The Hub

Hey all, I am really enjoying digging through the looth group. I have not yet watched all the ding kings vids or read all the amazing comments and articles here, but I've been appreciating some of the loothing for dollars stuff, seeing other people's intake sheets, discussions about dealing with customers, and it led me to this question: How do people deal with customer expectations, liability, and the inevitable accidents that can happ…

A fella left his 1994 Gibson Blues King locked in a damp garden shed through a hot humid summer. See attached pics! The clear coat has lost adhesion pretty much everywhere on the neck, back and sides, and is starting to let go on the top too in places. But 95% of the colour underneath seems to be hanging in there. Customer is open to a full refin. But I'm wondering how exactly the colour on these was applied, why it seems relatively…

How do you wet sand/even out a laquer finish on a maple neck with the frets installed before finishing?

First, I’m new at this so thanks for any advice. I’m re-topping my Mom’s first guitar (it’s own story). My plan is to finish the top with lacquer and in preparation I sprayed shellac out of a can and then pore sealed with crystalac. I thought I had it all sanded evenly but when I sprayed the first coat of lacquer, there were blotches everywhere. Do I just need to sand down to bare wood and start over or is there a way to fix this?

I had a client dropped off his Suhr JM Classic for a pot replacement yesterday. The fretboard extension hangs over the pickguard on these a little so I flipped it over to loosen the neck screws a tad. I found what looked like 3 missing neck screws and only one screwed in place. The one screwed in place was bright and shiny. I removed that screw and the neck would not budge at all. I focused a pin light into the neck pocket holes to find…

Hello! First time poster, long time lurker... I thought you guys might get a kick out of this. I got fed up of having to re-mount my workbench lid after pulling it off a particularly bumpy/cold/hot/anything truck ride and began searching for a mounting system that would hold everything up when the lid was open, but also crucially not fall off when it was closed after the show. I happened upon multiboard, which looked like it could do the…

In the process of evaluating the repairs needed on this guitar I checked to see if the truss rod was working. There is hole in the transverse brace where you would normally insert a truss rod, but all I see is the end of a metal bar with a smallish hole in the center. I tried several allen wrenches that would fit in the hole, but nothing seems to grab. Did they really eliminate the adjustable truss rod on this vintage reproduction? Here'…

Just joined the group and have only built 3 guitars so far but just ran into trouble on my latest project. Long story short: I built a '57 LP Jr that came out fantastic but the neck was set incorrectly and was nearly unplayable. I cut off the body and made a new one and applied the burst and a few coats of clear before gluing in the salvaged neck. To finish up the neck joint with a bit more black, I dusted off my 20 yo Paasche airbru…

I have a client who is going to paint a ES-335 kit guitar (Maple top and Back, Mahogany sides and neck). She will be using an Acrylic (Jesso) matte primer and then painting the entire guitar with Liquitex Acrylic water based paints. Poly finish on top of that. What steps do I need to take to prep the neck and body for painting? Sealer then grain fill then seal again? What products would you use? I have never done this before and am looki…

Hey everyone! I'm finishing up my latest build and looking for help with the wiring. It's a 3-pickup configuration with a standard 3-position toggle switch. The plan is for 3 pots: master volume, master tone, and a volume just for the middle pickup (as a blend so that it can be added in any position). The 3-way toggle will be a standard Neck - [Neck + Bridge] - Bridge. I looked through @member ' excellent book and didn'…

Hi Thought I'd say "hi". I've just joined the group. I'm Rob, I'm based in Yorkshire in North England. I'm mainly interested in elictric guitar and electric bass building and playing. I've built around 5-6 guitars/basses through 3d printing. I've two Prusa MK4's and been printing for around five years. The design and build of them is logged here https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/485214-a-3d-printed-six-string/ And https://www.basschat.co.uk/t…

I have been working through Robbie O'Brien's french polish course and he recommends using a plastic polish. The product he used wasn't available at my hardware store so I purchased this product https://www.meguiars.ca/3M/en_CA/p/d/v000190445/ and just want to make sure that this will not damage my finish. I'd appreciate some feedback for a rookie finisher.

I'm finishing up a dreadnought with a wood pickguard (ebonized mesquite) that I need to glue to a French polish finish. Wondering what glue to use and whether I need to scrape off the shellac or just glue it to the finish. Thoughts??

Where does one acquire something like this in the picture I've attached? I'm not even sure what to call it but I'd love to pick up a few as I'm beginning my journey into finish work. Thanks for any direction!

This 60's Gibson LG0 mahogany came in with a little bit of the finish scraped off just to the right of the bridge as you can see. I'm curious if anybody has any tips on how to touch this up? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

After installing purfling and bindings I noticed a black dot on one of the maple lines— and right at the florentine point! It’s not sanding out. Bummer. As I get close to finish prep does anyone have recommendations on acrylic touch up paint SKUs that work well with maple? These maple purflings happen to be from Gurian Instruments, for what that’s worth. Also, if anyone has an idea of what this dot is and how it got there I’d love to he…

I had a wild idea, and I would love to be talked off the ledge before I try it. I've seen some acetone vaporizers used in headlight repair, and the thought occurred to me that the concept could possibly work for blending poly finish with Ca (fill and finish) to lessen witness lines without sanding. The idea would be to fill the finish chips as usual and scrape flush with a razor blade, then use the vaporizer to blend the edges before…

Does anyone have a trick for recreating this textured finish?