Nate Dort wrote: Tue Dec 30, 2025 8:20 am

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Mon Dec 29, 2025 11:17 pm

Nate Dort wrote: Fri Dec 26, 2025 9:10 pmCut a new piece of foam for the bridge mute.

Great post. What did you use for the foam? How did you seal it to the mute?

I’ve got to do this - mine works except for the E and A strings, which I’ve adapted to, but I really need to fix this and don’t trust the local guys to do something like this as I use the mute a lot.

I got a $3 sample of this closed-cell foam: https://www.ebay.com/itm/155340821860

3/16" thick. They sent me enough to cut about 20 of these mute pads. I used DAP Weldwood contact cement to secure it.

I don't know if it's going to work or last until I get this thing strung up. It seems like it might not be sturdy enough. I might make one out of something denser, like neoprene mousepad material or something.

Beautiful work! I'm not sure if it's Torlex-approved or not since there's no snakesking involved but I'd like to think he's hissing approval down from his warm sunny patch of highway in the sky.

HMU if you end up getting a pile of those brass saddles machined. I'd rather have some on hand for mine if I end up needing them rather than panicking when I don't.

Garth wrote: Tue Dec 30, 2025 11:58 am
HMU if you end up getting a pile of those brass saddles machined. I'd rather have some on hand for mine if I end up needing them rather than panicking when I don't.

^Same! I just picked up a Magnum (should be here in a few days) and it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a few extras around for when one inevitably disappears on me.

I've owned two magnums now, and they've both had saddle issues. My Magnum III's g-string saddle had been filed/worn too wide, so it buzzed like crazy. I had to run a thicker string only in that position to compensate. I thought about soldering the slot back full and then refiling it to the correct width. Might work for a bit.

Nate Dort wrote: Tue Dec 30, 2025 8:20 am

llllllllllllllllllll wrote: Mon Dec 29, 2025 11:17 pm

Nate Dort wrote: Fri Dec 26, 2025 9:10 pmCut a new piece of foam for the bridge mute.

Great post. What did you use for the foam? How did you seal it to the mute?

I’ve got to do this - mine works except for the E and A strings, which I’ve adapted to, but I really need to fix this and don’t trust the local guys to do something like this as I use the mute a lot.

I got a $3 sample of this closed-cell foam: https://www.ebay.com/itm/155340821860

3/16" thick. They sent me enough to cut about 20 of these mute pads. I used DAP Weldwood contact cement to secure it.

I don't know if it's going to work or last until I get this thing strung up. It seems like it might not be sturdy enough. I might make one out of something denser, like neoprene mousepad material or something.

Mousepad material was the move. It feels way more robust. I think the ebay stuff would have worked for a while, but would have eventually torn/disintegrated.

Magnum saddles arrived:



I realized after the fact there's actually two different heights on the stock saddles. Inside strings vs. outside strings. Luckily I copied the taller one, so it should be simple enough to file them thinner to match the stock height.

I've got a couple sizing tweaks (countersink depth and hole placement) I need to make to get them closer to the originals, but overall I'm happy with how they turned out. Now I just need to figure out how many I should order for a group-buy. Maybe I'll throw it out to the magnum fb group.

Those saddles look great. I didn't know it was that easy to farm out custom small-batch casting like that. The rough surface texture isn't a match to the original, but I like the look a little better.

Also, the woodworking on the Ovation is great as well. I like that you were able to address this in spots rather than do an entire refinish.

twelvepoint wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 6:41 am Those saddles look great. I didn't know it was that easy to farm out custom small-batch casting like that. The rough surface texture isn't a match to the original, but I like the look a little better.

They might be 3D printed?

Dr Tony Balls wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 9:02 am

twelvepoint wrote: Fri Jan 09, 2026 6:41 am Those saddles look great. I didn't know it was that easy to farm out custom small-batch casting like that. The rough surface texture isn't a match to the original, but I like the look a little better.

They might be 3D printed?

CNC'ed and bead-blasted. I didn't want a bunch of tooling marks. I've had some other parts laser-sintered in the past and finish was very similar, but those were in steel and this place didn't offer it in brass.

The photo makes it look rougher than it really is, they're actually smoother than the cast originals. Here's a better photo.

I mean, the color isn't the same, so they're going to look different if you mix and match anyway.

Ovation Magnum (cont.):

Performed my first ever refret. Took my time, turned out OK. Had to fill and/or glue a lot of fretboard chips though. Old ebony will do that, apparently.
It required making the fret slots deeper and slightly wider to accommodate the new jumbo fretwire. I made a slot cleaning hook from an old hacksaw blade. I also ended up buying quite a few new tools, but I'm still way ahead vs. what it would have cost me to take it to a luthier.

I used my drill press a fret press with a fitting attached to the chuck. The neck radius is somewhere between 9.5" and 10". Neither press insert fit the radius perfectly, so had to swap back and forth to get the new frets full seated.

Cleaning up the extra glue was the biggest hassle of the process. It would run out of the fret slots and down the back of the neck, so I had to sand it down and apply a few more coats of wipe-on poly to get it looking good again.

Leveling and crowning was tedious. Better quality tools would have helped here, I think. Especially the crowning file. I don't really like the one I got, it doesn't cut fast enough.

The new brass saddles are just barely too wide to fit into the bridge, so I'll need to file the sides. NBD. I measured the originals and they're just *ever so slightly* tapered.