Stickmangumby

Do you have the bridge flat against the body? If so, I haven't seen that before. You learn a new thing every day!

That's good advice. What strings do you use? If you use .10s or thicker, you'll generally want all 5 springs in, and you will need to tighten the screws for the claw a little to have the bridge flat on the body.

Has this been linked to yet? Taylors "Pallet guitar" Bob Taylor (of Taylor guitars!) decided to build a guitar out of an old pallet that had been sitting out in the rain out the back of one of their warehouses to prove that "It's the design and the builder, and not the wood, that define a great guitar". The wood used has got to influence the overall sound of an acoustic guitar, I can't see how it wouldn't. But the pallet guitar shows that you can make a good guitar with shoddy wood. I'm sure its a lot harder to do though! On an electric though I'm not convinced that the wood used would make a significant impact. Playing an open string (which only has contact with the nut and the saddle) causes it to vibrate. The vibrations cause a disruption in the electro-magnetic field of the guitars pickups, and they produce an electric current based on the strings movements. Can anyone notice the difference in sound between an guitar played on the first fret or with an open string (assuming the nut is good)? When you fret a note, the wood vibrates more because the fret it is in contact with absorbs less of the vibrations than the nut does when you play an open string. The amount the wood vibrates depends on factors such as the density. This of course affects the sustain of the guitar; energy is passed from the string to the wood, which releases it faster than playing an open string would. >> That's just my random collection of thoughts and ramblings. It's not meant to be especially coherent or logical, just a few bits of info.

Are you planning on hammering or gluing the frets in?

Without any first hand experience, I can offer this: If you support the neck properly while fretting the already glued fingerboard, you shouldnt have any problems. After all, people can refret a fingerboard without any hassles of neck bow really.

I think that he can't get the string to reach the hole because you can't get that much tension and stretch in the string by pulling it with your hand. 1/4" from the hole should line up with it perfectly if the string was tuned to pitch.

Yes, it sounds a lot like you have too much relief in your neck. Try to straighten it out as much as possible; make it straight, check it for fret buzzing all up and down the neck, then add relief until the buzzing goes away.

Well, you definitely need to do something. Whether you level and crown the existing frets or do a refret depends on how much fret height you have to play with. How high is the top of the most worn fret above the fretboard? Measure that, then decide whether you would be able to play if ALL of the frets were lower than that level. If not, refret.

I'm undecided. I can appreciate the craftsmanship to no end, but I'm doubting the functionality and the appearance of the finished product. Sometimes less is more.

"Guitarmaking Technology and Tradition", Cumpiano, is another one I have been recommended many times over. That's for acoustic steel & nylon string.

... erk If you read this and think that it would be foolish to attempt respraying and filing then I'd appreciate it if you post a reply too, just to let me know if its a sucky idea.

Out of curiosity, I stripped my guitar down. I took the bridge apart to clean 20+ years worth of gunk out of it using metho as described in the tutorials section of this site. It's now nice and clean. However, I'm curious to go a bit futher. It's fairly scratched, and enough of the black paint on it has come off to make it look a bit shoddy. I've read plenty of tutorials on finishing and refinishing guitar bodies, but nothing on bridges. I'd imagine I need to take it apart, strip the paint off it with some kind of chemical, respray it and gloss it and then put it back together. Is this right? What materials would I need? I can see problems with the coat of paint sticking things up a bit... Also, the string saddles are really worn, to the point that they have fairly deep grooves in them which I am sure the strings are getting caught on. Is it possible to file these down or do they just need to be replaced? I know that a better option would probably be just to replace the bridge or saddles, but I'm interested in how easily this kind of repair can be done and whether it's worth the bother. Thanks

I've got a pretty bad case of rusty pickups. This is an old and shoddy guitar, and I'm not keen on replacing them. I'm wondering if there is any safe and proven way to clean them. I've googled for a bit, and found a few posts mentioning using 'meradic acid', various rust removers for kitchen sinks, and other chemical compounds. Can anyone recommend a method? Is there a physical way of removing the rust? I actually mostly use the neck pickup, which is the most rusty. The three pickups on the guitar are identical... would I be best off just swapping the bridge pickup (least rusty) with the neck pickup? I'm just after a second opinion really. Thanks for your time Edit - apologies about the fuzzy images. I think the thumbnails are all you need really.

I consider myself to be alright at changing strings. I change them usually once a month, so I've had a fair bit of practise getting it down. However, over the last few days I've read some stuff on the internet that has made me question how I restring my guitar, and I've got a few questions... Here's my method for changing strings (in an ideal situation!) first: (Starting with the bottom string) - Detune the string until it is very slack - Lift the string off the neck, and unwind it from the capstan. - Pull (with a little force!) the string through the tuner, and then push it through the bridge out the back of the guitar - Pull the string through the back of the guitar (with a little force!) until it is completely removed *** Repeated for all other strings until the guitar has no strings on it *** (Starting with the bottom string again) - Carefully thread the new string through the back of the guitar until the ball end is snug in the back of the bridge - Lay the string through the correct slot in the nut - Pinch the string near the bridge (lightly, so as not to crimp it) and slide my fingers up the string to the nut, to remove any extra slack - Wind the string around the bottom of the tuning post (different numbers of times depending on what the string is) and then thread it through the hole - Tune the string up to pitch - Stretch the string lightly at about the 12th fret - Retune etc. *** Repeated for all other strings until the guitar is restrung *** Q1) Some people recommend restringing one string at a time. This seems stupid to me; how do guitar techs polish frets or clean necks with all the strings on? Is it really necessary to take replace them one at a time to keep tension on the neck, or is it just a rumour? Anyone had anything bad happen because they took all the strings off? Q2) Should I snip off the neck end of the string (which is quite twisted) to stop it scratching the headstock and bridge when I pull it through? Q3) I read that winding the string like that produces the most downward pressure at the nut possible, so the string will stay in tune better. Is this correct? Will using a trem after winding the strings like that make them more likely to get caught at the nut? Q4) Are there any changes you would recommend to my method apart from the above questions? Phew, that was a long one. I appreciate that there are several different methods for restringing, and I'm just wondering if there is anything bad/wrong about the way I'm doing it at the moment, or if there is anything I can improve on. Thanks for the input

Cool, thanks for the tips guys As a general rule, are fretboards made of maple, rosewood, or ebony? And are they coloured from lightest to darkest in that order? I had previously thought ebony fretboards were more expensive, but after a look @ stew macs they all seemed to be priced the same... now I'm more confused than I was an hour ago!

Thanks Southpa for the speedy response Can I get a second opinion please? Is the neck maple as well? Does that mean no sticky tape for me when I do the frets?

Hi, I'm just wondering what kind of fretboard I have. I'm fairly new at this business, but I can tell you it isn't rosewood or ebony I'm suspecting maple but I'm not really sure at all! Thanks PS Are those photos at all useful? I tried to get an extreme close-up shot of where the fret board meets the neck but that was WAY fuzzy. This joint is very fine but I'm 99% sure it's not a one piece neck.

Thanks for the posts guys, they were both very helpful. ATM I'm looking for a decent book on guitar maintenance and repair work, does anyone have a recommendation? Looks like I'm off to get some tools

The frets need levelling because they are fairly worn... I was playing some pretty heavy slide on this guitar until I realised the damage it was doing to the frets. There are quite literally shallow grooves cut into some of the frets. I don't think they are deep enough to warrant a refret, but then again, I'm no expert. Let me get this straight... - Levelling the frets flattens the tops. - Crowning the frets makes them curved again _ __ / \ rather than | | - Dressing the frets removes sharp edges from the far left and right edges of the frets, where the fretboard joins the neck Is that right? Thanks for the help so far.

Hi everybody. I'm a self-confessed n00b, trying to learn some fairly basic guitar maintenance. I haven't got a tool in the world apart from a small screwdriver set and some allens keys. My guitar seriously needs it's frets levelled and crowned, and I'm on a budget! I've been to the tutorials section and read this DIY guide on how to Level and crown frets, but I got fairly confused as to what was happening and why the guy seemed to be doing the same thing several times over! Keeping in mind my amateur nature, can anyone explain to me in laymans terms how to crown my frets? What is the difference between crowning/dressing/levelling frets? What tools will I need to do it? What is the actual procedure? All input is welcome Thanks for your time.