The Hub

The latest builds, repairs, and conversations from across Looth. Activity
Filters AND Search touch up× Reset all
Private member DiscussionElectric Repair

feedback on Les Paul Headstock repair

I need some suggestions from the many great repair senseis out there.The customer is fine with a structural repair and not concerned about making it invisible. I told him you will see anything I do. He was fine with that and has a budget of between $700-1000. It's a clean break. nothing missing, It closes tightly.. I was thinking either 1) the generic double splines one on either side of truss rod and touchup as best I can. Or 2) the ab…

1 reply
1 reply
LikeShare
Private member
With a break like this with plenty of surface area, I would just glue it without any additional supports. My glue of choice is hot hide glue, but there will be lots of opinions on that and many option…
Private member DiscussionDiscussions

Magnifiers - inexpensive and invaluable tools

I am a retired dentist. One saying we had was, “You can’t fix what you can’t see.” And another was, “The day you start working with magnification will be the best and worst day of your practice.” The worst because you will see what you have been missing, and the best because you will never miss it again. So even though I have my Dan E. Model visor loupes, and my retired dental loupes on throughout the day, sometimes, it’s not enough. I pi…

1 reply
1 reply
LikeShare
Private member
P.S. - I used it this morning to assess how complete my epoxy pore filling was. There was no guessing - I could see the evidence. You could also use your iPhone to magnify - I think on mine the magnifi…
Private member DiscussionGeneral

Great Moments in Luthiery

Sure - we love talking about the 'clams'. In fact, when I discovered that "Ian Hated Guitars," I knew I had found a kindred spirit. BUT - every once in awhile, you hit a homer. Allow me to share mine and you can do likewise: You've just done a touch up and it takes you several seconds to find it. WooHoo!

LikeShare
Private member DiscussionFinish Repair

'60's Fender Newporter matte finish repair

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? <>

3 replies
3 replies
LikeShare
Private member
I've decided to follow your wisdom, Ian, and it leave the finish cracks alone. It will be structurally sound again and look like it used to have a crack.
Private member DiscussionFinish Repair

Paint chip repair, advice for drop-fill in sunburst

I'd like to add some cherry nitro to this spot but how do I avoid the dark line around the perimeter that typically forms from adding a touch-up? I.e., what is the best strategy for blending what i'm adding to what is there?

4 replies
4 replies
LikeShare
Ian Davlin
Difficulty in making repair look better than the damage 8/10. What is your plan for application? Airbrush or paint brush?
Private member DiscussionTools and Jigs

Non-CNC cauls for Stew-Mac sound hole clamps

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…

2 replies
2 replies
LikeShare
Private member
Yeah, I think the current concerns with microplastics is impacting cutting board prices.
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Classical Guitar Bridge Reglue

I have a Favilla Classical guitar on the bench, in for a bridge reglue. This is a low to mid-range classical guitar, made circa 1960, and it's an heirloom guitar for the customer, he basically wants it back in playing shape. The story is that he went away on vacation, and when he returned the bridge had delaminated from the top and took a fair amount of finish with it. It also appears that someone attempted to glob on superglue at some…

LikeShare
Private member DiscussionGeneral

When taking the ends of fret tangs off how do you guarantee not to file into fret causing perceived lift when making them flush?

Hi There, I've seen a number of jigs, Some seem like they might work with specific size frets but we all know that even same sized frets have some variances depending batch and where on the line it came off the spool. No matter how i do it I seem to scrape the bottom of the fret trying to make it perfectly flush. I've considered using small rotary round burr or cylinder and only touching the tang so if it does go to deep its…

3 replies
3 replies
LikeShare
Private member
Here we go! The UnTangler was created exactly to deal with this issue. If you look in the loothprints library there is a LITE version you can download and print yourself, or have somebody print for yo…
Private member DiscussionFinish Repair

Mohawk wood touch up and repair workshop

Has anybody here done the Mohawk wood touch up and repair workshop? Kind of expensive, wondering how much of it would be useful in guitar world.

6 replies
6 replies
LikeShare
Private member
The burn-in stuff hasn't been touched since the class, like 12 years ago... Epoxy putty and various markers got used up fast, still use the rubber block and apron some. ... the blendal colors wi…
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Some questions on a Taylor Acoustic...

I have a Taylor Acoustic in for a setup and I had a couple of questions: 1. My main one is how you would go about gluing the label back on? I'm probably overthinking it but I'm curious if there's a universally recognized way of doing this? 2. I have some very minor finish damage which I'm not planning on touching, but I am curious how one would go about repairing it. Would this be a case of drop filling lacquer? What would be the…

4 replies
4 replies
LikeShare
Private member
I've reglued the corner of these labels many times. If you can just get a perfect little swipe of wood glue on it with a feeler gauge or something and then just hold it down with the erasure on a penc…