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I had a customer ask me to take a look at this electric guitar an "amp guy" did some work on. (if you couldn't tell by the size of cap he installed 😆) Seymour Duncan hsh pickup configuration. Is there any good or logical reason one would put the north start, finish and the south finish all on the same lug of a switch? The guitar plays but has more buzz on the hb settings than the single coil. I know how to rewire it to be more... traditi…

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…

Gah! I need help wiring Lollar Monoliths to coil split each pup at their own 2 way mini switch...client brought it in wired to a card ( based on rough drawing ) said he "tested it"....I had to clean up his wiring and soldering some...both pots, 3-way and 2-way switches are functioning but I get a weak signal when plugged in....what am I missing here? I redrew it ( nicer drawing ) with the black hots going to the 3-way ( swapped with gre…

Just sharing some info to procrastinate my nth attempt at getting this thing together. and some venting. If you get one of these in with electronic issues, estimate high. Customer brought in a Gretsch Rally in pieces that he picked up from the last repairman (who died), and just wants it to play. Minor binding repair and a weirdly-angled zero fret were relatively easy to deal with. The dead electronics are the main problem.…

Greetings fellow Looths! I recently received a request from a customer to replicate Kurt Cobains 59 Martin, starting with a Sigma DM3. I have pasted the customers email to me below. While I have been a looth hobbyist for many years, I just recently opened my official business, Finger Lakes Guitar Works, and am just getting off the ground and a good flow of repair work is already coming in. While I feel 100% confident in my abilities to…

I finished levelling frets on a mandolin last week, and was surprised that the frets with the worst divots worked down to .020" Had I known that I'd go that low, I might have replaced them, but it's hard to measure divot height, especially those caused by thin strings. I haven't seen much discussion on standards for fret height or guidelines to know at what point should I switch from levelling to replacement. What standards are peop…

Hello all, got a problem in a telecaster I rewired that has me in a twist. The basics: friend has a 2001 US Standard telecaster (left handed not that it matters). He bought it used and says it was quiet initially. A few years back he grabbed the pickups out of it and moved them to a new tele body with a torrefied maple neck he preferred. Recently he upgraded the new build with a Lollar CC tele set, and asked me to reinstall the original…

Hello estimable friends, A very long-term friend of mine left us on Christmas Eve after a long illness. His sister tasked me with evaluating, restoring, and selling his stuff. Today I'm preparing to restore a 2008 Longhorn GOM to its original EMGs. Pulling out the humbuckers I see a Pearly Gates and… what looks like an original short-magnet PAF. Correct shape brass screws for the bobbins, UV light confirms sticker and tape, tooling mark…

Hey guys, a little help? I'm trying to recreate the old PRS wiring (rotary switch) but instead of the rotary, on a 5-way superswitch. I managed to get almost everything but I can't seem to figure out the series/parallel positions and it's starting to hurt the brain. I've looked everywhere online but I can't find exactly what I need. Here's the image of the positions I need, for reference.