Dan Erlewine - Maintenance and Setup for Steel-string Acoustic Guitars

Your guide to evaluating the condition of acoustic and resophonic guitars, and making them play their best. If your repair experience is mostly with electric guitars, these DVDs will show you how to apply your skills to flattops and resophonics. If you specialize in acoustics, this information is essential.

Maintenance & Setup for Steel-string Acoustic Guitars Vol. 1

The focus of this video
Evaluating the condition of your acoustic or resophonic guitar, and getting the most out of it.

Information covered

Flattop Acoustic Guitars:
•Installing strings correctly on the inside of your guitar: understanding the relationship between the bridge reinforcing plate's ("bridge pad") condition and good tone, playability and a guitar's longevity
•What to do about bridge and bridge pad problems
•Structural integrity checklist. Prevention is the best cure, so learn what to look for inside your guitar
•The most common problems with vintage flattops
•Optimum action setups for different playing styles
•Good nut and saddle height
•When does a neck need to be re-set?
•When does a bridge need to be replaced?

Pro setups
Understand the setups of these professional players, and hear the results
•Roy Bookbinder shows why he likes his Recording King and Washburn De-Luxe (both made by Gibson in the 30s and 40s)
•JD Hutchison shows how he gets his '52 Martin D-28 to keep up with "the boys the Telecasters and steel guitars"
•Paul Geremia details the setups of both his Stella 12-String and Gibson J-35 - Two different setups for two different playing styles
•Jorma Kaukonen details his road guitar, a Gibson acoustic electric as well as his "pure" (unamplified) studio guitar - a Gibson Advanced Jumbo

Maintenance & Setup for Steel-string Acoustic Guitars Vol. 2

The focus of this video
Evaluating the condition of your acoustic or resophonic guitar, and getting the most out of it.

Information covered

Flattop Acoustic Guitars (cont.):
•Modern acoustic/electric amplification, effects, sound equipment and guitar setup featuring Bill Dutcher
•Cleaning a dirty guitar
•A "microbuilder's" approach to setting up new guitars (with Bryan Galloup)
Archtop Setup:
•Setting up a 1957 Gibson L-5 archtop jazz guitar
•Fitting an archtop bridge

National and other brands of metal-bodied guitars:
•Disassembly, cleanup, and reassembly
•Getting the proper down-pressure on the cone
•Shaping the saddle
•Custom tone options
•Common action settings

Wood-bodied resophonics:
(Guitars played on your lap, Dobro-style, with a high nut and saddle)
•Disassembly, cleanup, and reassembly
•Seating the cone in the well
•Fitting the spider bridge to the cone
•Cutting the bridge saddle
•Common action settings

Pro setups:
Understand the setups of these professional players, and hear the results
•Modern acoustic/electric amplification, effects, sound equipment and guitar setup featuring Bill Dutcher
•Bluegrass guitar setups with Todd Sams
•Playing a metal resophonic finger-style (no slide) with Del Rey - the "Memphis Minnie" of the new millennium. Del understands her setup, and describes it well
•"Lap-steel" setup with Kelly Joe Phelps: a new approach to playing slide on a flattop guitar set up for slide (different than the Dobro)
•Preferred setup for for "big band" chord backup with Bob Montalto
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