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Hanging
Guitars
Illustration by Paul Kotapish
Q Is it "healthy" for
guitars to be hung by brackets from the headstock for years at a
time (as we see in guitar shops) or are they safer on a stand? If
hanging the guitar is appropriate, what material should it rest
on?
J. Keith Troop
Ardmore, Oklahoma
A Hanging guitars by their
headstocks won't cause any problems. Considering that the average
tension from a set of steel strings is well over 100 pounds, the
hanging weight of the guitar’s body is insignificant. To save those
guitar necks, tune the strings down a few steps if you won’t be
playing the instruments regularly. If you choose to use stands,
I’d recommend using multiple layers of felt or any soft fabric to
cover those areas that come in contact with the guitar.
––Richard Johnston
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Tuning
a Tiple
Q I want
to restring my tiple to baritone uke tuning (D G B E), like the
first four strings of a guitar . What should the string diameters
be?
Chris James
Decatur, Alabama
A Small, guitar-like instruments known
as tiples come from various parts of the world, including Spain, Argentina,
Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Nazareth, Pennsylvania. Variations in body
size, scale length, number of strings, and tuning will determine which
strings you need. The standard baritone ukulele has a typical scale
length of 20 inches. If you have one of the larger Latin-American
tiples with a similar scale length, you could try a standard set of
baritone uke strings. Baritone sets are available from D’Addario,
Martin, La Bella, and GHS, among others. There is some difference
in the string diameters, but a typical set for D G B E tuning is .035,
.034, .032, and .027, with the lower pair of strings made of metal-wound
nylon and the upper two strings plain nylon.
Martin built quite a few ten-string tiples for the American market
from 1920 through the early ’60s, but they were smaller than their
southern cousins, with a 17-inch scale length.
The tuning was based on the old-style tenor uke tuning of A D F#
B, with double courses for the outside strings and triple courses
for the inside pair. If your instrument has this shorter scale length,
you could easily use a tenor uke set and adapt the modern G C E
A tuning. To convert the Martin-style tiple to a baritone, you’ll
need to cobble together a set from single strings. Some trial and
error will be involved, but try .037 and .036 for the wound strings
and .034 and .029 for the trebles.
In any case, you will probably need to tinker with the nut and
saddle a bit to get a comfortable spacing for four strings on a
neck that was designed for ten, and you might need to fool with
the idle tuning machines to make sure that they don’t buzz.
––Paul Kotapish
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French
Polish
Q I recently inherited
an expensive guitar with French polish on the soundboard. Unfortunately,
there is a one-inch nail scratch running across the grain of the
cedar top. Can this be repaired?
Julian Behar
Union City, New Jersey
A The traditional French polish finish
is a shellac-based varnish applied by hand with a small cloth rubbing
pad. This finish uses alcohol as a solvent for the shellac. When
applying new shellac, the alcohol dissolves the previous layers
to merge them with the new application. So if there is a minor scratch
in the finish, a new layer of French polish will close it.
If the scratch goes through the finish and into the wood it can
be more difficult to achieve a perfect repair. It is sometimes possible
to steam up dented wood by wetting one quarter of a white paper
towel, laying it over the scratch, and heating it with the tip of
a wood-burning tool. This procedure is only for the experienced;
it is all too easy to burn the wood or overheat the finish. The
idea is to produce steam, which will lift up the dent. The area
is then left to dry for a few days before another layer of French
polish is applied.
If the wood fiber is torn or gouged out, an invisible repair is
impossible, although good results can be obtained by filling the
depressed area with shellac varnish, which can be applied lightly
with a fine-hair artist’s brush. Allow drying time between coats.
This can take several days or weeks. After sufficient shellac has
filled the scratch, I level the area by sanding with 1200- or 1500-grit
sandpaper that I support with a small rubber sanding block. I always
lubricate the sanded area with a drop of mineral oil or baby oil,
which is simply mineral oil with a fragrance. I then pad over the
area to remove the very fine sanding scratches. After several days
of drying time, I buff with Novus Plastic Polish number 2, which
is a fine polish consisting mainly of diatomaceous earth. The procedure
I have outlined here should only be attempted by an experienced
finisher.
––Ron Fernández
SEND QUESTIONS, tips, or observations to Acoustic Guitar’s
online discussion forums at www.acousticguitar.com
or write to Dear A.G., Acoustic Guitar, PO Box 767, San Anselmo,
CA 94979-0767.
Excerpted
from Acoustic
Guitar magazine, February 2001,
No. 98.
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