YAMAGULL v1.0

The bridge clamps are off.  I drilled thru and taper reamed for the 4 other pin holes.  Here's the bottom of the bridge plate.  Didn't quite get it centered but it's more than good enough.



Here's the YamaGull sort of assembled.



Need to make a nut & saddle next. Then install the (2) E tuners and finish the neck reset.

Technically, after I make a nut & saddle I could string it up and see how it sounds. But I'll probably wait. But the YamaGull is pretty close to being alive!!!

IT LIVES!!!!  Well, sort of.  This is EXTREMELY preliminary.  Just to see where I am.  A lot expected and a couple of surprises.

Put the really crappy Seagull Menestrel tuners back in.  Tuned to "D", to save the strings.  The nut & saddle action are a mile high.  No surprise.  The low E is 9/64 and the high e is 1/8", a full 1/16" higher than I want.  The high action (forward neck angle) actually shortened the scale length, making the 12th fret harmonic intonation OK, but the fretted intonation is +10 to +15 sharp.  No surprise with how much the string has to stretch to be fretted.  The neck projects 1/16" below the bridge.  Yep, the neck angle is still off.  And the strings are off center 1/16", a bit more than I expected but no big surprise.  The big surprise is the saddle I made sticks out of the bridge .15", right where I want it to be.  BUT, I could have sworn it was more like .21" before I put strings on it!!  I was going to sand .03" off but didn't, wanting to see where it was.  Good thing I listened to myself!!  That doesn't always work.

So there's still a lot of work to do.  After I sand the heel and bring the neck angle back I know it's going to lengthen the scale length, probably more than 1/16", maybe even close to 1/8".  And the neck is way off center.  I'll leave it strung up until tomorrow or Friday.

Oh, yea.  It sounds OK.  It's hard to tell with the action so high, tuned to D, and new strings.

Technically, the setup on the YamaGull is done!! It's still tuned to D though. It pretty much sounds like the other FG-110. Pretty good. A bit boomy fingerpicked, but very clear with a plastic pick. Nothing I'm going to have people banging on my door looking for a copy.

I have to install the Grover tuners. These old Seagull tuners are total CRAP!! I'll have to fill the old screw holes.

Then I'll probably leave it for a week while I figure out what I'm going to do with the finish on the neck. I had sanded most of the finish off of the headstock. The finish on the rest of the neck is closer to the yellow spruce top than the dark mahogany body. I'm thinking I should sand the finish off of the whole neck, put on some kind of pre-stain wood conditioner ( to prevent blotching on the soft wood), put 2 or 3 coats of mahogany stain on, then a coat of poly or spray lacquer. PLENTY of chances to screw it up!!! I hate finishing!! 

Or I wipe a couple of coats of Teak oil on, like I did to the FG-75-1.  It'll have a matte vs. glossy finish, but there's much less chance of screwing up since it doesn't build up.  Wipe on, let it soak in, wipe it off.  No protection from dinging though.

OR do I just sand the whole neck and just apply the Teak oil???  Leave it a lighter color???  I kind of like that idea!!  LOW RISK!!!

DO I PUT A SOUND PORT IN? I'd be able to see the FG-110 label! It would certainly a very unique guitar!!

AND I have to sand a little over 1/32" off the end of the heel. it sticks out slightly beyond the back. That's risky!!



Yeah, I scratched the heel with a file.  Maybe I need to sand the whole neck.


The unfinished headstock blending to the finished neck.  And I lost 2 tuner bushings.  Tuners are crap!!




A better view of the contrast.

I forgot to post this last night.

I drilled out the holes for the new tuner bushings and applied (2) coats of teak oil finish.

I like it!!!  It looks MUCH better than the original finish.


The headstock plate, not so much.  It's just ugly wood.


The back of the headstock with the ugly plugged screw holes.  Only the upper ones will be visible with the new tuners installed.


The plugged holes sort of hidden by a little furniture marker.  Still ugly.

I bring to you, 99% complete, the YAMAGULL!!!

It still needs some barely sharp fret ends filed, and of course, a LOGO!

In the end, it's just a wide neck vintage Yamaha.  1.72" nut. 1.50" nut string spacing, 2.18" saddle string spacing.  A massive improvement of the stock 1.37" nut string spacing and 1.97" saddle string spacing.



The stock Seagull Menestrel plain black truss rod cover looks OK.


The YamaGull on the left, my 1970 Yamaha FG-110 on the right.

Here's an idea for the YamaGull logo.  The Yamaha tuning fork logo, with only 1 tuning fork.  And the Seagull seagull.

Looks a little skinny.