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Hey guys, I’d love to get some suggestions on how to finish this repair aesthetically. The customer brought it in because this piece had split while trying to remove the saddle using a rubber mallet. My main concern is that the joint between the two pieces of wood is still visible. I was thinking of doing what I’ve always done: using wood dust mixed with CA glue or Titebond. But I was wondering if you guys use a different method that migh…

Hi guys, it's my first post here. First of all, english is not my first language, so I'm sorry for any mistake or its a bit rough. Recently I have a Sterling Maj200xsm from a costumer that has tunning issues with the tremolo. Any of you has experience with this model? I made a full set up and I checked the nut, saddles, springs, and dont found the trouble. Sometimes there are no issues at all, then the 2º and 3º string goes higher, then…

Hello Luthiers and Guitar Builders,We manufacture and supply high-quality natural bone Guitar Nuts and Saddles in custom sizes for acoustic, electric, classical, and bass guitars.What We Offer:• Custom-sized Bone Nuts & Saddles• OEM & Bulk Orders• Precision Cutting & Finishing• High-Density Natural Bone Material• Consistent Quality• Worldwide ShippingWhether you need a single custom specification or bulk production for your workshop or…

At what point do you tell a customer that their acoustic instrument needs a bridge reglue? Do you do it when the corners are just barely starting to lift? Once it has begun to affect playability/tuning stability? Do you offer half-measures to save them money when the damage is not too bad (dripping in some thinned tite bond instead of removing the bridge entirely for example)? I ask this because a Godin acoustic bass just came across my…

I have a Favilla Classical guitar on the bench, in for a bridge reglue. This is a low to mid-range classical guitar, made circa 1960, and it's an heirloom guitar for the customer, he basically wants it back in playing shape. The story is that he went away on vacation, and when he returned the bridge had delaminated from the top and took a fair amount of finish with it. It also appears that someone attempted to glob on superglue at some…

Hi all, I am a newer guitar tech and after dozens of repairs this particular Simon & Patrick Luthier Cedar top SP6 acoustic dreadnought from the 90-ies with a bolt-on maple neck has been an incredible challenge. It came with a maxed out and stuck truss rod with a considerable up bow in the neck, extremely low saddle with barely any string break angle, so it needed a neck reset. Later on I figured out that it also has a pretty dras…

I'm restoring an old parlor guitar. I have just discovered that it plays 20 cents sharp. Thats not in and of itself a mystery, usually. This guitar however has exactly the same distance from the nut to the 12th fret, and from the 12th fret to the "saddle" which is now a small shim under the two E strings both are 12 3/32"...with room in front of the bridge pins to finesse the location of the saddle slot, which I have not routed yet) I s…

Hi there! Working on a Squire Vintage Modified Jag. relevelled and crowned the frets. Lovely job. Set the relief and action to factory spec. So far so good. With a capo on the first fret, I set the string radius at the saddles to 9.5" using an under-string radius gauge, everything lined up nicely... ...but when I measured the action of all the strings along the 14th fret using my digital nut slotting gauge (expecting a unifo…

Hi everyone, Every once in a while, I come across a bass that simply refuses to stop buzzing. Right now, I’m working on a bass (I won't name the brand, but it’s in the €2,500 range) that has a slight fretboard hump near the neck pocket. I figured that was the culprit, so I performed a fret level under string tension. The frets are now perfectly level... yet, it continues to buzz across the entire fretboard, even with fairly high a…

Hi, thanks for this great resource. This is my first post here. I work on my own instruments and have little experience with advanced repairs. Recently I acquired a ca. 78 Sigma DR28H. I bought it because it sounded great and came with a pickup installed. I wanted something for open mics and gigging. With light strumming it sounded fine but I found some buzzing when I took it to a jam. I made a nut and saddle , adjusted the truss…

Reputable looths in Albuquerque, NM? A buddy of mine needs work on his mid-60's Jaguar. I know it's missing a saddle and needs a general going-over and a setup, nothing major. But it's a vintage instrument and it's his baby, wants to make sure it's in good hands. Who do we know out there?

Hi all, I'm new here. I've been playing guitars for ~15 years and recently started as a technician at a music production school in London, where part of my job is maintaining the guitars. I picked up this 50s parlor nylon the other day and it's in bad shape but I don't know how to go about repairing it. The main issue is the bridge. The guitar was kept high strung and the bridge has twisted and lifted off slightly at the base. T…

I have a 74' D-28 im working on, just curious what you guys do in terms of process steps. Right now, im setting the angle, without frets(I reinforced the square tube rod with carbon fiber and will need to refret once put back together.) Do you guys shoot for the straight edge hitting the top of the bridge with, or without frets? Im wondering if I should undershoot my bridge just a touch so that then I can fret and have a good saddle hei…

Hello Friends, I've had a vintage Epiphone acoustic stored at the shop for almost two years and it's about time to wrap it up. That never happens, LOL. It has a few loose braces, which is a repair I've done in the past. The problem with this one is that no matter how I jack up the loose braces from the inside, some parts of some braces simply do not move enough to come in contact with the soundboard. This is happening in a couple…

Does anybody have any cool tricks to get a closer rough in saddle height when making a new saddle without the option of referencing the old one? Ex: replacing a lost saddle, making a saddle after a neck reset, making a saddle for a new bridge

Hi, I have a 1950's Gibson LG-3 that's had some poor work done to the spruce under the area of the bridge where the spruce has pulled away and or been sanded excessively. It's missing about .020-0.30 thou of spruce and I'm wondering/looking for advice about how to go about splicing in a thin piece of spruce before I re-glue the bridge. Please see pictures attached. My main questions are: glues for the patch, should the patch be mitered…

Hi everyone - I recently ran into trouble making new nut for one of my necks that needed to be trued and re-fretted. I roughed in the nut as usual and then, with the bass guitar fully assembled and strung up, I started cutting the slots to depth. I use the StewMac digital nut slot depth gauge and have had good results in the past. I marked the nut's lowest points (radiused) using the guitar nut scribe tool (first time using this!) and c…

Santa heard I had a challenging year so he got me a 3d printer for Christmas. I’ve been printing like crazy, learning the machine. This has resulted in a bunch of tools that either don’t work for me, were attempts at mixing colors, or have very minor printing blemishes. Two lots up for grabs to anyone in the US who wants either. I’ll mail to you for free. First one to claim each gets it :) First lot has parametric nut and saddle sanders…