| Subject: | Re: [RESOGUIT-L] Weather and cone tension | | Date: | Tuesday, January 29, 2008 21:49:13 (-0800) | | From: | Richard DeNeve <richard_d13132 @.....com>
|
Richie,
I didn't respond because I think you had it pretty
much nailed. I can't think of any reason the brass,
steel, and aluminum could be affected by moderate
changes in heat and humidity. Maybe hand grunge in
the furrows of the string windings had dried and been
re-loosened by playing, but that should not be
affected by a slight loosening of the tension screw.
Wood (maple, ebony, etc) bridge inserts could be
slightly affected - moister wood would be a bit softer
- but again, this would not be changed by screw
tension.
If the tension screw were not "home" against the top
of the bridge, and if the body wood of the guitar
shifted slightly to change the sidewise tension on the
screw, then a change in screw position could
re-establish sidewise tension against the hole in the
spider, making the sound crisper. There would need to
be several factors happening together, and the odds of
this happening in two guitars at the same time would
be infinitesmally (sp?) small.
What had Dan been doing before he went to his guitars?
Years ago, I used to go deer hunting for days at a
time, living in a barely heated tent, and hearing no
sounds but soft voices and wind in the trees. When I
got home and played my guitar, it sounded very trebly.
After 20 minutes or so, it sounded normal again. If
Dan spent the hour before playing out with a rackety
snow blower, his guitars would sound a lot different
than "normal" until the stapedeus muscles in his ears
relaxed a bit. Just about the time it takes to find a
small screw driver and back off on that tension screw.
Makes a good story, anyway. The real truth we may
never know.
I sometimes need to tweak the tuning on my main guitar
during the spring and the fall, while the weather is
changing. But unless I bump the tuning knob(s)
through the sides of the gig bag I use, I go weeks or
even months at a time without any adjustment at all in
the winter and the summer. (And the stainless steel
strings make changing them a rarity.)
One should tweak the tension screw only when there is
a reason to, like a rattle that tweaking will cure.
And then the tweaker should seek to eliminate the root
cause of the rattle's appearance, such as a bent cone
from the guitar being dropped, or spider legs becoming
uneven because of change in down-pressure against the
cone, and readjust the screw tension to about 3/4 to a
full turn after the screw contact on the bridge makes
the "loose screw" rattles stop.
Dick DeNeve
--- reso-man@comcast.net wrote:
> So Dan,
>
> Did you ever get an answer to this "weather vs cone
> tension" question you asked earlier? I was hopeful
> that Dick DeNeve would have some input on your
> question. If you did, I missed it, and I'm curious
> because I haven't noticed anything like that here,
> and I have forced hot air, which is the dryest form
> of heat there is.
>
> I run a couple of humidifiers thru the heating
> season, and using a humidity meter to monitor, I try
> for 54% to 56% or as close to that as I can get.
> That's about the middle of the "normal" range on the
> dial, and I figure if it's good for the people, the
> reso-guitars won't be all that far behind.
>
> Dan, I think it's all that playing you're doing with
> "The Innocent Bystanders" (gotta luv that name) and
> I think it's probably just time for new strings.
> Change them wires bro......you'll need 'em for Joe
> Val anyways!
>
> Richie
> -------------- Original message --------------
> From: "D. Tannehill" <ephsmath-phys@cox.net>
>
> > Just wondering something. In the past week, both
> Virginia ('05 Tut Taylor
> > Virginian) and Lassie ('06 Gold Tone Beard PBS)
> have sounded "thuddy." Both
> > times, I tweaked the cone tension screw, and the
> problem cleared up. And both
> > times, I loosened the screw. I figure it has
> something to do with the cold, dry
> > temps here in New England, but figured I'd get an
> expert opinion. So here's the
> > question. How does the weather affect cone
> tension, and how frequently should
> > one tweak it?
> >
> > Dan in RI
>
>
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