[CAUT] hammer line

[Horace Greeley]

Jim, Allan,

At 12:46 PM 2/11/2008, you wrote:
>Alan,
>
>This looks like what Dale Erwin does to all Bs. Did you attend that 
>class? I've always been a bit afraid of making this kind of 
>funkyfied hammer-line. You're only the second person I've known 
>crazy enough to actually do it! I guess I'll try it now.

This is something that really is kind of standard procedure..well, 
depending on how one defines "standard", I suppose.  FWIW, I've done 
it for years, as have a number of other folks.  Don't be afraid of 
the procedure, just approach the work carefully...you'll be amazed at 
the results.

Best.

Horace



>Regards, Jim
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: caut-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:caut-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf 
>Of Alan McCoy
>Sent: Monday, February 11, 2008 1:17 PM
>To: College and University Technicians <caut at ptg.org>
>Subject: [CAUT] FW: hammer line
>
>Hello folks,
>
>Thought I'd share this photo. I ruined a perfectly straight hammer line on a
>1898 S&S A. It was the most dramatic hammer line problem I have encountered.
>I moved the top hammer of the first capo region about 3/16" toward the capo,
>and the lowest hammer of the top capo region about 1/8" toward the capo. For
>both areas I thought I'd taper the hammer line all the way to the other end.
>But as it turned out I only needed to start the taper (according to my ear)
>at the half-way point (G5 up to the break, and D7 down to the break).
>
>This area had always sounded funky and I was trying to find out why. I
>couldn't believe how much improvement this made.
>
>I know that these hammers and shanks were put on about 10 or 12 years ago,
>but I don't know if the originals were hung straight or not. I wonder when
>S&S figured out they needed to grind the capo out toward the bridge. There
>was plenty of room on the capo to just grind it, rather than have to recast
>the whole capo bar.
>
>Alan
>
>
>-- Alan McCoy, RPT
>Eastern Washington University
>amccoy at mail.ewu.edu
>509-359-4627