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Weissenborn Players

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This group is dedicated to the Weissenborn players around the world.

179 Members, Created 2/15/2011 -

Administrators: Grizz (owner)

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From Liz Williams on 9/20/2012 6:02:38 AM

Welcome to the group, Dave! We're glad to have you here. I see your a Josh Graves and Hank Williams Sr fan - me too. Browse around, and let us hear what you're up to after you've had a chance to settle in. I think you'll find the group full of helpful, kind people who are dripping with knowledge and skill.

3 Comments
	jimbob says: 9/20/2012 12:31:39 PM Welcome Bro Dave. ;Tis nice to see you here.
Bro Dave says: 9/22/2012 5:51:45 PM I picked up one of those $199 made in China LM weissenborns off Ebay. I had played a little Dobro many years ago so I kind of remembered a few chords. After a while i decided to see if I could improve on it a little. Ordered a new bone nut and a tusq saddle. They helped the sound quite a lot. I made the nut about the same height as the original wood one. The saddle was a little higher than the original one. I played it for a while in dgdgbd but really wanted to be able to tune it to GBDGBD as there is just so much more in the way of tabs and lessons available in that tuning. I read on line where some folks were able to tune that way with Aloha strings. I ordered a couple of sets and tuned it up. It would not stay in tune. I kept right on retuning thinking maybe those strings required a lot of stretching before they took a set. Well I was WRONG!!!. The bridge was what was moving. I managed to belly it out big time before I had sense enough to quit. Damage done. Decided to try a JLD bridge system to see if I could undo the damage. Ordered one and when it arrived immediately saw that there was no way that thing was ever going to fit inside the body of this thing. Called JLD and they said go ahead and modify it. If you screw up we will take care of you. After a lot of modification I managed to get it in. In the meantime I had used humidity and a lot of weight to bring the bridge back level. Tightened the JLD down snug and tuned it up to DGDGBD. I estimate it undid about half the damage. I will try cranking it down a little more the next time I change strings. Anyway my advice is stay away from dobro tuning on these cheapo weissenborns. It will do until I find a good deal on a higher end instrument. I love the sound of these things......
	Liz Williams says: 9/23/2012 12:24:33 PM Whew. that was quite a story, Bro Dave. Glad you were able to get your guitar back to being playable. I put a bridge doctor in my SM before I sold it, and jacknj, one of this group's members, made a very elegant one for his. I cranked mine several turns - many more than what the manufacturer recommends. I am glad to know that the Aloha strings will not go up to high G tuning - I've always wondered about that. Thanks for taking one for the team on that. You can tune that guitar up to GBDGBD, you'll just need to use lighter string gauges on the 5th and 6th strings, say .034-.038 on the 5th string and .044-.048 on the 6th string. I had my SM in that tuning for awhile with those gauges without any bellying or damage to the guitar. I use Andy Volk's book Slide Rules to figure out what to use when I want to do something out of the ordinary. Here's a link to his website: volkmedia.com/Volkmedia.com/Sl...Book.html Thanks for checking in and letting us know how you got involved with these enchanting sounding guitars. Today I'm having trouble putting mine down and getting other things done.
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