The first step is to check the amount of curve in the neck. It should bend up slightly and is measured half way along the neck using a notched straight edge and a feeler gauge. The tension in the strings pulls the head up, increasing the curve. This tension is balanced against the truss-rod which […]
Category: General
Baby Taylor – High Action
These are great little guitars, unfortunately some of them come out of the shop with a very high playing action. A fairly easy job to put right though… Starting at the top, with the action height at the first fret. This one was OK, otherwise it’s a simple job to cut the slots in the nut […]
How Green is your Gibson!
Had an interesting day in the Music Room, Lincoln today. You can find me there on the last Saturday of each month if you ever want a chat about your Guitar problems. Nothing out of the ordinary to deal with but one guitar for sale caught my eye… I love anything with a Bigsby and […]
USA Fender Telecaster Tuning problems
A really nice Tele’ but the owner’s unhappy as it won’t stay in tune. There is always the problem with the standard Tele’ bridge. The Intonation is always a compromise so I’m going to change them for a compensated set… With the strings off I’ve had a good look at the machine heads. They […]
US Stratocaster Setup
Had a rather nice US Stratocaster on the bench today. Nothing major, just a clean and setup. I rather like the body, nice paint finish over a very nice piece of wood…. The fretboard was a little grubby… A quick rub down with some steel wool will remove that and polish the frets at the same time. […]
Les Paul# Copy
I’ve not had one of these Chinese copies before. I’m all for cheaper copies and cheaper lines. There’s nothing wrong with Squire, I’ve got an Electromatic Gretsch myself and I even built a “Rickenfaker” but I don’t like labelling things and pretending they are something they are not. However one of my customers took a punt on this […]
Fender Flame
Wow, what a fantastic guitar! I guess I’m lucky, just now and then someone brings in something really nice…. All it needed was a new jack socket so it was an easy fix..
How many strings can you change in a day?
I think I’ve set a personal record, 72 strings in all… A dozen guitars from Lincolnshire Music Services, a quick cleanup, new set of strings and fix a few minor problems. Most of them had very rusty strings…. and grubby, dry fretboards. The bodies will clean up easily enough…. The fretboard will also clean up […]
When is a speedloader really slow?
The answer is, “When you can’t get the strings anymore”. It’s a great idea, you can change strings in seconds, just hook the string in at the nut and clip the bottom end on the bridge.. It was a fairly simple conversion, Change the nut for a locking one… and install a set of machine […]
Podcast
Had another interesting afternoon recording the next podcast for Clive and Lizzie from Octagon Technology and Develop and Promote. It was very interesting to hear what Clive had to say about a new on-line threat called “Crypto Locker”. Rather scary but there are some simple things you can do, or rather not do, that can […]