The Hub

Before I hack into the Yamaha, I would like to get the opinion of the experts on a method of steaming the upper end of the guitar and ‘pressing’ the neck down to adjust the angle back to factory. There are several you-tubers that have tried and recommend it. My novice intuition is that even though it may work, wont the steaming of other areas of the body such as upper braces, etc, end up weakening the construction (glue stability) to…

I am looking for new ideas on tools or methods for cleaning under partially loose braces to insure a good glue joint. In the past I've tried flossing with sandpaper, using the metal cutting edge from a wax paper box, maybe some extra thin files. In this job, one of the loose braces is up against the bridge plate, so it's impossible to pass something all the way through. The loose parts are marked with the red ellipses.

Hello everyone, I use a Stewmac japanese fretsaw (which produces .023" wide fretslots, matching the width of the tang of stewmac wire) to recut my slots on refrets. The saw does a good job making the slots deeper, but struggles to make them wider and binds like crazy throughout the process. I think that is due to it not having enough (or any) set, so in theory it only cut downwards and does a poor job removing material from the slot wall…

Hello fellow looths! I recently had a customer come in with a '71 Fender neck that is a fusion of the 60s and 70s style. It has a veneer fretboard, no skunkstripe, 4 screwholes, 70s style tuners, 70s headstock logo, and it seems like it has a poly finish on the back of the neck, and nitro (with cracking) on the front of the headstock. Can anyone tell me if this combination is possible or could it be fake? Another thing is, even without th…

I have a red-label Yamaha FG-180 that’s in overall nice condition, but the neck angle is poor and the heel is already cracked. I’d like to attempt a neck reset, but I’m unsure how to proceed given the existing crack. Should I approach the reset as usual, or plan an alternate method because of the damage? Has anyone here tackled a reset on a guitar with a pre-existing heel crack? I know a crack can develop during the reset process, but I…

It was only a matter of time before one of these arrived on my bench. The neck on this 71 SG Deluxe is caving through to the neck pickup cavity— In a similar fashion to what happens on old jr’s. Both sides of the cutaway have cracks that extend through to the pickup route and I can flex them easily. Problem is that the cracks are not straight and wander all over. I worry about being able to get enough glue in there because of this. Thin…

In this video, I show an alternative way to remove humbucker covers with no soldering required. Check it out and enjoy!

Wondering what methods people use for tracing the shape of a cavity to make new covers, backplates, or switch-plates? Attaching a photo example of a battery cavity that's missing a cover and wondering what the best way would be to trace and reference the size so I can transfer it to a cardboard cutout and eventually cut a piece of wood to cover the cavity?

Hello fellow looths ! I'm deciding on a repair method for the jack recessed/angled hole on this Aria Pro SB bass. What kind of direction would you take ?

Hello good people, My shop’s in Quebec City, so I get to repair an ungodly amount of cracks thanks to our brutal winter and customers being largely unaware of the requirements of maintaining proper RH. Now for the first time (call me lucky) I have two very good guitars in the shop whose cracks won't close up after having been rehumidified for a few weeks. I have tried over-humidifying and it does it, but once returned to proper RH (50%)…

Please can I see some quick cauls for dealing with fret pressing at heel transitions? For pressed / glued in frets or clamping down lifting fret ends in this area. I’ve tried a few different methods now and not entirely happy with any of them

Hi everyone, I’m messed up, dinged a guitar and now I need some advice. I was relocating a screw hole in the top of a capri orange Mexican made telecaster when my drill bit broke and I punched an extra hole in the guitar top. 🤦 I called the owner and told him what happened and he’s going to let me try and fill it in. I don’t do much finish work so I’m not sure what the best method would be. I’m considering gluboost and their MasterTint pr…

I'm still working on this 1958 Country Gent and I am getting closer to getting past the structural stuff and on to the finish work. The entire body appears to have been resprayed with what I'm guessing is some sort of poly a long time ago. It's very yellowed, has multiple big drips across the entire body and flakes right off in big pieces. My plan is to remove it all, clean it up a bit and then respray with nitro. Anyone have great advi…