The Hub

Hi Folks. I have a new Gibson L-00 retro on the bench. It came in because the saddle had pulled forward and was extremely loose in the slot. the saddle was a narrow affair measuring out at 3/32. It had buzzing issues as well because saddle was low and neck angle is actually high (straight edge is 5/32 above bridge). Previous looth tried to correct by shimming saddle but recommended me for bridge work. I re-slotted the saddle slot wi…

I've seen the Elevate Luthierie jig, and it seems simple enough. One thing I don't like about their explanation video is the handwaving around "set the joint length where you want it"...feels like even with the jig, you have to do too much measuring to make it fit exactly (or within the tolerance you want) Given I can model well enough in Fusion and have a 3D printer, feels like a challenge to take on! As far as I can see, the jig is just…

I've been testing all my top and bracewood to find the best combination of stiffness and density, optimize plate thickness, etc. I started with Nicoletti's spreadsheet which calculates both stiffness and density, but since I was also testing deflection, I decided to compare the flexural modulus using that method (with the formula from T. Gore's book) on the same plates and bracewood. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble getting a satisfa…

I'm fairly new to CNC and am attempting to set up for a fretboard carve. I'm using a one year old ShopBot Desktop Max. This is the first I've found a problem like this. I made some practice blanks and thought I had everything the way I wanted it until I measured me fret distances. Using calipers from the nut to the center for the first fret slot I get 1.399" and I'm expecting 1.4346. I brought up the file and used the measuring too…

Hello, Help needed please! 🙏 It’s a Washburn g10v that I am trying to source parts for. The owner wants to do a full restore but we can’t move forward with the job as the trem is missing the micro tuner thumb nuts. The trem is a big old rare thing with 2001 on the edge of it. Please see picture for reference. (Taken from reditt, a common problem it looks like) I have one of the thumb nuts here and I think it’s a #no.5 -44 UNF thread. But it’s…

Getting the fingerboard extension off was the hardest part. It required a 1/2 hour at about 230F (measured on the fingerboard surface). The neck join came loose in about 15 minutes using heat sticks and injecting a few cc"s of water every 5 minutes.

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…

For folks familiar with the Gore / Gilet books and the top thickness calculations in section 4.5. I made a web based calculator to do the nasty spreadsheet math... So this is for once you've weighed and measured your top plates and then found the long, cross and transverse resonances it gives you the target thickness to hit a particular frequency for the long resonance of the plate. Just sharing so folks don't have to do the math for bu…

Hi everyone! Here is a video explaining more about the pickup performance measure and how do I do it. Hope it is useful!

Hey everyone, look at this. I built a system to measure the pickups but not only the resistance, it also measures the peak of resonance of the frequencies and the volume that you get in those frequencies. I made it with a bobin, a pickup and some testers. It is really cool because you get more specific results as how the pickup will sound and it’s performance.

Hi, I am thinking about building a copy of a Gibson LG. I measured an old LG0, that a friend of mine owns. For my own build I want to go for X Bracing. I do not have acces to an LG1, 2 or 3. Does anyone have a plan with measurements for the top bracings you want to sell? Thanks, Jacob

I've had a customer bring in a Sire Marcus Miller with a faulty volume pot. Currently I have an alpha concentric pot installed but it's too big for the cavity with all the wiring, pre-amp etc. and the knobs don't fit the shaft. I tried using insulation to widen the shafts but the discrepancy between the centre of each knob (Upper and Lower) has them bumping up against eachother and moving in tandem. Does anyone know where to source thi…

This was a large bed frame with end tables built almost entirely from sold boards from "The Tree". Having been a bed frame with cabinets and drawers there are lots of fastener holes and such to work around. According to some educated sleuthage and measuring using guitar templates, I estimate that there are 6-8 back and side sets with no holes or defects to be had with careful resawing. More sets for sure if a builder is willing to artfu…

Does anybody know the measurement from the edge of the fingerboard to the sides/joint of the hidden tenon on this Les Paul?

My buddy wants me to install a Floyd in his MIJ Strat, but as I’m measuring and double checking to do the job, I ran into something I’m not sure how to tackle! As seen in the photos, the truss rod nut is directly under the nut slot. Is it possible to maybe cut the truss rod nut short? I’m just not seeing any way to resolve this and I’m considering just suggesting that he get a replacement neck already cut for a Floyd Rose nut. Thanks for…

Hi everyone. I just wanted to share a new (free!) tool I made, a website for designing fretboards. https://fretboard.buzz. It's similar to FretFind2D, but modernized, with many more features, including fretboard markers, a 'flip' for converting any design to lefty, support for mixed units of measure (use both metric and imperial at the same time), etc. I spent months building it, I would love to get your feedback. Thanks!

I have a 70s PBass with a maple “A” neck that could use a refret. It still seems to have the original frets. I tried a level and crown on the already low frets, but I think it needs refret. The frets in the money area are pretty low, .030-.025 and I’m concerned about removing them sideways, as I’ve never had a chance to do that. I understand from the fretorama with Joel Wilkins that when they are this low it increases the difficulty of…

I've got a bit of a head-scratcher here. Gibson 498T bridge pickup with low output and thin sound. It ohms out to spec (14K), each coil individually measures fine but in situ it is very weak compared to the much lower output 490R in the neck. I even tried wiring it to it's own pot and jack outside of the circuit and it's still super weak compared to the neck. Any thoughts?