Actual post date: June 29, 2010

Now that I had the guitar, there was a little bit of work to be done. First, the guitar only had 4 strings, so I needed some strings (several sets to take and leave in Peru), and the gig-bag that the guitar came in wouldn't protect it very well even as a carry-on piece of luggage.

I also noticed that the saddle piece on the bridge needed some care as it had some grooves in it from old strings. I lightly sanded off the grooves with some 220 sandpaper. Then I oiled the rosewood fretboard with a product called Lizard Spit, which is really mostly lemon oil.

But Mission Trip Guitar needed that case and some new strings.

This is where Bill and Carol from Music Central in Colorado Springs come into the story of the Mission Trip Guitar. Bill and Carol gave me a great discount on a thicker padded

gig bag, 5 sets of strings, a bunch of picks and a strap.

Here you see Mission Trip Guitar with it's new strings and strap. I noticed that there was a bit of a buzz when playing any note that matched the open B string. I could not figure out where it was coming from. I noticed also that the action was a little high once I had MTG strung with a full set of strings at proper tension. That's when the light went on - I bet the truss rod was loose in the neck. So I loosened the strings and removed the truss rod cover up

on the headstock. Sure enough, the truss rod was completely loose. Truss rod adjustments are always a nervous adventure. There's always the chance

you can over tighten and break the thing. But since this one was entirely loose, I had less worries. I

gave it a few turns and it tightened up and started to pull the strings lower in action once I put the strings under tension. Success! Buzz -eliminated.

Here's a shot of MTG's new case that I picked up at Music Central on Academy.

I'm still a little worried that in the event I might have to gate-check the guitar, it might not survive airport/airline handling, so I'm going to do a couple things: 1. I have some heavy cardboard that I will use to line the case. 2. I am going to put an old sweater or sweatshirt on MTG before putting it into the case, and wrap the neck and headstock in a towel. Hopefully that will do the trick.