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Hi, I am still a little confused by the new look of the forum, hope this is the right place to ask. Which fretwire would you recommend for a refret of this 70s LP? The current frets are 2.75mm wide, but dressed down to 0,35mm height. I have heard storys about frets that are this low but never seen in real life before :-) (0.108" wide and 0.014" height). Thank you in advance :-)

Long story short, customer want to add carbon fiber in the neck for strength. Without string tension, the neck is dead straight; with strings, it's about double the relief he'd like. Is it insane to add carbon to this guitar? Or is it fine?

Hi friends, I just stumbled upon a 1966 P-Bass, nearly completely original. The owner bought it in 1971 and it had already been stripped of its original finish. That was a thing back then. You can guess that 55 years of gigging had the wood absorb much of the owner’s DNA and sweat. Maybe a few beers as well. Surface was quite tacky as you can expect. I cleaned it with naphta and StewMac’c brand-new cleaner (quite a great product I'd say…

Here are some pics of 1918-1922 Gibson A3 "Ivory" Mandolin Dovetail Joint Measurements and Angles.

Hey guys. I guess this is an old topic, everyone talks about it but I haven't been able to find a definitive solution for this. Here's the deal: I'm working on a PRS Silversky that has this old problem that when you use the trem bar, one string (G in this case) goes sharp. I made a few adjustments to the nut as we all know that's the first thing to look at...no good. This guitar is new so I'm pretty much ruling out the bridge and posts si…

Hello, I hope everyone is having a great 4th of July weekend so far. I was recently asked by a friend to work on a cheap S101 bass someone had given to him. It had no electronics and it was severally back bowed. After finishing up the electronics, I did the set up. He wanted the guitar tuned low, to Drop C. So, I went out and bought some Ernie Ball Power Slinkies 55-110. Once I got to the nut depth check, it was clear there were large, g…

Hi all, I got a Do Santos DSMSCC RC in shop, the Spanish heel has failed , or rather collapsed into the soundboard, splitting it on both sides along the grain, a broken brace just under the fingerboard extension , cracks on both sides on the top/side bindings, I measured wood humidity on the fingerboard 9% and inside the (very inaccessible) body 11% The normal procedure would be to re-humidify before jacking or clamping back into place ,…

Question about splines: At what point are they necessary? My question is primarily regarding the crack to the left between the bridge and the sound hole as well as the crack at the upper bout that runs along the fingerboard extension. I have already glued them both and used the TJ cleats that run the full length of the cracks. I have already splined the lower bout crack that runs from the bridge to the binding as it was super gappy and d…

Sadowsky use unique control plate screws which are much smaller than common plate screws. I believe the ones they use are: #3 × 3/8" Phillips Pan(domed) Head Black Oxide csk self tapping Sheet Metal Screw Type AB thread. Being in the UK, these are really hard to find, pretty much don’t exist here, so can anyone please help me or point me in the direction of a supplier? I’ve contacted Sadowsky direct with no response and also many of my main…

So today, while restringing a guitar, one of my techs dropped a .012 e string that slid down the wall and landed on a plug that was just slightly loose from the outlet. It landed just right and made a huge spark. No lesson to be learned here but a crazy thing to happen! We are changing our name to Sparky’s Guitar Service. 😬

A customer brought in a Gibson ivory top A3 mandolin. It's in good shape and has all the parts. He found it at the local thrift store here in Bishop. He wants it mechanically sound. Here are the problems: 1) Everything that comes into the shop has a shrinkage component and the effects of course very from instrument to instrument. This instrument is no exception and the results of that shrinkage, in this case, are severe. The top, ba…

First time making purfling to match a repair. Problem: couldn’t get it to bend without delaminating and cracking. Veneer is 6 plies using 4 of SMs 0.023” and 2 maple at 0.025” cut to 1 1?2 inches wide. Glue up with Titebond Veneer glue, final stack at 0.140” thick. Let it dry 2 days, cut a few 0.090” strips, then used some super soft just at the waist and despite going very slowly the strip skewed, delaminated and started to break plies. W…

HI EVERONE! I just found a sealed box ready to ship that must have been sitting awhile. In it I found a new "signed" Opti-visot with t double lenses as the one I use I know it was ready to ship to someone, and I think it was a LG person. If you are the person that I promised to send this too, please let me know. Thanks, Dan Erlewiine

Thought fellow looths might enjoy this geekery. I've often wished for custom size heating blankets, but didn't even try uploading the file to get a quote from some of the major manufacturers. I was looking to spend countless hours of my life on something and save a hundred bucks. So I did some research, a little bit of head scratching, a slight bit of math reckoning, and made this '70s Martin bridge plate remover. Pretty slick, nice…

Love the new look and navigation. Good work. I do miss the Video Archive Page as it was a constant reference source for me. Is there a way to those links that I am not seeing.

Whadda shock when I signed onto the website this morning! Looks great, Ian! And responsive, too. The downside of all these improvements? I’ll spend far too much time on the computer rather than working in the shop. Great work and congrats to all of you who make the LoothGroup a reality. (But Ian still hates guitars - me too..) Rick