I am a musician, 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. I also am slowly learning to speak German. Ausgezeichnet! "Intonation is a social construct."
Benjamin Strange
New Orleans, LA
Author's posts
Apr 13 2021
Installing a Fender LSR roller nut
Whammy. Whang bar. Vibrato bridge. Wiggle stick. No matter what you call it, they are going to knock your guitar out of tune if it’s not set up properly. The main culprit for guitars going out of tune is the nut– strings catch and bind in there, and they don’t return to pitch. While a …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/installing-fender-lsr-roller-nut/
Apr 07 2021
Defretting a bass guitar
I have been playing bass guitar 29 years, and for almost that entire time I’ve been an exclusively fretless player. I first defretted my bass in 1998, after only playing for five years. I remember that ordeal quite well: I yanked the frets out of my Peavey B-Quad, and filled the slots in with bondo, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/defretting-a-bass-guitar/
Jan 12 2021
The secret of the PLEK machine
What is a PLEK machine? What does a PLEK machine do? Is the PLEK machine worth it? There are lots of questions out there regarding this machine, and even more bad answers. Who in 2021 would believe that the internet would be rampant with mis-information? The PLEK machine is a complex tool, and I will …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/the-secret-of-the-plek-machine/
Dec 14 2020
Making a brass nut
The nut on your guitar is often overlooked, yet it is one of the most important lynchpins in making your instrument play it’s best. Since every neck is slightly different, one can’t just buy a nut and expect it to fit – they have to be made from scratch, every time. We make a lot …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/making-a-brass-nut/
Nov 22 2020
Your guitar is out of tune. Deal with it.
“Intonation is a social construct.” If you’ve hung around our shop long enough, you’ve probably heard me say this, as it’s one of my favorite aphorisms. What do I mean by this, and what does this have to do with your guitar? Well, your guitar is out of tune. In fact, EVERY fixed pitch instrument …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/guitar-is-out-of-tune/
Aug 31 2019
Acoustic bridge coming off: FIXED!
Acoustic guitars can be designed to sound good, or can be designed to last – it can’t really be both. Most builders try to find a middle ground, and many are very successful at finding a perfect balance. However, guitars are mostly made of wood, and sometimes wood just won’t cooperate. Occasionally we see this …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/acoustic-bridge-coming-off-fixed/
May 16 2019
Installing a Kahler into a PRS
We rarely see Kahler equipped guitars in our shop – I don’t remember seeing any at all in the last seven years. Yet over the last two months we’ve seen at least five (three of which we removed and returned the guitar to stock, like so: http://www.strangeguitarworks.com/filling-a-kahler-route/). A few weeks back our friend Gregg asked …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/installing-a-kahler-into-a-prs/
Mar 18 2019
Enter the PLEK
The day has finally arrived: we got a Plek machine. As many of you are aware, we always strive for perfection, and invest in tools of the highest quality to ensure that your guitar will be the best it can possibly be. Getting a Plek was the next logical step for us, and let me …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/enter-the-plek/
Jan 02 2019
Fixing a broken Gibson truss rod on a vintage Grabber
We repair quite a few broken truss rods here at Strange Guitarworks, and oftentimes it’s not a simple endeavor. Every repair is unique, which is one of the reasons we love our jobs: it’s never boring. Fixing this broken Gibson truss rod in this vintage Grabber was a doozy: the headstock was broken off, the …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/fixing-a-broken-gibson-truss-rod/
Apr 25 2018
Restoring a Harmony Sovereign for The Brian Jonestown Massacre
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/
