Trust, but Verify - a Cautionary Tale

[cbakewell]

I have a Thomas Buchanan - and love it dearly.

I decided I needed to get a decent pickup fitted and took to a highly respected Luthier to get the job done right. I shan't mention the name, cos the what transpired was clearly just a simple mistake, and the guy in question is a thoroughly decent bloke whose reputation should remain untarnished.

He fitted a Headway, which sounded great, however, when I got it home and gave a thorough run through some of my faster stuff, I noticed that the E strings were a much harder to play than previously. It still sounded OK, but they just didn't ring like they used to.

I was busy at the time, put it down to the addition of the headway pickup, and decided to deal with it later.

Later became a week or so, I just used a different mandolin for gigging, and found myself avoiding playing it as it just irritated me to be reminded of the unsolved problem.

Eventually I free up the time to have a proper look - decided to strip it down and try and re-seat the headway under the bridge.

As it happens, I was also putting strings on a new mandolin I picked up from ebay, and had my micrometer out to check what gauge and been on prior to replacing.

Out of interest, I ran the micrometer over the Buchanan strings, and the problem became clear immediately.

The E strings were the same gauge as the A strings! .. 0.015 - can't believe I didn't notice previously - I guess I was just so in awe of the Luthier concerned that I didn't consider for one moment that he might have made such an obvious error.


Trust but Verify.

[lenf12]

Hard to believe the strings didn't break when tuned up to E. Good detective work on your part and remember, even the best luthiers can make a mistake. At first I thought your luthier had jacked up the bridge saddle too high to accommodate the pickup and causing the higher string tension but apparently not the case.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[JeffD]

Stuff happens. Glad you sorted it out.

I have played a very high end mandolin off the wall in a very reputable shop, and found the distance between the e strings was not uniform up and down the neck. Turns out the outside e string was outside of its nut slot. Likely happened when they put new strings on it. I showed them, we fixed it and it detracted from the experience not at all.

[cbakewell]

At first I thought your luthier had jacked up the bridge saddle too high to accommodate the pickup

yeah - that seemed the obvious issue to me, too.

I also can't believe the string took it - the tuner was a little stiffer, but not that much that I twigged.

The good news is that it now sounds sweeter than ever and is getting gigged on Friday

[lenf12]

"The good news is that it now sounds sweeter than ever and is getting gigged on Friday"

Fantastic!! How do you like the Headway UST? Have you compared it to K&K? I wonder about the different types of mounting methods; under saddle vs. under the top plate...

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[jim simpson]

What's a Headway?

[Teak]

What's a Headway?

Ten to fifteen pounds?

[cbakewell]

Fantastic!! How do you like the Headway UST? Have you compared it to K&K? I wonder about the different types of mounting methods; under saddle vs. under the top plate...

I love the headway - can't compare with the K&K as I haven't experience of it, but the headway seems to preserve the Buchanan's 'natural twang' (there must be a better way of phrasing that).

I also have a Myers Pickup which works exceptionally well for any of my instruments in situations where feedback isn't an issue - the headway is close enough to the Myers that I haven't felt the need to use it on the Buchanan.

[cbakewell]

http://www.headwaymusicaudio.com/product/snake-3-m/

Money well spent, I think - I have one fitted to my Buchanan Octave Mandolin as well.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Colin -You're not too far away from me in Higher Blackley In North Manchester - Was the luthier that you took it to in Cheadle Hulme as well ?. If so i know him well,& he's one of the UK's best !. I'm pleased that you got the mandolin sorted out - i was imagining
more of a real disaster. It begs the question ''what gauge strings were in the packets'' ?,
Ivan

[Ron McMillan]

Was the luthier that you took it to in Cheadle Hulme as well ?

Good job Ivan. After Colin was very careful not to identify the poor guy who made an honest mistake, you make him one Google search away

[cbakewell]

LOL - It wasn't the guy in Cheadle

In fact, it wasn't anyone local to me.

I only found out he existed a couple of days ago... and plan on asking him to do a bit of work on one of my other mandolins soon.

The guy concerned will remain nameless, as I would definitely use him again.

[Ivan Kelsall]

Yes,i rather fluffed that - but thanks for pointing out my error without actually contributing anything else to the thread - even expressing your delight that the OP's mandolin is now ok,
Ivan

[Bertram Henze]

The dead giveaway hazard was there from the beginning: OP revealed his town. If I would like to find suspects I could start searching Greater Manchester for luthiers. All Ivan did was mentioning that one is actually in the OP's town, but that one would have been on my list anyway, and location is not the strongest filter in such a densely populated area.

[cbakewell]

LOL - it is dangerous to assume that 'where I live' is 'where I play' and is 'where I found a Luthier'

For example, my band plays exclusively in North Wales.

His honest mistake will not damage his reputation - he is safely hidden away in a very large catchment area

[MikeEdgerton]

The original poster didn't feel the need to identify the luthier, the masses seem to want to flush this person out. If the OP was OK with the mistake then it might be time to protect this person that is providing a service to the community from being further maligned.

I'm sure that OP simply wanted people to be aware of this as a possibility. Honestly, it never occurred to me that it could happen but I'm now aware of the possibility and I thank them for that. Point made, no sense in dragging this on.