{"id":180,"date":"2023-07-12T23:43:48","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T23:43:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blakeneycreative.com\/?p=180"},"modified":"2023-07-12T23:43:48","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T23:43:48","slug":"ruby-is-not-pleased","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blakeneycreative.com\/index.php\/2023\/07\/12\/ruby-is-not-pleased\/","title":{"rendered":"Ruby is NOT Pleased"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ruby is NOT Pleased<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ruby and I had a rough day on the bench. First of all she was not exactly due for a string change, I\u2019m a lot early, but I wanted her to have flat wound strings, and today was the day. In retrospect I think this is very much like suggesting a new hair color to the woman in your life without being asked… <\/p>\n\n\n

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Sometimes string changes go okay here and other times it\u2019s like trying to trim a cats claws. I really should be better at it. Changing strings, before needed, just to try a different sound was probably rude on my part. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She was however also over due for a spa day and a neck adjustment. So to butter her up I thought I’d lavishly pamper her first. (This is a good life strategy in general.) I hadn’t noticed until I got her on the bench with work lights that she was FILTHY. Not a bad thing altogether but experience has taught me that she likes to decide when and where she gets filthy, not me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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She had schmutz on her hip,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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dust on her bridgework,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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grit on her headstock,<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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and something really gross on one of her tuning buttons.
Where has she been?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n
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Not good<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

She seemed to like her bath. I cut her old strings off and got started. Her Redwood fingerboard and bridge were seriously dry – for which I am deeply ashamed since she can’t oil herself. Binding from her neck had become unglued from the dried out fret board which had shrunk a bit. A crescent shaped piece of the binding fell into her body cavity and I had to retrieve it through her sound hole, as if she wasn\u2019t uncomfortable enough already<\/em>. Here you can see the retrieved piece of binding and the loose binding on the fingerboard. I didn’t have the proper glue to repair this and had to make a store run in the middle of things – which were already not going great.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Much Better. Fingerboard responded nicely the oil.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I returned from the store with the glue and carefully – super carefully – like with the sharpened end of a toothpick as an applicator, carefully – performed the glue-up. It went mostly okay and I didn’t get any glue on that red finish that I couldn’t remove with a damp cloth. This was stressful for us both and although the glue didn’t smell like the kind of glue that can get you high I was definitely considering giving it a shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The neck prop is right under the 5th fret, the board is oiled (in this picture) starting at the 7th. Quite a difference.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Once I cleaned and oiled the fingerboard I turned my attention to her bridge and saddle. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even like me saying the word saddle. Her’s is a beauty. Its quite a thing and I really dig its design. Not only does it keep her strings tight to make the soundboard responsive (and it is) – it also has her electronic pick-up in it so she can be loud once in a while, and it is engineered so that it can be adjusted (in the teensiest of ways) so that she plays more in tune at the higher frets. Such a thing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once cleaned and oiled – I put on the damn strings without breaking the High E (as I can do). Its funny, in my quest to manifest my inner blues man (Dirty Lemon Blakeney) I bend the devil out of my guitar strings and nearly never, and I mean ever, break one while playing. I do however break one about every fifth time I restring one of the axes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last thing was to take some measurements and adjust her neck. A guitars neck needs a little bit of a bend in it or the strings can vibrate uphill from where you’re fretting it. She has a rod in her neck that I can turn a bit to alter the little bit of bow. Guitar Chiropracty! I did this carefully and she seemed okay with it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The big deal was I wanted to put strings on her that were smoothed out in such a way so that the metal winding around the lower pitched strings wouldn’t make scuffing sounds when I was changing notes. I’m pretty sure she didn’t think that was a big deal in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ruby is NOT Pleased Ruby and I had a rough day on the bench. First of all she was not exactly due for a string change, I\u2019m a lot early,<\/p>\n

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