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I picked up a set of these chisels a couple years ago at an estate sale. They were in a very sorry state but had clearly been used and loved. I gave them a good cleaning and sharpened just the smallest one, which took a very nice edge. I'm debating sharpening the rest in order to sell them along with my Narex chisels (which I haven't loved) and replacing them all with a couple Lie Nielsen chisels only in the sizes I really use. Anyone h…

Hi Folks Newbie here so please bear with me. I have a lovely early 90's Yamaha LD-10E acoustic in for repair, I think all solid wood? made in Indonesia and a lovely sounding instrument, however the electrics are letting it down. The pre-amp has a PCB populated with SMD electrolytic caps. Many of these have leaked and destroyed the PCB pads underneath. Repairing the traces is nigh on impossible so it looks like I'll have to replace t…

Hello again folks, how is everyone! So I'm curious about what people here think about re-tops, who's done them, and what sorta ballpark rates you've charged for past completed jobs. I've got a bit of a wild one here, so strap in if you've got a couple minutes for story time! Back in 2012, I traded an HD28V of mine for a cool 1966 D-35 that needed some work. Basically, the body and neck of the guitar were fine apart from…

Has anybody here done the Mohawk wood touch up and repair workshop? Kind of expensive, wondering how much of it would be useful in guitar world.

Hello — I would like to finish a mahogany electric neck and body with wipe on poly (probably Minwax satin) and would like to pore fill with Z-Poxy. I can’t find a definitive word on their compatibility. - Can I just wipe on the poly coats after block sanding the 2-3 Z-Poxy coats? - Should the Z-Poxy be sanded all the way back to wood or just smoothed/flattened? - Is a coat of unwaxed shellac between the Z-Poxy and the wipe in…

Good morning to all - I have another skill building question - picked up another cheapo electric guitar to practice repairs on. I didn't see the big dent, but figured its an opportunity to practice another type of repair. big chunks of polyurethane finish are gone and the bit that's left has a hairline crack around the bottom. I'm thinking to use wood filler to fill in the missing chunks, and want to know if its best to remove the piec…

Greetings and thanks in advance for your help. I live in one of the most inhospitable places in the world for wood storage (Mojave Desert CA) and later this year will be moving to another more inhospitable place (Sonoran Desert, Buckeye AZ). The realative humidity is currently 16% and that will drop when summer comes. I'm attempting to collect and store wood for future builds and today I spent some time wrapping all of it in seran…

Hello everyone, I hope you're doing good. I'm very much a new guitar repair enthusiast, any advice or feedback would really appreciated. I'm working on this Yamaha FG410A, as you can see, it's in rough shape. The guitar lived in a case in a storage container since the 90s. The guitar was really dry when I got it, so I started my slowly introducing moisture. I removed the frets and then put the guitar in a bag, with a hygrometer…

Hi all, I'm new here. I've been playing guitars for ~15 years and recently started as a technician at a music production school in London, where part of my job is maintaining the guitars. I picked up this 50s parlor nylon the other day and it's in bad shape but I don't know how to go about repairing it. The main issue is the bridge. The guitar was kept high strung and the bridge has twisted and lifted off slightly at the base. T…

Hi Everyone, I believe this may be my first post here, so just a quick introduction — I’m Andrew in Milwaukee, WI. I’ve been building a few years. My luthier eyes were opened first by Charles Fox in Portland which led me to the Gallop School. I recently retired from a tech career and I am now based in Milwaukee, WI focusing on acoustic builds. I’m currently exploring wood-body resonator guitars, and I’d love to learn more from t…

Greetings, I was wondering if anyone has expierence with good a supplier for red spruce, preferably old growth, that they would point me to. This would be for acoustic tops/sound boards. From the reading I've done, it seems that the "Adirondack" variety might be the prized piece to get. Haven't decided if torrified is what I'm looking for. I'm also going to need to get brace wood of the same species. Any and all suggestions are…

Hey all, Anyone have any go-to methods for making new replacement bridges look old? I’m about to make a new bridge for a relatively beat up 40’s Martin and contemplating ways to make it look more the part. With the replacements I’ve made up to this point I’ve always just sanded em real smooth, micromesh, oil, wax etc. I’m thinking maybe a wire brush prior to sanding for that shrunken grain look? The new bridge will be Indian rosewood. T…

The folks at maderas barber put together a nice guide on drying wood for lutheie https://maderasbarber.com/tonewood/en/blog/news/practical-guide-to-drying-and-storing-tonal-wood

Hi all, I am building a mandocello, Gibson style but with f holes, currently working on the top. I got to a point where I carved it to about 5 mm in the center and about 3,3 around the edges. If has some flexibility but still feels quite stiff. I tap and listen but having experience only with flat top guitars I don't really know what I'm looking for in terms of tap tone and flexibility. I know there is no correct answer to this, but anyo…

Any suggestions if this can be saved? It is a neck I received for free upon replacing it for a customer. The wood was missing and the rod is missing the adjusting nut. The truss rod had pushed the inlay out as well as the wood damage . I wasn't sure if it could be a structurally sound repair. I have no idea of the neck rigidity or action with strings. I wont be online because of a previous dr. appointment but I figured it would be a go…

So, I've stained the body and neck and I'm in the process of applying several (3 or 4) coats of epoxy to them for pore filling. I watched Michaels video on the subject. My question is: When sanding the epoxy I beleive I should stay above the wood (stay in the epoxy) since it is stained, right??? When doing this same process on a body and neck that is not stained, I could sand back to the wood without consequence if I'm consistent…

A customer recently brought in a Gibson J-185-EC for some setup work, and also wanted me to address some leakage from a humidity pack the was apparently left in the guitar before he bought it, and it leaked in a number of places. I was wondering what the best way to clean this up from the inside? There's also finish lifting on the back of the guitar where it's leaked through the wood. I'm curious to know the approach here. I believe it…

The photo shows the x-brace in a Seagull SMS guitar (predates the S6 model I think). I've reglued the loose brace end and want to add some reinforcement. Normally I prefer a wood cap over the joint but you can see the top of the braces is pretty narrow. I have some muslin cloth I can use, but not sure I can get it to form tightly over the two braces. Looking for some suggestions.