New Orleans, LA
I am a bassist, guitar tech, and founder of Strange Guitarworks. When not working on guitars, I create experimental music under the moniker of UFO Death Cult, utilizing microtonal instruments of my own design. "Intonation is a social construct."
Jan 23 2013
It’s a common misconception that just because a guitar is brand new it should be perfect. Unfortunately, that’s not the case: most guitar manufacturers pump out hundreds, if not thousands of guitars every day. Just one of Gibson’s many factories can complete upwards of 800 guitars a day! As much as we’d like to think …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/the-perfect-guitar/
Jan 18 2013
Finally! I’ve been blogging about my guitar work here for a while, and now I’ve got a chance to show off my guitar wiring skills. I’m no electrical engineer (although I have taken a handful of electrical engineering courses over the years), but I’d like to think I’m pretty handy with a soldering iron. When …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/guitar-wiring/
Jan 15 2013
Every guitar is different, and each have their own unique set of challenges. This week I refretted a guitar with a maple fretboard, and it tried to fight me every step of the way. First of all, the maple in this particular board was very soft, giving the frets nothing to hang on to; second, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/fretting-a-maple-fretboard/
Jan 11 2013
Today I performed one of my favorite tasks: shielding a guitar. I really enjoy doing this because it’s fun, easy, and provides a real benefit for just about every guitar. The trouble is that your electric guitar’s electronics function very well as an antennae to pick up all sorts of interference, which then gets sent …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/shielding-a-guitar/
Jan 11 2013
It’s a great day to be a guitar tech in New Orleans. While it’s raining cats and dogs outside, I’m in the shop working on guitars – it’s a pretty sweet gig. Today, I made a bone nut for a Les Paul. Making a guitar nut from scratch separates the men from the boys – …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/guitar-nut-from-scratch/
Jan 07 2013
A few days ago, I posted a blog about what not do to when refretting a bound fingerboard (see A Case For Great Fretwork). Today, I’m going to show how to do it correctly. A client recently brought in a 1979 Gibson ES335 guitar, which was in dire need of a refret. I pulled the frets, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/refretting-a-bound-fingerboard/
Jan 05 2013
My good friends Aaron Younce (at Fodera Guitars) and Megan Younce (at Taylor Guitars) recently helped me snag the very last Taylor Fret Buck. I’ve wanted one of these tools for years, and on a whim I got in touch with Megan to see if they had one laying around, even though they’ve been discontinued …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/taylor-fret-buck/
Jan 04 2013
[NOTE: We no longer use the neck jig, and have moved on to using a PLEK machine for all of our fretwork. Read about it here: strangeguitarworks.com/plek] Any guitar repair shop worth their salt needs to have a neck jig to do accurate fretwork. Fretwork is the most common job any repair shop does – …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/profile-of-my-custom-neck-jig/
Dec 31 2012
For guitar techs, it’s the small things that (should) matter. The devil is in the details, even on simple jobs like replacing an output jack. First of all, I only use the highest quality components available. Your output jack is constantly abused – plugging it in and out, stepping on the cord during your epic …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/output-jack/
Dec 31 2012
Today I worked on a Gibson Les Paul that had already seen some heavy duty fretwork, insomuch as it had been completely refretted at another shop. Unfortunately, it was still buzzing and not playing very well. What gives? Upon closer inspection, it appears that the fretwork wasn’t done properly, and was causing problems. There were …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/a-case-for-great-fretwork/
