Articles in the Workshop Category
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A while back, I outlined a (slightly) unusual method of repairing the broken neck of a Gibson SG. I mentioned that guitar would make another appearance soon and here it is.
The guitar suffered a broken headstock while still in its case. A neck-break in the case was the final straw for the owner—who’s had more than one Gibson require a neck repair— and he wanted to consider options to help prevent it happening again. We talked over the pros and cons of the various solutions and eventually decided on a …
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Nobody likes to see this. It’s the headstock of a Gibson SG and, as you can see, it’s broken. Ouch.
Something slightly unusual about this is that this guitar suffered a headstock break while still in its case. This is unusual but not unheard of. I’ve seen a few in my time (and I mention it in my general article about Broken Necks). It’s a real pain to hear this but even a good case might not protect your guitar in all circumstances. If you want to be even more safe, …
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A little ways back, I discussed the removal of an acoustic guitar’s neck for repair. I also talked a little about my opinions on the construction of that particular guitar. The neck-removal post was getting a little long so I decided to split out the reassembly part.
Putting an acoustic guitar back together generally involves some glueing. Sometimes more and sometimes less.
A bolt-on neck will generally just require that the fingerboard extension (the part past where the neck meets the body) be glued to the guitar top while the bolts inside …
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An acoustic guitar with a dodgy, onboard preamp that had to be replaced.
What should have been a straightforward job became a little more complicated becauset the original preamp had a particularly large footprint. It was an older, discontinued model and the manufacturer was unable to supply a replacement that was as large. As it turned out, it was pretty difficult to find any manufacturer that had a unit that would cover the existing hole (and patching and recutting wasn’t favoured for cost reasons).
After quite a bit of internet rooting, a …
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In a previous post, I gave my opinion on what I saw as the problems with the neck-joint design of a guitar I’d recently worked on. I thought you might be interested in some more detail about that repair (without my whinging about design issues). While some of the steps undertaken in this repair are common with any job that involves removing a guitar’s neck, you might find it useful to, first, check out some of the ways in which this guitar differed.
The guitar had taken a knock and its …
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I should definitely preface this post by stating that what follows is my opinion only. It may be that I’m alone in these views or it may be that other guitar builders and repair-techs agree. The post below, however, is my take on things.
I recently had a Tanglewood TW130 through the shop for repair. It’s a nice little acoustic—I’ve always been a sucker for all-mahogany acoustics. The guitar had taken a fall and the heel had come away from the body. I’ll detail the steps taken to assess and repair …
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There’s a funny thing that happens with some basses. It’s called the dead spot.
What’s A Dead Spot?
The dead spot is a particular note that won’t seem to ‘ring’. It won’t sustain and instead, the fundamental just dies away almost immediately. Sometimes you’ll hear some overtone-type vibrations of the note sustain very faintly but for the most part, the note is gone.
This tends to be most noticeable on one particular string and on one particular note but it can be evident (possibly to a lesser extent) a half-tone higher or lower …
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I’ve written a little about specific headstock repairs and it occurred to me that might be a good idea to give you an overview with some tips and considerations on how to prevent broken necks and what to do if the worst happens. It’s a little long but could well prove useful to know…
The worst thing in the world?
You’re finished the gig and you’re enjoying a well-earned beer at the bar. You’re careful to keep an eye on your pride and joy, propped up against your amp on stage, to …
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In the last article, Heads Up 1 – Headstock Cracks (Easy-Peasy), we looked at a pretty basic repair of a cracked peghead. This time, we’ll take a look at one where the repair needs a little bit more thought.
A More Challenging Headstock Crack Repair
With string tension slackened, this crack is pretty hard to see. Even under string tension, it only opens a little. This makes things a little more difficult as it’s important to work the glue all the way into the crack to get the best repair. With a …
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Right. I’m going to take a bit of a look at headstock damage. That bit up the end of your guitar neck can sometime be a bit vulnerable and I thought we’d outline the repairs to some of the issues that can occur.
Before we get going, the majority of (but not all) problems and damage to a guitar or bass’s headstock is caused by the instrument falling. If everybody put their guitars in their cases when they weren’t being used instead of leaning them against their amps, guitar repair-guys all …
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