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Ian Davlin DiscussionDiscussions

Celluloid Chronicles Ep. 2 - Chet Atkins Nashville

Great video @member Hello People! Thanks for joining me for this binding repair video! We're working on a '72 Chet Atkins Nashville and a '60 Chet Atkins Country Gentleman. Cheers, Scotty D., Harpeth Guitar Restoration, LLC. Nashville, Tennessee

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Ian Davlin
@member is awesome!
Ian Davlin DiscussionDiscussions

New Feature - Connect Automatically

I heard some of you were complaining about the tedium of connecting with people to message etc. Due to privacy concerns and the potential for marketing to be abused, I cant auto connect everyone, but I have a compromise. In your profile there is a button that say connect me automatically. When you toggle this it will automatically connect you to anyone who requests your connection. You can also still mute, block and un-connect, if someo…

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Ian Davlin
Please don't block Dan. He's super nice.
Private member DiscussionDiscussions

Tonewood for sale northeastern Nevada

Hey all, I've received a call from a woman who's husband ( and former student of Somogyi ) has recently passed, and she's looking to find anyone interested in purchasing his tonewood hoard. It appears he had intentions of building a fair amount more than he had time for here, and she's been calling around to folks hoping for some interest to no avail, so I told her I'd post here for her...She has had another local luthier compile a fair…

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Private member
Sean, may add this to the weekly email ?
Private member DiscussionDiscussions

Custom Fingerboard Slotting/Milling in Canada?

Looking to get a custom fingerboard slotted, radiused and cut for block inlays, preferably in Canada. Any leads much appreciated! 🙏

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Cascadia in BC will do customized fretboards. They haven't carried much stock lately but it's maybe worth an email. If you go to any blank they're selling, at the bottom you'll see they offer custom C…
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

acoustic guitar body repair

good evening to all. This one showed up on the marketplace. I'm wondering if its too much to chew for me at this time. Is it a very difficult repair? Is it worthwhile pursuing? It's another $25 crash test dummy. Please, don't hold back. I can take it.

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If you can push the crushed bit out and it looks level with the surrounding surface you are in good shape. If not, you can (carefully) force the issue with a tool like this: https://loothgroup.com/loo…
Private member DiscussionDiscussions

Guitar Bouzouki full build

Some of you might enjoy this - a full recent guitar bouzouki build. It's about 35 mins long. Plenty of woodworking tips in there for the eagle eyed. Give it a watch, the tunes are great. Nigel

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That was AWESOME!!! I've always wanted to build a cylindrical top guitar. I had envisioned it exactly how you executed it! I did have some emails with Johann Brentrup before his passing as he had descri…
Ian Davlin DiscussionGeneral

New Feature - Follow

Discussion cards now have a new feature for following posts that you neither posted or are replying to, but still would like to know when there is action on them. You can select to either be notified on through the bell icon in the header, or you can be emailed, or both. Hit the manage account button in the profile header and you can manage the posts you follow. You can even select the frequency of the emails to something less spammy.

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@member this is a test.
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Martin DX 175th bridge reglue

I have a martin DX 175TH that is in for a bridge lifting. I did some research and it has an HPL top and a rosewood bridge. I have some gluboost gel on hand but I was wondering if anyone has a better suggestion.

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Here are a few tips for reglueing a bridge to HPL: 1. Clean off any old cyanoacrylate (CA) residue on the soundboard using "Super Solvent" or a similar product designed to remove cured cyanoacrylate. 2.…
Private member DiscussionShop Organisation

Physical management of work-in-process instruments

A growing work flow in a small shop means I have in-process guitars stacked all over my work surfaces. I need to protect them and keep all the pieces together but also to have them readily accessible, and cases are less than ideal for that. Never mind the caseless guitars. I'd be grateful for advice on containers/stacking/shelves to protect and organize the growing mess. Thanks!

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If you have the room to go 48 inches deep, this was our solution. Stores lots of projects and all the drawers slide out. Just like at the morgue.😉🙃 Of course you don't have to make it as tall as we d…
Private member DiscussionFinish Repair

'60's Fender Newporter matte finish repair

I working through a long top crack repair on a c.1964 Fender Newporter and need to do a little touch-up on the clear coat. The top coat is matte over a do-do brown stained mahogany top, I'm guessing around a 10-20% reflectivity. Questions: 1. What top coat product did Fender use on these? 2. What should I use that has great self-leveling qualities and will melt into the old finish? <>

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I've decided to follow your wisdom, Ian, and it leave the finish cracks alone. It will be structurally sound again and look like it used to have a crack.
Private member DiscussionElectric Repair

74 Les Paul Broken Headstock

Guitar fell straight down on the headstock when it was hanging up at the refinishers. Shit really does happen! Grain is pretty much shattered around the adjustment nut. Thinking I’ll replace the entire broken area with a completely new piece of mahogany. Scarf it in between the volute and 3rd fret. Probably even a 3 piece lamination to mimic the neck. This one was not the clients fault so the expectations for looking close to original a…

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In the past I’ve accomplished this using a large japanese saw and an angled jig for the majority of the cut, and then smaller japanese saws and chisels for interior of the cut. Sandpaper pulls for ref…
Private member DiscussionGeneral

Fretboard summit approacheth...

Who's going to Fretboard Summit this year? I'd love to meet you! I'll be wearing my trusty Looth Group hat for easy identification. I have DMV local looth stickers to hand out as well! Cheers, Kalimar

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I'll be there with two guitars and one virtuoso guitar player (not me, for the record). Definitely say hello!
Private member DiscussionShare Your Repair Content

L.R. Baggs Anthem Installation in a GS Mini

Hey everyone, I was showing this to James Roadman on the Loothalong, and I thought I’d share it here with anyone who might find it helpful. I was installing an Anthem in a GS Mini, and I couldn’t get the microphone to fit without hitting the ballends of the strings. I had thought about placing the mic on the other side of the pins, but then I decided to use a scalpel and a small file to cut some chamfers into the corners of the mic housi…

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Nice solution. I'm going to remember that for when I run into problems like that.
Private member DiscussionGeneral

modifying waverly tuners

Gibson Roy Smeck Radio Grande 7 string! in for tuner replacements... Currently has faulty original grovers, wants waverly titanium that I'd have to modify the plate shape to fit---and drill a new lower hole mount to avoid new holes drilled in the headstock ( around the "e" in waverly logo; and new plate hole and old plate hole would intersect by a whisper ). I'd have to remove the cog to mill & install, but the mounting screw head has c…

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I know you're looking for the best ways of utilizing the Waverly tuners, but perhaps using tuning machines that are a better fit (maybe without drilling new holes) would be a better solution.
Private member DiscussionGeneral Business

Appraisals

Friend brought his "old guitar in the basement" over for me to have a look at. Long story short, it's a 1945 D-18, it's all original and it's a beauty. He had no idea. I explained to him that it was worth somewhere between 15 and 25 thousand bucks, that it needed some fairly routine repairs and that he should get - among other things - an insurance rider and take a little more care of the guitar than he has been. Picture attached for fu…

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Ian Davlin
The VG price guide is a pretty good place to start. On something like that, I'd be tempted to pay for an appraisal from Gruhn's though. They used to do email appraisals that were reasonably priced. Re…