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slor

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  1. Indeed. But I appreciate the help nonetheless. I strung the bass up today as-is and relief is close to .03. At this point I'm thinking the fretboard is going to have to come off. I'm not sure how to diagnose a broken truss rod (other than an extremely obvious deformation or break). But I don't believe conventional techniques are going to help in this case. Thanks again people! -Seth
  2. Here's my problem of the week: I have on the bench a fairly well-beaten Fender P-Bass neck, looks to be early-70s vintage. Even with the truss rod good and tight, the neck has a healthy upbow. Even after inserting a washer into the truss rod cavity behind the nut, and clamping the neck into backbow before tightening the rod, the best I can get is a somewhat flat neck. I imagine that will change under string tension. Any other ideas? Thanks, Seth
  3. Hi All, This is my first reset, a nice but thankfully cheap '50s Kay archtop. Getting the neck off was easy: A couple of moderate taps with a plastic-faced hammer and it was out. Now comes the hard part. I'm assuming that I'll need to scrape/clean all the glue faces. That's straightforward enough. If I press the neck into the pocket and run a straightedge over the frets to the bridge, the edge falls more or less on top of the bridge in full lowered position. I'm assuming I want quite a bit more leeway than that though, so the questions are: 1. How do I determine the angle to glue the neck back in? 2. Once that's done, how do I reshape the neck fit into the pocket? Sanding down the tongue and bottom of the heel, I assume, but any tips would be really appreciated! http://thegoldenbears.net/images/Kay5.jpg http://thegoldenbears.net/images/Kay6.jpg http://thegoldenbears.net/images/Kay7.jpg Thanks, Seth
  4. I'm working on a cheapo Kay solidbody. When I got it, the truss rod was frozen, the neck had a pronounced upbow and the fingerboard was beginning to separate from the neck. So I removed the fingerboard, removed, cleaned and lubed the (very rusty) truss rod and thought all was well. However, even with the truss rod functioning (and the fingerboard not yet reattached), the neck won't lose its upbow. Does the wooden spline the truss rod flexes against need to be lengthened (see photo #4)? Does the neck need to be jigged and steamed straight? Any advice would be most appreciated! Thanks, Seth http://thegoldenbears.net/images/Kay1.jpg http://thegoldenbears.net/images/Kay2.jpg http://thegoldenbears.net/images/Kay3.jpg http://thegoldenbears.net/images/Kay4.jpg
  5. Well, given that the rest of the guitar is in onlhy fair shape cosmetically, I can live with a less-than-perfect match. I'm more concerned with the seam between old (bottom of the neck and body) and new (headstock). By the way, I went with a toner rather than a stain, as that's how the guitar came to me. Seems like a stain would be more controllable, but the headstock is already grain-filled and sealed under CA glue.... Thanks much, Seth
  6. Here we have a mid-70's Flying V. Headstock has been broken at least twice, current repair is stable. Problem is, several partial refins have been done as well, leaving the headstock and about 1/3rd of the neck stripped. After grain filling and sealing, I tried to match with Mohawk "Colonial Maple" (I don't have a spraygun rig), and the color looked passable at first (the rest of the guitar is pretty beat cosmetically so no big deal here). However, under clear lacquer the color difference is really apparent. And obviously, the "hard V" color separation line is not working too well. Given the state of the rest of the guitar, I can live with the fact that there won't be a perfect color match. What should I do about the color separation line? Try to keep it clean and hard? Fade/feather it in to better match the rest of the guitar? Many thanks, Seth <img> http://thegoldenbears.net/images/Headstock1.jpg </img>
  7. I'm having the same issue with mahogany; it seems to take multiple coats to fill the pores. Here's a question: How far back do you have to sand the grain filler? Obviously if you're staining the wood you want it sanded back to wood (minus the pores of course). But if you're just proceeding with finishing, couldn't you leave the grain filler somewhat rough in the knowledge that sanding sealer and then clearcoats will even it out? (I'm using waterbase grain filler and leaving the wood natural). Thanks, Seth
  8. Hmm...yes, that's more clearcoating than I was planning on doing (I was thinking more like 9 coats, as per ReRanch's suggestion). Even so, I only chose to sand after 4 - 5 coats to get rid of lint, not as a final or intermediate polishing.... Thanks, Seth
  9. Thanks for the reply: (1) 600 grit, well soaked (2) ReRanch clear nitro (3) Rattle can This morning as I inspected the guitar before the first spraying, it occurred to me that any sanded area has a different appearance from its surrounding, even if it hasn't been sanded through to the color coat. Even under a new coat of clear, it will have that different appearance until the whole guitar is polished back to that "sanded" color tone. So it's possible that I overreacted in respraying color over the sanded areas. But maybe not; it would be terrible to get to the polishing stage and find that those different-colored sanded areas really WERE a different color, and you'd have to start again from scratch. Any thoughts? Thanks much, Seth
  10. That's the million-dollar question, no doubt. I'm refinning an early '70s P-Bass. The color was great, and I had a good 4 - 5 coats of clear on top. I found a couple of specks of lint, VERY carefully sanded them off, and resprayed clear. Even so, the small sanded areas are a different shade under the new coat of clear. So I resprayed color, and now am building the clear back up, being extra-extra careful about lint. All good. But now my clearcoating schedule is shot; instead of having 4 or 5 good coats of clear, I'm back to square 1 in terms of final polishing, right? Is there something I should be doing differently? Many thanks, Seth
  11. I'm painting two Gibson pegheads black, one is a Melody Maker refinned in clear lacquer, the other is a Flying V with a pretty crappy peghead repair. Different situations, but essentially the same issue: How to best prep them? -The peghead of the Flying V is stripped down to bare wood. I've never used epoxy as a grain filler before, but because the peghead is going to have a good bit of filling and sanding, it seems like a good time to try the "nuclear option" rather than the standard mahogany grain fill. Any advice? -With the Melody Maker, can I level the existing finish (maybe using a coat or two of sanding sealer) and spray on that, or is there a reason to go down to bare wood and do the whole grain fill/sanding sealer/color/clearcoat bit? Many thanks, Seth
  12. No, it enters from the heel and doesn't make it too far into the body, I'm guessing. Certainly not as far as the pickup rout.
  13. Wow, 3D diagrams and everything! Most impressive.... Personally, I think Prostheta's earlier idea is the best given my skill level: I know how to pull a fingerboard, and with a little guidance can rout out the neck pocket to accept a longer tenon. I just remembered seeing an older Guild Starfire (an early single-pickup model with the p/u further back towards the bridge). The neck had been replaced completely, suggesting Guild had issues with this arrangement. I have a similar-vintage Starfire guitar, which fortunately shows no signs of failure! Many thanks again gents! -Seth
  14. Hmm. Here's the story: Since early this year my job has been as the tech at a small guitar shop; I've been messing with electric guitars for 25 years or so, but only recently getting into more serious repairs. I think this job is within my skill level--within limits. Sawing off half the heel, or removing the fingerboard, I could do, but they'd be a stretch. Carefully gluing a new tenon into place, and deepening the pocket, I think I can do. (I do have a friend I can call on for help with the routing operation.) The bass was offered to me by a guitar dealer I know; he knew I liked Guild basses (I already have one) and my idea is to sell it when done. So no, there's no personal attachement to the instrument, but it's got to look good and play well (and be structurally sound) if I want anyone to buy it! -Seth
  15. Interesting...interesting. Prostheta: Good call on the fingerboard. Yes it has started to separate from the heel, only about an inch or so, I was going to use gap-filling CA and leave it at that. And no, the dowel was drilled in from the outside of the heel down into the pocket. Jeffhigh: I hadn't thought of such a radical step, though it makes sense to me. Only issue with both your guys' suggestions is that I have limited shop space and tools (hand planer, bench sander, Dremel plunge router), and more to the point limited skills. I can get my head around replacing the existing tenon, but I'm hesitant to go further. I would like to take the heel back further towards the pickup cavity, but I wouldn't even know where to start. Sawing the "cut lines" and then gradually plunge-routing the middle out? Chiseling? Thanks again you guys, this is really helping! -Seth
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