-
Martin: - I am so happy because this is
my favorite music instrument of all, my guitar,
-
and I have Carlos Montoro here from Anjuda Guitars.
Carlos: - Hi.
-
Martin: - A guitar luthier. You actually build guitars.
Carlos: - Mhm.
-
Martin: - Carlos is going to help me repair
this guitar, because we have an issue over here.
-
Apart from the guitar being really dusty,
there's a crack here under the fretboard.
-
So Carlos is shining from the backside of the guitar
-
and you can see the light goes straight through under the fretboard here.
-
Martin: - How does it look?
Carlos: - Looks bad.
-
Martin: - Bad?
-
Carlos: - We need to close the gap.
Martin: - And then this string?
-
Martin: - Yeah, so if you open it?
It goes on this fret when you open it,
-
and when you close it, it goes on the nut.
-
Carlos: - The string is forcing the neck
of the guitar to go in this way.
-
So we need a thin strip of sanding paper.
-
Martin: - Oh, sweet.
-
[background music]
[♪ unreleased/Work ♪]
-
Carlos: - Now looking at the dust I made,
I can see this clear sand here is from the binding,
-
and this more darker is from under the fretboard.
You can see the colour matches.
-
Now hopefully we don't lose the lacquer.
Martin: - Aw, doesn't matter. It tells the story.
-
Carlos: - I always say that to my clients.
-
"I got a ding in my guitar!"
- Oh, come on, let the guitar tell the story.
-
Carlos: - Let the... let the time break your guitar.
-
Martin: - Ah, so they want you
to just make it look old?
-
Carlos: - Yeah.
Martin: - Huh.
-
Carlos: - Exactly.
Martin: - Oh, that's cheating.
-
Carlos: - Exactly.
-
Martin: - Just what the doctor ordered.
-
[music in foreground]
-
Martin: - So Carlos explained to me that
he wanna make a special clamping technique.
-
Carlos: - Mhm.
-
Martin: - That we don't want to clamp
the fretboard down to the neck,
-
but you want to clamp the neck up to the
fretboard, to not bend the fretboard.
-
Carlos: - Correct. So this way hopefully,
with the zip ties, we will get that.
-
Martin: - So I asked Carlos:
"Do you have enough glue in there?"
-
And he was like,
"the glue is supposed to spread",
-
and now it's spreading evenly everywhere.
-
So I'm always using way too much glue on everything.
-
Carlos: - And you know what? We can't go with too much glue
-
because the truss rod is just in the middle of the neck.
-
Martin: - Okay.
-
Carlos: - So we need the truss rod to keep
moving so the guitar can be adjustable.
-
Carlos: - I feel good about this.
-
So now that we have the glue setting and drying,
-
we are going to move the truss rod, often.
-
And hopefully, the truss rod will not be
glued with the fretboard and the neck.
-
Martin: - Yeah, so the truss rod is like a long bolt
that goes through the whole neck of the guitar.
-
It goes all the way down here?
Carlos: - Mhm.
-
Martin: - And it can adjust the tension
of the neck.
-
So often when you repair your guitar,
-
you always check the truss rod.
-
Carlos: - You always check the truss rod,
always, and you adjust the truss rod always.
-
Carlos: - So this is a truss rod. There are several types
but they all work more or less the same.
-
As you can see, this is a neck, work in progress.
-
This is just rough cut and here is a slot in the wood.
-
So pretty easy to place the truss rod in the slot
and then glue the fretboard on top of it.
-
All the truss rods have some way to actuate them.
In this case it's with this four millimeters allen key.
-
So you insert it, turn it clockwise, and,
as you can see, a bow is generated in the truss rod.
-
So when the fretboard is in place,
all the neck is forced to bow as well.
-
Carlos: - Do you know, how do we
call the truss rod in Spanish?
-
Martin: - No.
Carlos: - The soul.
-
Martin: - The soul?
-
Carlos: - The soul.
Martin: - Wow, that's beautiful.
-
Carlos: - Yeah, it's the perfect name for that,
-
because indeed it's something that is hidden in between,
-
and when the truss rod is not workable,
you don't have guitar at all.
-
It's like, dead guitar.
-
Martin: - Happening with no soul.
Carlos: - No soul.
-
Martin: - But Carlos, it doesn't sound so good.
Carlos: - Oh, it takes time.
-
Martin: - The glue needs to dry first?
-
Carlos: - How long hasn't you used making the MMX?
-
Martin: - Don't rub it in!
-
[playing a riff on muffled and detuned guitar]
-
Carlos: - You know you are in front of a musician
when they can do music with just anything.
-
Martin: - Do you call it music?
Carlos: - It can be.
-
We let this dry for today,
so I think it's time to untie it.
-
Martin: - During these days, I got to know Carlos better,
-
and Carlos told me that when you meet a customer,
-
you focus more on the relationship between
the customer and the customer's guitar,
-
than the guitar itself.
-
Carlos: - Yeah, you're a musician and you know
that musicians can get very close to their instruments,
-
and they feel like very personal for them.
For them is like to go to the doctor.
-
Martin: - Yeah.
-
Carlos: - You know, do you have your
doctor that you are confident with?
-
Martin: - Yeah.
Carlos: - It's the same with luthiers.
-
Martin: - Yeah. Even if it's
a cheap, kind of bad guitar,
-
you treat it with the same respect as if it's
a vintage hundred year old guitar,
-
because of the emotions that
the customer has for his instrument.
-
Carlos: - The price is not of the instrument.
It's not in the money.
-
It's in the customer's relationship with it.
-
Martin: - That's beautiful. It's
exactly how I feel with this guitar,
-
because now when I see it on the operating table,
I realize how much it means to me,
-
and that I've been taking it for granted,
-
and putting it just against walls and letting it fall.
-
[testing strings with clear tone]
-
Carlos: - Yeah. It seems we did it.
-
Now it's time to give love to this thing.
Martin: - Okay.
-
Carlos: - Before the love, there's always the fight.
-
[music in foreground]
[♪ unreleased/Helping Out ♪]
-
Carlos: - Secret formula.
-
- Mhm.
-
Martin: - Mhm, oh my...
-
Carlos: - Alright, isn't it?
Martin: - Oh wow.
-
Martin: - I didn't know it was black.
[laughs]
-
[music fades]
-
Martin: - I mean, who does this to his guitar,
when you can just buy a strap lock?
-
[chuckles]
-
[strums guitar strings]
Martin: - Check out this guitar!
-
Carlos built this beauty.
It has a bookmatched... maple?
-
Carlos: - Maple, yeah.
Martin: - Why is it so cool?
-
Carlos: - Because this is actually
the figurine of the wood itself.
-
Martin: - It looks like a blue tiger.
Carlos: - Yeah, it's called flame maple actually.
-
[guitar music]
[♪ unreleased/Jamming with Carlos ♪]
-
[ends with pronounced bass note]
[laughing]
-
Martin: - I love it, it's nice!
-
Martin: - I can't believe, you... you built something like this.
-
Carlos: - You tell me?
-
Martin: - Ah, yeah.
-
Martin: - Ok, should I try if the guitar is finished?
-
[strums chords]
-
Oh wow, new strings!
-
Honey, I'm home!
-
Ooooh!
-
Carlos: - I didn't make any adjustment,
but I think it is good as it is, like this.
-
[Martin playing a blues line]
-
Martin: - It's so beautiful!
-
[playing rhythmical chords]
-
I can only play bossa nova, apparently.
-
[laughing]
[jamming ends]
-
[background music]
[♪ unreleased/Helping Out ♪]
-
Martin: - Ok, so Carlos is now adjusting
the bolt that goes through the whole neck
-
and you're going to go to an extreme position?
Carlos: - Mhm.
-
Martin: - ...where the strings are too low?
Carlos: - Too low.
-
Martin: - and then we go up until it's playable.
Carlos: - Yeah.
-
Martin: - Ok.
-
Carlos: - So, we are going to check
the straightened of the neck.
-
Martin: - And how does it look now?
-
Carlos: - This, it look a little bit bad.
Martin: - Ok.
-
Carlos: - So it seems that we can
straighten the neck a little bit.
-
Martin: - Ok. So now you're going clockwise
-
to get the ramp to force the neck
down towards the table here.
-
Carlos: - Mhm.
Martin: - So bend like that.
-
Carlos: - So, you know that you have gone
too far with the truss rod tightening
-
when it starts to buzz on the first frets.
-
[guitar makes buzzing sounds]
-
Not good.
-
Martin: - Okay, so then you have to give more relief?
Carlos: - Yeah.
-
Martin: - So it's a compromise between
easy to play and no buzz.
-
Carlos: - Yeah, exactly.
-
[much less buzzing]
-
Still a little bit of buzz, but it is something
that some players can handle good.
-
Martin: - Can I try?
-
Martin: - Does it work for bossa nova?
Carlos: - Yeah, smoothly.
-
[jamming]
-
Martin: - This feels better.
-
Carlos: - You see the buzz there?
-
Martin: - It's only on that note actually.
Carlos: - Yeah.
-
Martin: - I don't like F anyway.
-
Can we make a tiny adjustment to higher,
-
because this is very, very easy to play?
It feels very good though.
-
Carlos: - I'd say that we should loosen a little bit more.
-
Martin: - Yes. Here we go.
-
Yes.
-
Carlos: - When you have this set up, in guitars,
-
and then it's... at that point is when it's important
to check out the guitar in winter and in summer,
-
because now it will be affected by the weather.
-
Martin: - Ok. Because it's so tight.
Carlos: - Because it's so tight.
-
Martin: - But how can I learn to play
something else than bossa nova?
-
Can you solve that for me?
Carlos: - You tell me!
-
Martin: - I actually asked Carlos...
I want the strings lower,
-
and I thought I was having to put this down.
-
Carlos: - Yeah.
Martin: - But you didn't touch this.
-
Carlos: - Yeah, it's the first thing that people
should suggest: to touch the bridge,
-
and actually it's more important to touch
the truss rod and have it in the right position
-
and then you can go to the bridge if needed.
-
Martin: - Carlos, an amazing experience
-
seeing you work with my baby guitar.
Thank you so much!
-
Carlos: - Thank you! Thank you so much for
bringing me here
-
and work here with the bass and the MMX.
It was just wonderful!
-
Martin: - My pleasure. It's so fun to have
expertise company in the workshop
-
and as I've said a lot of times, I learn
so much more seeing someone work in real life
-
than just trying to find information
on the internet. So, that's lovely.
-
And, it feels like, I've been
building for like three years,
-
and a little bit this feels like a little start
for my music again.
-
So it means very much to me.
-
[intense music]
[♪ unreleased/My Dream Snare Sound - Full ♪]
-
These videos are brought to you by our backers
-
through youtube channel memberships or Patreon.
-
Thank you so much everyone
who are supporting and thank you
-
for believing in this crazy dream
that is the Marble Machine X.
-
Thank you so much for watching.
See you on the next one!
-
Martin: - You're not happy yet.
You want to tweak it more.
-
Carlos: - Yeah.
Martin: - Ok. Love it!