The Hub

I inherited a 70's D28 that is a players instrument. The action is too high for me, but the saddle is bottomed out. There is no obvious belly bulge. The top of the bridge has been shaved. Bridge pin holes are uneven in diameter. However, the bridge placement seems pretty close; within 1/32". A straight edge on the fret board sits about 1/8" below the top of the bridge. The fret board has plenty of finger worn wells, there is virtually n…

Hi all, just sharing a couple of shots of my latest build, an A5-style mandolin with a goth soul 😉 Tonewoods Top: Alpine Spruce (Italy) Back & sides: Flame maple (France) Neck: Birch (Sweden) Fretboard & bridge: African Ebony Dimensions Scale length: 352.4 mm Nut width: 30 mm Fretboard radius: flat Total length: 660 mm Body width: 260 mm Finish Hand-rubbed stains and acrylic satin finish Features Hammered steel pickguard and truss rod cover Moose antl…

I'm refretting an all-original Gibson L-7 from 1934, and it has a 9.5" or so fretboard radius. However, the bridge, also original, has a 12" radius. I need to flatten the board, as it has a hump at the tenth, but I'm wondering if I go with the 9.5" radius, or try and get it to 12". I'm a little worried about sanding through the Nick Lucas style inlays, so I'd like some input here. If I kept the 9.5" radius, I'd likely have to radius the…

Hi Everyone, I’m working through building my first set neck electric, an LP Jr. I had some build questions… - if you’ve built these Gibson style set necks before, did you cut the neck pocket straight and angle the heel of the neck? Or did you cut the pocket at the angle and keep the bottom of the heel straight? I’m attempting to cut the pocket at an angle, and it isn’t the easiest thing to do, I’m finding out. First, I’ve had some moveme…

Doing some workshop organization and found some tools I don't use. All are in excellent shape with very minimal use. Each item linked to the relevant product page: Japanese nut files. Mine have a bit of surface rust but they were used for maybe 2 guitars. $80 new, selling for $40 StewMac Gauged Nut Slotting File Set for Electric Guitar (for medium strings) and one of each nut file backer. Used on one guitar. $113 new for the files and $19…

Hello everyone, I'm currently radiusing out a flame ebony fretboard (using 100grit sandpaper), and is giving me some trouble. The radii is 16'' and it came perfectly straight along its lenght, but over the width, tough the radius already match the sanding beam, it keep developing along the lenght 2 long areas were it seam to eat more wood than other parts, leaving a gap easyly noticeable under inspection. At first I thought that since th…

Hello, This is my first discussion as I am new to this group. I am starting a restoration project on a 1957 Gibson LG-1. The first job on it that I want to tackle is to replace a broken back brace. It appears to be broken in half right on the center line (see pic one before the brace was removed). I have removed it and am gluing in back together (pic 2), just to get it strong enough to use as a template for fabricating a replacement…

Hi guys. I have a cnc machine but don’t know how to draw stuff. Can anyone share a file for a 15 and 30 foot radius dish please?

I've been Loothing for around 10 years in busy shops in the Seattle area (Mike Lull's & mike and mikes guitar bar) and went out on my own in a home shop a little over a year ago. Just this month moved into a new repair space and showroom for my custom guitars, which was the largest driver of the move. Having a good space for people to play my builds seems pretty paramount. My regular customers that have been plenty of income over the p…

Anyone ever done any advertising? What things did you highlight? We've got a videographer in our shop for two days next week to record. We are doing several short social media ads and one longer video that will live on Youtube. We have a great local following, but plan to target a 100 mile radius. WE regularly get people driving that far. Curious what you've learned were good things to focus on.

Just got these and they are really neat. If you like to press frets and do compound or imperfect radius fretboards, these are the ticket.