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/
Dec 30 2012
[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] Today I took on a refret project on an old Danelectro bass that was in need of some major help. Early Danos don’t have truss rods, and over …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/anatomy-of-a-refret/
Dec 13 2012
Today I’m working on an old Ibanez USATK bass, which has got a pretty good kink near the heel. This is a fairly common issue, and it causes many of the notes in the upper register to fret out. Truss rods don’t really affect the area of the neck beyond the 13th fret very much, …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.strangeguitarworks.com/guitar-neck-heat-press/
