorum somewhat more than we do now.
Edit:
I’m the same person btw, just happen to have signed in under a different profile!
The sound of that ruler on the ebony bridge...that's so satisfying
“ when working by hand, mistakes happen much more slowly” Lol, I can relate. Nothing quite like the low speed horror of watching every small, carefully considered move being a baby step towards failure. I have even put the job down thinking it might go differently tomorrow only to pick up right where I left off. I believe it is destiny my friend, not yours (or mine) but the destiny of the thing being working on.
My currently favorite guitar is a Takamine. It’s a full size acoustic from the 1990’s, no cut, no electrics, entirely in mahogany. I did an easy set-up when I got it (used). It plays great and sounds rich and full. just a touch muffled but it has really nice bottom and records well. It’s quite unique sounding in my collection, I have other instruments that have much crisper top end tone but it pleases my ear and can be quite inspirational. I plan to keep it a long time.
When I saw your hand jerk, and saw the P/U was angled bad coming through . . . I just knew it was gone wrong before you even paused. The suspense of your videos puts one on the edge.
You gotta be a detective practically, figuring out the shortcut horrid "fixes" of the past. You are awesome sir.
Nice to see a real world SOP screw up, fixed responsibly by an honest repairman. I dropped a 10-32 screw into the intake manifold of a 327 chevy once... a $60 carb repair instantly turned into a $600 engine rebuild . That was 2 weeks profit back in those days. Good thing it didn't tear up the block too much. Oh, well, the client always wanted a 350 anyway.
Brilliant repair, and your comment that you and "mother" are bitterly disappointed with the bride's designer is priceless 😅
He Pro-TAK
He At-TAK
Most importantly
He defer glueing bridge piece BAK
I know its probably not your intention but your videos help put me to sleep at a very hard time in my life when sleep doesn't come easy. Thank you
Never seen a bridge lifting...😳. Spooky really.
I appreciate your dedication Ted, super! 🎶🎶🎶
It's because someone tightening the strings till the bridge let's loose.. kids are hugely responsible for this kinda thing happening...
I completely understand and want to reinforce your reservations about the onboard circuitry.
That box will fail.
Guitars last decades, even centuries, little digital electro-musical accessories die like rats. In a few years or maybe even a decade that guitar is going on someone's bench with a dead preamp and a guarantee that whatever the manufacturer is doing by then will NOT fit in the same hole. So it will be someone like me and maybe, if we are very lucky it can be repaired without schematics, because I can assure you that those aren't even available now, never mind in 9 years when that fails.
Love watching you work. Great stuff.
In Hawaii (lots of Japanese American residents) we always say tah-kah-MEEN-ay
About The aura system, you can pivot the system by lifting the battery tab on the front, then you have easy access to the Battery and the pickup input terminal screws, and yes they are small but it's easy once you have the pickup system flipped around..
About soldering the wire together, you should really rap a piece of coppertape around the inner heatshrink and solder that to the grounds, high impedance inputs are "hum detectors" even a few millimetres of unshieldet wire can pick up hum, this is why there is the small shielding box over the input terminals on the preamp, like you pointed out.
"Your mother and I"... made me laugh out loud. Wonderful.
I know that OH SHIT! moment well, from 35 years of electronics repair. Not often, but always unforgettable. I must say your soldering skills are outstanding.
Your video's are great. Very interesting and informative. Miss a clip occasionally....not a thing. Appreciate what you do and look forward to new videos.
I have an OMC-PA1, very similar. For an electronics person, those screw connectors are a piece of cake. The screws only need to be loosened, the wire ends come right out and you pull the pickup and wire out unmolested. It was designed for production work, so easy - if you know how. They actually go in easy too. Also, the first series "Performing Artist" models have bolt-on necks, just like Taylor. Except Martin decided to glue them as well.... The F1 Aura? It's digital. It's got 10 different sounds that sound like a piezo pretending to be a microphone. But the tuner is darn handy.
Hostile Engineering, what a great description. The design started with good intentions and ended up in a corner. There was no time to start over, only enough to finish it up in a one way dead end. It happens a lot and is the fun part of evaluating designs.
Ditto, loved the ‘hostile’ description. ;)
I saw a listing on trade me (New Zealands version of ebay) where someone had one listed as CAKAMINE steel string guitar...
Completely agree with you Ted on the internal electronics. Acoustic instruments should be just that. If it needs amplifying use a mic or an electric guitar or as you say a bunch of pedals or magic boxes on the floor. Just built a uke for someone and they wanted an under saddle piezo, which I did for them but there was as much work in planning and fitting the pickup as in the rest of the instrument put together!
Well, I work on watches and guitars and i understand how it is to work in tiny spaces and execute tasks you wouldn’t dare to when in your perfect mind! Great job.
Not trying to tell you how to do your job but one thing i do on electronics, when soldering tiny cables, and would like to share it here. I cut the leads reversed when possible leaving both wires with one end shot and the other end long. I.E. If cables red and black are parallel I cut opposite lengths. On your case, being a mesh and a wire, I’d shrink the long leg on the mesh then solder it to the short leg, next I’d proceed to the red wire in reverse lengths and would only shrink it if necessary. I’m pretty sure you know that but thought it could be useful for someone here on your channel.
Thank you for sharing your precious time with us!
Wow! That looks like a high-end “Made in Japan” Takamine too! Makes me think twice before ever purchasing one. I agree with you about keeping as much of the electronics out of the guitar as much as possible. The Aura system sounds awesome but I’d prefer to have the electronics in a (rather expensive) pedal.
That broken pickup was the suck. Great work, as usual.
I love that phrase, ‘was the suck.’ ;)
Love your careful and detailed analysis of the problem rather than just dealing with the obvious. A real pleasure to watch you work.
I’m learning quite a bit from your videos because you have a very nuanced and detailed approach I really appreciate the information you put out there and what Is identified and more specifically what really matters in a Repair .That’s invaluable
Beautiful job, beautiful instrument, and beautiful playing. Thank you!
While working as a repairman at B&J in Toronto in the 1970's we were the exclusive distributor for Ovation guitars. The bridges were glued with epoxy right onto the extremely thick polyester finish. I don't believe we ever had much problem with any bridges lifting. Also, there was about a 1/32" cavity routed into the bottom of the walnut bridges to assure a very thick glue. It seemed to work fine...
Good job, Bullwinkle!
Preamps are usually easy to remove by pulling the knobs and unscrewing. As for mini terminal blocks, well usually you only have to loosen the screws, not remove them all together. If you really can't get it disconnected, then simply cut the wire. You can re-solder it fairly easily. Or even do a favour for the next guy, and install a connector of some sort. As for the Takamine pickup, this style of pickup with 6 piezo cylinders and an aluminium channel is used by several other guitar manufacturers. Notably Maton, here in Australia. Yes it looks like a clunky system, but it is a very nice sounding pickup. Maton are careful though, to glue the bridge directly wood to wood. The bridges are lacquered separately, and the face is masked with an exact bridge shaped masking sticker. If memory serves, they use titebond for bridges. It is very very rare that bridges cause problems. The pickup wire in a Maton is clipped into the preamp using a telephone type connector. They used to have a regular mini jack, but they would frequently pop out in transit.
Ted, if you ever get stuck with a guitar electronics problem, feel free to contact me.
Ah mate that sucks. You have a good attitude to it though. Always absorbing the learning and developing your methods. Best thing is you share it with us so we have a better chance of dealing with these things if they come our way... Or avoiding them altogether!
So I’m glad you made this video. I’m restoring a Harmony exactly like the one you previously restored and when I removed the bridge my pallet knife dug into the the top. I’m hoping to use my thinnest feeler gauge so I can work my glue in and hope it will hold.
I have a Martin DC-Aura GT. I love it. It has 4 settings available to scroll through quickly, by push button; piezo, and 3 aura voicings. I then go through the Boss TU-3 tuner, and into, wait for it, the DBX Go-Rack. I can mix in my mic signal from a Shure Beta 58, add compression and feedback limiting. Because it has a master volume out, I can control my sound without a sound tech at the desk, which is often left turned on inside a locked cabinet at my church where I play 2 or 3 times a week. I don’t have to worry if the desk is set to line or Mic. When you only have 15 minutes or so to bump in and sound check between services, this set-up is quick, flexible and reliable. I took the legs of a boom stand and mounted the hub to mm Pedal board. Boom, the PB acts as the legs of the stand. Now I don’t need to use the Fishman Aura Pedal mounted on the PB I previously used with a Yamaha Acoustic. For me this works a treat, but Thank You for the piezo information. I had the bridge lowered due to the expected bowing recently, neck re-set next in a few years. I know you don’t read these comments but you did ask specifically and I’ve used both the Aura Pedal and Guitar, both great but different. ✌️❤️🙏🇦🇺
It is always a special treat to watch your work and hear your narrative, Always.
I used to install those Fishman pickups all day into Guild guitars back in the early nineties, and I learned pretty quick it's always better to desolder those pickups at the preamp end and always install them from the front. As you say, that right-angle where the wire meets the pickup is very much the weak spot.
Drill, tap, whammy bar. Yup
You're like this awesome mix of every guitar luthier I've ever worked with! complete with the hilarious sarcastic rants and the famous "Eh... It's functional." lines..... lol
Always impressed with the quality of your work!
Just call it take mine...money to fix it!!! 😂
Ted, you are hilarious. Loved the dad routine!
I hate the under saddle pickups, you definitely can’t mess with them much, very fragile. And I just think they rob tone. The pickups that super glue to the bridge plate are so much better!
"It's kind of hostile, this engineering" .... priceless
Notification comes up, I give a like. Really appreciate your work and my days get obligatory better with one of your videos. Greetings from Germany.
Wow, what were they thinking. That bridge was bound to fail for sure.
Thank you for the education! I try to apply knowledge where I can during repairs/setups.
Always looking to learn :)
"Your mother and I." LOL.
I can see why the repair shop could want to contract this out to someone else to do. :)
I just wanted to express my appreciation for this video (and others of course). I'm an amateur (and even that is exaggerating) but I learned a lot from this. You have a knack for explaining the problem, the solution, and mitigating circumstances very clearly and concisely.
I love the Aura system, it can save 4 presets, each with it's own pickup EQ and "emulation" EQ, plus pickup level and "emulation" level, and it's so easy to switch between them. They give you access to a huge library of "models" to try, and it makes the guitar sound very different. I have too much on the floor as it is to add this in a pedal.
I get this feeling now just before I'm about to break something. It saves me so much grief.
Takamine are well made instruments. My EF-340S is almost 40 years old and apart from the dents and scratches and a couple of frets wearing in spots, it has maintained its structural and acoustic integrity very well. The bridge pick up still works fine as long as you change the 9V battery regularly.
I recently discovered that this particular Takamine guitar model was subject to a patent/copyright infringement claim made by Martin Guitars many decades ago. The dreadnought design is unmistakably Martin
And suddenly Julian Baumgartner has a new challenger in the shade throwing department.
Your videos are a great CYA. The customer can’t come back and accuse you of causing damage
Your pronunciation is about right according to Japanese friends and a son who spent 12 years living in Kyoto. Tah kah MEEN ay. Family name. Means 'high peak'. My best guitar is a Takamine P6JC jumbo that I never refer to as a 'Tack'.
It's also the name of the mountain the guitar company took its name from; the shop is located at the base iirc
'Your mother and I are deeply disappointed ' where have I heard that before? Thanks for the chuckle :-)
not to make the aggravation of the martin pickup worse, but unless i'm really missing something you're supposed to just pop the knobs off the preamp, undo it from the side of the guitar, fish it out and undo the little terminal block screws! it should have been like a ten minute job to remove the fishman element. (how do you think they installed it after all?) also, those tiny terminal screws don't actually come out of the block because yeah, drop one of those and it's game over
i've replaced those digital aura preamps before (they sound OK but i'm with you, USB ports don't belong inside guitars) and it's an entirely "bolt-in" job
also, was that bridge actually ebony or was it that weird artificial stuff they sometimes use? any opinions on the right glue for "richlite" or whatever they call it?
1) Thanks for a fantastic video - I am impressed both with the luthierian skills and the video making!
2) It is hard to believe that a renowned guitar manufacturer like Takamine could make such grave design errors as you clearly show us, leading to the early destruction of the bridge. Your chilling comments about you and "his mother" being utterly disappointed with the designer's work is unforgettable.
3) I have as from today started subscribing to your channel, following now both you and mr Jerry Rosa. To compare the two of you and your different approaches will be part of my CZcams pleasures from now on.
4) Being the perfectionist that you are, I am sure you will want to replace the "Thanks for watcing" with a correctly spelled version at the end of this video!
I'm amazed with your talent and attention to detail.
At the store I used to work at we called them “take me home” guitars. Ovations were something else slightly inappropriate 😁
I am at the point where I simply refuse to work on Ovations. Dealing with their construction methods leads me down into a pit of madness !
Yeah, I completely rebuilt the top on an old ovation. It was a mess, but, it was not amplified, so there's that. Redoing the rosette taught me a lot.
You know what they say about ovations.. if they fail they make great cereal bowls. 😂😂😂
@@MarshallGTV my old tech wouldn't work on them and would tell them to cut the top off so they'd have a kitty litter box with a handle
@@moonchild4806 i have a disproportionate level of hate in regards to ovation, they give me rage tumors
.....”your mother and I”..... I love your humor, man
I like to have as much of the electronics, like say, the Fishman Aura, or anything bulky or with a battery for that matter, outside of an acoustic guitar for the reasons you stated. A setup I've found very reliable, easy to service, and authentically acoustic sounding at even loud stage volumes without feeding back is a K&K mini or mando twin running out into an LR Baggs DI box.
i vouched for you in the takamine forum when everyone said the opposite about your skills and this video. to me, in canada you are 👆, one of the best there is. people in the forum just did not see that when i made a comment awhile ago over there.
I’m not surprised on the Martin to see swirl marks under the glued in bridge. I worked at a prominent USA custom shop before some lay offs right as covid hit in late March early April. I’d regularly see them use a Dremel to take off the primer and top coat I’d spray on it before hand. Unfortunately as i was laid off, so was the guy who had worked there glueing the bridges. He had been there for at least 15 years if I remember correctly and taught someone else how to do it in a couple of weeks before he was also laid off.
Sorry to drop this on you, but I actually _DO_ love "watcing" your videos.... ;-)
Like that over "watcing" TV ! And i'm glad he thanks us for it!
Good job
I enjoy watching you work
I really like lots of stuff you cover. I really like the skill and thought process. Most of all I really like the honesty. If it goes wrong you don’t shy away from it. Don’t know if I could solder (solder in Canadian 😉) as fine as that. Nice work and great video as usual. Cheers.
Yes, I’m with you that the Aura system definitely belongs inside a box (not in the guitar) - Not sure if that means you already knew this, but the first versions of that system were (and still are) inside a stomp box pedal you put on the floor; Aura Sixteen and the Aura Spectrum DI, the latter of which is for multiple instruments as well as guitar. I bought the seemingly still little known Aura Sixteen (>10 years ago) for my late 1990’s Taylor 410 (dreadnought) which has a Fishman piezo and Prefix Plus (factory installed) before they later moved to the Taylor ES System. It transformed the typical ‘quacky’ piezo sound into something really very, very good and eminently useable for live performances. The Aura Image Library of sounds of tone woods and guitar shapes is also really very impressive - though sadly the many Taylor’s it has does not include my 410CE Ltd which has Sitka top and Hawaiian Koa back and sides (looks and sounds gorgeous), but still managed to find some remarkably good fit/sounding profiles. Does it sounds like the original mic and guitar combination? Who knows - I’m sure I never will - but to my ears it sounds at least as good, if not better, as most if not all of the other alternatives out there, including the LR Baggs offerings. You can still pick up the odd new, old stock Aura Sixteen online for dirt cheap but even the Spectrum DI is still being made and is way, way cheaper than it was nowadays - in fact I’d considered buying one as the preamp and other features alone make it work the money. Think David Gilmour used one live for quite a few years (perhaps still does?)
TAK-A MEEN =Takamine is how it is pronounced. And these are meant to be intermediate or pro standard instruments and the black tangs are locators for the machine that places on the bridge. Top channel, thanks man.
"Why not cause a giant bump?" "'Cause that would be bad."
Thank you great information
Use a gel resin in a syringe when soldering it will make it flow better. try and use good quality solder
You can interlace the wires fiddly use a piece of cotton on either side tighten them tight and then solder applying the resin first
Man, these things are riveting!!
We just had a VOX Folk 12 string with a bridge similar to the Takamine. had to replace a lot of wood. My boss teaches me when he can and I jump in without looking a lot. under saddle pick-ups for instance. seen them a million times but had to remove it this time. anyhoo love the vids I learn a lot.
Another great video, that Martin sounds perfect, a well glued bridge probably helps :)
Please let us know what finally happens about the Takemine, hope you get to document the repair although how would you reinforce or bridge the remaining material? A new bridge plate would sit between the bridge that full width metal pickup. Longer screws, muffled pickup, can't wait.
Thank you Ted, love the dialog
That’s a PALATHETIC PICKUP:
Using six individually shielded piezo-electric elements, the Palathetic™ pickup is not a just a UST. It employs twelve times the element mass of the typical under saddle pickup.
Palethetic Steel
The core element behind the amplified superiority of Takamine acoustic electric guitars is the proprietary Palathetic pickup.
Using six individually shielded piezo-electric elements, one for each string, the Palathetic pickup is not a just a UST (under-saddle pickup). In fact the Takamine design employs twelve times the element mass of the typical under-saddle pickup. The six elements penetrate the bridge plate, soundboard and bridge to make direct contact with the saddle creating a sonic linkage with the string. The pickup casing is mechanically attached to the guitar's top and bridge creating a sonic linkage with the soundboard. The result of this design is a signal that possesses the articulation of an isolated string signal and the rich harmonic content delivered by the resonating soundboard for a full, complete and accurate acoustic guitar tone at high sound pressure levels.
I live near Athens Ohio where StuMac is located which makes it nice to stop in, talk to them and grab stuff. I have a few acoustic builds under my belt and it's not easy getting an instrument right and true I know that much. Some day if i ever hit the lottery I want a Greenfield custom build, prolly one of the best sounding musical instruments I've ever heard.
It sucks you paid to work on that Martin, but it could have been worse - I’ve heard that American hospitality workers have to ‘tip out’ their projected tips to back of house staff, and often the Sunday church crowd don’t tip at all, meaning you can pay to work at a bad restaurant on your weekend.
Great work 👍
Great sense of humor. Lol
I can't get my work done as I'm always watching "The Woody Show"!!
Takamines, especialy this Bruce Springsteen model(EF341SC) are very popular in Europe. I am glad I bought Yamaha instead.
Big soft spot for Yamahas here too. Got really lucky to have my first guitar be a FG-470SA and I would seriously put it up against any Sitka topped flattop. It’s been refretted twice, each time at a cost higher than an excellent quality eBay replacement 470, but wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Yeap, we knoq this yanke guy if wasnt made in yankeland is not well made
Quite frankly, I don't know if i've ever heard an acoustic pickup that I actually like.
Brooks Neal Agree. Bridge piezos sound like tinny ass. Some magnetics have a good sound, but in no way is it a good acoustic sound.
You should try a K&K pickup.
K&K is my favorite, but not because it's all that great at replicating the acoustic sound, it just sounds better than a lot of the other ones.
I have a Taylor 512ce with the Expression 2 system and an Eastman E20OM with a K&K Pure Mini. The Taylor sounds so much closer to natural but I’ve also got to say the K&K sounds way better than any under saddle pickup I’ve ever heard. So yeah, props to K&K, and you can get it for under USD100.
The only acoustic pickup worth it’s salt is a nicely place mic.
Love that Esteban!
Takemine, get your own, you can't Take mine.
You can boil a warped bridge and clamp it flat and it will likely get closer to it's original shape. Learned that one from frank ford.
All time classic
Put a string-trough pinless bridge on the Takamine!
I actually have a similar model an ompac3, that has the aura system. I like the sound from the unit but it needed a full replacement 7 years after purchase. Hopefully it lasts... mine has Richlite as a fingerboard and bridge and this model has the ebony which I would have preferred. My only other complaint with this guitar is the frets that seem soft and divot pretty fast in positions 2 to 5. Thanks for the great video!
Fascinating as always. It occurred to me that, once you were at the point of deciding you needed a bigger hole to get the PU through, that might have been a good time to cut the wire. Then, drilling the hole bigger would have been simple, and you would not have had to been so worried about making a solder splice at the end that was small enough to fit through the original hole. And maybe even big enough to accommodate connectors of some type rather than a hard soldered splice, to make future repairs easier. Thoughts? I had a bridge pop off once on an Ibanez Artcore. There was lacquer under the bridge! So the repair guy carefully scraped that all off before regluing. But my Fishman died during the repair. I felt really badly for the repair guy but he insisted on doing the replacement at his cost. Good fellow. Bad guitar design (or at least bad construction).
Man, the fact that you have to pay for the pickup replacement seems so unfair. I like to think there is some force in the universe that balances things like this out (e.g. you get a winning lottery ticket).
Around 11:56 I could have used an alternate pronunciation of soldering, just in case.
I had the same issue with the undersaddle pickup in a guitar of mine, a guild om240e. I really don’t get them, you just can’t move them, it’s like if they build the foil straight and could be bend just once during installation. I have to say it, I felt fine knowing that it happens even to big professionals. Great video!
I agree with you Ted. An acoustic guitar is primarily an acoustic guitar.....manufacturers always seem to want to complicate matters.
I'm so impatiently waiting for the next episode. The fact that repair was not finished in one video made some real elements of suspence to the channel.
Yes stuff does indeed happen and can be ruin your whole day! Still you handled it well. You always do a great job.
thank you for your videos - in this life i am a lawyer, in my next life i will become a luthier, what a satisfying job...
On my accoustic guitar the bridge started to lossen. Instead of gluiing, I removed the string plugs and used a small washer to hold the strings. Holds perfect, sounds the same and the bridge is back on its place.