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Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Low frets on Gibson J45

Just wondering how normal the following is on Gibsons. When I run a straight edge from the 7th to the 15th fret on this modern J45 the 12 fret (and neighboring frets) are 3-4 thousands low. The result is fret buzz on the 9th to the 14th fret on the wound strings. Picture attached. Guitar is around 5 years old and otherwise in very good condition.

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If you have enough fret height, just level and crown the frets. Unless the frets are very short, there’s really no need to pull them.
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Private member DiscussionElectric Repair

Neck relief without strings?

Working through my first refret. Trying to straighten the neck before radius sanding. What should the natural relief look like when straight? Using a straight edge there’s always slight gaps somewhere. Does natural neck relief start at a certain fret?

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Natural neck relief without strings sounds...not good. Most necks aren't stiff enough for the need to add relief without string tension. Said another way, string tension is almost always enough to give…
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Builds

Trevor Gore on tucking top braces into linings

I'm reading the Design book of the Gilet/Gore set (2nd Edition) and ran across something that surprised me. Under "Top bracing layout - guidelines" (Section 4.4.8, pp 4-52) Gore writes, "Brace ends that are housed into the linings stiffen the edge of the soundbard considerably and so constrain its mobility. Unless you are chasing a particular effect, it is generally not very beneficial to house the lower bout braces into the linings." My…

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That makes a lot of sense -- thanks. And yeah, I build for fingerstyle -- especially with OMs -- so that may be more of what I want. I'm building just for myself right now, so I only need to please my…
Private member DiscussionElectric Repair

Dealing with a zero fret...

Hey everyone, I have a Vaccaro bass guitar and I'm getting a lot of open note buzz on it. In truth, the bass could stand a refret but that may or may not be in the cards. Additionally, the truss rod nut is stripped. I'm also wondering if this nut is designed to come out? I imagine it is but it's kind of funky. A 1/4" Allen wrench is still too small to grip it. So the questions: 1. How would you deal with the zero fret and the nut? The st…

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The divots in the zero fret almost look intentional, though that doesn't make sense since one of the big advantages of a zero fret is that it can be levelled together with the other frets. Are the fr…
Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Newbie question on 12 string action

I recently picked up a Sterling Atlas 12 string that is in excellent shape except for some bellying, which once I get into setting action, may determine if I need to add a ‘bridge doctor’ to remediate some of it. However, I noticed that the saddle (adjustable but set to lowest point) has no curvature and there is not much down pressure on the center sets of strings which is causing some buzzing. My question is this (my first 12 string p…

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Thanks again to those that lended their wisdom. Bridge doctor just came in plus some bone saddle blanks so will get ready to tackle that project in near future.
Private member DiscussionElectric Repair

Just one string buzz from 1-12 even with really hi action.

I work in guitar repair for over 20 years and this strange buzz happen only 3 times and i really going crazy. Five years ago a all parts strat neck in G string, change string, leveling frets twice thinking i made a mistake, in some point i made a rudimentar neck jig to tried to repair that neck. Work in that guitar for 3 weeks and string heigth like 3.5mm and yeat, buzzing with not so hard picking just the G, even in other tuning like F…

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Thanks Ian! It’s a brand new guitar, client contact the dealership and it’s in process to return and get other one. I really want to open and understand why this happened, not know why it’s a big bumm…
Private member DiscussionAmps, Pickups, and Pedals

New Pickup in Andy Wood's new Billy Strings D28

We install a lot of LR Baggs pickups, but nobody has ever gotten more excited about their new pickup than Andy Wood. If you don't know Andy, watch this fun video.

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Private member DiscussionAcoustic Repair

Classical intonation puzzler.

I have a Yamaha Classical on my bench that's giving me a run for my money with a mystery intonation issue. All but the B string are perfectly intonated with the usual compensations we see. The B string however is almost an entire 1/2 step off (sharp) at the 12th. Right from the get go the scale starts going sharp incrementally at every fret. I can find the fundamental harmonic on that string but it's sitting halfway between the 11th and…

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I recently had a similar experience with a Yamaha classical, only in my case the B string was flat at the 12 fret. This was with a new set of name-brand strings. The harmonic was almost halfway to the…
Private member DiscussionGeneral

Frustrating Fret buzz

when setting up acoustic guitars, from time to time I have a lot of trouble with getting the G string to ring true when fretted. Starting from lower frets and at its worst at about the 5/6th fret, the G string buzzes when plucked "heavily" (when no other string does so)...most recently a Taylor 724 which had a neck adjustment to reduce action (to 5/64-4/64), relief about 0.003 or 0.004. Increasing relief to about 8-9 helps somewhat.…

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Depends on what you are calling a "buzz." The G3 at 196 Hz is going to be very near the T(1,1)2 main top resonance of the guitar. Notes fretted up higher on the G string could conceivably be near th…
Private member DiscussionGeneral Business

Determining Cost of Parts...

Hey everyone, Recently I've been struggling to determine how much to charge the customer in regards to parts for a repair. The best example of this I can give would be guitar strings. Occasionally I'll buy strings on sale, other times when they're not on sale, and since cost of strings often varies, I may buy strings at the start of the year, and at the end of the year the price will be different. So the question is, what variables do I…

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I would recommend getting an account with a few wholesalers. That’s trickier if you’re a sole proprietor and don’t have the FEIN and reseller permit but that’s all obtainable. I also recommend not bei…