Dusty Strings expedition a success!

[annathepiper]

It has been way, way too long since solarbird and I set foot in Dusty Strings, and it was a delight to go back today for various and sundry instrument missions.

First and foremost was to get a new high D string on the bouzouki, which was accomplished with reasonably little headache. It would have been ideal if I'd been able to bring in the broken string for comparison purposes--but not vital, it turned out. The guy at the store found me a replacement in short order. So now Spring is in full voice again, yay! This should make playing "Lukey" a different experience in Jam, now.

Second mission, more important: new tuning pegs for Ragamuffin, my guitar. This was partly a cosmetic issue, but also a functional one, since the pegs on the instrument were very old and stiff and creaky, and a couple of them were bent as well. I had initially thought I was going to have to leave the instrument in their repair shop, but no--Dara's plan was simply to get the appropriate replacement parts, and she'd do the swap herself. Since she'd already done the work necessary to get the instrument playable in the first place, she didn't anticipate this being a problem. Happily, the store had a couple of different sets of pegs available. We opted for the $20 pair, partly because they looked cooler and partly because Dara thought they just looked more solidly constructed, as least as far as she could tell just by visual inspection.

While we were at it, we also got an entirely new set of strings for the guitar and the little mandolin, which is now Dara's--I gave it to her, an act which continues to please me every time I see her exploring its capabilities. She'd gone ahead and brought that instrument on this mission with us as well, since one of the strings was being difficult for her to tune. Turned out that the store guy advised her to replace all the strings. Given that I'd never restrung that instrument completely myself--I'd only swapped out maybe one or two of them at different points--it was high time for the thing to get new strings.

And! We both got new picks, and I got a new shoulder strap to put on the bouzouki, since we have four playable instruments with strings between us, and we'd previously had only three straps. All in all, it was a very fruitful expedition.

Much instrument restringing has happened this afternoon. Rags is now wearing his new pegs and strings; the strings look really rather cool, too. They're D'Addarios, which is a switch since I previously had Augustines on it. The coolest part, though? The upper strings are BLACK. So now Rags has got half black strings and half silver ones, in addition to the new pegs.

Tuning with the new pegs is pretty neat, too. It's a little weird doing this without any squeaky noises, and with turns that are so much easier. I'm sure this is contributing to the strings holding their tones better, too; they're still slipping and I have to keep tuning them to get them to stay on pitch, but they're not slipping quite as fast as the Augustines with the previous tuning mechanisms did.

All in all, as Dara has said, Rags has levelled up. <3

Comments

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

*squee* Looking forward to next weekend's jam....

'course, this weekend has sort of a jam in it too.. :)

[solarbird]

since the pegs on the instrument were very old and stiff and creaky
When not loose, rattly, slipping, or creaking audibly

We opted for the $20 pair, partly because they looked cooler
I dislike the little stylised lyres at the end, so that, for me, kind of countered the more attractive peg handles, but they're less obvious once on the guitar, and the peg handles aren't, which is good.

and partly because Dara thought they just looked more solidly constructed
Better machined, more specifically. The spindles in particular appeared to have been machined with significantly more precision.

as least as far as she could tell just by visual inspection
Once I got them out at home I could also feel a difference in how the pegs turned. I think the first set were basically exact replacements for the old hardware, only better for not being old, worn, and bent, but the ones you actually bought are one step up.

[howlinhobbit.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

I'm sure this is contributing to the strings holding their tones better, too; they're still slipping and I have to keep tuning them to get them to stay on pitch, but they're not slipping quite as fast as the Augustines with the previous tuning mechanisms did.
Nylon strings and their lovely stretching in period. Even on my ukulele (with its scale length that's probably half or less that of your guitar) suffers from this.

I use Aquilla NylGut strings which are notorious for having a longish breakin period. They're from a company in Italy and Mimmo (the head of the Co.) spent a long time searching for a formula to try and closely duplicate the tonal qualities, warmth, sustain, etc. that one gets from real gut strings without the drawbacks of real gut (e.g. going out of tune at the drop of a hat, uneven diameter through the length of the string causing intonation problems, having to go out in the backyard and kill a goat... you know, those sort of drawbacks).

Congrats on the musical uplevel.

Jamito ergo sum.

[annathepiper]

*snicker* "Having to go out in the backyard and kill a goat," hee. That does tend to make acquiring strings difficult if you have a shortage of goats. ;)

And, thank you! There were a whole lot of ukes on the wall at Dusty Strings; I saw them and thought of you.