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Dupont Nomade

Well after posting here a few times regarding this guitar, among others, I took the advice of some here by first, waiting patiently on the right deal and secondly going for the Dupont (without playing it first, based on reputation alone).

Am i glad i did???

YES!

Picked up a second hand Nomade on ebay.fr for 750 euro, delivered,(which worked out nice in the end too as i received around this much from the sale of the Gibson), . It was made June 2003 and is the oval hole model.
The action is about 4 - 4.5mm @ 12th fret with no2 bridge and 11's.

I would like to ask some of the other owners here how they have theirs set up? I know it's common opinion around here for Duponts set at around 2.5mm @12th fret with 11's. Now at first i felt like the action was maybe just a little high at 4.5mm as i've gradually brought my other guitar down to the point 11's sound good but 10's buzz.
I'm not into making any real sudden changes, i've orderd a couple of sets of 10's, I'm gonna try them first and see if this makes a difference, other than that i think i'd need to look at purchasing a #1 bridge and sticking with the 11's.
If anyone has any opinions on their set up or ideas I'd love to hear them, especially anyone with a Dupont or Nomade.

Cheers.
:D
«13

Comments

  • MichaelHorowitzMichaelHorowitz SeattleAdministrator
    Posts: 6,152
    Most of the Duponts we have are setup around 3.2mm with 11 gauge Gallis. So easy to play and the sound is great. I usually find overly high action and/or light strings are not ideal for Duponts. They seem to do better with lower action and medium strings.

    'm
  • BluesBop HarryBluesBop Harry Mexico city, MexicoVirtuoso
    Posts: 1,379
    Congrats on the new guitar!
    I also own and love a Dupont Nomade, mine was also made on June 2003!!
    My guitar differs a little from the current model in that the back and sides are Walnut and the top is solid Sitka spruce, sounds great.

    Regarding action, yours sounds a little high... you'll probably enjoy the guitar more with a lower setup.
    Since I mainly use this guitar for amplified gigs (it has a bigtone) I keep the action rather low (less than 3mm) but right now I have the bridge shimmed a bit so I get better volume and tone out of it when played acoustically (Getting ready for Samois!!).

    One cool little trick someone showed me for Nomade owners:
    For lowering the action on a Nomade without shaving the bridge you can take the neck off and insert a very thin shim (wood, paper, cardboard, plastic) about an inch wide at the base of the heel, this will increase the neck angle and lower the action, pretty cool eh?
    You can experiment with different shim thicknesses until you get it right which for me is about 3mm. for the low E at the 12 fret.
    The #1 bridge was way too low for me, so I use a lowered #2, but with that shimming trick you don't need to change or alter your bridge.


    As for strings I used Argentines 11s since I got the guitar and they work well, now with the higher action I discovered that a set of 10s with a 11 and 15 for the high E and B works better for this particular guitar.

    Keep us posted,
    Cheers!
  • Swing 69Swing 69 ScotlandNew
    Posts: 81
    Thanks guys.
    Personally I really don't like 10's (just ordered 2 sets :x ). I like 11's as things stand. I've heard alot of people say only 10's etc but i just don't think the tone's there with 10's and when coming into the genre from 12's and 13's on regular acoustic guitars, 10's seem obscene.
    I hear the "that's what django used etc cos there were no 11's" (I think correct me if I'm wrong) but I'm kinda of the opinion that if they were there available he would have used em!!. Just my opinion.
    Anyway off on one there.
    I had a look at the bridge and was just a little apprehensive about sanding it down as any sanding will remove the feet that sit on the braces and I'll then need to get them back. If i make a b@#ls up of it I'll kill myself!.
    Shimming the neck, never occurred to me and it's a very interesting take on it, maybe.
    Blues Bop, you say the #1 was too low?.
    You see I'm not finding it too hard to play lead, I've played higher. It's Just a long way to press down for some chords higher up the neck and there's alot of string tension there too. I'm getting into the Gypsy rhythm book just now and finally able to play them m6/9 chords etc with the narrower neck, a lower action definitely would make things easier.
    This guitar is loud enough though like this......(When i hear what's happening with the Busatos Mr Dupont is making just now i can only wonder. the luxe is beautiful!...one day maybe), it's cutting through when playing in numbers. I'm using john pearse now, i've tried most strings but i'll maybe try the 10's with the 11 and 15.
    Cheers guys.
  • BluesBop HarryBluesBop Harry Mexico city, MexicoVirtuoso
    Posts: 1,379
    Swing 69 wrote:
    Shimming the neck, never occurred to me and it's a very interesting take on it, maybe.
    Blues Bop, you say the #1 was too low?.
    That shim trick is really neat though it only works with bolt on necks.
    The #1 bridge didn't work for me, way too low. Better to lower a #2... BTW don't take wood off the bottom, instead deepen the slots on the top and then sand off the surrounding wood so they are only half as deep as the string's wide. Don't take too much wood off anyway.
    There's no need to do that if you shim the neck, a little piece or two of a camembert cheese wooden box should do the trick. Try it.

    Aside from being hard to play if your action is too high the intonation will really be off. More than 3.5mm and things really get out of whack.

    My Nomade has a very thin top and I found the looser string tension of the 10s really opened up the sound with the heavier unwound strings bringing back the meat on the highs.
    A joy to play, buzz free with a great tone and volume.
  • Swing 69Swing 69 ScotlandNew
    Posts: 81
    YEAH! I had the neck off. V thin top!!! Quality!

    Again I can be a dimwit, never EVER thought of taking the string slots down as opposed to shaving off the feet. Good idea!!!!
    Will probably try that as opposed to raising neck via bolt on. A little unsure about that, but the bolt on does have its advantages as I'm sure you posted before BluesBop, access to higher frets is one big advantage.
    It never occurred to me about intonation either.
    I shall experiment over the coming months I think. The secret being not to make too drastic a change at a time.
    Thanks for your replies guys. Love this forum.

    Cheers.
  • BluesBop HarryBluesBop Harry Mexico city, MexicoVirtuoso
    Posts: 1,379
    I would try the neck shim before altering the bridge as the first is reversible.
    You don't raise the whole neck but just the end of it so the angle at which the neck meets the body is increased.
    Slack all the strings completely, if you want you can put a capo on to keep them in place, loosen or take off the bolts, insert a business card at the end of the heel pocket towards the soundhole, below the last frets, reattach the neck, restring, tune to pitch and check.
    A little angle change goes a long way, so start with one thin piece and if you need more just add another.
    If that doesn't please you go for lowering the bridge, keep in mind that if you take a lot off you'll have to reshape the bridge a little to keep the original contour and width of the top, it's a thin line between just right and too low so be careful.
    Good luck!!
  • HCQHCQ Northeast NJ✭✭✭
    Posts: 225
    Shimming the neck as previously described is well known to many players who set up Fender guitars and basses.

    The trick here is that very little increased neck angle goes a very long way in perceivable playing feel. The problem with shims is that if there is a little bit of air space, it could cause some problems. Most notable is the so-called "rising tongue", which is basically a warp in the fret board.

    The best and easiest way to avoid this is to use low tack masking tape to make your shim out of. House painters use this kind of tape as it does not fuse onto whatever surface the tape is stuck to and is easy removable.

    If you get 1 inch wide tape, you can put some onto the end/edge of the neck's base. The tape should be applied across the neck's base horizontally, meaning parallel with the frets. The next piece abuts the edge of the previous piece and is closer to the peg head. Then put a second layer on the very first piece you stuck on. This means that the neck's end has 2 layers of tape and the next adjacent piece has only one layer.

    If you go for three pieces of tape, the stacked layers would be 3 layers at the neck base edge, then next one 2 layers and then next just 1 layer. On Fender guitars this 3-2-1 stack creates a pretty good neck angle. Adding widths of tape with a 4-3-2-1 layered stack creates a very, very steep angle.

    I hope the above is clear in meaning. Its easy to do, its reversible and there is no chance of the neck's fingerboard's shape distorting over time.

    Good luck in whatever you decide to do and enjoy that new ax!
    HCQ
  • Craig BumgarnerCraig Bumgarner Drayden, MarylandVirtuoso Bumgarner S/N 001
    Posts: 795
    I assume the portion of the fingerboard that extends onto the body is not glued to the body. Is it a tight fit or does it float like an archtop? Assuming it is tight, what happens when you shim it up? I would think it would come up off the top and there would be a gap and it would be weak and flexible. But I'm not hearing any complaints, so my thinking must be screwy. Set me straight.

    I'd love to see some detailed pictures of this arrangement. The ones I've seen so far don't show much. Can't tell a thing from the ones on Dupont's site.

    Craig
  • BluesBop HarryBluesBop Harry Mexico city, MexicoVirtuoso
    Posts: 1,379
    You're right it isn't glued at any point, it's a pretty tight fit without shims, shimming will put a bit of a gap but the fingerboard it's fat enough so it isn't weak or flexible.
    Next time I take the neck off I'll be sure to take some pictures for you.
    Right now I'm designing a case to put the body and detached neck so it be plane cabin ready.
  • Swing 69Swing 69 ScotlandNew
    Posts: 81
    Well guys, I shimmed it up with the masking tape at my work the other night, to begin with a ratio of 4-3-2-1. re - attached neck tuned up and action was perfect!, however, serious buzzing, on D string in particular, up and down :(, lost tone volume etc so started to take off a layer at a time. I Basically ended up back where I started.

    I've put 10's on and voilà, string tension (=playability) is much better but still, of course, action is a little high. I don't think it'll matter what I do, I like 11's.

    I think the problem here with this is that because the change is made almost half way up the string length, yes the action is better but the relief in the neck is out of whack. I think that will mean adjustment of truss rod???

    I'm not really into messing with that or the bridge. There's a guy fairly local, I think I'll give him a call and see if he can set this baby up for 11's with the action I'm looking for.

    Hopefully he can decide if the the bridge needs altered or if I can shim the neck and adjust the truss rod, what the hell if I'm at it a fret level too?? I hear it here a bit, I've never had it done, he may even suggest it, what really are the benefits of this and is it expensive?.
    Cheers.
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