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Thought fellow looths might enjoy this geekery. I've often wished for custom size heating blankets, but didn't even try uploading the file to get a quote from some of the major manufacturers. I was looking to spend countless hours of my life on something and save a hundred bucks. So I did some research, a little bit of head scratching, a slight bit of math reckoning, and made this '70s Martin bridge plate remover. Pretty slick, nice…

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…

HEy FOlks. Ive Been using a really old timer and reostat control, with a separate thermometer, on my heat blanket set up for a while. Its worked, but id like to be a bit more mindless about it if possible. Does anyone have suggestions for heat blanket controllers that have a digital readout and built in temp control sensor?

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…

Side bender machine in great condition. Includes spring steel, heating blankets, and thermocouple. No bending forms included, just the machine itself. Asking $600 for local pickup in Chicago area.

This thing had a conveniently placed hole in the neck pickup cavity that ran all the way to the end of the tenon, presumably the entry point for the long drill bit that drilled the access from pickup cavity to control cavity before the neck was originally fitted. I injected several pipettes of hot water into this hole while heating the fretboard extension area with a silicone blanket to loosen the extension from the body. Reactivated hi…

My heat blanket left some blushing in the finish on this 1970s Japanese guitar. The bridge was epoxied on and I got it too hot. I’ve used a heat gun to warm the finish (the blushing goes away) but it comes right back when it cools. Am I stuck with removing the damaged finish and touching up?

Today I have spent the better part of five hours attempting to get the fingerboard extension free on this guitar. I am using the method I have used for dozens of neck resets: 100 watt halogen bulb with heat shields. After a couple hours I thought I was making some progress under one corner, only to discover after some movement that my palette knife was going through the top. I then abandoned that area and have been applying heat and…

Hi everyone! I'm looking for advice about heat treatments for a warped neck, I know they are a thing but I've never actually done one. I have an Epiphone Les Paul in the shop that originally I was only going to do a level/crown/polish and a setup on, but when I tried to adjust the truss rod and checked the fingerboard with a straight edge I noticed there was about .030" of relief in most of the middle section, which was pretty consisten…