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Tom Krebs DiscussionDiscussions

Air Filtration Hood Setup for SM Buffer

We just ordered the StewMac buffer. Looking for ideas/photos for a hood(s) to remove all the particles flying off. We have a 4 inch 1250 cfm dust collection system. Thanks for any input. Tom K

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Doug's solution is a lot better than mine. These do a pretty good job of catching the fluff when raking out the buffs. They are attached with a single bolt with a lock nut and swivel back out of the w…
Private member Discussion3D Printing

OG Proper's Relief Gauge Parts

Hey folks! I picked up a neck relief gauge from Doug in one of the earlier batches, maybe the introductory run? Some of the small feet caps that thread onto the moving legs of the tool have cracked, broken, or become worn down. I contacted StewMac about purchasing replacement parts, but they don't sell subparts for the relief gauge and otherwise won't help me. They appear 3D printed, so I was wondering if anyone with the means to print s…

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Ha! Mine took a freakish heicopter dive off the bench first day i had it and shattered the feet on each end ( flat style ) and i had hoped to sorce some replacements as well! Definitely looking to sou…
Private member DiscussionShare Your Repair Content

Introducing the NutBuster

Hello All I have been using Ted Bergstrand's online nut calculator on Benchmuse.com which is excellent. It allows you to have a consistent gap between each strings vs the progressive gap that the Stewmac rule gives you. Or you can do consistent centers to the strings. I have definitely found measuring the nut with calipers to work a lot better than the stewmac rule and don't use the rule anymore. I wanted some additional functionality…

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PS All Hail Ted Bergstrand who introduced me to many very useful things. Kind of nuts how many things I use now that Ted turned me on to.
Tom Krebs DiscussionGeneral

Source for the rubber material found on ...

I'm looking the name and source for the rubber material found on the jaws of the Stewmac pattern makers vise and the Proper Work Station. Not having good search luck Thanks.

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It's urethane rubber sheeting. I get it from McMaster-Carr. I think the wooden jaws on the Stewmac vise uses 1/16th" urethane. The Total Vise stuff is typically 1/8 inch. You can also get it in 3…
Private member DiscussionFinish Repair

PBass has been stripped of it finish… looking for expertise, friends!

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…

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Ian Davlin
Ill chime in. Go with shellac first. It may be all you need and if you decide to go with something else, youve already applied the universal seal coat. Also, it has the best chance of sticking to any…
Private member DiscussionTools and Jigs

Suggest an alternative to concave fret file

(for background context, I'm probably in the dozens of fret jobs so far, and no I don't let frets leave my house like this) When I got started getting interested in building guitars, I got the StewMac bundle of fret files/book, which comes with the concave toothed file. Over time, I ended up getting both the Narrow/Medium and Wide/Jumbo files. I don't do it often, but occasionally I do something like shown in the picture, where I'm clearl…

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What you're depicting in the picture above is what typically happens when a hollow (toothed or diamond grit) file that is too small for the size of fret us used to try and introduce a crown to fret th…
Private member DiscussionNeck Reset Database

1965 Stella

This guitar appears to have been assembled with urea formaldehyde glue, which is insoluble in water and doesn’t melt at any reasonable temperature. It is definitely not hide glue or resorcinol.The neck pocket is not under a fret slot. Luckily, very little glue was used to assemble the neck and it was all on the cheeks of the tenon and the neck came off rather easily using a combination of the StewMac heat rod and foam cutters, with smal…

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Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Confounding Refret....

Well, I am pulling my hair out here... just did a compression fret job on a 2017 D18 Authentic 1939. Neck had severe excess relief, so I pulled the frets, planed the board flat, and got to work....done this a handfull of times, so I wasnt expecting anything out of the ordinary...... I got a handful of frets in, checked my relief by stringing up the guitar, and decided I need to keep pushing, so I got a full set of frets in and som…

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Hi Jonathan, I can feel the frustration in your original question posted. We've all had guitars that were uncooperative on our benches and it can be exasperating.Unless I mis-read your original pos…
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Help needed to pinpoint my mistakes please!

Hi all, I am a newer guitar tech and after dozens of repairs this particular Simon & Patrick Luthier Cedar top SP6 acoustic dreadnought from the 90-ies with a bolt-on maple neck has been an incredible challenge. It came with a maxed out and stuck truss rod with a considerable up bow in the neck, extremely low saddle with barely any string break angle, so it needed a neck reset. Later on I figured out that it also has a pretty dras…

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Ian Davlin
I never got the video.
Murray FixingGuitars LoothprintRepair and Restoration

K&K Pickup Aligner/Locator Jig – Parametric 3D Print

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Private member DiscussionTools and Jigs

Solder Fume Extractor Suggestions

Hi There, What is everyone using for solder fume extractors such as the ones in the links below. I’m interested in one that has a hose that I can connect to my Solder Monster from Stewmac. Thanks in advance! https://www.amazon.ca/Extractor-KUAIQU-Filtration-Adjustment-Soldering/dp/B0GMDV64N4/ref=sr_1_7?crid=8AI4JPLS2W0R&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.Vcf_eo3BIJ1dUWCRgpIXHdUnBZiCbmerplijZ6mMWa1x5iMsWwU3SV_IwWI2yTpowxyH0YdiCWbGP4mgsaohXIe2XaDw…

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Here’s the one I bought a few years ago after one of my buddies developed cancer in his nasal cavity due to a lifetime of soldering unprotected. Still works great pulling and filtering fumes. You can…
Private member DiscussionGeneral

Fret leveling questions

Hi everyone! I'm trying to wrap my head around this problem. I was doing some fret on a throwaway neck and found a couple of uneven frets in the middle of the neck. (I made sure to seat them down before levelling too!) While levelling, I came across an issue where the first few frets and the last few frets were being sanded down before the middle frets. I did make sure the neck was straight with a notched straight edge and the StewMac n…

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Ian Davlin
The notched straight edges isn't the best tool for finding the starting position before a fret leveling. Primarily what you need to know is, without the truss rod being either completely loose or rea…