May 21 2018
This week I embarked upon a job of replacing binding on a vintage Gretsch. A lot of what we know about what works in guitar making we’ve learned from what hasn’t worked out over time. Plastic is one of those things we’ve learned a lot about over the years – now that we use it …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/replacing-binding-on-a-vintage-gretsch/
Apr 25 2018
We were recently contacted by the mercurial musician Anton Newcomb of The Brian Jonestown Massacre to restore his Harmony Sovereign acoustic guitar. To say this guitar was beat up is a vast understatement: the neck was pulling almost completely off and was horribly bowed, the frets were a disaster, the back was cracked, and almost …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/restoring-a-harmony-sovereign-for-the-brian-jonestown-massacre/
Mar 18 2018
Most people think of the truss rod as the smoking gun regarding an instrument’s playability. Action too high? Tighten the truss rod. Action too low? Loosen the truss rod. This kind of advice runs rampant on forums all over the internet, and it’s dead wrong. Guitar necks have an optimal relief of between .1mm (.004″) …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/replacing-a-broken-truss-rod/
Feb 17 2018
One of the most common structural repairs we deal with in the shop is the case of the broken headstock. While guitars are generally pretty well designed to withstand the abuse we musicians tend to put them through, the headstock is their Achilles’ Heel. A couple of factors play into this: first, most Gibson guitars …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/repairing-broken-headstock-using-reinforcement-splines/
Jan 09 2018
Unlike most industries, the biggest selling electric guitars on the market have remained virtually unchanged since the 1950s, for the most part. We, the guitar players and collectors of the world are pretty well steeped in tradition and perhaps even a bit of nostalgia when it comes to this stuff. We covet our atom age …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/installing-a-schaller-hannes-bridge-system/
Dec 05 2017
Regarding anything we humans do in life, there are usually two potential approaches: the quick way and the right way, with all of our actions and efforts falling somewhere in line on that spectrum. This specimen fell victim to someone routing pickup cavities the quick way – with a hand held Dremel tool – so I …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/repairing-bad-pickup-routes/
Nov 13 2017
It’s been 12 years since New Orleans was forever scarred by the high-water mark of Hurricane Katrina. As the flood waters receded, abandoned artifacts representing about $81 billion in damage emerged. An estimated 800,000 housing units, over 200,000 cars and trucks, and an immeasurable number of personal belongings were among the wreckage. Most of what …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/restoring-a-1970-gibson-sg-damaged-by-hurricane-katrina/
Oct 07 2017
Over the years Gibson has come up with some of the most legendary instrument designs the world has ever seen, some of which are essential to defining rock and roll itself. Innovations like the Les Paul, the Firebird, and the Explorer are among the coolest guitars ever made, while the P-90 pickup, the PAF humbucker …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/making-an-acoustic-guitar-bridge-from-scratch/
Sep 20 2017
“Once more with synergy!” facetiously cries a cynical and formidable adversary of unbridled capitalism, Naomi Klein, in her corporate-weary manifesto scrutinizing the branded world in which we live, No Logo. This post is basically about that. One of our dear clients, Michael, recently picked up a Gibson SG on the cheap – perhaps because the seller, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/re-finishing-defaced-sg/
Sep 01 2017
On September 1st, 2012, Strange Guitarworks was born. It doesn’t seem like that long ago – this has been so much fun that I’ve hardly noticed that five whole years have slipped by. To be honest, I don’t really know exactly how to remark upon this admittedly small, but perhaps significant milestone. When I consider …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/five-year-anniversary/
