Harmony 1930's

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.

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I am no longer repairing guitars - since covid 19 I now work full time making pickups

www.mrglynspickups.com

Guild D40 bridge saddle

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 a compensated bridge saddle. I also suggested 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 gauge 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. I always 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 to be 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 compensated intonation. 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 a lot 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

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I am no longer repairing guitars - since covid 19 I now work full time making pickups

www.mrglynspickups.com

Gibson ES125D re-fret

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.

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I am no longer repairing guitars - since covid 19 I now work full time making pickups

www.mrglynspickups.com

Shipping a guitar

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.

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Feel free to contact me about repair work (if you are in NZ). I only check emails weekly so the workshop phone is always the best 09 307 6501.

Workshop Hours

Mon……. 8-6
Tues……. 8-6
Wed…….. Closed
Thurs …..8-6
Fri ……….8-6
Sat/Sun ..Closed

Mr Glyn’s Guitars

  21a Khyber Pass Road

Auckland

New Zealand

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

glyn@mrglyn.co.nz

www.facebook.com/MrGlynGuitars

www.mrglyn.blogspot.com

09 307 6501, 021 912678

Maton 'Phil Manning' Re-Fret

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 (http://mrglyn.blogspot.co.nz/2012/01/fret-stone-fender-stratocaster.html), oiling the board and setting the instrument up. I use "Luthiers Fines' fretboard oil - www.luthiersfinest.com it's available through me at my workshop or www.guitarstuff.co.nz

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.

      

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I am no longer repairing guitars - since covid 19 I now work full time making pickups

www.mrglynspickups.com

Gibson SG neck re-set

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.

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I am no longer repairing guitars - since covid 19 I now work full time making pickups

www.mrglynspickups.com

Strat Pick-up height

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.

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I am no longer repairing guitars - since covid 19 I now work full time making pickups

www.mrglynspickups.com