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."
Sep 28 2013
I do a lot of wiring in my shop. I like it – for some reason I find a hot soldering iron soothing. Unfortunately, EMG pickups are attempting to take away my love of soldering with their so-called solderless connections. EMG has been moving towards solderless connections on all their stuff since 2009, and for …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/emg-solderless-wiring/
Sep 22 2013
Phew! I’m back from my whirlwind vacation in San Francisco. Today I plan on catching up on tons of emails, phone calls, laundry, groceries, & the Saints game, and will be ready for guitar work tomorrow. For now, I want to take this opportunity to address an issue that’s been weighing heavily on my mind …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/barnett-customs/
Sep 10 2013
This week my friend Robert asked me to install an Aguilar OB3 preamp into his favorite Fender P Bass. If you’ve ever taken the pickguard off of a P Bass, you know that there’s almost no room for any extra stuff in the control cavities, least of all an additional couple of knobs, preamp, and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/installing-an-aguilar-preamp/
Aug 17 2013
Today I fixed up a Schecter guitar equipped with a Floyd Rose double locking tremolo system. These can be a bit difficult for many guitarists to deal with, so I thought I’d share a few quick tips that could help prevent a major headache. Here we go! Popsicle sticks! Since a Floyd Rose (or similarly …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/floyd-rose-tips-and-tricks/
Jul 24 2013
Down here in the south, things get a little sticky some times (ok, most of the time). Sweating is just a part of life down here, and sometimes that can cause a guitarist’s hands to stick to the finish on their guitar neck. Usually my advice is to simply hit the back of the neck …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/removing-finish-from-a-guitar-neck/
Jul 17 2013
Today I was tasked with wax potting a pickup from a cool old Telecaster, as it’s Lindy Fralin pickup had become extremely microphonic. Microphonic pickups tend to amplify non-musical sounds, such as taps and bumps on the guitar’s body, and will oftentimes squeal like a pig even at low volumes. Usually the root cause of …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/wax-potting-microphonic-pickups/
Jun 28 2013
Over the years I’ve come to realize that there’s two major philosophies that one can follow when building an acoustic guitar: it can either be built to last, or it can be built to sound good – but it can’t be both. Guitars that are built to last tend to utilize heavy internal bracing and …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/acoustic-guitar-belly-repair/
Jun 15 2013
Like many musicians, I’ve often wondered how to go about recycling guitar strings. I go through a TON of guitar strings, and I’ve always felt conflicted about just throwing them in the trash. Since New Orleans recycling programs post-Katrina still seem to be lacking, there really hasn’t been a good option for recycling guitar strings. …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/recycling-guitar-strings/
Jun 01 2013
This week I worked on a custom Warmoth bass guitar for my pal Dave, who is one of the owners of Algiers Music Point (one of my favorite music stores in New Orleans). This is his go to bass, and understandably so: Warmoth makes killer parts, and this one had a wonderfully resonant walnut body that …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/customizing-guitar-electronics/
May 28 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] Recently, I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries into my custom built neck jig, which I designed and built myself and am very proud of. While the idea …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/the-inside-scoop-on-the-neck-jig/
