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Hy everybody. Dors anyone have seen a yunzhi with bad fretwork? Got a ordered beautifull yunzhi. woods and colour are great but: fretwork is really bad.
Last edited by Tomtom67; 08-16-2018 at 08:25 AM.
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08-10-2018 05:57 PM
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Welcome to the forum TomTom67... and yes if you ever spent ANY time on the internet reading posts on Yunzhi guitars BEFORE you pulled the trigger you would have understood that the great deal you got does have some after delivery expenses: fretwork, perhaps replacement of the not so great electronics and a thorough setup by your tech to your specs... As most of the independent Chinese made guitars do... They know how to copy the Eastman guitars and made some minor custom modifications, but their lutherie skills are still in development.
History Lesson: did you know that back in 2005-2007 maybe earlier the two founding partners of Eastman decided to go their separate ways. They split the wood stash 50/50. One partner decided to go independent - sell at lower prices direct to customers and eliminate the overhead of the Dealer Network and Eastman Warranty... The remaining partner kept all of the Eastman philosophy intact and improved what was being sent to dealers by establishing a facility in the States that does a thorough going over of all instruments coming into the States. Correcting any faulty fret work and setups comparable to US made goods. They also started installing the electronics in the US and use really top flight US name brand pickups like Duncan 59's and Seth Lovers.
Some of the original workers at Eastman, the founding builders if you will, went to Yunzhi for more money. Eventually some of them, like Mr. Wu, went freelance using Ms. Lora as their order writer and interpreter... Mr Wu has become quite the experienced builder but his frets still need working over.
So no, it is no surprise that you need a tech to do some good fretwork and put some good strings on it and set it up. THEN you'll really love that guitar... The Yunzhis I purchased over the years all need that work and those purchases were detailed here and on the Ibanez Collectors World forum in great detail... I still have my first Yunzhi purchase, a 2008 made John Pisano AR880 copy but with a floating pickup, love that guitar.
You got a great guitar, it just needs to be correctly setup.
Big
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How bad? Are you able to upload some closeups of the frets?
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Last edited by Tomtom67; 08-16-2018 at 07:49 PM.
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Good looking guitar !!!
get a tech to dress the frets and set her up with your choice of strings. Save your money and then get a Bartolini 5-J, I’ve got a couple, they’re great. Gut the electronics and use some CTS pots and caps. When I upgraded mine it sounded so good.
Show us the back ok ??? You did real good.
CONGRATULATIONS !!
Big
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Go to Rudy’s Soho sometime and look at all the D’Angelicos upstairs with widely varied and often widely spaced grain on the spruce.
For a quite small archtop (and particularly if X-braced and small) I would want a widely grained spruce.
In any case, the spruce on your guitar looks great in my opinion.
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My Lora guitar had the neck angle set so low that I had to shave 1/8" off the bottom of the saddle and bottom it out. Did a lot of fret work myself, and replaced a lot of hardware, Benedetto pickup, etc.
I play it a lot now. I love it. It makes music just fine. That's OK for me cuz it does the job I want a guitar to do.
David
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Dear david Well i of course "knew" somehow that its not a ready to play guitar. And the probs with the floater and the pickguard i suspected. But the fretwork really made me confused. They are not beginners. At least the lenght should be allright. And about the neck angle i was scared too and yes it is at the Edge, bridge too high. Neck looks straight, thick and wide and the body solid and well curved …
Last edited by Tomtom67; 08-24-2018 at 05:35 AM.
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Originally Posted by Tomtom67
Certainly you know your wood preferences best.
For my own bizarre reasons, I just note that there are many great historic and modern guitars built with widely spaced annular rings in the spruce (various spruces really) top.
In terms of the wood used for the top, your new guitar sits and plays in very good company.
Is is parallel braced or x-braced?
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The top on your Córdoba looks like cedar, not spruce. In my opinion.
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According to everything I see on the internet, the CET indicates that the top is Canadian cedar. Finding "AAA tonewood" on a $400 guitar would be somewhat unusual. But I've never seen the guitar in question, so what do I know.
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cedar is a fine tonewood used on many flamenco type guitars..smells good too!! haha
it has tight straight grain, similar to some spruce..but is usually a more reddish hue
cheers
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Ure right. Its not usual. It was a lucky punch. Such woods are rare and only by chance you get one. And yes. Its cedar. But the roules are for all woods the same: the less water the slower grows the tree the narrower the grain the harder the wood ....thats good for tone.. so this yunzhi maybe! has not highest quality woods.
Last edited by Tomtom67; 08-16-2018 at 08:40 AM.
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Nothing wrong with the spruce. In the US it's graded on consistency and lack of run out. Not for it's similarity to cedar. Not sure how it's graded in China.
That appears to be a typical Yunzhi. Throw away the electronics (pots included), maybe the tuners. Fret job. Set up. Good to go.
As for your claim of being fooled, maybe you should have something more substantial before accusing an organization of malfeasance.
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Originally Posted by Tomtom67
No need to say sorry. Your new guitar and direct opinions all seem great to me. What is your first language?
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a well tuned top takes the grain into consideration as part of the overall sound...so wide grain can be perfectly wonderful sounding if worked by the proper luthier, ie d'angelico and jimmy d!.....fine straight grain just looks so spectacular...and is throwback to the violin making days..when a smaller body used tight grain spruce..
don't get too hung up on the wood grain..the luthiers skills can compensate and make better
maybe not the case for yunzhi..but
just get those frets and neck sorted out..new pup..and enjoy
cheers
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I like the bernard shaw zitat ;-) .... a writer in fear of musical amateurs ... reminds me thomas bernhard. I remember the first violinbrown eastman archtop. It looked so perfect. So i transposed it on yunzhi. Never read bad posts about their quality. I should have ordered it without electronics. But i really didnt want to "work for hours and days on the next new guitar". But this seems to be my fate.
By the way: you prefer singlecoil or humbucker, alnico or ceramic on your archies?Last edited by Tomtom67; 08-11-2018 at 10:09 PM.
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Instrument top-wood is graded based on: Originally Posted by Tomtom67
. Grain density = lines per inch. You're right, that's important, but not all luthiers insist on the tightest grain,
. Quarter-sawing, also near the top of the list. The medulary rays showing on your top reflect a high quality of cut.
. Uniformity / consistency of grain density
. Color and color consistency / blotchiness
. Flaws, such as knots
. Straightness of grain / variations
. Figure -- 'bear claw' etc.
And all that is about raw wood, before curing. You can spoil a tremendous piece of wood by working it before it's dry.
I've owned wonderful instruments built from wood that had a couple of knots. I've also played gorgeous-looking instruments that sounded like the boxes they were shipped in.
The final proof of the point: All the holes in this Bob Bendetto guitar were chewed by mollusks. What do you call that -- "DDD" wood? Wanna bet that guitar delivers incredible sound?
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prefer tone of alnico single coils...but if u have hum/noise issues, go humbucker Originally Posted by Tomtom67
cheers
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Dear friends
Thank you very much for all your advice and help.
So i conclude for myself:
If you order a yunzhi:
- read threads before
- order it naked without electronics to avoid ugly wholes
- dont expect a proper setup of the nut
- have an eye on the fretwork
- this is no factory-guitar so no factory standards
- theres no such thing like something for nothing
Would i buy it again like this? YES!
its my size, my depth, lovely colour, "design-choices" done
I LOVE IT
So bye to all of you. Greetings from switzerland. Thank you for your kind comments and your support.
If i have it done with pickup and pickguard i will post a last picture.Last edited by Tomtom67; 08-17-2018 at 04:46 AM.
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The year-rings thing about spruce is purely a visual thing. I have played guitars with ridiculously wide-spaced or uneven-spaced rings that sound MUCH better than guitars with tight, even ring spacing. It really comes down to the piece of wood itself. A good luthier knows what it's supposed to feel and sound like before building from it. So, I'd not worry about that at all if the guitar sounds good. Originally Posted by Tomtom67
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Yup, I had an old Epi Triumph with very wide grain that was a real boomer. Originally Posted by uburoibob
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My late 40s Triumph is like that. The grain may be the widest I own, but it can blast like a cannon and sound like a harp. Originally Posted by Woody Sound
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Got your PM, I do not have any contacts at Yunzhi, those i did all went freelance a very long time ago. You’ll have to look the info up on their website.
Do no contact me again. I think you’re a rude an inconsiderate person. Start taking your medication again.
im blocking you so I don’t have to be bothered with your insolence.
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