The Hub

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 COE reviewed this bridge disaster in January, a Tanglewood acoustic given to me that had the bridge ripped off as well as some of the underlying top, and an attempted repair with spruce veneer (COE video link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlpOIWQrAlw&t=2685s). The general opinion was to install a bigger bridge plate. However, once I removed the existing bridge plate, I found that the underlying repair had not been fully done,…

I’m curious to hear from everyone in the trenches, how they manage repairs they really don’t want to do. At this point I am offering customer work again to a small group of people who know me and have worked with me over the years. I’ve had a few people email that I don’t know, being a little pushy wanting to know price and turnaround time because “I need this by the xxth of the month”. I’ve simply offered them a referral to another sh…

Just wondering, anyone doing Ken Parker finishing on an acoustic with the bridge glued on? I've been using the finish for a while but I'd like to start glueing the bridge on before I finish so I can acoustic test everything in its final state. I can't see a reason why I couldn't wipe the epoxy and oil up into the bridge joint and then remove it by rubbing but I was wondering if anyone has done it already. It would mean finishing the…

I am working on a wall hanger that I thought would be fun to get working. It is an old Tokai. I have repaired a crack on left tuning arm. Also removed the bridge that had been badly glued on by previous owner. I am deciding if I want to put the effort into re-fretting it. I am new to Classical guitar actions, so my question is this - when you put a straight edge on the neck, where should it hit the bridge, if at all? I have learn…

As one does, I got distracted designing a fretboard for my newest acoustic build and thought 'Wouldn't it be great if there was a plugin to do this automatically?' Several days and 1000 lines of Python later, it's definitely possible. But then I thought "What else might be interesting as part of a plugin like this?" So I'd love to hear what you think, including: - Is this something you think is valuable (irrespective of price) - If it is va…

Thought I would introduce myself, I am a retired computer nerd ex farm boy that loves to fix things… used to repair/rebuild pianos but now that I live in FL, space is at a premium in small home so I now am venturing into repairing guitars…. I have numerous practice candidates I have picked up on the cheap as not to destroy anything of value or collectability, and have tooled up with enough stuff to be dangerous. I have done several aco…

I dyed an East Indian Rosewood bridge black to match the Blackwood fretboard before gluing it on*. The bridge is now glued to the top. What are some ways to "fix" that dye into the wood. I'm not crazy about TruOil - up to 40% mystery oil..... *I did a sample on rosewood with 4 different "dyes" and they were all stable, would not rub off with paper towel, naptha or mineral spirt. I went with the TransTInt. I did not however test with…