Gretsch Anniversary Neck Reset
A great Gretsch Anniversary. This guitar is around fifty years old, and is really showing it. The neck on this Gretsch Anniversary has moved to the point where it is no longer possible to play, because the action is too high, but there is no break angle over the bridge, which ...
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November 30, 2009
Guitar Repair: Martin 000 Eric Clapton
This is a bit of a self-indulgent post, but I was so pleased that I needed to tell someone. I had taken in a Martin Eric Clapton signature model (picture posed by model, left), and the lacquer was separating all along the back of the neck. Because it was a nitrocellulose ...
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August 4, 2009
How I Defret a Six String Bass
What's better than a six string bass? That's right: a six string fretless bass. The reason why I am a bass player and a luthier goes all the way back to when I was 13. My parents had just got Sky, and I was flicking through to MTV. The channel was ...
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July 26, 2009
Custom Guitars: Rosettes
I've been thinking about rosettes quite a lot recently. The rosette is the decorative circle around the soundhole. They come in many guises. [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Martin Guitar Soundhole Rosette"][/caption] This is a Martin rosette. It's an example of what you may find on many guitars, with a ...
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July 19, 2009
United Breaks Guitars
With more than two million views of his YouTube video, it would seem that musician Dave Carroll has finally persuaded United Airlines to listen to his complaint. They have arranged a meeting with him. I guess it's because he has the sequel to this song in production, and a third ...
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July 13, 2009
Banjo Repair: A Five-String With A Past
This one is from the 1920s. The frets were a bit of a mess, and there was a great big hole in the skin. It was brought in by a customer whose father played it professionally in a banjo group from 1926 until the outbreak of the Second World War ...
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July 12, 2009
How To Grow Your Own Guitars
I was at a trade show a couple of years ago, and there was a stand there run by Madinter. Madinter is a Spanish Luthier supplies company. Unsurprisingly, it specialises in Spanish guitars, but when it comes to wood, it's much the same. A piece of ebony for a fingerboard ...
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May 31, 2009
Broken Headstocks, Snapped Guitar Necks and My Solution
A lot of thought goes into the feel of a neck. Its profile, width and depth are always an important consideration when buying a guitar. What is considered less frequently, however, is how the neck was constructed. As a guitar repairman, I glue a lot of headstocks back onto guitar necks. ...
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May 28, 2009
Wenge: the “new Brazilian Rosewood”?
There is an ongoing search for the "new Brazilian" - and there are some great-looking woods out there that have tonal qualities on a par with Brazilian. African Blackwood is probably the most talked about at the moment. It is a dalbergia, and therefore a "true" rosewood. It grows in ...
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May 11, 2009
Custom Guitar: Brazilian Rosewood
I am currently making a 00 acoustic guitar out of Brazilian Rosewood. The wood was cut a long time ago and looks quite dull; but with a finish on, its rich chocolate browns are accentuated. I love the look of this sapwood, as I really like contrasts. Brazilian tends to ...
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April 30, 2009
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