This setup video is packed full of helpful "sound improving" tips. Check it out! Products I Use: rosastringworks.com/products-i-use/ Support: www.patreon.com/rosastringworks Website: www.rosastringworks.com
Its a joy to watch you work on instruments for your friends. Even though your retired, you're not really retired. Guitar repair will always be your passion until you go be with our Father in Heaven. Glad to still see some videos out here and there and I still get some educational benefit from it. Im also watching Caleb on every video he releases as well. Will be nice to see his guitar build finished. You taught him well. Blessings to you Jerry.
thank you buddy for the mention! it's amazing to me how many guitar channels use the semi-chrome polish now days with no mention at all so this makes me appreciate it even more! great work as always!
I'm a retired Barber but I still cut plenty of hair of friends and patrons I've known for decades and decades. Not much changed really. That's okay as long as I'm able to do it I will. I still enjoy it. Been doing it since I was eighteen and I'm approaching seventy two. I play Guitar,Mandolin,Banjo, and Harmonica, as well in jams with lots of these people as well. Did it back in The Barbershop too in days past.
I'm guessing when Jerry says it's "not bad", that means it's better than 95% of what's around to be played. Thank you Mr. Rosa for the very important detail and useful knowledge in your videos!
We used to call old strings as dead string. My brother used to boil his to clean strings, in a pinch. Not only does the guitar sound cleaner but it has a longer sustain, I think.
Ahh this video is like a breath of fresh air, there seems to be so few good guitar repair videos on RU-vid, there are a few but most are either fake restorations or quiet videos with no explanation or worst of all people with no clue what they are doing. Wonderful to see you back at the bench. One of the best Jerry, always will be. Also that method for stringing a guitar is one of the most useful things ever seen, it's the only way I've been doing it for years now. 💜
I've seen these guitars show up on marketplace for as little as $200. Pound for pound if you want a guitar to sit around a campfire with and not worry about it getting sat on it's hard to beat. My son has a DR-3 rosewood version, made in Korea in the early 80's and it purdy much kicks butt for what it is. It's literally stamped C.F. Martin & co and they were "inspected and adjusted" at the Martin factory.
I have a Sigma HD-28 copy made of all laminated woods (my first guitar from 1978). My brother has essentiall the same guitar from the late 1980's, except it has a solid top with laminated back and sides. My guitar sounds rather muted and I almost never play it now that I have a few all-solid wood guitars (including one Martin). His guitar sounds fantastic. He has a bone nut and saddle and it sounds as great as most Martin D-28s I've played, and other good players we know have also said as much. I love his guitar. True value for its price point, and hard to tell apart from a Nazareth-made Martin.
About 10 years ago i acquired a lefty Sigma DM-4 which I just love. It has a really "big" sound, with lots of both top and bottom end. And the sustain is really impressive to my ears. Serial numbers are quite close to the one in the video so they might be of the same'ish age and if my memory serves me that would be some time in the 1980's or '90s. It was previously owned by a guy playing slide on it, with a really high action. It has needed a setup ever since i bought it. I would dare the risk of doing a setup myself on a cheaper guitar, but I will never find a one like this again so for me it's priceless and I won't risk doing a setup myself. But when RU-vid figured out I have an old Sigma "by Martin" that needs a setup and threw this video at me I knew I had to watch it. But then the horror of hearing about the "belly bulge"! I immediately got my DM-4 out, picked up a straight-edge, and... yup! Mine has it to! So, how much is "bad"? I estimate the bulgeing to be 3 to 4 millimeters - lets call that roughly an eigth of an inch. How worried should I be? I measured this by putting the straight edge right behind the saddle at a 90 degree angle to the strings. I balanced it so that the distances out on the edges of the lis where equal(ish) and took the measure there. ANYONE?!? (Sorry for screaming, but I'm really worried 😢) Yes, I'm loosening the tensions on the strings right away. Re the age I just found a forum article stating that serial numbers stamped into the wood, rather than on paper labels, where used in the period 1980-1984. (Source "acousticguitarforum" dot "com", thread title "Sigma (Martin) DM-4 Need info". Found some recent sales of DM-4s and the going price seems to be 400-500 USD. I would expect the prices in Europe to be a bit higher, and then also a bit higher for a leftie. I would gladly add 50% to that if I could find another one in good shape and of the sane generation..
I never understood why so many people feel they need to replace the nut if it's not made of their favorite material. I agree with you - replace it if there is a problem with it. It can only make a difference on the open strings.
Thank you for making this video and sharing with us. I know you’re retired, but I so enjoy your repair and setup instructional videos, so this was a real treat! No one else I’ve seen explains the issues and how to fix them as well as you do. I like how you take us through the entire set of procedures; others don’t. Your camera views are also the very best (even though you state you’re “out of practice”). Thank you again from Gilbert, Arizona.
Good evening Jerry I'm surprised you're working on this guitar this late that don't really matter because you being the master I'm sure it will come out just fine God Bless you and yours ❤❤❤❤
I have a 70's Madeira solid top with laminate rosewood back and sides (the Guild made in Japan import line), and it is just a sweet, sweet guitar in every way. I've never owned a Sigma, but if made to Martin specs, there's no reason a Sigma couldn't be a fine guitar. There comes a point of diminishing returns when you build or buy an expensive guitar where you are paying more and more for less and less improvement in sound. At some point, it becomes a matter of buying a status symbol or the most outrageous bling. By the way, the Madeira is absolutely straight. No neck reset required. No distortion of the top.
Great video, always valuable to see and hear how an expert does it. Definitely ended up sounding so much better. It was interesting to me that the truss rod was absent from the discussion.
I use a violin polish (from Shar) on all my instruments. It is a white creamy liquid, it is non-abrasive and will remove light surface scuffs with some elbow grease.
Glad to see a new video! Thanks for posting and don't get lazy in your retirement.;-). I hate to bother you, but I have a 96 D28 Martin with separated bindings and just wanted to ask which glue to use to re-attach them to the body. You have two that seem ok, but I don't know if my Martin is a "new" or "old" style binding. The certified luthier I gave it to did a bad job and they separated again. Don't want to go back to him. Thanks if you can hit me back. No problem otherwise, I'll just take a shot.
that's the one issue I have with acoustics a lot of work has to go into them like fix the nut & bridge & gotta worry about getting a neck reset & the hump issue unlike electrics those are less problems to deal with..
This video came at just the right time! Maybe you have a video that would be useful for my situation or can recommend one that has reputable advice. I have two kids guitars made by Loog that someone gave me. They have those hollow feeling cheap saddles put on import guitars and ukuleles and a more solid feeling plastic nut. I want to give to my nephews these guitars, but as a guitar player, I want to make sure they’re setup right to put them on a positive path for learning that’s free of preventable frustrations - like high action on the high register and strings getting caught on a a saddle that is wearing quickly from very thin gauge metal strings (which the guitar comes with - it’s not setup for nylon - they are three strings with about .28 wound, .20, and .14 gauge). The nuts on these guitars seem to be cut well, are more solid feeling, and are a good height, so I’m less concerned about them, but when I realized the action needs lowering at the saddle side because the strings are too high below the 12th fret, I then realized I had a problem upon realizing it’s one of those hollow plastic nuts glued in there very tight. The bridge is made of wood thankfully and not plastic (which I’ve occasionally seen on inexpensive ukuleles). I’ve been looking for some advice about replacing these super cheap, hollow feeling plastic saddles that is glued in and won’t lift out easily. I’ve watched you remove old bone saddles with steam dozens of times, but I have a concern doing that on cheap, hollow feeling plastic being that steam gets quite hot. I have been trying to figure out if there’s a way to remove them without possibly melting the plastic and damaging the wood of the guitar and bridge. Is there anything I can do to replace it, or am I stuck (pun intended 😂)? Thanks for your time and expertise!
I saw a few Sigma’s in the bluegrass shop I used to play at. One guy had a group and he used his HD-28 for live on the stage but the Sigma for recording. He said his Sigma just sounded better than the D28 when it was recorded. His Sigma was rosewood also.
38:55 In Europe the Martin picks show their gauges in mm, not in inches. I prefer the .071mm celluloid from Martin and the .073mm Ultex from Martin on .012-.053" set of phosphor bronze on most dreadnoughts. Gibson guitars seem to respond better to .081mm ABS from Alice. I bought 50 mixed Alice picks in a box that amongst other things serve as action gauges. They cost around 5 cts each. There's 0.58, 0.71, 0.81, 0.96, 1.20 and 1.50 mm. By stagging them I create all kinds of action gauges.
The Sigma name has been used at least 3 times over the years for Martin based import instruments. My understanding is the newest ones are the best made .
I’m not sure if I agree with you on that heel button attachment. I agree there is some roll and a possibility of the strap coming off,but putting a hole and a screw into the grain seems like it would weaken it, putting the screw into the heel, pulls the wood fibers together rather than acting to spears them. I have never seen one where they actually spit the neck at the screw, but I have seen a few with the heel cracked. Just my thoughts, you make a good point about the leverage on the neck with the strap under the nut. I only do that on mandolins. Makes me think of musicians who walk around carrying with their guitar over their shoulder, holding it by the neck. I don’t do that.
I've an early Sigma 12. I've always regretted naively not taking an actual Martin 12 for a song as it had a factory repaired top crack. Turned it down multiple times years apart..idiot. But the Sigma is still a fantastic playing and sounding guitar. Perhaps it's laminate, never looked. No cracks though either.
I have an old Sigma guitar from the 70s that is a twin to this one. Coincidentally it has the same problems as the one you worked on here. A video, for me, that is made to order. I am curious, what is a guitar like this worth? I bought it many, many years ago, used, cheap. Thanks for the video. Great info. Especially for me.
Does it have a FOOTBALL stamp in the sound hole ? If it does. The 6 string models are worth about $ 500 - 800.... 12 string models probably double that because of a lack of production of them . About $ 1000 - 1500 . That's just according to my research. I am not a guitar estimater.
My local luthier managed to take a twist out of the neck of my Korean era Sigma DR-41. It is one of my favorite guitars. Plays and sounds exactly like it's Martin counterpart.
I have a real Martin DM ... DM standing for Dreadnought Mahogany.. and it is laminate back and sides .. I don't know if the Sigma is the same but ...mine is a bolt on mortise and tenon ... You simply remove the wooden name plate on the inside at the neck block. Its easy to do because it's just on there with double stick tape ... and the neck bolt in under that plate.. And the only thing you have to do is heat up the fretboard extension and lift the neck off ... simple . Mine wasn't glued on all that bad ...
Quite a noticeable improvement. A well set up midline guitar beats a high end guitar that's not. And you can play the dives and not get mugged for your axe.
This man and his smile! You ever think about politics Rosa? They could use you and that great smile of yours! Trump And Rosa! “Making America’s people and guitars better everyday”! 🤦😂🇨🇦
Why did you not check the action at the 12th fret with a capo on the first fret and holding down the string at the neck joint fret? I thought this was always necessary to check if the truss rod needed adjustment.
I got my hands on a Sigma, with the same headstock lettering. Estimate mine is 40 years +/- old. Fantastic, warm sound. Love it. Check of Wikipedia indicates that it would have been made in Japan, between 1970 and 1975. As for serial numbers, looks like they were only there for looks, not necessarily for tracking. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigma_Guitars
