Hello all, new member here. I've been working as a touring tech for 20 years and just noticed this section of the forum was empty, so I figured I'd give it a kick. Are there any topics\questions\ideas\etc that people would be interested in hearing about or discussing from a touring perspective? If so, drop a comment here and I'll see if I can address it or post any relevant photos\content. I'm leaving Wednesday for a month in Europe fol…
Hi Peter, I got into touring by meeting musicians through repair work. I started out in a cool little used and vintage shop in Portland called Old Town Music. I started doing a lot of repairs for Mode…
Hi Folks, I'm new here so I appreciate any input upfront! I had this guitar come through the shop and I've run up against something for the first time. The neck needs a little relief but when I went to adjust the truss rod the screw was already completely loose thus I couldn't perform that action. I tightened it just enough to get the truss rod nut to connect to the truss rod without making an actual adjustment to the neck in the wrong dire…
Sometimes the truss rod can hang up the adjustment if there is surplus glue etc in the channel. Sometimes you can free up the relief just by flexing the neck. I usually grab it by the headstock and pu…
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…
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9 times out of ten these issues aren’t the software it’s the CNC itself or order of operations. Something might be binding on your machine causing one of the 3 axis to be out of whack. Im assuming you…
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…
So, I’m a month and a half into this repair business and so far so good. I think I’ve got more than adequate skills to handle the physical, customers have been coming in and balancing a relationship with starting a new business is going well. But…… The scariest thing is how to handle customers and the things they love. So far, I’ve been able to test the waters on repairing fairly inexpensive, not too attached to instruments, easing my wa…
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I think this is something that every one who does this job struggles with — probably because there's no good answer. There's no one-size-fits-all. What I do (and probably what most of us do) is explai…
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…
Here’s the dimensions of those screws if you have access to a hardware store you might be able to find something close enough. The link to these screws: https://shoppartsland.com/wf2-5-15-bk-1-000-p…
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…
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Everything is sold except the fret cutting saw blade!
I'm interested in incorporating a compensated nut into my next build. Any thoughts on the intonation procedure? Nut first, saddle first, which fret to intonate to, etc?
I would look into Trevor Gore's work: His books, hundreds of posts on builders forums, etc. It is a rabbithole though, I have to warn you. I know Taylor (maybe Martin as well?) cuts their fretboards sl…
Stewmac #0882 Set of 6 nut files for medium electric guitar. $65 includes postage in US Fret Guru Dagger 2.0 Crowning file. $35 shipped Stewmac #4490 narrow/medium crowning file. $30 shipped Stewmac Nut files 4541, 4542, 4543. $20 each, shipped They all have lots of life left in 'em!
Hi everyone! So I have a Fender Custom Shop Strat in my shop at the moment, and it's a real PITA. I've leveled the frets, made a new nut, and set it up to my liking. Normally this would help remove a lot if not all fret buzz, but this guitar just keeps buzzing all over the fretboard. Every single fret buzzes. It's very prominent as well. I've heard some guitar techs say that "some guitars just buzz more than others", but I can't accept t…
I had just seen a video where someone claimed that fret slots cut too wide with too little glue could potentially cause a buzz, especially if all the frets are just "tack glued" on either end of the f…
What is your preference for black nut blanks? Black Tusq XL is and option, but expensive...and i learned today that sanding Water Buffalo horn has the most putrid smell imaginable. lol Curious what your preference is.
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I've had good success dying finished bone nuts black using a mixture of black leather dye and black trans-tint dye. The caveat being the nut needs to be fully finished before the dyeing process and it…
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…
Got this weird old japanese guitar in for some work, and it needs new tuners. The holes are spaced too far apart for a traditional kluson six-in-line spacing, and are ~9.3mm? However, the headstock is 0.660", or just under 17mm, which is past what most tuners support. I might be able to squeeze gotoh ones on with a smaller washer under the nut? Or is there some other brand I'm overlooking that would be able to help solve my issue even b…
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(Generic parts bin on the left,gotoh on the right. Same screw pitch so probably a-ok to mix and match? Owners more concerned with functionality over appearance.)
I drew up and printed these F hole plugs for a customer a little while back, felt like showing them off here. The bottom diamond shaped piece has a M4 nut in it, and is super glued to the body of the plug at its two tips. An M4 screw threads into the nut through the counter-sunk hole in the top of the plug. The entire plug drops into the F hole, and then you can tighten the screw slightly to expand the plug so it clamps itself into plac…
So this has been repaired twice and left in a hot car and the glue ‘melted’ out of the joint as described by the owner, and they’re understandably anxious about it spontaneously snapping. My question is determining the adhesive used and possible steps to remove and start over since it's tipping toward the nut. Grandad used to say if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
