Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm going to start this off, this "tip of the day" post with the hope that others here will pick-up and contribute your tips too. If you have a good idea or industry best practice and it's vetted to be a good idea and not harmful to a human or even worse a guitar... please post your tips of the day too in this thread. Thanks!

Fender G string break angles. Leo Fender was a genius in many ways and went a very long way to bring very decent if not iconic instruments to working folks who could afford his wares and then we know what happened next, some of the greatest music ever was made.

Leo had a few issues though with some of the physics and a very well known issue and fix in the professional Lutherie world is how to improve on Leo's lack of break angle for the G string on his bolt-on necks.

If you look at a Tele or Strat with only one string tree and view the G string breaking over the nut you will see what I mean. A heavy handed player can easily hit the G string hard enough that the vibrating wave may, may breach the G string nut slot and sound like....... (insert your word of choice here I know what mine would be...).

So the fix is easy and I do this every day these days since I am always on a Fender at least once a day now. Hold out and wind at least 6" of additional G sting slack onto the tuner post. Wind it right down the the edge of the post nearest the peg head. View it again sideways and you may have doubled the poor break angle. You can do this with the D too although the D is not as problematic but does benefit with a heavy handed hitter.

More recently with the advent of newer tuners you will see that some models have a shortened tuning post on the D and G and B and high E for this exact same reason. Multiple string trees are also one approach to improving the shallow break angles.

So this is a tip that you can do right now, no changes need to be made to the guitar, no tools to purchase and a bit of a historical discussion here with an equally time tested historic fix. You can also show it to your customers so they can do it too come restring time. They will appreciate that you shared this with them.

Was going to take a pic of this to post too but the two Strats I have have here at home with my Fender that already has two string trees and my Suhr that has locking, short post tuners both fixes intended to improve the shallow break angle on Fender style bolt-on necks. As you can see it was enough of an issue that the industry even developed products to counter it.

So if you have any tips to share please do? Thanks!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

When gluing cracks on a guitar I find 3M thin tape applied along each side of the crack and big help during clean up , especially when epoxy is used. Simple but when you do this as a business every minute saved is value and the less finsh touch up the better

nice idea Hesh

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Here’s one (trying to avoid things others are better suited to cover):

We often need something to cushion the harsh surface of a clamp or jig so that it won’t mar the surface of a guitar part, or a finished instrument, but if we use something too soft or malleable, the clamp or jig won’t hold well. The perfect cushion when you need a tight, but non-marring, grip is leather. You can look for old leather goods or clothing and repurpose it, but I prefer to buy it new in rolls, like this:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Veg-Tan-Heavyw ... 2069951937

This particular leather is around 1/8” thick and has no dye. The rough side glues very securely to wood with Titebond. A utility knife cuts it like butter. I find uses for this in lots of places. For instance, I glued strips of it to the inside of the jaws of a pair of channel-lock pliers, and now I have an ideal non-marring tool for loosening stubborn, but fragile, things. This leather is glued to wooden jaws for my bench vises. It covers the bottom of most of my jigs that touch a finished instrument. I love using it around my shop.

When I do use tape what I like to do is make a little fold over 'pull tab' at the end of the tape so it is easier to remove.

My tip is for buying and cleaning glue brushes. Our local dollar tree has, many kinds of glue brushes inexpensive nylon artist brushes that can be thrown away , and better quality nylon and natural bristle brushes. I use the cheap artist brushes for epoxy. titebond glues, and fish an HHg . I might run a used mason jar through the microwave and when boiling dump some dish soap , add the brushes, an let it soak for a day or 2 . I like to to also use the artist brushes bristle or nylon to lay down shellac in rosette channels prior to inlaying with either ca, or other glues. Some brushes dont clean well in hot water an soap. Those all go into another mason jar filled with white vinegar which does a great job of removing glue. Instead of purchasing de glue goo. I now just use 5 % vinegar, just as useful IMHO. Any brush that is used for epoxy or ca gets trashed asap . As the fumes from ca or epoxy are not user freindly. . I also use white glue from the dollar store , it is water washable an can be used for a myriad of shop projects , Like jigs etc. Here in OKC it is warm 5 mo of the year and the white or purple artist glue dries quickly.. I/ve also found at another dollar store small useful blue an white spring clamps, for linings. For adding a cushioning effect to wooden clamping cauls . I.ve gone to a soft black 1/8in roll of rubberized product that comes in a large roll . Got it from michaels craft store . It makes a great liner for cauls and when laminating 3 ply sides on a outside form. it is easy to use. cuts with scissors, and conforms readily to whatever shape you are using.

I’m curious… what exact product number is that thin tape you are using?


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay

I've been using old out-of-commission guitar straps for this exact purpose. You know, those with the enlarged button holes that no longer hold well… Hey, they’re even free!


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay

This is a tip I passed on a customer just yesterday as he was complaining about the difficulty of stringing up his Bigsby. A bit of cut foam will hold the ball ends in place.




Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay

Vinyl electrical tape is great when crowning and dressing frets.
I do one fret at a time, and can reuse the tape 3-4 times.
The vinyl tape is tough but easily removed.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

I just use masking tape. Lasts for 5 or 6 frets.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Fine-textured micro-fiber cloth, like what's used for cleaning eyeglasses, for French polishing shellac. It leaves the smoothest surface, doesn't unravel or shed lint, and lasts a long time. Amz has a wide variety of textures, like terry cloth, but get the smoothest. I like the Trimaco Wonder Rags. Great for general cleaning too, especially windows. Washable.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

For working on 12 strings when you need to undo the strings a few times. Just a bag clip lined with foam, with foam backing to protect finish.

Everybody knows the trick of capoing at the first fret to keep the strings in the nut slots. This is basically the same thing but for the other end. Just slide it under the strings and butt it against the bridge, and clamp it. Then you can take the strings out and replace them easily as a group, and they don't wind up all tangled in amongst themselves...

Also, clean your benchtop before you clean the floor...

I left out, getting white glue into tight spaces e. g. lifting veneer, I like white glue here , it is thin an can be pushed through a fine needle such as bd ultra fine short 8mm pen needles, coupled with a pen needle ,fine . all available at walmart.

Hey! You can't do a month of "Tip of the Day" all in one day!

It's the Netflix version. Binge and enjoy

Having a box of odd thickness veneers is good for fixing those cuts that went too wide like I did this afternoon. I overcut a slot and because I needed to keep it centred I was able to glue around a 0.3 mm veneer on each side to fix the problem.

I often machine veneers on the thickness sander, if necessary using a backing board so I can do any thickness required.

Dave

I keep all kinds of parts and "scrap" because it's all just raw material that can be repurposed. Cutoffs of all kinds, backs, side, tops, whatever. And it's organized....

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Here is a way to fish pots through their holes in an archtop guitar that works well for me. 3/16" thread protector and a 1.6mm nail.
(demonstrated on a mock up)

IMG_6177 by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr

IMG_6179 by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr

IMG_6180 by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Great thread. Here’s mine: don’t trust the markings on a set of cheap imported feeler gauges. Today I discovered that one of my sets had a 0.0025 that actually measured 0.0015

This set was unceremoniously dumped from the tool cabinet into the assorted shim stock drawer.

[FACE WITH TEARS OF JOY][FACE WITH TEARS OF JOY]


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay

It seems to be exactly that, good one JF!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Some great tips here folks, very cool!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Very good trick. I’ve been curling the ball ends around a pencil, but that combined with the foam trick would be nearly idiot proof. For this idiot, anyway.

This is the 'nut vice' I have been using for 25 years.

Yeah, that's what I do too.


Pierre
Guitares Torvisse

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Pierre Castonguay