D10N old acoustic, wear and tear

[CuriousCaribou]

Hi, first post, so be gentle.

Rather than post on a generic guitar forum, thought I'd at least post on the washburn one, just in case there are any particulars I'm missing.

Had a D10N for Oo 14 years maybe?  And since then, despite my efforts to keep it well looked after, its inevitably developed intonation issues which mean I no longer play it much.  As its my only acoustic (I know, bout time I upgraded huh) I'm wondering whether you guys think it would be worth getting a refret for some of the worn down frets on 2nd, 3rd, 5th frets.

The weird thing is, despite the grooves on these frets, if I tune each string to a fretted note, say the 5th, most of the strings played open are more or less in tune - except the dreaded B string, which is markedly flat, as is the E string.  Both these will be 'in tune' on almost any fret except open.  This means that I have to tuned differently depending on what I play - if I'm playing the B/E open a lot, I have to avoid the first few frets on those strings, and if I'm frertting - avoid playing them open.  It bugs me to the point where I can't be botherd to play it.
Trying to be clever, I purchased a compensated saddle (TusQ I believe) and filed/sanded it down to a touch higher than the original to raise the action a tad - made sure the bottom was perfectly flat and smooth.  Verdcit?  same problem, even to the same degree, no worse, no better, no worse, sounds exactly the same.  Its had a fishman pickup installed, sans onboard electronics (I built a FET preamp into the end of a 1/4 jack so it has its own cable), and I don't know if the tech replaced the original saddle, or just filed down the original.

 So a couple of questions,

1. Reckon its worth tkaing it to a guitar tech and perhaps paying up to £50 UK for a new saddle (and possibly nut) ?  Given its age, many friends have just told me to buy a new acoustic and I should 'let go' but I've yet to play anything that handles strumming AND finger picking folk as well as this thing for less than £700

2. Do newer D10's use compensated saddles?  If so, perhaps they have changed the design slightly to accomodate for this.

[t.y.]

Welcome C.C.  For me, if it was my guitar, I would keep and fix.  My 98 D10TR. had a bone saddle, I bought it used off E-Bay. so could have been changed. My other three D10's all came with compensated saddles. There 2006 & 2009 & 2010 models, if I remember rite. It sounds like you really like this guitar, thats not always easy to find.    Tom.   

[ship of fools]

I have  a friend ( is known as Treeroot here ) in Northhamptonshire who does a great job at making saddles maybe you should try and see what he might be able to do for you and as only several of your frets are worn down you might be able to get away with having them replaced and the rest polished and leveled.
So the decision is up to you , though it does seem a bit pricey for a new saddle ( and possible nut ) as for its age well it isn't really that old 14 years is still considered very young for a guitar, maybe your mates are hoping to scoop yours if you buy something new.ship

[CuriousCaribou]

Cheers guys!

I knew you would be somewhat biased towards keeping the D10 (is a washburn forum after all) but as you correctly noticed - I'm hooked on it.  Even the martins I've played in the local shop just don't have the same folky tone I can get from this.

So I'll take it to a couple of techs first and demand a quote - rather than just ask for a setup.  Last time I did that a while ago I was sacked off and they just said 'naa its fine', so either my ears have gone out of tune, or they just thought it wasn't worth it for what they considered a 'budget' guitar.

As for asking 'treeroot' about a saddle, I might just do that!  Original saddle and nut are plastic (replacement was tusq but... not sure its a perfect match) so I'll replace those anyway as part of maintainance.

I'll let you know how things go, just wondered if it was a common problem with these guitars, its age, how I've treated it or what.

[stuosborn]

Maybe too late...why not capo on the first fret, then tune the strings down to normal tuning (that is, tune each capoed string down half a step). Cheap solution, hopefully.