Setup for nylon strings?

Gary Blanchard

Gary Blanchard

beloved, local musician
My wife has a Luna Safari Trinity guitar, we swapped out the steel strings for ball-end nylon strings. She had a pick-up installed and the luthier suggested she get it set up for nylon strings. To my knowledge, this lacks a truss rod.

My question is, is this something sensible or a way to make another $65.00?
 
I think it has a truss rod. I looked at a picture online and it looks like there is a truss rod cover on the headstock.

The setup would likely consist of removing some tension on the truss rod to eliminate back-bow now that it has less string tension. It's a reasonable suggestion, though I'd be inclined to wait a week or so first and see if there is a problem.

Could I offer a different approach entirely? Look into some silk and steel strings. These offer lower tension, a mellow sound, and they are more compatible with the guitar's tuners, bridge, etc. You might still need to reduce the truss rod tension (I didn't when I tried them, FWIW) but I think they would fit better with the guitar's natural character.
 
My wife insists that even the silk and steel strings are too hard for her. She wants what she wants.

We'll probably take it back in in January.
 
Gary Blanchard said:
My wife insists that even the silk and steel strings are too hard for her. She wants what she wants.

We'll probably take it back in in January.
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There are a few pretty good guides online for adjusting a truss rod. People make it sound like some sort of dangerous black art wizardry but it's not. Granted, a handful of people have screwed up and done damage but they either (1) rushed through with a complete misunderstanding of what they were doing or (2) had a guitar that was already jacked up.

After the nylon strings have been on a few days, check the neck relief. Fret the string at the first fret (using a capo will free up a hand) and at the fret where the neck joins the body. There should be a small gap between the fret and string right in the middle. If not, you have too much truss rod tension. Loosen the truss rod nut at the headstock by an eighth of a turn and go back to playing. Check it again a few hours later and the next day. If there's still no gap the next day, repeat the process.

I'm being conservative in my "how much to turn" and "how long to waits" here. The truth is that loosening the truss rod is less risky than tightening it. If you get over a quarter turn and it seems like things aren't moving at all, it might be time to turn it over to a pro.
 
The strings have been on quite a while. The person at Luthier's Co-op seems pretty good; they did a good setup on my guitar and were even able to install a pickup on Carol's despite the odd sound hole. I'll turn it over to them.
 
Does it sound OK? I'd think nylon strings couldn't really "move" a soundboard designed for steel strings. I'd put the $65 in a jar, and you're halfway to getting a passable beginner's nylon string guitar.
 
Carol wanted that size and style. She's already dropped $100 putting in the pickup. I may take a look at Luna's nylon string models and see if I can find her something, though.
 
In my (very limited) experience, you'll need to drop a good bit beyond that on a pre-amp and DI to get a good sound out of nylon strings on a piezo pickup.
 
Chicken Man said:
In my (very limited) experience, you'll need to drop a good bit beyond that on a pre-amp and DI to get a good sound out of nylon strings on a piezo pickup.
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This is just an odd job all around. She has purchased an expensive multi-effects pedal so she can make "interesting sounds" to back up her poetry. I couldn't begin to tell you how many instruments she has tried and rejected in the past 20+ years. Before we met it was cello. She had a hammered dulcimer when we met. She played nylon string guitar, but it didn't have the sound she wanted. She states steel strings hurt her fingers and won't even try them. She bought a 3-octave ocarina, bass recorder, mountain dulcimer, wood flute, and some other things I can't think of right now. I honestly don't know how long this will last, but I figure I can use the pedal when she moves on from this phase.
 
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