S.o.s. Help!!!

[Dark Paniel]

ok, my baby is in a wee-bit of trouble...

well first off, he's a bit of a preface:

My style of playing: praise + worship (mostly strumming, some flatpicking, rarely fingerstyle)
The action on my Larry: pretty low (had a local luthier sand the bone saddle down a considerable amount)
Humidification??: Yes! a planet waves and a homemade tupperware humidifier in the compartment of the case... w/ hygrometer monitoring at an average of 55%.


k, well sometime last week, i finally got some lemon oil for her fretboard and bridge... after conditioning  the fretboard and bridge, i strung her up with a fresh set of elixir nano lights.. well after getting in tune i strummed a few chords(in first position), and didnt notice any drastic changes except for the tone(the previous set of strings were alchemy custom lights... btw, the alchemy's were nice, but i think i'm more of an elixir guy, sorry mr. bing4sons)...

well anyhow.. almost immediately after changing the strings, i fell in love with a bebo norman song called "the hammer holds" which is exclusively fingerstyle w/ the capo on 4th, and for the past week or so, that's all i've been playing...

now, onto the problem... she's buzzing like crazy on the high E string!!   it's not noticable at all with the capo on the 4th, but in first position w/o a capo, her high E string is outa control.. but beyond that, when i play the E string up the neck toward the 12-14th frets, the string is just dead, cant even hear it.. makes a "dud" noise, no vibrationes whatsoever...

right now i'm kinda panicing, but i do have some guesses as to whats going on... i think the nano lights that i strung her up with has noticably less tention than the previous alchemy's..       . i know that's one thing that'll effect the action..  also, i think in the beginning, i just had the bone saddle shaved down way too much for my style of playing.. i'm contemplating the purchase of a new saddle from either mr. colosi or directly from larrivee.. has anyone had the chance to a/b the two bone saddles?? i know that there's almost a cult following of mr. colosi's saddles... but at the same time, a larrivee bone saddles is from larrivee...  

well?? ANY comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

-dan

[onetubetone]

First of all, there's nothing to freak out about.  Since you seem to have decided on the strings you wanna keep on your guitar, I think it's just time to take it to a tech to reset the neck/action.  Shouldn't cost too much and it sounds like you certainly need it.  I'd advise against tampering with this at home unless you have a lot of experience with acoustic necks... I leave that to a tech myself.  I'm sure your guitar will be fine.

[Imapickn]

Sounds like you may enjoy some reading...  ;)
http://www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/action.pdf

http://www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/b...and_buzzing.pdf

http://www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/t..._adjustment.pdf

http://www.taylorguitars.com/global/pdfs/r...ring_guitar.pdf

Always a good review..
Don

[tikabear]

Comment on the saddle question.  I tried a Colosi bone saddle on my L09 in place of the Larrivee bone saddle and put the Larrivee on back in.  I think it sounds better and plays better with the stock equipment.  Not sure why.  I put the Colosi saddle in my OM03 and I think it was an improvement over the tusq tonewise but I haven't yet decided whether theres a difference in how it plays.  I also tried the L09's saddle in the OM and there wasn't a real difference in tone or playability.  I believe the radius of the Colosi saddles is slightly more round than the Larrivee stock saddles and I'm not sure as to whether this could make any difference.  The Larrivee fingerboard gets pretty flat in the higher registers.  Both saddles are pretty low and I'm not getting any buzz with Newtone 12's.  

[scrank]

I will also add that while I haven't had a chance to try the Colosi saddles I do have a Larrivee bone saddle in my D-03R and am completely happy with it.

[el guitana]

The "neck reset" above may be a little much - that's major surgery. You may need a tweak on the truss, but the main issue is probably the saddle height. Part of that may be the angle at which the string breaks over the saddle. I had one guitar with a very low saddle that needed slits cut between the treble anchor holes and the saddle to increase the agle - all was well after that.

[Dark Paniel]

I believe the radius of the Colosi saddles is slightly more round than the Larrivee stock saddles and I'm not sure as to whether this could make any difference. The Larrivee fingerboard gets pretty flat in the higher registers.

Wow, people have mentioned that in the past before, about how the radius of the larrivee fingerboard is slightly flatter than others, so that makes total sense that the saddle too should be slightly flatter... you're a genius tikabear!  

yeah, if you look at either his ebay listings or even his website, mr. colosi lists that his saddles for larrivee, taylor, and tacoma are all the same... i think thats kinda questionable...

so i should buy the saddle direct from larrivee?? does anyone know exactly how to order one from larrivee? i checked their online store the other night but couldnt find it.. also, does anyone know the price of a larrivee bone in comparison to the price of a colosi saddle??

k, thanks everyone for being so helpful...

-dan

[Dude2Dude]

I bought a new Larrivee CNC-machined bone saddle. Ended up chucking it because without any side sanding, it was way too loose in my bridge slot. Very disapponting, actually. So now I carve 'em myself, from bone blanks. Seems to work just fine.

If I were you, I'd take your guitar in to a good tech. Sounds like it could be two separate factors working in tandem (saddle height and relief; plus, are you getting open string buzzing? could be nut-involved, too). Someone who knows the ropes should be able to make it right.

These things are rarely a huge problem, so rest easy until diagnosis...

[Peter Cree]

It's winter.   People used to have winter and summer saddles for this situation.

But i think it might be the nut.

Try this.  Put a drop of superglue in the slot of the E.  Wait an hour and put the string back and tune it up.  Do you still have a problem?  If you do it's the saddle if not , it's the nut.  the super glue can easily be removed BTW.  Or re-grooved with a knife.

Just a thought.

[Dark Paniel]

thanks everyone for all the great responses...

well today i paid a visit to my fav guitar shop in evanston, il... unfortunately, being a commuter, i didnt want to risk carrying my precious guitar around from train to train in the freezing weather, so i wasnt able to bring her with me... but talking to the in-house tech at the shop for about a good 15mins calmed me down.. he assured me that everything is ok.. and that these sort of problems are common with the brutal chicago winters, and that the purchase of a new bone saddle would not be a bad idea...

so yes, a new saddle it is!... but i need some further advice as to which bone saddle to choose.. tikabear brings up an interesting point about the flatter fingerboard radius of the larrivees, and how the saddle should correspond with that appropriate radius... as for colosi saddles?? well many people swear by em... opinions anyone???

-dan

[tikabear]

If you can get one of each so you can compare them.  The worst thing is you'd be out $20 to $25 for the one you don't like.  I had the opportunity to try both.