The Hub

in for some top cracks and playability issues, neck is underset by almost 1/8" with significant hump at the joint...just got the strings off and got a better peek under the circus tent and... how the what the why? i just... really I... ummmm....can anyone guess what is going on here? Tempted to hand it back over any half-measure foolery. Third Japanese built one in this year but I've not seen this sort of hijinx...

Hi all, I'd like to get some input on how to address this top blowout. For starters I own this, I got it as a project guitar, 71 D28. I'm not as experienced with acoustics as electrics and this is a big project but I got it to learn new skills and I'm confident I can do it with guidance. It had been stored in the case for many years under tension and was way too humidified. The bridge had pulled up I assume in stages. The center seam se…

Greetings Wise Elders and fellow seekers of the Looth Group! I hope you're all keeping well. I humbly beseech thee for thine sage wisdom and experience. I purchased a 1971 Hagstrom Swede. This guitar was basically put in a case and then forgotten about for a few decades. I felt sorry for the old man and have taken it in as a stray / project. I would like to get it playing again. There are many scars on this guitar, I have looked for as…

Dovetail was 9/16” deep, and 1 9/16” wide at the back. 15th fret was 1 mm tail side of the end of the dovetail socket but a slight angulation towards the headstock landed in the right place. Hide glue, released easily. Nice everyday player, finish and binding beautiful, good spruce top, warped poplar neck.

After several years of fighting with my bandsaw blade jumping off every few inches of cut (it needs a new bearing on the top wheel), I decided to try something bass-ackwards. I put the blade on with the teeth facing the 'wrong' direction. Not only did that solve the problem of the blade jumping off, but it has made the cutting of pickguard material much smoother. Has anyone else experienced this kind of situation? Do you have any other…

I have a martin DX 175TH that is in for a bridge lifting. I did some research and it has an HPL top and a rosewood bridge. I have some gluboost gel on hand but I was wondering if anyone has a better suggestion.

I working through a long top crack repair on a c.1964 Fender Newporter and need to do a little touch-up on the clear coat. The top coat is matte over a do-do brown stained mahogany top, I'm guessing around a 10-20% reflectivity. Questions: 1. What top coat product did Fender use on these? 2. What should I use that has great self-leveling qualities and will melt into the old finish? <>

This guitar does not have a dovetail. It has five dowel. Three in line and two at the top on either side of the truss rod. Remove truss rod nut before sliding neck straight out.

I don’t have CNC capabilities so I could not duplicate Dave Slimmer’s version ( https://loothgroup.com/loothprint/bridge-clamping-cauls/). Got a 12x18x1/2 inch HDPE cutting board on Amazon for under $10 (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001D3LQVA), drilled a row of 1/2 holes about 5/16” deep with a Forstner, cut the HDPE into 5 sided chunks so I could orient by touch, and free handed the brace grooves on the band saw. The clamp swivel pads are 1…

*Photo added* Ding repair on spruce top, 2015 Collings 0002HE #23701. What are y’all reaching for when repairing dents in nitro? GlueBoost fill & finish or drop filling with nitrocellulose? This is a well-used guitar; not pristine and the owner has reasonable expectations that the repair will not be “like it never happened” Bonus question: If there is bare wood, should I seal it with shellac to preserve the color before proceeding to fil…

It was attacked by a Martin Dreadaught on a small mountain stage resulting in a faceplant. The top is Redwood. I was able to get it to glue up fairly well and have done some splice and drop fill on the vertical cracks. I'm curious about suggestions for the deep cross grain areas. I am hoping to not re-shoot any lacquer and just rub out the finish with some Kovax dry sanding. It was never high gloss buff to begin with and it's a personal…

Hello looths! Long time lurker, first time poster here all the way from New Zealand. I have recently acquired this 2008 Martin D-35 for a very cheap price ($1000 NZD - around 600 US!) it's dried out in a very cold environment and has two substantial cracks running all the way across the top, one large side crack, and a previous side crack repair that's been done quite poorly. I'm only about 3 years in to this repair journey and this is d…

Hey everybody, I should restore this Roger Rossmeissl Archtop. There is a lot of work to do. The owner is aware of the possibly-much-more-work-than-value situation. I am still thinking about how to aproach it, I want to start working on the guitar in August. It seems that there is not much warping in the top, few wood is lost. I do not know what happened to the guitar, but sometimes I hear a voice coming out the corner of my workshop mumb…