My Week in Pictures: Wednesday 10.27.10

Wednesday: 9:30am

I had a rough time getting going this morning, but finally made it into the shop around 9:30. After taking the clamps off the neck and tail blocks that I glued yesterday, I started getting set up to glue the linings into the new archtop. Unfortunately, my chisels were a bit too dull. So I pulled out my stones and got to work re-honing the edges.



Looking a bit better now!



Back in business!



Here's the archtop ring after removing the neck and tail block clamps.



Because the sides are thin, there is not enough glue surface to hold the top and the back onto the guitar. The linings are added to make sure there is enough material the glue the top and back to. There are a few different styles of linings. I use a kerfed lining. The small cuts into the side of the lining makes it very flexible. In the past I've made my own, but it is very time consuming. Now I prefer to just buy them, they are cheap enough.



Gluing in the linings near the tail-block. I'm using hot hide glue, and you have to work very fast. Hide glue cures by cooling so, if you don't get the clamps on in time, it won't stick. This is the third guitar that I've used hide glue on and I'm starting to get a little bit more comfortable with it.


I work my way around the top edge one piece at a time.



The top edge is about done. Tomorrow, I'll start on the back edge.


11:45am

Back at Guru Guitars, I pulled out the Yamaha FG300 refret which I started yesterday. I finished truing up the fingerboard. The next step is installing the new frets.



I use a dremel tool with a very small bit to clean out the fret slots. It's really important to have all of the old glue and dust out of the slots before you install the new frets. If there is too much gunk in there, the frets will not seat. There will be small gaps between the fret and the fingerboard. All the hard work flattening the fingerboard will be for nothing.


The fret wire we use, comes in a roll. I cut each fret to size before I install it.



Here's a freshly cut end. The round part on the top, is the Fret. The part below is called the Tang. This is the part which gets hammered into the fret slot in the fingerboard. The small triangle shaped thingys on the tang dig into the wood and theoretically hold the fret in place. It doesn't always work!



Because this guitar has binding on the neck, (Binding is the white stuff around the outside of the fingerboard)I have to undercut the tang on each side of each fret. I use a small pair of nippers...



...And then file it smooth before I install the fret. It gets repetitive, but that's part of the job.




Getting ready to cut the next fret.




With the fret installed, I trim the ends flush. Snip, Snip...easy!




Fret's in. Only a few more to go!



2:00pm
Sometimes you have to shift gears abruptly here at Guru...This afternoon one of our regular customers came in with his PRS. He gigs almost every night of the week, and last night his PRS developed a phantom electrical issue. The bridge on this guitar has piezo elements under each string for an "acoustic" sound. Unfortunately, the B string on said bridge started to intermittently cut out. We had a few guesses about what the problem might be, but we couldn't get the guitar to mess up in the shop...Hmmmm...I hate when that happens! We have a two week back log of repairs right now, and we don't usually jump people to the front of the line. However, on occasion, we make exceptions for working musicians. So I put away the Yamaha refret and got to work fixing...something...I'm not sure...



I cleaned the connections between the bridge and the preamp, and after, what seemed like a mighty struggle, pulled the electronic guts out of the guitar. I looked everything over as closely as a could. I found a few suspect solder joints on one of the many tiny circutboards and fixed them. (I forgot to take a picture...sorry!)
I really hate it when I can't pinpoint the problem. I have no idea if I fixed the issue or if there even was an issue with the guitar at all! Time will tell!





Part of the deal was that he wanted the guitar cleaned up really well.
So I got to work polishing up all of the hardware.




I got it all back together. Problem solved!...I think. Gulp!


4:45pm
With the PRS safely in its case awaiting for the return of it's owner, I got back to the Yamaha.

In a perfect world all of the frets would be perfectly on the same plane after fretting, But no matter how careful I am, I've never been able to make that happen! In fact, very few people can make that happen! So, it's common practice to level the tops of the frets with some sandpaper and a really straight block. This process creates flat spots on the tops of each fret which then have to be re-rounded. I do it kind of old school, With a home-made file and brass fingerboard mask. I learn this technique from Ralph Novak and I love it! Thanks Ralph!.




Then I clean up the fret ends with a file.





With the frets leveled and crowned. I polish everything out with some fine sandpaper and a block.




I finish with a coat of danish oil to seal the fingerboard.



Looks purdy!




Yes Sir!




Tomorrow, that bridge has to go!



7:15pm
Dinner time, I've been hungry since 3! Adios!

My Week in Pictures: Tuesday 10.26.10

Tuesday, 9:00am

I've always liked the idea of using hot hide glue, but never felt like I had a good feel for how to work it. So I thought I would mix up a fresh pot for the new Archtop, to get a bit more practice.



Just mix equal parts water and dry hide glue, and heat.




While the glue was heating, I trimmed the guitar sides to length and fit them into the mold.




Unfortunately, the sides needed some clean up from the bending process. So a bit of sanding was in order.




After sanding the sides, I cut and fit the neck and tail blocks.




Gluing the tail block.



And the neck block.


Tuesday 11:30am
While the glue dries...I head over to Guru to do some repairs. First up...an '88 Les Paul. The customer bought a wiring kit off the interweb and wanted us to put it in. No Prob!




The old wiring was mostly intact. However, the last person to solder in the cavity, managed to burn almost every wire. Bummer!




Here's the new assembly about to go in and the old one on it's way out.




I got the new assembly in and cleaned everything up as best I could.




With the wiring completed and tested I cleaned and setup the guitar. For once it was all pretty straight forward. On to the next one!




Next up?... A Washburn Somethin'-er-other.



The neck on this guitar was literally coming off. The screws that hold the neck on were totally stripped. I could almost put my pinky finger in the gap between the neck and body. Sounds bad, but the fix is pretty easy.




Just take off the neck...




Glue a dowel into the old screw holes...



...and drill new ones. The guitar also needed a shim to get the neck angle correct.




Putting it all back together.




The gap is gone. Everything is much more solid.




The next guitar...is a Les Paul copy. The customer brought it to us after he refinished it. He wanted a custom wiring job, and the guitar was missing the nut and needed a complete setup.



I must admit that this guitar grew on me. it's kind of cool.


Bag-o-parts.



Time to start wiring.




The old wiring harness was a bit suspect...I salvaged what I could.




Wiring all finished. Two volume controls, with a master tone, and a kill switch.



On to the new nut and setup.




The bone blank before shaping.




I've got the nut fitted and roughly shaped.




Here's the finish product.



Next...Ouch!... this Yamaha has seen better days! When this guitar came into the shop, the action was high. It was obvious that it needed a neck reset. We talked with the customer about it and he said that he wanted us to go ahead and do the neck set. For those of you who don't know, a neck reset is a common repair. Almost every acoustic guitar will need one at some point during it's lifetime. Unfortunately the process is fairly major surgery. The Cliff's Notes version goes something like this: You heat the neck joint until the glue releases and the neck come free from the body. You can then shave the heel of the neck to change the angle that it contacts the body. There is a little voodoo and some geometry involved, but basically you can take a guitar with high action and make it playable again. For a while, that was the plan with this Yamaha. Although I've successfully reset the neck on quite a few guitars, I was feeling a bit uneasy about this one. (Over the years I've learned to trust those feelings.) I talked the repair through with my partners in crime at Guru Guitars, Howard and Gene. None of us felt good about it. So we started to do some research. Turns out, there is a lot of confusing information out there about what kind of neck joint this guitar actually has, what glues Yamaha used, ETC. Eventually, we figured out that the neck joint in this guitar is a hybrid type which is not easily re-settable. Time for plan B...




One way to lower the action on a acoustic guitar is to shave the bridge down. The stock bridge on this guitar is...well...kind of awful! So plan B, is to make a new bridge with a standard bone saddle. That way we can make it a bit thinner to bring the action height down. In addition to the new bridge, We decided to do a little creative refretting to try and bring th action down a hair more.




With our plan sorted out, I got to work pulling frets.



And planing the fingerboard.



Before I knew it, 7pm rolled around and it was time to head home.

Tomorrow I'll try to finish up this refret and get started on the bridge.