A Very Cool Story w/Photos

dragonfly66 · #1 08-26-2010, 10:17 AM

I acquired a yamaha FG-150 from the 70s and it had started bellying behind the bridge. I thought it was too wet because I got it in the south east part of the US. I took it home and let it dry out, but the belly remained. So I figured I didn't want to spend lots of money on this guitar so I thought I would install the JLD Bridge System to pull the bridge down. I went out the to the JLD website and found out the guy who makes them lives two hours from me. I gave him a call and he said he'd install it for me. He made the bridge system right there, installed it, shaped and put in a bone saddle, and set up the guitar. He told me not to take photos because he was wanted

I talked to his wife to get directions. She told me to turn on their street and go until I saw a red two story barn. As I was diving up he met me at the drive way and took me and a friend into the barn/shop. While he was installing the JLD bridge system he told us he had a stroke in 2000 and that he couldn't hold a guitar pick on his own until two years ago. He had his wife tape the pick to his hand so he could play. Many of his tools he has in his shop he fabricated. He said he was about 200 behind on orders. I ask him if he had help and he said he has one employee and he gets to sleep with her. That would be his wife.

He show'd me a way I could "impress the boys". The tuning method of "Here comes the bride..." and "NBC". You get the low E as close as you can by ear. You tune the A using the E by making the A the note of the word "comes" when singing "Here comes the bridge". You do the same thing when tuning the D and the G. For tuning the B you use the note of the "B" from the "NBC" chime. Now if you sing off key this method will not work for you.

He also shared with me that if I turned the pick to one of the less pointy sides I won't hear the pick hitting the strings so much. He gave me a tortoise shell pick (not real tortoise shell, but one fabricated in a lab) He said that tortoise shell picks stick to you fingers when you fingers gets wet. Well he really said that if you lick your thumb the pick will stick to it. So I promptly licked my thumb and planted the pick on my thumb and it stayed there.

After he was finished with the guitar he invited us into his home where his wife showed us around the house that he built for them after their house had burned down. She told us he has drawn up more houses than an architect. As we were leaving I go to shake his hand and he says, "I don't shake hands with pretty girls." and then he proceeded to give me hug.

It was a great day. I got to meet a very skilled, nice gentleman and his wife. I got my guitar fixed, it sound great by the way, very hard to believe the all laminate guitar can sound that good.

Putting the hole through the bridge

Ready for install

The set up

Putting in pearloid dowel to hide the screw in bridge

garywj · #2 08-26-2010, 11:17 AM

Thanks for that. Enjoyed the pictures and the read.

PMC · #3 08-26-2010, 12:06 PM

Hey dragonfly66,

Cool story and pics.

BTW how much longer until your custom American Breedlove OOO is done?

dragonfly66 · #4 08-29-2010, 04:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PMC

Hey dragonfly66,

Cool story and pics.

BTW how much longer until your custom American Breedlove OOO is done?

It is 3 months out.

recury · #5 08-29-2010, 10:53 AM

Glennwillow · #6 08-29-2010, 11:03 AM

Very nice story and photos, Dragonfly! Sounds like a great way to spend a day, too!

- Glenn

Fatstrat · #7 08-29-2010, 02:32 PM

I put a Bridge Doctor in a guitar awhile back. Worked good for awhile, but then the braces broke loose.
Anyway , I like the info on the Tortoise Shells picks. Never heard that before!

dragonfly66 · #8 08-30-2010, 03:47 AM

Well I hope my braces don't break loose. I'm going slow. The hump took a long time to get there and will take a while to go down.

Kitchen Guitars · #9 08-30-2010, 04:13 AM

very cool FG150 save

Fatstrat · #10 08-30-2010, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dragonfly66

Well I hope my braces don't break loose. I'm going slow. The hump took a long time to get there and will take a while to go down.

I took my time as well. Basically 1/2 turn at a time. Then let it sit and adjust for 2-3 days. Then just when I thought I was about done. I was playing it and all of a sudden it sounded like a bass fiddle. I'm sure it was just my bad luck. Hope yours works out.