The Hub

I just opened a repair shop and the first repair was to remove a broken 1/8" hex wrench ball end from the truss rod nut of a Turner RB4 Renaissance Bass. I read of all sorts of theories on how to extract/remove. None of them had recorded actual attempts of the theories. There's probably others on here but I haven't found them. The ball end was loose and mangled at the rear of the nut sleeve. I tried fairly benign methods first. Heat…

Hey everyone. I build as a hobby but in the last couple years have been selling more and taking on commissions. As my clientele starts to branch out from friends and friends of friends to people I don't actually know, I realized I may need to consider protecting myself from a legal standpoint. The worst-case I want to avoid is someone suing me as an individual, and potentially going after my house or assets. I'm not doing repairs, so I'…

I have 1988 Gibson ES-335 with a broken headstock. It was poorly glued before and is broken again. I can't get the broken faces of the wood to close up due to the mess of glue or whatever is in there. The headstock overlay is the only thing holding it together. I have a couple of questions: - Any idea what glue was used to attach the headstock overlay? Is it easy to remove cleanly? I'd like to at least loosen the part of it on the neck…

I just had something happen that I can't understand, and I am looking for theories. I was working on an '80s Kramer. The action could not be lowered any further than about 5/64" -- as in no further downward adjustment in the Floyd Rose -- so I removed the neck in case there was a shim in there. There was not. I put the neck back on and the action was now considerably higher. So off with the neck again, and I noticed the imprint of a coi…

Hoping to get some input on this touch up. Auxiliary pieces of rosewood were added to cover up the screw holes from a previous bridge many years ago. The footprint of those pieces was scored, in some cases deeply. There were spots where top material was missing. I grafted pieces from under the bridge footprint which (along the same grain lines ) I will replace prior to bridge glue up. The challenge here is the inability to blend bey…

I was recently asked to do some set up work on a Taylor GS Mini when I noticed the bridge beginning to lift at the back corner on the treble side. The pickups/electronics are mounted through the bridge plate and bridge, which is not something I've dealt with before and I'm wondering about how you all approach bridges like this. Any tips, tricks, warnings, etc. Would you tend to remove the bridge and reglue (if so, how nightmarish is it d…

I'm trying to touch up a finish ding and a couple of sand through spots on a black, mid-2010s MIM Fender Telecaster Deluxe, and I'm having a really hard time doing it well. I did a previous touch up on a black Squier Jaguar using Stew Mac's black nitrocellulose rattle can, and it blended so well I can't see the repair, but in this case the contrast between the original finish and the touch up paint is super obvious. I've since learned h…

I’m serious here, maybe crazy or funny, but please forgive me should it be obvious, because I don’t know shellac good enough to really know by experience if that’s doable or not would it be stupid to use some recipe on shellac for an electric Bass fingerboard finish? Would it be a good “filler” or way of giving some body in preparation for a finish like nitro or poly? Would it scratch like hell sooner than later? Could it be easily rebuilt…

I had a customer bring in a '76 Ric 4001 with a fretboard separation from the neck around the 3rd and 4th frets. I tried squeezing it closed and the board would not budge. I figured maybe dried glue, wood or schmutz was impeding the fb from laying back down so I made a special little palette knife with a hooked edge to clean it out. I instead hit metal. After a bunch of hemming and hawing since nothing was budging we opted to remove the…

I acquired this old single cut JR around 6 years ago. Was aware of the previous breaks and repairs, wasn't a particular concern as I acquired through trade. The headstock broke a couple years ago with a very small sideways tumble ( in its case). I used some clamps and rubber tubing to glue the break back together. Decided to scrape back the finish and see at the previous repairs. I see epoxy, carribbean walnut splines, carbon fiber 1/8…