Yamaha Transacoustic Mods (LL-TA)

[GuitarLuva]

Hey all,

Thought I would share some of the mods I've done to my Yamaha LL-TA Transacoustic. First of all I absolutely love the tone of this guitar. It's a bright guitar with a really nice resonance, sustain & clarity. It's a joy to play with and without the transacoustic portion. It sounds very similar to my Gibson Songwriter only 1/3 the price and that means a lot as I love the tone of my Gibson. It's the only guitar I have with a torrefied top so I'm not sure if that's what gives it some of its magic acoustically. None of these mods were necessary, it's just me!

First mod: strap button

[IMG][/IMG]

This mod I kinda consider mandatory for me at least. I hate not having a strap button and I also dislike strap buttons that are on the neck heel. This is my preferred location. It's of course reinforced with a small piece of wood on the other side. Easy peasy. Longest part of the job was removing and reinstalling strings.

Next mod: Zero Glide Nut

[IMG][/IMG]

I really came to like these zero glide nuts. This is the 3rd guitar that I put one on. These really do make the action down low really smooth and they're also super easy to install, just time consuming with the sanding. This particular nut is the ZS-5.

Next mod(s): Bone saddle

[IMG][/IMG]

What can I say I tend to favor bone saddles over all other materials. This one I got from MacNichol guitars and it's already compensated for Yamaha guitars. Also not really a mod per say but I swapped the stock bridge pins with these tusq pins that I had laying around as they match the fretboard inlays.

[IMG][/IMG]

I was really impressed with the quality on this guitar. I looked it over thoroughly before I bought it and there's not a flaw to be found. Yamaha was never a guitar company that I took seriously. What you get at this price point is phenomenal. I can't recommend these guitars enough. Super happy to own one. Yamaha certainly has my attention now.

[wkbryan]

Beautiful!

[C-ville Brent]

Very nice guitar. Your mods look great and are functional. I also like tusq bridge pins (especially with abalone dots) and they do indeed match well with the fret markers. In some photos it looks like a clear pickguard. Is this so and did your guitar come with it? You mentioned that you like the tone without the effects. What are your feelings on the onboard effects? I've been intrigued with this series, but have no personal experience.

[GuitarLuva]

Originally Posted by C-ville Brent

Very nice guitar. Your mods look great and are functional. I also like tusq bridge pins (especially with abalone dots) and they do indeed match well with the fret markers. In some photos it looks like a clear pickguard. Is this so and did your guitar come with it? You mentioned that you like the tone without the effects. What are your feelings on the onboard effects? I've been intrigued with this series, but have no personal experience.

The clear pick guard came with it. The onboard effects are really neat. Most people I see talking about these guitars are so focused on the electronics that they forget to mention how nice the acoustic tone is. It is really nice to have reverb when you're just sitting around unplugged. Chorus is nice too but I don't use it as much. I think Yamaha hit a homerun with these guitars.

[C-ville Brent]

That's cool the clear pickguard came standard. I've looked at pictures on the internet and couldn't see it. It's line was barely visible in one of your close up pics. I'm very happy for you that it has such a satisfying guitar tone without the electronics engaged. Keep enjoying it!

[GuitarLuva]

You have a good eye indeed. Without looking closely you would never know it was there.

[songlife]

Thanks for the info. I've had my LL-TA for 4 months and love it. I've done some of the things you have - MacNichol bone saddle, Colosi bone bridge pins, but this is the 1st I'm hearing about the Zero Glide nut. That could make it easier to make barre chords on the 1st fret, like F or B flat, which is nearly impossible to do cleanly as is on this guitar. I'm about to take it in for a long-overdue setup - the intonation out of the box is terrible. I'm still playing with the unsanded saddle, so the action is way too high. Might as well have the guy put in a Zero Glide and take care of the whole setup in one shot.

I take it the ZS-5 is the perfect size for the LL-TA? Bone or black delrin, any diff? Also, I use Newtones & Thomastik Plectrum which have .62 & .61 E strings that don't fit in the stock nut slot. I notice the specs on the ZG say .56 is maximum gauge. Should I have the setup guy slightly widen the E & A slots to fit these heavier strings, or better to just let them sit on top, if it doesn't affect tone or intonation?

[songlife]

The tech isn't too happy about putting on the Zero Glide. I sent him a pic of it & he said this:

"I don't like the Zero Guide Nut simply because it looks to me that the fret where the strings bridge on might throw the scale off some.
The strings should bridge right at the end of the fingerboard point. To me, it looks as if the fret might bridge the strings a tad off the end point."

Opinions?

[songlife]

For anyone who cares about Zero Glides: I went ahead & got the Zero Glide for my LL-TA. I shelled out $75 for them to make me a drop-in bone nut, not only because I hate sanding, but I also wanted them to do the custom string slots for my .062 medium Newtones. They did a good job, based on the nut specs I sent them; it was a 99.9% perfect drop-in. I immediately upgraded to a stainless steel fret, which was costly since it's $12 + Gold Tone charges $8 for shipping the tiny package which would fit in a stamped envelope. So I'm into this Zero Glide for about $100 now.

I discovered the only fret that works with this guitar (out of the 4 sizes they send) is the Jumbo size. Nothing but buzz with the medium size, even after raising the action via truss rod. I put on a new set of TI Plectrums; their .061 E fits about 80% in the nut slot, only because the relatively high zero fret keeps it from going entirely in. The guitar sounds great. The ZeroG doesn't change the sound of open strings to any great extent. They say it "improves" the open string tone, but that's debatable. With the action set properly, it *does* seem to stop the typical buzzing on the low strings when picked hard, and it definitely eliminates the thin pingy sound of the E & B that's usually there with the stock nut. The guitar tunes better now, no question, though the ZeroG isn't pretending to be something like the Buzz Feiten system.

Overall it's worth the $100 to me, even though that's far more than most people will pay. But I didn't have to do any sanding or string slot filing. I dropped it in and my guitar sounds & tunes better; can't beat that! As far as being easier to play down low, and lowering the action, maybe a *little*, but not enough to make a huge diff. But that's because I had to use a Jumbo zero fret. On an electric, probably a fret with less height could be used.

[lar]

You guys are having too much fun.

Now that you have metal frets and nut, seems like you should have a metal saddle to balance things out. I bet the tech would love that (tell him you want SS).

[Mirosh]

Originally Posted by songlife

The tech isn't too happy about putting on the Zero Glide. I sent him a pic of it & he said this:

"I don't like the Zero Guide Nut simply because it looks to me that the fret where the strings bridge on might throw the scale off some.
The strings should bridge right at the end of the fingerboard point. To me, it looks as if the fret might bridge the strings a tad off the end point."

Opinions?

He's identified the crux move: you must install it so it does not change the effective length of the strings from the fretboard side of original nut to the saddle - unless for intonation purposes you DO want to change that length.

He was being cautious, maybe not feeling lucky.

[songlife]

I skipped that tech entirely b/c he was afraid of it based on one little pic I sent him of it. Seemed like a gimmick to him or whatever that would throw things off. It was a bit of a risk for me to be messing around with nut work myself, but it worked out perfectly. I'll never take the ZGlide off now that it helped so much with intonation alone, but I also like the different kind of tone it imparts to open strings and the elimination of buzzing (if properly set up.)

[acousticsean]

Originally Posted by Mirosh

He's identified the crux move: you must install it so it does not change the effective length of the strings from the fretboard side of original nut to the saddle - unless for intonation purposes you DO want to change that length.

He was being cautious, maybe not feeling lucky.

Good point - I was interested in the zero glide as well. In fact, my Voyage Air comes with zero frets from the factory.

IF the guitar originally had a good intonation, will installing Zero Glide mess up the intonation?

[Vognell]

Originally Posted by songlife

The tech isn't too happy about putting on the Zero Glide. I sent him a pic of it & he said this:

"I don't like the Zero Guide Nut simply because it looks to me that the fret where the strings bridge on might throw the scale off some.
The strings should bridge right at the end of the fingerboard point. To me, it looks as if the fret might bridge the strings a tad off the end point."

Opinions?

I have one installed on a classical guitar, have had no problems with it. As long as the crown of the zero-fret is in the same location as your current nut, intonation should be fine. It does require some attention when installing.

Gold-Tone instruments is not far from me... and my local shop (Wickham Road Music) is one of their dealers. Goldtone went over installation with them, so they do it right.

The zero nut fret makes the action easier near the nut-end, and also creates a more consistent tambor between the open strings and fretted strings. Because you don't have to push the string as far down at the first couple of frets, tension doesn't change as much, and intonation in the first positions is improved.