Amicus string change

[David Eastwood]

I did my first string change on my Amicus today. To be honest, I’ve been putting it off because I didn’t want to grapple with the (in)famous Emerald pinless bridge.

I could not find a golf tee. I could not find a ballpoint pen cap. So, I just went in, with a brand new set of Newtone strings.

The 3rd pair went great. The 2nd pair went well. I was beginning to feel a little cocky, and then the 1sts got me. Try as I might, I could not get the darn ball end to stay in place.

So, I went rummaging through the odds’n’sods drawer, and found a hex wrench with a plastic handle, left over from some pack-flat furniture long ago. It turned out to be an exact fit for the string holes - and I got the remaining 8 strings done in less time than the first 4 had taken me. I’ve put the wrench in a safe place for future changes

I’m leaning toward thinking that the pinless bridge is a solution looking for a problem, but it does look nice, and is probably easier from a manufacturing viewpoint. Honestly, though, I’d still be perfectly happy with pins.

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[KevinH]

That looks better than the golf tee actually. I had to reshape some tees to get them to work right.

How are you liking the Amicus?

[redi]

I haven't tried a capo yet to hold tension between the pinless bridge and maybe somewhere up the neck, allowing you two hands to fiddle with the tuner.

Thoughts? The Amicus has a wide enough neck you'd have to probably flip it to get the low and high side.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by redi

I haven't tried a capo yet to hold tension between the pinless bridge and maybe somewhere up the neck, allowing you two hands to fiddle with the tuner.

Thoughts? The Amicus has a wide enough neck you'd have to probably flip it to get the low and high side.

I did try a capo, but the one I used (a D’Addario) didn’t clamp hard enough to stop the string from moving.

Which, if you think about it, is what you’d want a capo to do, so I shouldn’t be surprised

[steelvibe]

Glad you found a solution. At any rate, I love your Amicus. You got one of those cool blue metallic weave finishes before it was discontinued right?

I hope Emerald eventually brings it back. I typically don't like green guitars but loved the green thread weave too.

[KevinH]

Originally Posted by redi

I haven't tried a capo yet to hold tension between the pinless bridge and maybe somewhere up the neck, allowing you two hands to fiddle with the tuner.

Thoughts? The Amicus has a wide enough neck you'd have to probably flip it to get the low and high side.

I just changed the strings on my X-20. I used a capo about half way up the fretboard and it worked great. No need for the golf tee. Just pulled the string tight, put on the capo, inserted the string into the tuner peg and tightened it up. I've also found it helps to put a little curve into the string at the ball end. It helps the ball get into the slot and stay there.

[CarolD]

I recently picked up an X30 from a forum member. I changed strings this week and am so incredibly pi$$ed off at the stupid pinless bridge. I mangled a beautiful set of Elixers in the process and am not sure I even have 2 of the strings seated properly. What a STUPID design. If Emerald continues with it, they should at least change to locking tuners. I ordered new strings and golf tees. UGH.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by KevinH

That looks better than the golf tee actually. I had to reshape some tees to get them to work right.

How are you liking the Amicus?

I love it. It’s a different voice in the collection, easy to play (especially after a little nut adjustment), and sounds particularly good with the 6th dropped down to C. It’s also surprisingly easy to fingerpick, which really adds to its charm.

Originally Posted by steelvibe

Glad you found a solution. At any rate, I love your Amicus. You got one of those cool blue metallic weave finishes before it was discontinued right?

I hope Emerald eventually brings it back. I typically don't like green guitars but loved the green thread weave too.

Yes, it’s a blue weave. I’m so happy I managed to get that before it was discontinued. As I mentioned before, I bought this using some money inherited from my late mother, so I wanted to make it a bit special. Blue weave and silver ring inlays make for a very classy little instrument.

Originally Posted by CarolD

I recently picked up an X30 from a forum member. I changed strings this week and am so incredibly pi$$ed off at the stupid pinless bridge. I mangled a beautiful set of Elixers in the process and am not sure I even have 2 of the strings seated properly. What a STUPID design. If Emerald continues with it, they should at least change to locking tuners. I ordered new strings and golf tees. UGH.

So sorry you had such a bad experience - you’re not the only one who’s had a similar reaction. Now I have a solution, I’m a bit more ambivalent about it, but I do agree that Emerald ought to take another look at this. Without something to positively lock the ball end into place, it’s a complete crapshoot as to whether you can keep enough tension on the string while trying to thread the other end through the tuner. The small size and lightness of the Amicus really exacerbates the problem.

Oh, and I broke one of the 1st strings as well. It got all folded over itself during my pre-wrench efforts, and, inevitably, broke as I got it near to pitch. Ever try to buy a single .008 string?

[KevinH]

Originally Posted by CarolD

I recently picked up an X30 from a forum member. I changed strings this week and am so incredibly pi$$ed off at the stupid pinless bridge. I mangled a beautiful set of Elixers in the process and am not sure I even have 2 of the strings seated properly. What a STUPID design. If Emerald continues with it, they should at least change to locking tuners. I ordered new strings and golf tees. UGH.

Yes, it can be frustrating, especially when Alistair's videos make it look so easy.

You might try the capo next time. It made a big difference for me.

[CarolD]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Yes, it can be frustrating, especially when Alistair's videos make it look so easy.

You might try the capo next time. It made a big difference for me.

I'm going to go the golf tee route first and then the capo route second if I can't get it to go.

The fact that so many of us have difficulty with this design (many accomplished guitarists who I'm sure know how to change strings) should be a big red flag to Emerald.

No one should have to invent specialty tools for string changing. Reminds me so much of Apple's antennagate fiasco. "You're just holding it wrong!" Jeesh!

[CarolD]

Originally Posted by David Eastwood

So sorry you had such a bad experience - you’re not the only one who’s had a similar reaction. Now I have a solution, I’m a bit more ambivalent about it, but I do agree that Emerald ought to take another look at this. Without something to positively lock the ball end into place, it’s a complete crapshoot as to whether you can keep enough tension on the string while trying to thread the other end through the tuner. The small size and lightness of the Amicus really exacerbates the problem.

Oh, and I broke one of the 1st strings as well. It got all folded over itself during my pre-wrench efforts, and, inevitably, broke as I got it near to pitch. Ever try to buy a single .008 string?

David,

Thanks for the kind words. I don't know how you managed the Amicus! I had to keep putting my hand into the X30 to feel for the ball end. I don't think you can do that with the Amicus. And even when I had them seated properly, they would pop out. Forget about stretching the strings, too. Too much upward pressure and the ends pop out. I watched Alistair's video a few times and noticed that he doesn't do the stretching at the end. Hmmmmm.... Any chance you can get your single string from Stringjoy?

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by CarolD

David,

Thanks for the kind words. I don't know how you managed the Amicus! I had to keep putting my hand into the X30 to feel for the ball end. I don't think you can do that with the Amicus. And even when I had them seated properly, they would pop out. Forget about stretching the strings, too. Too much upward pressure and the ends pop out. I watched Alistair's video a few times and noticed that he doesn't do the stretching at the end. Hmmmmm.... Any chance you can get your single string from Stringjoy?

I actually can get my hand into the Amicus, if I'm careful, so I tried that trick yesterday as well! I do it all the time with my X20s, to make sure the ball end is seated properly - but it didn't really help with the Amicus, for the same reasons you stated.

I think I might have done better if I'd put the string through the tuner hole before trying to set the ball end. With the Amicus, there's so much extra string length that it was hard to maintain tension while threading it through. Using the wrench removed all the hassle.

I did think about Just Strings or Stringjoy and the like, but didn't want to order just a single string - and I really don't need any others at the moment. I found Ernie Ball .008 singles on Amazon, and bulked up the order with a book my wife wanted

[KevinH]

As mentioned earlier, I had to reshape the golf tees I had to make them work. And even then it wasn't fool (me) proof. Maybe other tees would work better.

This morning I was thinking a bridge pin could work better. Seems like a good fit to hold the ball in while stringing it up. Has anyone tried this? And I suppose if you like the look of pins you could clip 1/4" off the bottom and leave the pin in, though it goes in at a bit of wonky angle.

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I agree that you shouldn't have to invent something to easily change the strings. But a bridge pin would seem to be a natural solution.

[David Eastwood]

Originally Posted by KevinH

I agree that you shouldn't have to invent something to easily change the strings. But a bridge pin would seem to be a natural solution.

If you have a set of hex wrenches, give one of them a try. After my experience yesterday, I won't use anything else!

[DethWshBkr]

I found the pinless on my Virtuo to be decent, but of course it has the open access hole in the back.
My biggest concern with this pinless design is that if you tension up the string and it is NOT fully seated, you could rip the string head out through the bridge and destroy it.
Not I don't think it's quite that easy....but even with my open hole, I had one string not fully seated in there, and it did cause some damage to the inside of the bridge.