Acoustic guitar mod


Herman10
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Joined: 12/04/19
Posts: 318
Herman10
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Joined: 12/04/19
Posts: 318
02/04/2021 12:36 am

I have a acoustic Takamine EG series guitar ( build in Korea, cheap about 400 bucks ),

Never played it to much because of a to metallic sound so I decided to change the nut and the saddle for bone pieces instead of the cheap plastic, the nut took a lot of sanding and shaping but came out real good with the action on the first fret really low where I wanted it but the saddle was a different story, the Takamime G or EG series have a special saddle with the piezo PU incorporated so I had no choice as to remove it completely and only put the bone saddle in and for the time being no more PU.

And there it is, a miracle happend, the guitar now sounds like a guitar of more then a 1000 bucks. At first if you played a chordstrum you couldn't hear all the different strings, now I can and I hear a beautifull tone of the would resonance aswell which I never heard before.

I love this guitar now and it didn't even cost much, about 10 bucks.

Next mod will be placing an aftermarket piezo PU under the saddle and check that out.

If the mettalic sound would come back then that PU will be out in no time and probably will be looking for transducers on the inside and try to get that fitted with the existing preamp.

Anybody else here any experience with the same mods? love to hear from you.

Herman


# 1
Guitar Tricks Admin
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Guitar Tricks Admin
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Joined: 09/28/05
Posts: 3,476
02/04/2021 6:26 pm

That sounds like a fun project! So glad it worked out. Better nuts and saddles can greatly improve the sound of a guitar. Anyone else have any cool mod stories/ideas?


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# 2
Sasha-B
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Sasha-B
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02/08/2021 10:02 pm

great! I was just thinking of swapping out the plastic nut and saddle for bone. you just confirmed that it would be a great choice.


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# 3
Herman10
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Joined: 12/04/19
Posts: 318
Herman10
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Posts: 318
02/09/2021 6:54 am

update; installed the aftermarket under saddle pick up and had to sand down the bone saddle with about 2,5 mm, broke a fingernail and burned the tip of my thumb ( keeping the saddle to a strait piece of wood ) in the process and that damned mettalic sound ( unplugged ) was right there again.

Orderd a new saddle and a piezo transducer this time so there would only be the bone saddle between the strings and the bridge. This way I know for certain that it will sound very nice unplugged and with the transducer I can experiment on different spots outside the guitar at first ( just keeping it in place with some duct tape ) to see where I get the best sound but that will be for the next update, probably end next week.

Herman

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# 4
Herman10
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Joined: 12/04/19
Posts: 318
Herman10
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Joined: 12/04/19
Posts: 318
02/11/2021 12:09 pm

another update; new saddle came in today and imediately removed the old one and the under saddle PU and bammm, there was that great acoustic sound again, completely fell in love with that sound so definetly bone saddle and [u]never no more[/u] an under saddle piezo pick up, now waiting for the transducer to come in and see what that will bring for sound with the acoustic amp part of the Katana

Herman


# 5
Herman10
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Joined: 12/04/19
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Herman10
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Joined: 12/04/19
Posts: 318
02/19/2021 12:22 am

Last update; transducer arived yesterday and after experimenting with the place I found that the best spot was directly behind the bridge in the middle.

Sound of the transducer is very poor and bad and to weak to even turn the tuner in the preamp on so basically worthless but hey, it did only cost 1$ so no big loss.

So final decision is no more build in PU for know and enjoy the sound of the bone nut and saddle.

In the past already tried the PU's that you build in the soundhole but they are to sensitive and create a lot of feedback issues.

Herman


# 6

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