Some Interesting 80s Basses
Following on from the “70s Bass Extravaganza” earlier this year I have two early 80s basses in for set up this week. Gibson Grabber Bass The first is a lovely 1982 Gibson Grabber Bass. It was suffering from uneven frets and a rising tongue caused by some unwise heavy shimming of the neck with a [...]
Read MoreDIY SOS – Fender LSR roller nut refitting
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, or so they say. The owner of this guitar fitted a Fender LSR roller nut himself and I have to say showed some skill in cutting the wood away. Unfortunately he misunderstood how the nut should be fitted and cut away far too much wood. I tidied the [...]
Read MoreGibson Les Paul Traditional neck split
Here’s another nasty break, this time a longitudinal split in a Les Paul neck, caused by a fall. All that was required was to glue and clamp both sides before refinishing the back of the neck using my nitrocellulose lacquers.
Read MoreGibson Les Paul Headstock Break
This Les Paul was only a week old when it suffered this catastrophic break. Unusually, the fall was so severe that it broke the fibre headstock face right across between the E tuners. Although not an easy repair the break had plenty of surface area for glue. The repaired headstock was relacquered and the repair [...]
Read MoreZenith Standard 21 “Bijou” Archtop acoustic guitar
This 50s archtop acoustic is a Zenith Standard 21 “Bijou”. Zenith guitars were made by Framus in Germany and re-badged Zenith by the importers, who were the major instrument distributors Boosey and Hawkes. This one has Ivor Mairant’s signature in ballpoint pen on the label inside, but I don’t know if it is the signature [...]
Read MoreMaton Supreme 777 restoration
This Australian-built Maton Supreme 777 is getting on for 50 years old and has seen some action! It came to me needing a refret, a new nut and a general fettle. The Bigsby vibrato was in a sorry state and needed rebuilding with a new arm and spring. The pickups had been cut off at some [...]
Read MoreRemoving a Gibson Corian Nut
A regular customer of mine recently bought a 2006 Les Paul and brought it to me for a setup. As soon as I straightened the neck, which had been somewhat bowed, I realised that the 1st string was buzzing against the first fret as the nut had been cut too low. I suspect that the relief [...]
Read MoreGibson L4 CES
This beautiful 1989 Gibson L4 CES was brought in with a bad electrical buzz. I traced the buzz to a disconnected bridge earth wire which I reconnected. I noticed however that at some point early in its life the guitar had been rewired with different pots. The pots have solid shafts and whoever did the work [...]
Read More70s Reissue Fender Telecaster truss rod repair
I was brought a Fender Japan 70s reissue Telecaster with a broken truss rod for repair. The threaded part truss rod had broken at the headstock. I extracted the truss rod from the heel of the guitar and found that there was still over 1cm of thread left on the end. My solution therefore was simply [...]
Read MoreGibson Les Paul Custom Headstock Repair
Here’s another Gibson Les Paul headstock repair, the second within the space of two days! The owner of this guitar had left it in his rehearsal room and come back to find it broken. It was pretty clear from the break and other damage on the body that someone had taken the guitar out of its [...]
Read More
Recent comments