By admin on June 15, 2010
This week I worked on a two different kinds of broken necks – the all too common broken Gibson headstock, and a cross threaded Fender P-Bass neck with a loose truss rod.
There’s not a lot of mystery behind this repair, just careful gluing and touch up. Whenever possible I use hide glue for this type of break. It is incredibly strong, has good heat resistance, and if the joint does fail it can be reactivated with hot water. More Photos…
The nut had been cross threaded on this P-Bass neck with such force that the anchor came loose causing the entire truss rod to spin inside the neck. My friend Paul managed to loosen the nut allowing the truss rod to be pushed out the headstock end of the neck. After cleaning the crushed threads with a die I attempted to reinstall the rod but the sleeve inside the neck bunched up causing the skunk stripe to pop up near the base. With a little gentle coaxing I go the entire stripe out. I wrapped the rod in wax paper, epoxied the anchor back in place, and reglued the skunk stripe and headstock plug. Except for a small ridge at the base of the neck you would never know. More Photos…
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By admin on May 25, 2010
I just finished reassembling this 1976 Les Paul Custom. It had been painted black over the original black finish and the owner decided that he wanted it completely stripped and redone. It took a little longer than I expected but I am pleased with the results. Click here for more photos.
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By admin on May 18, 2010
Chris Smart, from
Robot Monster Guitars, brought this Carvin AB-45 bass into the shop a few days ago with a sunken top. Looking in the neck pocket quickly revealed the problem. Both braces, or tone bars, had come loose in front of the bridge. Luckily cleaning and gluing is fairly easy with access through the neck pocket.
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By admin on April 12, 2010
After more than a year of slow progress (sorry Mitch!) I put the finishing touches on this Bajo Sexto inspired Telecaster for Mitch Webb. Mitch had the idea for this guitar a long time ago and it is finally done. Dubbed “El Raunchocaster”, it has a mahogany body capped with a maple top, maple and walnut rope binding, a radical pickgurad and faux mustache bridge, a birdseye maple neck, and Lollar Special T Telecaster pickups. I can’t wait to see and hear it on stage. For more on Mitch Webb and The Swindles check out theswindles.com.
For more photo of building El Raunchocaster click here.
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By admin on March 2, 2010
I just completed a neck reset on this great Gretsch Anniversary. The complete process is documented here. If you are interested in the guitar contact Spacetone Music.
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By admin on February 7, 2010
I just finished replacing the binding on this Gretsch Syncromatic 1014. I have posted all the photos and text here.
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By admin on January 30, 2010
Today I recovered this Fender Vibrosonic amplifier for Spacetone Music. It had been recovered before and wasn’t looking too sharp. I stripped it down and sanded the cabinet clean before adding new Tolex and handle to match. It cleaned up very nicely. I dig that brown Tolex! If you are in the market for a great amplifier give Jason a call.
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By admin on January 14, 2010
I just finished repairing this great Gibson L-48. Both of the tone bars were loose from the middle of the top to the end block. The trick to this repair was figuring out how to complete all the necessary operations with access only through the f-holes. Using a gooseneck web camera to see inside the guitar I managed to inject glue under the bars and clamp them with long reach clamps. You can see the whole process
here.
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By admin on October 28, 2009
I asked my wife what she wanted to do on our anniversary trip to Hawaii and to my surprise she said she would like to go on a tour of the Kamaka Ukulele Factory! Me too!
Fred Kamaka, son of founder Samuel Kamaka, took us on a thorough tour of the factory and recounted the history of Kamaka Ukuleles, including his recollections of working in the factory as a young boy. He showed us the original Pineapple ukulele, chronicled his father’s design innovations and explained some of the more subtle changes that led to the current Kamaka Ukulele.
Fred is a great tour guide with a wonderful sense of humor and the other factory staff are equally welcoming. If you are in Honolulu it is definitely worth a visit. You can see more photos from my visite here.
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By admin on October 17, 2009
Chris Smart at the Robot Monster Booth in Arlington
I’m up in Arlington for the Guitar Show this weekend with Chris and Joseph from Robot Monster Guitars. I’ve never seen so many incredible guitars in one place.
Here is a Rick 4001 bass that I refinished. It had been stained brown and had carving in the back but it cleaned up nicely.
1974 Rickenbacker 4001 bass - Refinished
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By admin on August 12, 2009
I’ve been working on resurrecting a 1966 J-45. It originally had a plastic bridge and adjustable saddle which I am going to replace with a rosewood bridge with a fixed saddle. Today I roughed out the new bridge. You can see photos
here…
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By admin on July 28, 2009
After allowing the finish to cure for a few weeks I realized that I was within hours of finishing a Telecaster that I have been building for myself. I took part of the day and knocked it out. I’ve been chipping away at it for months and it is finally done! I rubbed out the finish, shaped the nut, soldered the remaining connections, and assembled all the parts.
The body is made from two pieces of book-matched ash from a tree cut down in my neighborhood. It has some staining and a few imperfections but it has character, it has a connection to where I live, and it was saved from ending up in the landfill. I did about everything I could think of on the guitar short of learning to work metal. The pickguard is laminated Sapelle, Maple, and black dyed Costello finished with Lacquer. I wound the pickups from kits available from Stewart-Macdonald. I learned a few tricks along the way like how magnetize pickup magnets and how to measure magnetism using a homemade gauss meter employing a hall effect device. Perhaps that is a future blog. If you are interested the plans are available here.
I think it turned out quite nicely and it sounds great. You don’t have to take my word for it. Here are some clips of my friend Joe Reyes playing this guitar. Thanks Joe!
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bridge_pickup.mp3 bridge_pickup_2.mp3 neck_pickup.mp3
Posted in Main | Tagged ash body, guitar, handmade, telecaster
By admin on July 27, 2009
I have added a new blog about
rewinding a Gibson Humbucker.
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By admin on June 30, 2009
A good friend sent me this link today. James Condino demonstrates how to hand apply a sunburst finish with water based dyes. It is beautiful work. The video is a companion to an article in their magazine. Check it out on the
Fine Woodworking website.
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