The Hub

Hi All, I wanted to check in with folks in the industry and ask for some advice. I have been on a building Hiatus for a number of years now (Hand Injury, Medical Issues). Things have gotten much better, and I am fully able and capable of building once again. The 2nd biggest hurdle I have had was a lack of opportunity for shop spaces to build. I now have a viable workspace and full use of my hands once again to build. The problem is that, o…

Hey guys. I guess this is an old topic, everyone talks about it but I haven't been able to find a definitive solution for this. Here's the deal: I'm working on a PRS Silversky that has this old problem that when you use the trem bar, one string (G in this case) goes sharp. I made a few adjustments to the nut as we all know that's the first thing to look at...no good. This guitar is new so I'm pretty much ruling out the bridge and posts si…

First time making purfling to match a repair. Problem: couldn’t get it to bend without delaminating and cracking. Veneer is 6 plies using 4 of SMs 0.023” and 2 maple at 0.025” cut to 1 1?2 inches wide. Glue up with Titebond Veneer glue, final stack at 0.140” thick. Let it dry 2 days, cut a few 0.090” strips, then used some super soft just at the waist and despite going very slowly the strip skewed, delaminated and started to break plies. W…

I am working on a neck reset on a Washburn Parlor - SN 283552. I have read that the 28 in the SN indicates that is was built in 1928, but the owner thinks based on her research that it was built before 1920. I am assuming a dovetail joint and that I can get into the neck joint for steaming by drilling into the 13th fret slot, but if anyone knows differently please let me know. The fingerboard extension has already separated slightly…

I've got a PRS SE A50E acoustic in with complaints of high action. Checked the relief and it was sky high. Tried to flatten it, and it wouldn't go, so I started experimenting. When there's no string tension and the (single action) truss rod is slack, there's loads of relief. Tightening the truss rod works fine and the nut turns easily until the neck is flat, then resistance goes up but the neck won't go past dead flat. It behaves as…

I’ve had success placing Titebond under top braces using an artificial insemination catheter (not the AI you thought!) The catheter is PVC, 11 inches long, has a standard Luer hub for syringes and is thermoplastic so it’s shapeable. Purchased on Amazon Weewooday 50 Pcs Disposable Artificial Insemination Rods Disposable Breeding Rod Tube Flexible Breeding Catheter Tube for Dog Goat Sheep(10.8 Inches,White) URL = https: //a.co/d/03SDiw…

Hi everyone! I'm trying to wrap my head around this problem. I was doing some fret on a throwaway neck and found a couple of uneven frets in the middle of the neck. (I made sure to seat them down before levelling too!) While levelling, I came across an issue where the first few frets and the last few frets were being sanded down before the middle frets. I did make sure the neck was straight with a notched straight edge and the StewMac n…

Speaking of Trevor Gore... I've started using falcate bracing on my ukuleles and in making the braces, 3 strips of .0625" spruce are bent and then put in a bent lamination glue up rig using epoxy. Bending spruce is no fun on a hot pipe. It's slow, fussy, the fibers want to delaminate. I have been thinking about building a small dedicated steam box. Pulling all 3 of the strips out at once and bending them over a form with a metal back…

Hello All! My first post and I'm very happy to be here and share the highs and lows of this pony ride. After years of bending sides on a hot pipe or bending machines belonging to 'other people', I finally built myself a bending machine. Functionally it is great, but the result on some test material was far from great. See pictures attached. What you see here is a doug fir 'test side' that certainly came out guitar shaped, but oh my, what…

I'm looking for the mandolin/violin side bending extension that StewMac used to sell and recently discontinued. Does anyone have one that they don't need and would like to sell?

I have three aluminum Ukulele molds for sale. I was surprised to find them in a thrift store here in Athens, OH. I bought them with plans to refurbish them. They are heated with propane or gas via copper pipe with small holes similar to gas stove burners. i had planned to use new piping but would probably have tried what’s there to see how it worked (being safety conscious of course) The molds are very well made, and I assume are cast alu…

Refretted my Yamaha Studio Lord 550 with jumbo frets. This is my second fret job. First was on a bolt-on BC Rich neck. The Studio Lord (Les Paul copy) was my first set neck project. It is pretty good. No fretting out. I set the action at 4.5/64 on bass and 3.5/64 on the high strings. Today I noticed that if I bend a high F to G (13th fret on first string), the note frets out (I can get to F # no problem by bending from the 13th).

Thinking of trying a scoop cutaway on my current acoustic build. I actually planned to do it but I’m having second thoughts. I have no issues bending a cutaway. Question for those who have done it - is the higher end of the fretboard still comfortably accessible with the scoop and, is there any perceptive difference in sound by saving that small portion of the upper sound box? I guess I’m just wondering if the extra work is worth anyth…

This may be a stupid question. A client has a Bartolini jazz guitar humbucker with no brackets, 5JNB: https://bartolini.net/product/5j/ They want to attach it to an ebony jazz guitar pickguard. How do you do that? My thought was to make a metal tray, bend it to the appropriate shape, screw it to the pickguard, and attach the pickup to the tray with double stick tape. Does anybody sell something like that? Or alternately, how do you attac…

I'm building my first BRW guitar, started with the back, pictured below. What do you normally thickness BRW sides to? I guess they can probably be a bit under 2 mm, but I don't want to overdo it in case there is some slight deformation that needs to be sanded later. I bend manually on a heating iron if that makes any difference.

Hi Gang, Has anyone switched out the plastic, 8 pin box output 18 volt active/battery switch output jack on a P Bass special for a standard TRS output jack or some other? I just got off the phone with Fender and they don't make this anymore and they recommend replacing with another plastic box from Molex and are sending a wiring diagram. The problem with all this is the plastic boxes have wimpy thin spring steel and wear out quickly.…

hello looths - i'm building my first guitar. generally following (and enjoying) the gore/gilet books. after 3 tries, i've yet to get a crack free bend around the nose of a venetian cutaway with a mahogany side. i made a version of the fox bender - using clamps on hand for the waist and cutaway, and a pid temp controller (verified accuracy), and am using a stew mac blanket and three straps. the recipe for my last attempt was: sapelle (fo…