The Hub

Hello, I just received an unfinished, slotted but not fretted maple neck from Warmoth. I believe standard practice is to fret then finish but I’m curious if it might be better finish before fretting? I understand one would want to prevent finish from entering the slots. I’m and going to use tru oil and do a light finish, maybe three or four light coats. Thoughts for this beginner? Dave

I've built a number of classical guitars with an adjustable neck and they seem to gather quite a bit of interest, so i'm currently in the process of looking to refine the design and build. It's quite a simple construction where the neck is held together by string tension and hangs on a pivot. I developed a 3d printed "socket" which acts as the interface between the body and the guitar and allows for some fine tuning of the alignment of t…

Here You'll seehere pin tip sized bubbles. Nitro finish. It got hot in a case. They'll need a light amagolmater mixture applied to melt'm back into the surface. Im looking for advice on the recipe for said amagolmater....Straight retarder? Im not sure if Id need lacquer in the mix that I apply....Thank you! Colin O'Brien LittleCreek Instrument Repair, Nashville. Images

Hi everyone - I recently ran into trouble making new nut for one of my necks that needed to be trued and re-fretted. I roughed in the nut as usual and then, with the bass guitar fully assembled and strung up, I started cutting the slots to depth. I use the StewMac digital nut slot depth gauge and have had good results in the past. I marked the nut's lowest points (radiused) using the guitar nut scribe tool (first time using this!) and c…

Hello All! My first post and I'm very happy to be here and share the highs and lows of this pony ride. After years of bending sides on a hot pipe or bending machines belonging to 'other people', I finally built myself a bending machine. Functionally it is great, but the result on some test material was far from great. See pictures attached. What you see here is a doug fir 'test side' that certainly came out guitar shaped, but oh my, what…

Hi, I'm wondering how to achieve this color on a guitar. It's Sparkle Burgundy. I suspect the clear varnish has yellowed with age, which is why it has a coppery effect depending on the light. Can you recommend a varnish to achieve this effect? ​​Should I use a UV lamp after varnishing to age the varnish? Thanks in advance for your help.

I've only built a handful of necks and most of them have been roasted maple fretboards. This time around I am using a beautiful and incredibly stiff/hard piece of ebony. I am doing a light hammering in of the frets to get them seated and then using the hand-held vice clamps from Stewmac with the correct fretboard radius to push them down evenly the rest of the way. This process works just fine on roasted maple. It's just a softer wood t…

Wow! Sorry I missed the live version of this chat. Having used light cured dental materials for years, I can guess the answers to some of your questions. Beware, these are only guesses because the dental materials are similar, but likely a bit different. First, as far as wearing the orange glasses - it’s a darn good idea. Repeated exposure to a bright light, especially with blue components, will likely promote cataract formation. I do no…

Hi all, I was fortunate enough to have been gifted a Brazilian RW B&S set from a friend who inherited it. Unfortunately, while the back pieces were nicely bookmatched, the side pieces apparently were orphans. One of the sides matches the back closely enough, but the other is pretty light, and the contrast is....stark. I want to darken-up the lighter side, but I don't want to just hit it with my best guess for a stain, cross my fingers, a…

Initial frequency analysis of this D28 copy (done with a temporary 35g bolt-on bridge and the back plate taped on) is VERY LOW. Main air resonance 83.5hz and top monopole 156.6. It's standard Martin scalloped X-bracing with a torrefied Adirondack top. Since I can still easily access the bracing, I'm thinking of going in and laminating wood on top of the X brace to stiffen it. Other options would be a very light bridge, though I'm not…

Has anyone had luck contacting UV III Systems? I’ve called, could not leave a message, emailed them and never heard back, tried ordering replacement bulbs today and their website had an error. Not sure where to get the specific bulbs for our UV4-XL curing light.

Has anyone here sprayed a Martin-Style Ambertone top? Curious how you approach it color wise....seems to me the amber base coat is a very orange/red color, then a very light and warm feathered in brown

Hey all, I met the rep for Avant UV Coatings last weekend at the FB Summit. The product seems very interesting, potentially safer and relatively inexpensive to get into with curing lights starting at $250. It uses the UVA spectrum, cleans up with alcohol is HAP and VOC free (according to their info), and does not require any hazardous waste disposal. Does anyone here have any experience with this product? Thanks!

Hey guys, Trying my first bound headstocks and need some advice on how to approach it once I get to my nut area. I usually shape the headstock with a template and leave about 1/8” before the nut untouched so don’t roll the shape I to the nut slot area(aka a bad time). How do you all approach this process and specifically the nut slot area. I’ve attached some photos so you can see what I mean. Veneer on headstock is about 2mm. Neck is lig…