Mr Glyn's guitar repair

www.facebook.com/MrGlynGuitars

09 307 6501, 021 912678

Sheena

2009-09-12T13:49:00.005+12:00

This year I've been getting busier than ever so I've taken on a full-time trainee. She's called Sheena Gillbanks. She's a guitarist, accordion player and general talented musician. She had no previous experience as a luthier but I was struck by her determination and enthusiasm. I get a couple of enquiries a week from people wanting to train as a luthier but she stood out.

Since she has started work I've been impressed with how quickly she picks things up and her 'feel' for the job.

There's a lot to learn but I'm sure she's going to be a fantastic luthier.

..............................................................

There's been another (less productive) addition to the MrGlyn's workforce - Sammy the dog.

He's more of a hinderance than a help but he's fun to have around

This is Sammy in November - getting bigger. The little fella's getting quite a fan club around our part of Auckland.

Mr Glyn's Guitars
19 Khyber Pass Road
Auckland
http://www.mrglyn.co.nz/
glyn@mrglyn.co.nz
www.facebook.com/MrGlynGuitars

09 3076501, 021 912678

Les Paul

2009-08-20T07:28:00.001+12:00

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There has been a lot said about the life of Les Paul recently. I'd just like to say - thanks Les

It seems like a good time to show some pics of one of my customer's guitars.

Its a Les Paul Custom that has been carved by hand into a stunning piece of art that also gets gigged.

And this is the man himself signing the headstock.
Mr Glyn's Guitars
19 Khyber Pass Road
Auckland
http://www.mrglyn.co.nz/
glyn@mrglyn.co.nz
www.facebook.com/MrGlynGuitars

09 3076501, 021 912678

A Typical Week at the Workshop

2009-08-08T14:32:00.000+12:00

This time I thought I'd show a typical week at the workshop - the jobs that come in, work that gets done.

I'm not going into any detail about any of the guitars although I might write a bit about some of them at a later date. I just want to show the sort of work I do and the variety of instruments that come in.

I started the week with a partial re-fret on a Guild. The player gigs a lot and the guitar was booked in for Monday morning to be ready to play in public Wednesday night. It needed the first 9 frets replacing and a new Fishman undersaddle pickup.

The next was a handmade Strat the player was finding a bit heavy. He wanted as much wood removed as possible without it being visible. He was much more concerned with the weight than any tonal difference removing wood may cause.

I get a huge variety of guitars through my hands - this one is a classical with a split top. This was purely a structural job. I glued up the split and fitted cleats to the inside for strength.

The next is an unusual one. Its Japanese and from the late 60's or 70's but with no name on it. It had a wiring fault resulting in only one pickup working.

This is a Fender Stratocaster Eric Clapton signature model. Its first owner had left a sticker on the pickguard. With time the pickguard faded and now there's a mark. I simply had to change the plate for a new one.

A very unusual German mandolin came in with the top coming away near the tailpiece and in need of some strings and a set up.

I was asked to give a written quote to an insurance company for an Ibanez Artwood that was damaged in transit.

An 80's Carvin - in for a set up

An Epiphone casino - for a set up

A 60's Levin. This is a beautiful old guitar and in need of major surgery. The truss rod is forcing its way out of the back of the neck. The neck also needs removing to correst a poor neck angle. Gonna be in the workshop a while.

A Corona Strat - set up

A Cort acoustic with splits in the neck

A Strat put together from 'Realtone' parts - in for a set up

A Fina acoustic guitar in for a replacement EQ. I got a new one from http://www.guitarparts.co.nz/ for $90 - great deal

Gibson SJ200 - this one just had a minor problem with the nut.

Jay acoustic guitar. This one had the head broken completely off. It's quite a common repair for me. These pics are halfway through the job, I've re-attached the head but haven't cleaned up the lacquer yet.

A Karina parlour guitar with some damage to the lower bout.

A very nice old K.Yairi in need of a new endpin jack socket. I prefere to use Switchcraft jacks whenever I can.

And finally a '97 Fender Strat in for a set up

So these have been the jobs I have had through the workshop in the first week in August '09. There is such a variety of work there's no way I'll ever get bored.

http://www.mrglyn.co.nz/
glyn@mrglyn.co.nz

glyn@mrglyn.co.nz
Mr Glyn's guitar repairs

19 Khyber Pass Road

Auckland

New Zealand

09 307 6501, 021 912678

Set Up

2009-06-06T15:51:00.001+12:00

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Setting up guitars is hard. I think its one of the hardest things I do.

There's a popular idea among some players that they should be able to set their own guitar set up, if you're any good as a player then you should be able to do it. I don't agree with this.

There are so many factors which interact with each other it becomes a complicated task - everything interacts with everything else. Change one little thing and it all needs to be changed. Each extra element - string guage, tuning, player's approach, truss rod, nut height, required action, type of music, type of bridge, woods eg. increase the complexity exponentially.

I always like to have a chat with the player about their playing style and requirements. I often ask to see them play to get an idea how they attack the string with their plucking hand. I try and tailor a set up to the player, after all its not me that's going to be playing their guitar.

As well as making adjustments to get the most out of the instrument (and the player) I do a lot of extra stuff with a set up. Its all this extra stuff I'm going to talk about.

This is just what I did on this particular instrument - a Les Paul would have been treated differently. I can't think of a way to write comprehensively about set ups - even exactly the same model as this one might need a different approach. So this is just an example of what's involved, I adapt these techniques and use others as and when required.

I try and make my set ups as personal to the player as I can and this is an example of the extra stuff I do to try and achieve this.

I'm going to talk about setting up a Strat - although in this case its a Godin version of the Fender.

Check out www.myspace.com/georgeandqueen to hear this guitar in action.

The first thing to be done in the set up process is measure the action.
I need to know the starting conditions - if the player wants a higher or lower action I need to know where it was to begin with.

Then I strip the guitar down completely. On a Strat I spend a lot of time on the bridge.

Every screw needs to be removed, cleaned, lubricated and put back. On this bridge the small grub screws that adjust the saddle height on the bass strings were seized. They needed to be heated up to release them.

I have a stand to hold the bridge while working on it, there's a platform to hold the parts and a place for the tools. This speeds the process up and keeps everything in order.

This is the bridge after the work. Not only does it function better but it will last a lot longer too. With regular maintenance a Strat bridge should last for decades.

The body where the trem rests on it is vital to the bridge's performance - it needs to be clean and lubricated for the tuning to be stable.

The earth wire to the trem claw was disconnected on this guitar so I soldered it back on to the volume pot casing.

Next I buff the frets up to remove any corrosion and to help playing feel and tone. It is a joy to bend strings with highly polished fretwire - the string just glides.

There's a lot of wear in these frets but that's not my job today. I've already spoken with the owner about it and that's a job for another time
I mask the fingerboard off to avoid buffing the wood. I don't want to damage or stain the fingerboard.

The buffing arbour is a very useful tool - saves a lot of time and effort. Its geared down to run at 900rpm to stop things getting too hot. The pyramid shape makes it really stable - if you want to make something tall without it falling over that's the shape to make it - nothing new in that idea :-)

The final stage of the preliminary set up is to polish the body and neck. My favourite polish is 'Lizard Spit' which I get from http://www.guitarparts.co.nz/ . It only needs a very light spray and it leaves no residue.

So then its into the set up proper - stringing, truss rod adjustment

filing the nut slots with special files and setting the action, pickup height and intonation.

Typically this guitar also had loose strap hooks and jack socket. I often change pickup springs and solder loose wires.

All these little things get checked for and sorted out with a set up.

Here's my workshop check list I use when setting up electric guitars - the acoustic and bass check lists are slightly different :

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Mr Glyn’s Guitar Repair

Guitar set up check list (electric guitar/bass)

1) Discuss set up requirements with customer inc. desired action, playing style, string gauge, tuning(s), picking technique(s), any problems with present set up…
2) Measure and note action on treble and bass sides at 12th fret
3) Play guitar to check for string buzz on all frets inc. 3 semitone bends on 1st ,2nd and 3rd strings
4) Sight neck, check for ‘rising tongue’ and neck angle
5) Check neck for twists
6) Check neck/body join
7) Check strap hooks are secure
8) Check fret wear
9) Check for lifting or loose frets
10) Check for uneven fret height
11) Check for dented or damaged frets
12) Assess truss rod relief
13) Check nut slot depth, bridge height and general instrument condition
14) Check electrics - pots, switches, jack, pickups…
15) Check pickup height adjusting springs, replace if necessary
16) Check pickup height
17) Clean pots, switches and jack with contact cleaner if required
18) Remove bridge
19) Remove, clean, lubricate and re-fit all bridge screws/bolts
20) Polish frets
21) Clean and oil/polish fret board
22) Check tuners are securely fitted
23) Re-fit bridge, make sure mountings are secure, lubricated and adjusted.
24) Fit strings and tune to pitch
25) Adjust truss rod to set neck relief
26) File, polish and lubricate nut slots
27) Adjust action at bridge
28) Measure action on treble and bass sides at 12th fret – compare with starting action and customer’s requirements.
29) Set pickup height
30) Intonate
31) Stretch strings
32) Play guitar checking all frets and bends, tremolo system(if fitted), pickup balance, all switching options, tuning stability…
33) Apply ‘Fast Fret’ if required

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Its so much more than just a little tweak

Glyn

Mr Glyn's guitar repairs
19 Khyber Pass Road
Auckland
New Zealand
09 307 6501, 021 912678

Bare Knuckle Pickups

2009-05-02T12:11:00.001+12:00

I come accross a lot of electric guitar pickups, Seymour Duncan, DiMarzio, EMG... but in early 2006 I had my first experience of Bare Knuckle Pickups (http://www.bareknucklepickups.co.nz/). I was asked to fit a pair of them in a Les Paul Std for Sam from 'Black River Drive'( www.myspace.com/blackriverdrivenz).
He'd gone for the 'Steve Stevens' signature models and in his Les Paul it just opened the sound up giving in a warm, loose, clear sound I hadn't heard from a Les Paul before. Even with extreme amounts of gain there was clarity in all the dirt - if you played a 7th chord it sounded like a 7th and not just an explosion.

I got on the net and checked out what people were saying about them and not a bad word.
The BKP site has a lot of information on their methods of winding, magnets etc.. So I contacted them to talk about their pickups in NZ and eventually they gave me the NZ dealership :-)
So now I've tried a lot of their pickups in different guitars - the most popular are 'The Mule' for the vintage PAF sound and the 'Nailbomb' for the modern ROCK guys.
Even the 'Nailbomb' has that distinctive BKP clarity even though its a pretty powerful pickup. It works great for speed picking giving enough raw dirt but with enough definition to be able to hear individual notes. No point in playing a million notes a second if we're not going to hear them.

They are available with some cool covers as well.

If anyone's interested in these pickups call for a price - I can offer some pretty good deals.

Mr Glyn's Guitars
19 Khyber Pass Road
Auckland

http://www.mrglyn.co.nz/
glyn@mrglyn.co.nz

09 3076501, 021 912678

New Zealand Music Month

2009-04-29T21:49:00.001+12:00

I'm going to do my best to get out and see more live music in May. There are so many of my customers I've never seen play live.

Check out http://www.nzmusicmonth.co.nz/ for what's going on.

Looks like I'm in for a busy month keeping them all going :-)

Glyn

Mr Glyn's guitar repairs

19 Khyber Pass Road

Auckland

New Zealand

09 307 6501, 021 912678

Repairing a hole in an acoustic side

2009-03-13T22:00:00.001+13:00

I have a lot of tools. There are so many different jobs I do on guitars I need a lot of tools. Most I buy, many I have to modify and a few I make.

This little clamp I made for a specific job, it doesn't get a lot of use but when I need it it's the only thing that will do.

Its made from a small piece of Australian Blackwood that I had around the workshop and an old kluson style guitar tuner. I like using guitar parts to make tools - it feels right that old guitar bits can help fix damaged guitars. A bit like donating your organs.

This guitar is unusual - it was hand made in London by a small maker who only ever made a few instruments. It is made entirely from recycled wood. It has the most balanced, lively and sensitive sound i have ever heard from a guitar.

It was brought to the workshop by its very proud owner who is clearly deeply in love with his guitar http://morganmusic.co.nz/vff/.

It needed a re-fret, a repair on a minor split in the top and a hole in the side - which is where the little clamp comes in.

The back and sides of this guitar are made of solid walnut. Solid wood has a much better resonance than ply but isn't as strong and breaks much more easily.

One small piece of wood was still hanging on to the damaged area and I found the other pieces inside the instrument. I decided to strengthen the area by putting a patch on the inside. I made this patch from koa simply because its a strong hardwood and I happened to have a suitable piece in the workshop from an old ukulele top - another example of organ donation.

I removed the piece that was still attached with tweezers and glued it to the inside of the koa patch. This piece of the side covers about 2/3 of the hole. I drilled a 1mm hole in the koa just above the piece of side and passed an old guitar string through it (recycling again). This way I can align the splintered piece of side and keep it flush to the side of the body as well as attach the patch all in one process.

Its then a case of applying the glue and fitting the patch. The string passes through the hole in the post of the tuner and I can tighten it up.

Once the glue has dried the clamp is removed and the remaining splinters are glued in place like a jigsaw. The patch gives them something solid to be glued to. Then its a case of touching up the finish and the job's done.

I was sorry to see this guitar go - I cannot remember playing a better sounding guitar. I got Bill in from next door to have a listen, he's an experienced sound engineer http://www.labstudio.co.nz/ and really knows guitars.

He didn't want to put it down either.

Glyn

glyn@mrglyn.co.nz

http://www.mrglyn.co.nz/

Mr Glyn's guitar repairs

19 Khyber Pass Road
Auckland
New Zealand

09 307 6501, 021 912 678

Pickup winding

2009-03-01T18:47:00.000+13:00

I often have people bringing me faulty pickups. Sometimes it turns out there's just a loose wire and simply needs re-soldering. But sometimes the pickup needs re-winding.

With humbuckers its only usually one coil in which case I can measure the working coil and match the re-wind to it.

Its more common that I get Fender single coil pickups with faults. Older fender pickups can have problems with the insulation on the windings breaking down and the pickup looses its power and becomes thin and weedy sounding.

This is my winding machine. It lives in the corner of the workshop and a lot of customers comment on it.
It isn't possible to wind completely by hand as there are 7500turns on an old Strat pickup and more on a hot one.

The pickup bobbin attaches to the rotating spindle on the front of the machine (white).

The wire is very fine - its about as thick as hair and more brittle as ist made of copper. It's not cheap - the thinner it is the more expensive. I have a few guages for different pickup sounds.

The wire passes over a series of pulleys to tension it.

The machine has a counter with a cut off which stops winding when it gets to the correct number of turns.

so here's the finished product - an old Strat pickup restored to its former glory.

Glyn

For inquiries call on 09 3076501 or 021 912678

Gallery of Horrors

2009-02-15T16:52:00.001+13:00

I see a lot of severely damaged instruments in my work. People are often amazed at what can be fixed and how good a guitar can be afterwards.
So here are some pictures of what can happen - but be warned, this is not for the faint hearted.
All the guitars here were successfully repaired, returned to their owners and are doing fine.

Aria classical

1963 Gretsch

Gibson ES125

K Yarri

Cort

Gibson ES335 '64

Fender acoustic

'82 Strat

Ashton

Eko Ranger

Walden

http://www.mrglyn.co.nz/

Mr Glyn's Guitar Repairs

19 Khyber Pass Road

Auckland

New Zealand

09 307 6501, 021 912 678

Stringing a Guitar

2008-12-04T17:07:00.001+13:00

I come across a lot of guitars that have been strung badly. If the strings are not put on correctly there is little chance of the instrument staying in tune. Its surprising how many players get it wrong - even pros.

The idea is to get at least 3 tight, neat turns down the post. The correct method not only ensures tuning stability but makes it easy to remove a broken string.

If you break a string on stage the first problem is removing the old string. If it is tied in some kind of knot or pushed through the hole twice then you've got a problem. Combine that with limited time and visibility, sweaty hands and adrenalin and often alcohol and you've got a right old struggle on your hands. And that's just getting the old one off.

You don't need a knot, it only serves to create loops of string and this 'free play' causes tuning problems.

I have a method I prefere for all steel strung guitars. Its not the only way to fit strings but I find it very quick and effective, tuning stable and easy to remove strings when I have to. I can fit the strings a couple of hours before a gig and be confident they'll stay in tune.

I first remove the old strings and clean and if neccesary oil the fingerboard.

I ideally want to get 3 neat, tight turns of string down the post. It can be hard to know how much string to leave that will achieve this so I've devised a super high tech method. I measure the width of three fingers of string past the post, kink the string and spip it off about 8mm from the bend. The three fingers gives me about three turns - I think of it as a 'rule of thumb' arf arf.

This picture shows me measuring the D string 3 fingers past the tuning post.

I then make a kink in the string at the 3 finger mark

This needs to be 90 degrees or a little less.

I then snip the string off using side cutters leaving about 10mm after the kink.

This leaves me just enough string for 3 neat turns around the post.

I often measure just less than 3 fingers for the bass strings and a little over 3 for the treble.

Once all the strings are on I tune them andd give them a good stretch a couple of time

A quick check of the intonation and the guitar is ready for a gig.

Mr Glyn's guitar repair

19 Khyber Pass Road

Auckland
09 307 6501 021 912 678

http://www.bungalowbills.com/

Scalloping a fingerboard

2008-11-15T21:20:00.000+13:00

I have customers who play all styles of music and this one is most definately ROCK.

It can be such a treat having great musicians playing in the workshop, just showing me what's wrong with their guitars or trying them out after I've worked on them. I get to see them close up so I can analylize their playing style to get the set up just right for them. I love my job :-)

This customer came to the workshop interested in having his fingerboard scalloped from 12th fret up. This is something I'd only recomend having done for players with a high level of technical skill. Check this guy out on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaIKzC8xPFM he's got a very accurate right hand and a light, precise touch with his left. After seeing him play I had no hesitation in agreeing to do the job.

The idea behind scalloping is to remove wood from between the frets.

This means that the player's finger tips don't touch the wood at all making vibrato and string bending a lot smoother. Right hand tapping techniques are easier too - with a right hand tap and pull off its the pull off part that can often be weak. With a scalloped board the finger can get under the string more and 'pluck' the string more easily

It all sounds great but there can be problems if the player squeezes too tightly with the left hand - this can bend notes very sharp and sound terrible especially with chords

So I always ask a few questions and watch the customer play before doing this job. If they don't like it there's no turning back.

I've seen a lot of boards (and frets) ruined by enthusiastic amateurs attacking the guitar with a file to try and scallop it. I do the bulk of the job with a router and the neck held firmly in a jig. I want the finished job to look neat and even, not like there's been an accident.

I leave a gap either side of the fret which makes no difference to the feel for the player but makes re-fretting easier.

Without this gap when the frets are pulled out huge chunks of fingerboard wood can come out too. This way the frets have more support and the board stays in good condition.

I clamp the neck in a special jig I have made specifically for scalloping. It holds the neck firmly and has a movable fence to guide the router. This way I can cut the scallops evenly and at the same depth as well as following the profile of the fingerboard. I use a rounded cutter in the router to give a nice smooth curve to each scallop. This is a pretty time consuming job and requires a great deal of accuracy.

The router is a great tool and does a very neat and consistant job but needs to be treated with respect. When I used to teach guitar making at The City of Leeds College of Music i used to say to my students 'no-one ever had a minor accident with a router'.

This is the finish I get with the router. The shape is there but its a bit rough. I finish it off with a cabinet scraper and with fine sandpaper.

After this I give the guitar a light fret stone just to make sure everything is even so i can set it up with a low action.

With the frets polished and the board oiled I'm pleased with the end result.

The player likes it too - he's brought me in two more guitars to do, another Ibanez and an Axis.

Might get some of my work shown off on You Tube soon.

Mr Glyn's guitar repair
19 Khyber Pass Road
Grafton
Auckland
New Zealand

Tel: 09 307 6501 or 021 912 678

www.mrglyn.co.nz

Mr Glyn's new workshop

2008-11-14T11:21:00.000+13:00

On the 1st of December 2008, Mr Glyn's Guitar Repair is moving to 19 Khyber Pass Rd (behind Bungalow Bill's guitar shop).

Hill Street Studios is expanding their recording facility into the old workshop at 10b Hill Street. They plan to build a lounge area for musicians as well as their fantastic recording studio.

http://www.hillstreetstudios.co.nz/

For any inquiries call: 09 307 6501 or 021 912 678

Gibson Mandolin - 1918

2008-11-06T12:29:00.001+13:00

Well its been a busy week - I've finished a neck re-set on a 1963 Gretsch, replaced a classical bridge that had come off, refretted an Ibanez acoustic and made a bone nut and saddle for it, re-wired a Les Paul as well as numerous set ups and a few fret stones.

But the highlight was a beautiful old mandolin from 1918 its owned by by Nigel Gavin - an amazingly versatile player and an absolute legend. I keep seeing his name on credits on a huge amount of cds and not just from New Zealand.

He's best known as a guitarist and the day he brought this mandol into the workshop he also brought with him a 7-string acoustic. The guitar had been made for him by Laurie Williams and what a fantastic piece of work. Laurie's attention to detail is a joy to see and the guitar has a very light, delicate and sophisticated sound. But the reason Nigel came to see me was his mandolin.

The first string has a slight buzz when played open. As you can see from the picture there's also a piece of binding missing but he's not concerned with that and wants it left. The open string buzz implies to me that one of the nut slots has worn and is now too low causing the string to vibrate against the first fret.

For a mandolin to be playable the nut slots need to be cut lower than on a guitar. There's a lot of string tension on a mandolin and with high nut slots its going to hurt. So if I'm going to keep this nut I'm going to have to put something in the slot to give it a little more height.

The best way to do this is to use superglue and bone dust. Whenever I sand or file a bone nut or saddle I keep the bone dust for doing jobs like this. I first need to clean the slot so the glue will stick. I use specially made nut files http://www.stewmac.com/

I'm happy to make the slot deeper because I'm going to fill it anyway. I only use 'hot stuff' super glue for this job. It comes in a few thicknesses and for this I use the thinnest. Never apply superglue directly front the container to the instrument- its hard to predict and I've seen a few nasty accidents.

I always pour the glue onto an old string packet and then use an old jewellers screwdriver to apply it. First its a thin layer of glue in the slot then a sprinkling of bone dust. The dust soaks up the glue and gets very hard. I repeat this a few times until the slot is almost filled. It dries very quickly with the dust but I still leave it half an hour or so before re-cutting the slot. Once the slot is cut to the right depth and profile I put candle wax in it to lubricate the string. It did the trick and of course can't be seen. I didn't charge Nigel for this little job. He's a guitar teacher and recomends me to his students so its only fair he gets something in return.

I just had to show you these tuning pegs - what beautifuldetail. And they still work perfectly.

The new workshop is at:

19 Khyber Pass Road,

Grafton,

Auckland 1061

For any inquiries or comments call on: 09 307 6501 or 021 912 678

Reducing hum - Screening

2008-11-06T12:22:00.000+13:00

It is very common for electric guitars with single coil pickups to hum. Humbucking (double coil) pickups get their name from their ability to get rid of hum. A typical 'Strat' pickup will have over 7000 turns of wire on it. I've never worked out how many kms that is but I'm sure its a long way. This much wire makes a pretty good antenna. There's a lot of electromagnetic interference flying about in the air for this antenna to pick up. Electric devices such as fridges and strip lights are particularly bad for this. Not only can these man made items cause problems but so can cosmic background radiation. This is the radiation present all over the universe caused by the Big Bang - known as the shadow of the big bang. Its been around for nearly 14 billion years just waiting to get into your pickups. The way to reduce this hum to an acceptable level is to incase all of the guitar's electrics in a metal box and earth that box. That way all the interference will be cancelled out to earth before becoming a nusance.

Incidentally - this is how humbuckers do it: An electric guitar pickup is simply a magnet with a coil of wire around it. When something ferrous (a steel guitar string) is passed through the magnetic field is disturbs the magnetic flux and causes electrons in the wire to flow - this is of course electricity. But its not much electricity which is why we need to amplify it if we wanna ROCK. The signal produced is a sine wave (AC current) with peaks and troughs co-inciding to the string moving closer and further away. Imagine two pickups producing two sine waves with peaks and troughs at the same time. If we swap th ewires around on one of these pickups a peak will occur on one at the same time as a trough is on the other. These signals are out of phase and almost cancel each other out. But they also cancel any hum. This is great - no hum - but also much less sound and a funny nasal one at that. Now the clever bit is with the magnet. One coil is given a North pole and the other a South.This puts the pickups out of phase again and therefore back in phase. They are electrically 180 out and magnetically also 180 out. The result is two coils working together with almost no hum.

It this case I am screening a Kramer bass. It has one single coil pickup which the customer is not happy with. It has such a low output as to be almost unusable. He's taken it to a repairer before who recommended an outboard pre-amp to boost the signal. The pre-amp has made it louder but with the gain right up has also boosted any hum. I've decided to go to the root of the problem and re-wind the pickup as well as fit another magnet. I've suggested to him that while all the electrics are out and the pickup is in bits I also screen both the cavities and the pickup coil. This way he will have not only a better sounding and louder pickup but almost no hum. And of course he's now got a pre-amp he can sell to help pay for it.

The body had no screening at all. The pots and jack socket have a small piece of foil on the plate but its not really going to do much good as a screen. I've slackened the strings off to get the plate out but there's no need to take them off. This saves time and also string breakage.

The cavity is screened by lining it with copper foil. Several pieces need to be cut and I make sure they overlap. The idea is to make a box. The foil I use has a sticky back which is also conductive so that each touching piece connects. I don't quite trust this so I also solder each piece together.

As you can see I make sure it folds over to connect with the screen I'm going to put on the underside of the scratch plate. Although the scratch plate is bolted to the pots which are earthed I take no chances ands older an earth wire to the screen and this wire in turngets soldered to the pots.

So the completed body screening looks like this. I've kept is as neat as possible and left no gaps. Of course not all guitars are as easy to do as this one - Strats are a bit more complicated and of course its usually Fenders that I have to do this job on.Its unusual for a manufacturert o do a good screening job.

The screen on the underside of the scratch plate completesthe box. I use aluminium foil for this and cover the whole plate. The electrics are bolted directly to it so there's no need for an earth wire.

I don't cut this foil to size before sticking it on because its so much easier to do after. I use my knife as a scraper. I run it along the edge at an angle which scrapes through the foil. I then peel off the remainder and its undetectable when you screw the plate on. The same goes for the pickup hole.

So here are the finished items. They should fit together well and made a good earthed box. I often see black carbon spra on screening used in cavities on production guitars - its not a patch on doing it this way. So that's the bulk of the electrics sorted, now its on to the pickup.

Kramer have used a large single coil pickup on this guitar. Its very similar to a P90. I have already re-wound it to give it a bit more oomph. I've potted it in wax and wrapped the coil in some tape to protect it and as an insulating layer between the coil and the screen. I'll go through the winding process another time.

Its back to the copper foil. I first cut the foil to the correct width and then wrap the coil with it. It is very important not to loop it all the way around the coil. A loop of wire is an antenna which would have the opposite effect. I leave a coulpe of mm gap tom ake sure it works propperly as a screen.

Again I run an earth wire from it and to the back of the pots. A lot of care needs to be taken soldering onto the pickup. The windings are delicate and the insulation on the pickup wire

can easily melt causing a short circuit. I've just wound this one so I could wind it again - but if it was a vintage Fender...

Now its just a case of wiring in the pickup and the extra earths, tuning it, setting the pickup height, testing it all and calling the customer. I wonder if he's sold that pre-amp yet.

The workshop is at:

19 Khyber Pass Road,

Grafton,

Auckland

For any inquiries or comments call on: 09 307 6501 or 021 912 678

The Workshop

2008-11-06T11:58:00.000+13:00

I thought it was about time I gave you a lookaround my workshop.

This is the main bench where I do most of my work. I also have two other benches which I use mostly for either sawing, cutting, routing work or simply as somewhere to put instruments when they're clamped up.

This is the place in the room with the most natural light. I also use florescent lighting with a combination of tubes - daylight etc. Most of my small handtools are kept close to hand at this bench as well as oils and cleaning products underneath it.

That's a Gibson J45 on the bench - its just had a neck re-set. Panning round to the right is the computer, the all important stereo and the second workbench. There is usually a vice mounted to the corner of this bench and its where I made nuts and saddles. In the shelves I keep strings, fretwire, books, drills...

Then there's the third bench and more shelving. Under the bench are boxes of parts. Behind this bench is an area in which I plan to build a seperate room to use for dirty, dusty jobs. It will contain a bandsaw, belt sander, buffer etc. and of course dust extraction.

I have only been in this space since January 08 so its still evolving and I'm still finding new ways to use the space I have. Finally, we've come around full circle and this is the room looking across the main bench again but in the other direction. On the wall are various tools and jigs with a rack of clamps below. The shelves are covered in jars containing parts- pots, switches, saddles...

The workshop is at:
19 Khyber Pass Road, Auckland

For any inquiries or comments call on: 021 912 678

What my Customers Say

2008-11-06T11:48:00.000+13:00

Here are some emails I have received from happy customers.

Its great to have feedback like this and so nice of people to take the time to email me:

"Hi Glyn used my Epiphone LP at practice last night and there is a HUGE improvement in tone-more clarity,more volume and lots more sustain.With the toggle switch set in the middle position I can now get really good clean tones-much closer to the Tele which our singer uses. Just going to have to re-tweak the patches on my Line 6 now to match it...Thanks S."

"Glyn how goes it? Just to say fantastic job on the Hohner jack. I want to bring in the other bass you did for me and have a new bridge put on it.Cheers A."

"Hi Glyn. I have received the strat and it sounds and feels great. Very nice. Its one of the best SRV sounding gats ive ever heard (dunno why the highway series get such a bad rep) I will send another up next week if your not too busy. Cheers P."

"Hi Glyn, I've enjoyed visiting your site a few times, I enjoy your repair blog =) Have also heard several reports of the high standard of your work, it's good to have reliable people to direct people towards when they ask. D."

"Hello Mr Glyn, I enjoyed your blog, it is fantastic to see a craftsman proud to display his talent for all to see. Thanks."

"Hi Glyn, just wanted to drop you a line to say thanks for doing such a great job on my guitar, it is like a new instrument and i didn't know how good it could sound or play, Thanks I."

"Hey Glyn, The OLP is fantastic. It's amazing how many different sounds we can get out it now, and the action is the lowest I've had on any guitar. Henceforth I shall refer to you as 'the guitar whisperer'. R."

"Hi Glyn If you think a compound radius will look better I am not going to argue with you, do it as you think it will be best,you know way more than me and I have complete trust in your work. L."

"Just a word of thanks. Very nice job on my gibson (black custom re-fret), we've been rockin almost fulltime, it sounds scary!!!!! Will bring sum more work shortly, my squire needs help (badly), might have a 50's f-hole acoustic (not a big brand but an inheritance), when I get it back from the south Is. Has done 4 gens. of parties so gets tired fast all the best, P."

"Hi Glyn, Just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for dialing in my Les Paul - it's mint, as is the SG you re-set the neck on last year. It's re-assuring to know there's a craftsman out there that really knows what he's doing. Is there anything you can do with acoustics? - I've gota 70's Takamini that's sounding a bit dull - can you give it some love? Cheers A."

"Hi Glyn, Guitar is great thanks! here's a link to our MySpace site - i'll bring you a copy of the album next time I see you. Cheers A."

The new workshop is at:
19 Khyber Pass Road

Auckland

For any inquiries or comments call on: 021 912 678

Harmony 1930's

2008-11-06T11:37:00.000+13:00

This is a very interesting old Harmony guitar made sometime in the 1930's.

I am certainly no expert on these guitars - its not often I get guitars in of this age to look at.

There are no markings on it anywhere to indicate a model but I'm sure there's someone out there who can help with that.

She belongs to a well known Kiwi songwriter and performer and I'm pleased to say she gets gigged regularly. So many vintage guitars never get played and I feel its a real shame - they're not ornaments! He's brought me the guitar for me to check the electrics out before it goes on a US tour with him. There's no actual fault with it but its prudent to get it checked in case any wires are just hanging on by a thread. Equipement failiure on stage is rather embarasing.

It has two pickup systems fitted. The bridge is wooden and has a piezo pickup built into it. This is great at picking up the higher frequency more percussive aspects of the tone but as it's only really 'hearing' vibration from the strings doesn't give the full picture.

The under saddle pickup is run through a Barlolini preamp which has a fixed eq setting. Its a great little system and it warms up the otherwise harsh piezo sound nicely. All the wires going to it are sound and have heat shrink over the connections which helps prevent bad connections.

Undersaddle pickups have a sound which tends to be all top and bottom. They have a jangly sparkle at the top end and preamps give thay a boomy rich bass but they can lack mids. So this guitar has a magnetic pickup fitted accross the soundhole. This gives a good midrange sound although can sound too much like an electric guitar at times. The guitar is fitted with a blend control so you can decide how much of each pickup system you want, and a volume control. The volume and tone are the most likely places for bad connections.

I took both the potentiometers out and removed all the connections, cut and stripped back the wire and re-soldered them all. I applied heat shrink to all the connections as well. Its important to tin the wires before connecting them.

This is simply applying solder to the bare wire which insures a thorough and deep solder joint. If the wires aren't tinned first it is more likely that there'll be a 'dry joint'. This is simply a joint that although looking ok is not connected properly. Dry joints are harder to track down than broken joints which is why I'm replacing all the soldering on this guitar to make sure its all sound. Since starting this blog I've heard the U.S. tour went well and they're touring Europe now. I'm still here though.

The workshop is at:
19 Khyber Pass Road, Auckland

For any inquiries or comments call on: 021 912 678

Guild D40 bridge saddle

2008-11-06T11:20:00.000+13:00

This is a beautiful Guild D40 from 1977.

The customer is a pro player and bought the guitar new in Sydney. It hasn't been played a huge amount and its in great condition.

The problem is with the intonation - its not out a huge amount but enough to annoy the player who has a very sensitive ear.

So we decided the best solution was to fit acompensated bridge saddle. I also sugested a compensated nut but he doesn't like the look of them.

String compensation and tuning can be a complicated and frustrating subject so I'll save the details for another time and just give a simplified version. All guitars (especially steel strung) need at least a little bridge compensation to play in tune. The reason for this is in the playing action. To play a note (other than open) you need to press the string down onto the fret. Lets say the string is 2mm from the top of the fret - you bend the string (sharp) by a distance of that 2mm before you sound the note. Try fretting a note then bending the string by 2mm - you can hear it. So to compensate for this the string length is made slightly longer by moving the saddle back thus putting the note in tune again. Its made slightly more tricky by the fact that bending a thicker string by the 2mm will sharpen it more than a thinner string - so thicker strings need to be compensated more. Also wound strings react differently to plain ones. So if you change your action, string guage or tuning you'll need to change your intonation. Another thing worth remembering is its all just compromise, you cannot play exactly in tune - there is no exact - with the limitations of action and equal tempered tuning you can get pretty close but never exactly in tune in all keys. I'll go on about this more another time because its a bit of a pet subject of mine - but anyway, back to the Guild.

The original saddle is straight and made of bone. It is a little too low to be used again so I'm going to make a new bone saddle. Bone is the best material for saddles, I get mine from guitarparts.co.nz usually, its at the right price, he nearly always has stock and it arrives the next day. Bone is certainly not the easiest material to work with, it's very hard and the dust isn't too pleasant. Ialways wear a mask when working with it. This is partly because the fine dust can be harmful and partly because it is exactly the same smell as when the dentist is drilling your teeth. Not something I want tobe reminded of.

I start off by cutting the saddle to length with a junior hack saw. I cut it close to the vice jaws to lessen the chances of the bone snapping. Bone it brittle stuff. I leave it slightly oversize so I can sand it to an exact fit later.

To sand the saddle I use a sheet of abrasive paper (about 80 grit) attached to a piece of mdf with double sided tape. The mdf has a kind of handle built in so it can be easily clamped to the work bench. With this I can get the bottom of the saddle flat and true. The bottom must be a right angle to the side for the saddle to connect properly with the bottom of the saddleslot and therefore to the guitar top. This is especially critical if there is an undersaddle piezo pickup fitted.The saddle must be a snug fit in the slot so it doesn't leanf orward under string tension. If it is too tight a fit it can get wedged in and not connect properly with the bottom of the slot. Its worth spending time on the fit of the saddle.

Once I'm happy with the way the saddle sits in the slot I can shape it for height to set the action. As I am replacing a perfectly good saddle I have one to copy. So I sand the new saddle to be about 1/2mm higher than the old one. Then its a case of filing the top of it to achieve the compensate dintonation. The 6th string (bass E) is set to the back of the saddle (maximum string length) and the G string to the front with the D and A set in between creating a smooth line on the top of the saddle.The B is set back and the 1st string forward.

Once the filing is finished I sand any scratches out of the bone with 800 wet'n'dry and then 1200 after which I polish it up with some burnishing compound. I love polished bone, it brings out the warm colour of it. The player uses D'Addario 12's which are great strings. I get alot of my strings from http://www.guitarstuff.co.nz/ they do a really good range at an amazing price. The delivery is cheap and next day. It means I don't need to leave the workshop to get them too. The last thing is to tune her up and check the intonation. Its a lot better than it was according to the Peterson tuner and to my ears. The customer was very happy with it though I still think it needed a compensated nut as well - ha ha

The workshop is at:
19 Khyber Pass Road, Auckland
For any inquiries or comments call on: 021 912 678

Gibson ES125D re-fret

2008-11-06T11:05:00.000+13:00

This is a continuation of my post describing a re-fret. This nice old Gibson is from 1966 and had such fret and finger board wear that I just had to show you it.

The serial number isn't too clear in the photo but its 433265 and according to Gibson's website thats 1966.

This one's been re-fretted before a long time ago. Its had some 'rising tongue' which is the end of the board raising up ski jump style. Someone has tries to cure this by filing away the frets at the end of the neck.

As you can see there's almost nothing left. Certainly not playable here.

The board had such a lot of playing wear it was worth taking this photo. The whole board had wear like this all over it! Wow what a player! As you can just see in this pic when I took the frets out the board started to crumble so it took a lot of care and many little repairs to get it ready to take new frets. Leveling a board like this is a big job.

To ensure I didn't sand through the marker dots I took them out and put them back after. The rest of the job was straight forward (see Maton Re-Fret). Unfortunately I didn't get a pic of the finished instrument - the owner was very keen to get his hands on it.

The workshop is at:
19 Khyber Pass Road, Auckland
For any inquiries or comments call on: 021 912 678

Shipping a guitar

2008-11-06T10:59:00.000+13:00

No photos of guitars showing their intimate bits this time I'm sorry to say. I've been asked a lot recently about the best way to ship a guitar. Airlines can cause a lot of damage and although it keeps me in work its often very sad to see the results. If you don't have a hard case for you guitar - get one! Airlines don't let you take guitars on board with you anymore so they've got to go in the hold - a gig bag simply isn't enough protection. Make sure the end of the headstock doesn't touch the end of the case. If your neck is mahogany (most acoustics, gibson style elecs, basically almost any guitar with an angled back head) slacken off the strings. The reason for this is that mahogany can shatter with sudden impacts resulting in a broken neck. The string tension makes the neck more rigid and increases the chances of a breakage. If you have a maple neck (Fender type) there's no need to slacken the strings - maple has such a flex that it can withstand almost anything.

Watch Hendrix, SRV, Richie Blackmore - ever see them actually manage to snap a Fender neck? Wrap the guitar up as much as possible - clothes are good for this. It will help lessen any damage from impact. Make sure the pocket inside the case can't open - a capo and a tin of fast fret can cause some pretty big sctatches! Once its all packed properly take a trip to you local music shop and get a large rectangular cardboard guitar box to put your case in. These boxes are what guitars come from the manufacturer in and shops are usually pleased to get rid of them.Tape it all up securely, use 'Fragile' stickers and say a little prayer to whichever god you feel is looking down on you. Maybe help an old lady accross the road to gain a few Karma points. You've done all you can. Most airline damage I come accross (as I see a lot of it) involves bad packing.One other tip - if you play a bolt on neck electric take the neck off, put both parts in a bag and take it on as hand luggage.

The workshop is at:

19 Khyber Pass Road, Auckland

For any inquiries or comments call on: 021 912 678

Maton 'Phil Manning' Re-Fret

2008-11-06T10:41:00.000+13:00

I get a lot of enquiries about re-fretting - what's involved, how does it affect the guitar's sound and playability? So when this rather nice old Maton came in for a re fret I took the chance to take a few photos.

This is not too good a picture of it but its gives an idea. The guitar is from the mid 70's and its been used a lot. Usually I find guitars like this one that show evidence of a lot of playing are good ones. Bad guitars just don't get played as much! The bridge isn't original and touches the bridge pickup so that's getting replaced too. I get a lot of my parts from http://www.guitarparts.co.nz/ - Iain who runs it is a lovely bloke and always gets stuff to me the next day. He does the 'Allparts' range which I love.But the main problem with this guitar is of course the fret wear. Not only are there deep dents in the frets around the open D chord but lots of wide flat areas all over the neck. I can tell its been owned by a pretty good player - blues/rock style I'd guess by the wear from a wide vibrato and string bending.If the wear isn't too deep it could be fret stoned out but with this one there's no chance of that. When the frets are this flat the guitar always sounds dull and lifeless. With a rounded, polished fret the string has a 'point' it can vibrate off instead of an indefined flat area.As frets get older their seating in the slot can get a little sloppy and absorb instead of transmit string energy. A lot of 'dead spots' on necks that get blamed on inconsistancies in the wood are really just loose frets.

Re-fretting always makes a guitar sound better.The first part of the job is to remove the old frets. I do this with a pair of pincers that I've ground to be flat on the face. This means I can get right under the fret more easily. Its quite a delicate operation because I don't want to pull any wood up with them. These frets are still well seated which is nice to see considering they've been in there since the mid 70's.

The nut needs to be removed and in this case replaced. These days I often use to use 'Graph TechTusq' for nuts and acoustic saddles. Their 'string saver' saddles are excellent too. I remove the nut with a thin, narrow (1/8") chisel I made specially for the job. Its a tool I made when I was in college about 15 years ago and its served me well. This bone nut isn't held on too tightly and comes off easily.

So the board is now fretless and ready for leveling. In this pic you can see how dirty the wood is from years of playing and some of the dents in the board from long fingernails. I level the board using a glass plane. This is a sanding block made of toughened glass so its pretty flat. Different grades of abrasive paper can be attached to it to sand the board level.

This is an essential part of the process. If the board isn't level then when I do the final skim of the fretshave to take out any unevenness on the frets. I don't want to put wear into new frets. This pic is taken half way through the leveling - you can still see wear in the board.

I sand through the grades of paper all the way to 1000 grade. Between sanding I wet the wood with water and leave it to evapourate. This 'fluffs' the grain out and gives a finer finish. After 3 or 4 times the wood doesn't expand any more and its oh so smooth!

The final stage before actually fretting is cleaning out the slots.I use a little saw that I've added a depth-stop to so I only go as deep as I need to. Maton have used a glue in the fret slots which needs cleaning out. Its a method I prefere to use myself and its good to see them doing it - most manufacturers don't bother. You can see how much better the board looks after its sanding.

Fretwire comes in a lot of different sizes. After a long discussion with the owner of this guitar, playing his rather nice Thinline Tele and having him play my Strat he decided on narrow jumbo wire. Its the same width as old style Fender wire but its higher. He's a good player and likes to bend strings so high wire is a good choice. With high frets your finger tip touches less wood which makes string bending a lot smoother.

A lot of players like high frets - I'm one of them. As I mentioned earlierI like to put glue in the fret slot. I use an alaphatic resin (Titebond). Its a water based wood glue that goes brittle hard when set. Now I'm not trying to glue the fret in - sticking wood to metal using wood glue is a dead loss. I do it to fill any gaps there might be under or around the fret with something hard. When the fret goes in on top of the glue it pushes it into every gap including into the wood end grain inside the fret slot. This gives the fret a very firm connection to the wood of the board and to the neck and of course makes a difference to the tone. The better the fret is seated the more lively and responsive the guitar is.

Ok so here's the fun bit! I put the frets in by the old method of tapping them in with a fret hammer. I first curve the fret to a tighter radius than the board ( so the ends sit down nicely).I very gently tap the ends into the slot just enough to hold the fret in.

I use a fret drift (block of mild steel) to even out the hammer pressure. The neck is supported with a neck rest that has a leather pad to protect the finish. I do this over the most solid part of the work bench (over a leg) so the hammer blows are 'dead'. If you have to hit the fret more than a few times then you end up loostening it. You can hear when its gone in true - there's a lot of experience and feel involved.

I leave the glue to dry for a few hours and then cut the fret ends off using my pincers again. Then its a case of filing the fret ends. This is one of the most time consuming and fiddly parts of the job and the hardest to describe. Not only does the angle need to be cut but the ends filed smooth so there are no sharp edges. And of course there are usually 44 of them. Then its a fret stone (I'll describe another time), oiling the board and setting the instrument up.

There's a lot of work in a refret but the end result is a completely new playing surface, better tone and response and of course giving your instrument many more years of service.

The workshop is at:

19 Khyber Pass Road

Grafton

Auckland
Auckland For any inquiries or comments call on: 021 912 678

Gibson SG neck re-set

2008-11-06T10:19:00.000+13:00

This one came in last week, its a 1973 Gibson SG. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with SGs. I love the sound of them, that mid-range definition, fat but with bite. I love the access to the high frets, there's just nothing in your way. I love the look of them, so simple, not over flash and with a hint of Batman (ha ha). But I'm not so keen on the way they ballance - just too neck heavy and the neck/body joint is just so weak.This one has had a problem with the neck joint that's been re-glued by someone before. The neck angle is such that the bridge is adjusted so its right down on the body and the action is still too high. The neck needs to come off and put back at the correct angle with of course no visible evidence of any work.SG necks are glued in using a heat reversable glue so normally it could be heated and removed. But this one has been re-glued by someone else and I'm not sure what glue they've used.So the first thing to do is remove the end of the fretboard to expose the joint. I remove the fret directly over the joint, saw through the board, heat it up and remove it (See the posting on the Fernandes 'V').

Here's the neck joint exposed. Its just a simple tenon joint. Incidentally its the same in a Les Paul. The hole in the middle of it is the truss rod anchor. The joint isn't the most snug fit I've ever seen but its not the worst either. The white pieces of paper either side of it are to protect the finish from the heat I'm about to apply to it to remove the neck. I can see from bits of glue residue left from the last repair that PVA (white glue) was used. This is why the neck has crept forward under string tension. PVA is ok for general woodworking but this is a guitar. PVA is still elastic when its set so its not suitable for stressed joints. It is heat reversable though so I'll be able to get the neck off ok. I warm the neck joint up very carefully using a heat gun to soften the glue and with a lot of patience it starts to move and eventually comes off cleanly.

You can see a load of glue still stuck to the neck pocket in these shots.The next job is to clean the joint up and get it ready for re-gluing.

I've decided to use animal glue for this job. Its strong, is heat reversable (someone might need to take it appart in years to come) and has great tonal qualities.

The glue beads need to be mixed with water and warmed up to mix and soften. I use a rice maker for this on its heatsetting (not boil). It takes a while for the glue to be ready so I spend that time dry running the clamping. Animal glue doesn't give you much time. It gels really quickly so the joint is goint to have to be clamped up quickly. I'm using a couple of guitar strings to pull the joint in and a clamp to hold it together. The strings can also tell me if I've got the angle correct. I've fitted the bridge and adjusted it to the height I want itso I check the neck angle by measuring the action at 12th fret. I'm aiming at 2mm.When the glue's ready I warm up all the surfaces of the joint just to delay the gel time a little when it all goes together.

Any glue that squeezes out can be removed with a damp cloth. I've put tape over the end of both horns to protect them from any knocks. This photo was taken after the glue was dry and I'd taken the clamp off. So all that remained was to replace the end of the board, put the fret back in and give it a fret stone to make sure everything was level. Then put the neck pickup back and set it up. The guitar turned out great and sounded better too. That rubbery PVA was doing the tone no good at all and of course its a lotmore playable now.

Jobs like this are very satisfying, I love the major structural stuff that changes a guitar thats a bit duff back into what it should be. This SG sounds great, its got a lovely feeling 'old style' fat neck and plays like a dream - I wish it was mine ha ha.

The workshop is at:
19 Khyber Pass Road
Auckland For any inquiries or comments call on: 021 912 678

Strat Pick-up height

2008-11-06T10:09:00.000+13:00

I come accross Strats and Teles a lot - I'm a Fender player myself. Its very common for the pick-up height to be adjusted incorrectly.

Its something that's easy to sort out and can make a big difference to your sound. If the pick-up is too far from the string it won't 'hear' it enough. The result of this is not only a lack of volume and power but a tonal change. There's not as much attack to the note and a fender can loose its percussive 'boing'. If it's too close, however, a few things can happen. The magnet 'sucks' the string in. This happens more on the bass side than the treble. The string usually vibrates in a circular motion but with the magnet too close it can only vibrate vertically. The result of this is 'wolf tones'. The bass strings when played on the higher frets have a strange warble and often it sounds like there's an odd harmonic interfering with the fundamental. In some cases the string is pulled down enough to cause fret buss on the higher frets - often mistaken for an uneven fretboard.

The height is adjusted using the two screws one each end of the pickup. The pickups are either mounted on springs or more often on the expensive ones with rubber sleeves. The rubber is just traditional and in fact not a very good system. When adjusting the height you can often feel the rubber fighting against you. Press the E strings down on last fret and look at the gap between the bottom of the string and the top of the pickup magnet. Fender factory spec is 1/8" (3.2mm) on the bass side and 3/32" (2.4mm) on the treb for a standard strat. Another way is to wind the pickup too close to the string until you hear the wolf note and then back it off until its gone.
The same goes for most single coit pickups. With a tele neck pickup, however, be aware that the cover has no magnetic influence and the magnet is of course below it. Its best to use the listening method with these pickups. Its worth playing around with to find what suits you. Hope this has been useful.

The workshop is at:
19 Khyber Pass Road
Auckland
For any inquiries or comments call on: 021 912 678

Fernandes 'V' ebony fingerboard

2008-11-06T09:54:00.001+13:00

This week I've had a lot of work on - a Hagstrom in need of re-wiring, a telecaster neck pickup to re-wind, A Les Paul to set up as well as the more run of the mill stuff. But the main job has been to replace the fingerboard on a Fernandes 'Flying V'.

The board was rosewood and the customer wanted it changed for ebony. So of course it needed to be re-fretted as well. As this is no doubt very much a ROCK guitar I recomended we fitted high fret wire. I'm very fond of the high narrow wire for this style of instrument. We also decided not to put any marker dots in the face of the board (mainly for looks) as most players don't look at them anyway. Side dots are usually enough. I got a pre made ebony board from an American supplier which had the advantage of already having the fret slots cut in it and a radius. This saves so much time that its worth it. The radius was a little too small for this style of guitar so I had to flatten it a little.

Removing a fingerboard requires a great deal of patience. Boards are always attached with a heat-reversable glue which means that if you warm them up the glue bond will soften an its then possible to coax the board off. The first thing is to plan how the new one will go on in the correct position. To ensure this I remove 12th fret and drill a couple of holes through the fret slot and into the maple of the neck. In these I push two panel pins. I made identical holes through 12th fret on the new board as well. So when the new one goes on I know its located correctly. Now its time to remove the rosewood board.

Firstly I scrape the finish off the sides of the board using a blade. This ensures it won't crack and splinter when I'm taking the board off. I carefully use a heat gun to warm it up. The dots on this one are mother of pearl so they're ok to get hot. If they were plastic I'd mask them so they don't melt. When it feels warm enough (from experience) I ease an oldbutter knife under the board. This is where the patience comes in. You can feel when it wants to come off, push too hard and the wood can split. The warming and pushing can take some time but rushing it here can mean a lot of time spent later cleaning up your mess.

When you're half way through its so tempting to push a little harder and hurry up the job.
When its finally off any glue residue can be cleaned up ready for the new one to go on.

I use alaphatic resin glue and clamp the neck to a slightly curved caul block to build in a bit of relief to the neck. I find rubber straps give a good even clamping pressure. Any glue that oozes out of the sides when it's clamped I clean off imediately with a damp rag. Its easier to do it when its wet that wait and do it later. The neck is left in this clamping jig for 24 hours. The next stage is shaping the board, re-fretting and putting the side dots in. I'll write about that another time.

Here's the finished job

The workshop is at:
19 Khyber Pass Road
Auckland
For any inquiries or comments call on: 021 912 678

Reverend 'Warhawk' set-up

2008-11-06T09:38:00.000+13:00

I do a lot of work for 'poolside studios'. They importvarious makes of musical stuff including 'Top Hat' amps, 'Eastwood' guitars and 'Reverend' guitars. All their guitars that come into New Zealand get checked over by me first. Not all importers care enough to do this. You can find Poolside at http://www.poolsidestudios.co.nz/ Today I've got a 'Reverend Warhawk' on the bench to check over.

Its a bolt neck fixed bridge electric guitar with two P90 pickups. My photo just doesn't do the colour justice. Reverend guitars are all well built they've got comfy deep necks, feel solid and lively, ballance great on a strap and sound fantastic as well as looking cool. Its not often I get this excited abouta new brand but the folk at Reverend seem to have got it right. This one was in tune out of the box and only needed a couple of small adjustments. One of the many factors that determin playability and a good action is the depth of the nut slots. If they're too deep the open strings will buzz, too high and its going to be hard to play especially for first position chords.

The best method for checking nut height is to place your finger between 2nd and 3rd fret pushing the string down as if fretting 2nd. Then look at the gap between the string and 1st fret. There should be a gap but it should be extremely small(about 1/4mm). On the bass strings the gap can be a bit bigger. On this guitar the gap was a bit big so the slots needed to be deepened.
I've seen this job done with all sorts of tools including hacksaw blades and kitcken knives. There's only one correct tool and thats a nut file. These files come in different thicknesses for each string and are round in profile. The bottom of the slot needs to be smooth and rounded. A 'V' slot will grip the string causing tuning problems and string breakage as will a square bottomed slot. In my experience most cases of tuning probsare caused by the nut.

This pic shows me cutting the nut. Note the angle of the file. If you cut slots too shallow (parallel to the fingerboard) the string can rattle about in the slot. Once the nut is cut the slots need lubricating, I prefere candle wax for this but pencil graphite is just as good. This was the only real set up fault with this Reverend. Check out NZ Musician's review (May 07) of Reverend. The review one I didn't have to do anything on- just checked it and all was fine. That one is fitted with a Wilkinson trem and had three P90's. It stayed in tune just great no matter how much cack handed Van Halen I threw at it.

All that was left was to raise the pickup height atouch and it was ready. Its so satisfying working on well made instruments.

The workshop is at:
19 Khyber Pass Road
Auckland
For any inquiries or comments call on: 021 912 678

Yamaha FG-260 12-string

2008-11-06T09:01:00.000+13:00

This is a lovely old guitar that came to me with an unplayable action. 12 string guitars often suffer from problems related to string tension and this one had really suffered. The top was bellying and needed the bridge plate replacing - I'll go into that one at a later date. Even with the top stable and the belly reduced the action was still too high. The bridge saddle was right down low so it wasn't going to be an easy one.The neck had to be re-set. Over years the neck had moved with string tension and was now leaning forward a little. This was giving the guitar too high an action. There are a few ways to re-angle a neck; the traditional way is to completely remove the neck from its socket and re-cut the dovetail joint to the correctangle. The main problem with this is damage to the finish around the heel. I chose a different way - its called 'slipping the block'. With this method the neck stays in the body and the back of the guitar is removed (peeled away) between the guitar's shoulders. Once the back is seperated from the block the neck becomes 'wobbly'. The back can then be clamped in place with the neck at the correct angle. Ok, so here's how its done. First the binding had to be removed so the back could come off cleanly. I scrape the finish away from the binding with a blade - if I left it on it'd crack and make a mess when the binding came off. Then the binding can be peeled away carefully using the blade.

I don't take it right off, just as far as the shoulders. Guitars are always put together using heat reversable glue which means if you warm them up they come apart. To seperate the back I use heat lamps which gently warm the glue from the back. If it gets too hot the finish can get damaged so its a gentle slow process. When I feel its warm enough I start pushing a spatula into the joint to ease it apart. Push too hard and the wood can split - too soft and nothing happens. In this pic the green tape is holding the binding out of the way. A butter knife is just great for this job.

When the back's off its time to get the action right. I put two E-strings on the guitar and a bridge saddle of the ideal height. Then I clamp the guitar from bum to heel. As the clamp tightens the action lowers.

Once its right its simply a case of regluing the back. .

The back will now be overhanging the sides a little so it needs trimming before the binding goes back.

There's no easy way to re-angle a neck but for me this is the easiest.

The workshop is at:
19 Khyber Pass Road, Auckland
For any inquiries or comments call on: 021 912 678