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Part Three: Finishing Touches
Hi there. Glad you could join me for the final post on this gorgeous yet virtually unknown Seven Tones GA141. By now, matters relating to the fretboard had been adequately addressed; and it was time to wrap things up.
Once the orange tape had been removed, the fretboard was cleaned with 0000 steel wool and Zippo lighter Fluid [naphtha]; and reconditioned with a couple doses of lemon oil. As luck would have it, the genuine bone saddle and bridge pins had arrived; courtesy of
Reco Music. I must say that the bridge pins were a bit pricey, but as Reco guarantees the authenticity of its merchandise; Acit was more than happy to part with his hard-earned cash.
The new bone saddle was all I'd hoped it would be; albeit a little on the tall side. To determine optimum saddle height, the stock saddle was used as a lab rat. Once I'd lowered it to the absolute minimum height, it was used as a template for the new saddle. The new saddle turned out to be way too tall to lower by mere sanding, so the first step was cutting, or rather sawing off part of the bottom. Once this had been taken care of; the desired height was reached after a few minutes of sanding.
The bridge already had ramps cut into it, but these were deepened and widened further to accommodate the lowered saddle. Here, once again, I'd like to remind readers that maintaining a sufficiently-sharp string break angle over the saddle is critical for optimum energy transfer and tone. After ramping the bridge, it was cleaned and reconditioned. No more dryness, and the purple-streaked wood came back to life.
Meanwhile, a new set of Derjung DJ333C-M9 tuners was installed. These tuners were as smooth as could be; and that pleased me greatly. They were certainly light years ahead of the stock black-painted tuners, which had already started to corrode, felt gritty; and did not turn smoothly.
A word of advice here, boys and girls. Kindly avoid cheap colored hardware as it's more often than not simply a thin coat of paint. That paint will peel off and/or disintegrate in no time at all, creating a rusty mess. The exception here is powder-coated or baked-on colored finishes; such as "Cosmo Black" offered by Ibanez. It would be fine, I suppose; as long as you can afford the asking price and the parts are compatible with your instrument. However, if you're on the hunt for affordable generic hardware; go for nickel or chrome plating.
Now everything was set for restringing and final setup. Acit is a fan of the resonant tones of bronze strings; and had provided me with a set of Martin MSP6000 80/20s [10 - 47]. Oh yes, these Martins were loads richer tonally than the Alice A306-XLs I'm familiar with. Loads more expensive too, I'm sure. All said and done, when Acit came to try out his newly-upgraded GA141; he was pleasantly-surprised at the huge improvement in tone, clarity; and playability.
Well folks, this all goes to show that the care and feeding of your precious instrument is not something to be taken lightly. What you give your guitar, it will return ten times over; believe you me. And if you, like Acit, have unintentionally allowed your pride and joy to fall into decay; fear not! I'm here to help. Give CA Guitar Repair a call, SMS or WhatsApp message at 012-9855262. I cannot entertain walk-ins like I used to, thanks to the pandemic; but you can always book an appointment for a free consultation. Cheerio, see you soon.
