I am retopping a guitar and while it's open I want to reduce the mass of the back braces. Since the sides are in the way, I can't figure out how to cleanly cut the excess brace wood away; anything I've tried involves the handle hitting the sides and preventing a controlled, clean cut. Is there a tool - say a "pull finger plane" - that I can pull from the edge to the middle of each brace to facilitate this?
My problem in this parlor guitar is that any chisel I currently have is too long and I can’t address the middle third of the brace without coming in at such an angle that I can’t control the chisel pr…
Here You'll seehere pin tip sized bubbles. Nitro finish. It got hot in a case. They'll need a light amagolmater mixture applied to melt'm back into the surface. Im looking for advice on the recipe for said amagolmater....Straight retarder? Im not sure if Id need lacquer in the mix that I apply....Thank you! Colin O'Brien LittleCreek Instrument Repair, Nashville.
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Hi all,
I am a newer guitar tech and after dozens of repairs this particular Simon & Patrick Luthier Cedar top SP6 acoustic dreadnought from the 90-ies with a bolt-on maple neck has been an incredible challenge.
It came with a maxed out and stuck truss rod with a considerable up bow in the neck, extremely low saddle with barely any string break angle, so it needed a neck reset. Later on I figured out that it also has a pretty dras…
I'm restoring an old parlor guitar. I have just discovered that it plays 20 cents sharp. Thats not in and of itself a mystery, usually. This guitar however has exactly the same distance from the nut to the 12th fret, and from the 12th fret to the "saddle" which is now a small shim under the two E strings both are 12 3/32"...with room in front of the bridge pins to finesse the location of the saddle slot, which I have not routed yet) I s…
I have a Kalamazoo made epiphone with the most extreme fingerboard ramp I have seen. I have the neck dead straight from 1st fret to body joint and get a 1/16 of gap when I run a straight edge from 1st fret to the last fret. The frets average .040" but someone leveled the extension and those frets are half the height.
Does anyone have any suggestions for flattening the extension. Clamping a block on it? If I level the board during a r…
I found a pic which helped me see the situation. I think what I was mentioning before would work well. It looks like it would be easy to separate the short length of the fingerboard from the extensio…
Hey all.
I apologize if this type of post isn't allowed here but wanted to share anyway.
I've been building a tool called Looth specifically for luthiers and repair techs, and I'm looking for a small group of interested looths to help shape it a bit more before it goes public.
I got tired of managing spreadsheets and decided that it could be simpler and more automated.
The core idea is simple: one place to track every build…
Is anyone using the LuthierTool Neck Angle Jig. I have a quick question about setting up to cut the tenon and getting the correct angle dialed in for cutting the heel block. TIA for any help
I am restoring an old Supertone with a thickened and heavily alligatored finish. The finish softens quickly with acetone, and it looks like it has had an overspray. I would like to keep the staining on the oak back and sides, and to preserve the decal on the headstock. The top I would like to strip and sand.
The questions are:
1. What more do I need to know about the finish?
2. How should I remove the finish or at least thin/smooth…
I don’t see much evidence of overspray. The headstock looks to be in decent shape. I’d just leave it unless the finish is actively falling off. One thing you might try on the top before refin is Mohaw…
I had a bridge replacement in which the top surface (laminate) had been badly damaged during a prior repair. The first picture shows the extent of the tear out, including one large area and many smaller defects in the top layer. The surface was cleaned of all the old glue and primed with dilute hide glue. A piece of poplar veneer was glued in the largest defect and a hot slurry of hide glue and fine poplar dust was spread across the res…
Hi, I have a 1950's Gibson LG-3 that's had some poor work done to the spruce under the area of the bridge where the spruce has pulled away and or been sanded excessively. It's missing about .020-0.30 thou of spruce and I'm wondering/looking for advice about how to go about splicing in a thin piece of spruce before I re-glue the bridge. Please see pictures attached. My main questions are: glues for the patch, should the patch be mitered…
When faced with a similar job recently, I chose to glue the patch in place with epoxy, then used hide glue to reset the bridge. The logic being that 20 years from now when someone needs to reset the…
So this 310 came into the shop and had a pretty gnarly crack that splinters some toward the lower left bout. Going to do a crack repair with the TJ Thompson crack corrector and some hide glue. The issue I'm inquiring about is the finish is delaminating around the area. I'm curious as to what type of finish it is. Seems a bit flexible and spongy to be a nitro alone. There's shards of finish missing, and dirt has found its way underneath…
I got this guitar for free hoping to further my skills and experience in guitar repair. I removed the bridge. its not in good shape and I don't think I can glue it back together with any hope of it holding tension again. I haven't been able to find a replacement that is of the same shape and dimensions. Epiphone/Gibson is no help. The top of this guitar is not at all flat. I don't know if I should try to flatten it before attempting to…
Hi Mitch - The string spacing on that new bridge is probably too wide. I googled the Epiphone, and if the AI is right, it says the spacing is a narrow 2 3/64" (52mm). You may be able to buy one with…
A while back I saw a Canna Guitars video on Instagram and thought his use of the “wave” scarf joint between his neck and headstock was an interesting use of CNC. But it got me thinking about other options, and this idea percolated in my brain: Cut a regular scarf joint, but then using a CNC cut a tenon into the neck, and a mortise/dado into the headstock. (Obviously you could also do this by hand with a saw and chisel). The joint would i…
Hey everyone, I have a Vaccaro bass guitar and I'm getting a lot of open note buzz on it. In truth, the bass could stand a refret but that may or may not be in the cards. Additionally, the truss rod nut is stripped. I'm also wondering if this nut is designed to come out? I imagine it is but it's kind of funky. A 1/4" Allen wrench is still too small to grip it. So the questions: 1. How would you deal with the zero fret and the nut? The st…
The divots in the zero fret almost look intentional, though that doesn't make sense since one of the big advantages of a zero fret is that it can be levelled together with the other frets. Are the fr…
I am looking for new ideas on tools or methods for cleaning under partially loose braces to insure a good glue joint. In the past I've tried flossing with sandpaper, using the metal cutting edge from a wax paper box, maybe some extra thin files. In this job, one of the loose braces is up against the bridge plate, so it's impossible to pass something all the way through. The loose parts are marked with the red ellipses.
