Sorry for my prose I’m a little emotional

Trying to get clean of life ruining substances, had an episode yesterday and did some horrid soldering jobs trying to do a not very practical circuit (HH with 2 push pulls for series parallel, into a super switch with positions 2 3 4 controlling active pickups, 1 for true coil splits and 5 for wiring all the coils into one series), I had shaky hands and blurry vision and my soldering iron tip is probably quite busted, used 380 Celsius and all the joints are super brittle and won’t last, am I being paranoid about this or is there a good chance I’ve ruined some stuff? Visually the components look okay but I can’t see the internal seals and whatnot.

I've nearly finished a custom double neck Mandolin / Guitar I started many years ago.

I'm fairly new to guitar wiring and hoping some of the kind people here could help or correct any mistakes I've made? (I tried to adapt other wiring diagrams and use some LLMs to check but found they're not very reliable.)

Idea:

Master Volume, Tone for guitar, Tone for Mandolin.
3 way gibson style selector for the guitar pickups.
3 way selector between instruments.

(btw It's not for performing so not worried about how this setup will 'perform')

Thanks and I'll be sure to post pics of the finished instrument.

I take care of my mom. My house and bit of property is in the country, close to a city, but far enough away to be a pocket of paradise. It belonged to my mom's parents and my grandparents. And every single building and tree was planted or built by my grandad Ken or me. Heh, mine are the "recent ones", cause they are only 20-25 years old. Anyway, what am I getting on about.

My mom, the one I'm taking care of, was a professional photographer. I grew up in darkrooms, I miss the smell of the fixer, the red lights, and managing the photo enlarger with dodging and burning with clothes hangers and cardboard.

(Get to the point!!!) I'm gonna bend some sides for small instruments tomorrow and the next. The sides to prep for bending, are from 15-20" long. I usually work with a very humid trash bag, but it feels like a waste. So I asked my mother if she had something better.

She pointed me directly to a dozen large format photography trays. Brand new, a little dust, and a few spiders. But I found my new/old side and small back moisture controlled plates. 😎

Sometimes it feels like she is a hoarder, and sometimes she is 100% right.

Waste Not.

Good morning lads,

I had a client order some tuners directly from hipshot for his bass build, and well the neck he purchased is using the vintage stepped holes for the tuning machines. the OD of the bushing is too small to fit the head stock, and we're trying to get support to exchange the tuners.

He reached out to them twice, and myself - I am waiting for them to respond as well.

is anyone having issues reaching out to hipshot? I really want to complete the build using their hardware - but support is missing the mark in regards to supporting their customer who ordered directly from them.

So i have a gorgeous Burny REX-80 Explorer and recently found a vintage Gibson Explorer guitar case to keep it safe but the case has a pretty pronounced "twist" in it along the long side... any ways that are known to get the twist out and flatten things back to square?

This is my guitar!! There are no connections so right now it doesn't work. i've built and designd it from scratch myself from an mahogany piece i bought from a local guitar building workshop. It has 2 humbuckers and one p90 pickup. Mostly of the other parts like the neck was taken from an Yamaha Erg i had laying around. The switch on that guitar was reallys sparky and the finnish was really scratched. I got it for free from an neighbor so i tought to make it to something better. This is my first build and im super exited to hear how it sounds and to hopefully make other guitars.

Hi guys,

I got that Mandolin delivered to me today. But there is a neck defect on the left.

Should I ship it back?

I just finished building my first kit and I loved it so much that I'm already looking for another. Coincidentally, I just saw a video with a headless guitar, and I've decided that's going to be the next project. Unfortunately I'm not seeing too many sellers based in Europe, or that ship to Europe (at least without paying a shitload in tariffs), so I'd love it if someone could point me towards a good seller. Bonus points if the kit has a tremolo (or one can be added without too much fuss, since I don't have the machinery to modify the body).

For now I just found one in The Guitar Fabrik, though I'm not too fond of the body shape.

I'm now into the thralls of finishing the body. The back, besides, and the top have their first coat of truoil. I can't believe that off the shelf water-based stain was able to get this awesome black! Truly happy with where this is all going.

This bass guitar is part of my open source guitar project called the Venus de Milo. If anyone's interested I can link you the GitHub.

My friend with small hands asked me if I could make a bass with guitar scale, so he could play it much more easier and comfier. And this is what I made. (First image is the "before modding".)

I bought a $60 guitar, swapped the machines heads, filed the saddles and nut slot to fit bass strings. The gauge I used was 24-32-44-56-70-85 (from Ernie Ball 12-56 guitar strings and 50-105 bass strings set). The sound was surprisingly good, and the 6th string is not as floppy as I expected.

I've also route for a battery case and a 3-band EQ, swapped the pickups with Humbucker neck and P90 bridge (to emulate the PJ style, and it did well.)

Edit: I added a link of the sound demo, linked to YouTube.
(Sorry for my skill and the audio might be bad as I was recording on a $60 multi-effect.)

Modding a Les Paul into a Bass VI

I recently came across some curly mahogany (enough to do 5 book matches like the one above). I've never seen anything like it, and I can't find anything like it on the net.

I need help. How do I even price something like this for a top on one of my guitars? I know I'm never going to see anything like this again.

Thanks everyone!

I bought this guitar last week, unfortunately it seems to have a dead spot on the 17th fret b string (E note), whether it be fretted or bent to. I tried detuning the string to A and the dead spot just moved, the same frequency was still affected.

Frets are perfect, checked with a rocker and everything, they're as level as can be. No buzz anywhere. Action is on the higher side (about 2mm at the 12th fret bass side)

That said, the wall test didn't confirm it (there wasn't any more sustain than this with the headstock against a wall) and there seems to be a general trend of notes dying out rather quickly as I go onto the higher frets, but this note in particular stuck out to me the most. I also noticed that the E note at the 12th fret E string sustains for longer, but also has an audible beating to it, for some reason.
Any suggestions? I love this guitar but this issue bugs me. Strings aren't fresh but they still look and feel great.

I picked up this multiscale fretless ibanez as a DIY project to re-fret. My plan was to cut the frets with a fretsaw (and depth stop) but when it arrived I noticed it was just soft filler in the frets. I chiseled it a bit for kicks but it’s not feasible to do the entire fretboard.

Do you think a heat gun might be appropriate here to unseat this filler?

I just installed new pickups in a build for a customer that I sold a few months ago, around February (first time selling a guitar).

Now that I got the guitar back again I noticed the indian rosewood fretboard has shrunken. It was about the thickness of a regular piece of paper narrower on each side, than the roasted maple neck and the frets stuck out on the sides a tiny bit. Fixed all of that already, of course.

The woods were dry as a bone when I built the guitar, I checked the humidity myself. I let it rest, after I took away major excess in the process, before I moved on working on it.

Bought it from a serious store with an excellent reputation here in Germany.

(Fyi: the neck has no finish, just oil. I don't know about the humidity in my customers home over the ongoing months from February, but the past months since it's summer again were extremely hot and ultra dry here in (southern) Germany.)

How common is this issue and how do the big manufacturers manage to avoid this, if it is a common problem at all? Or did I do something wrong? Am I supposed to keep guitars at least one winter before I sell them, to fix changing wood? What's the way to go here?

A few weeks ago, my acoustic guitar had a fret-related issue. The strings were buzzing around the 2nd fret, especially on some strings, and I was worried that the guitar might need a repair.

Interestingly, I didn't make any adjustments to the neck, frets, bridge, or strings, and the problem seems to have disappeared on its own. Now the guitar plays normally and the buzzing is gone.

Has anyone experienced something similar? What could cause a fret issue or buzzing problem to fix itself without any repair? Could it be due to weather, humidity, string tension, or something else?

I'd love to hear your experiences and explanations.

Can see some light orange peel in my clear coat. On a video/in person it’s not really visible but i can obviously see it in this photo. Is it worth fixing? If so, would wet sanding with some 1000-3000 then throwing another coat on be the fix? I don’t want it to turn out murky and the last time I tried to cut and buff polish it turned out horrifically

I am cleaning up my old 1978 Fender Jazz Bass. This was passed down from my uncle. I’ve been playing bass again after a little over a decade and decided to pull this thing out of storage and give it new life and make it play like a beauty! I will also be repairing some of the electronics, but I am fine doing that part myself. I am pretty handy and confident in doing some work myself but also don’t mind seeing a local luthier.

A few questions I have:

1. The screws for the tuners seem stripped and are pulling out of the sockets. Is this repairable? There are some chips in the wood where the screw holes are. I would like to put different tuners on that don’t feel so sticky.

2. The frets seem to be warn pretty good, though not the worst I’ve seen on Reddit. Would a polishing fix this? Should I refret or should I just leave it be?

Pics attached show all I am referring to. Thanks for any input!

Maple fret board, maple neck, swamp ash body, dot inlay…

Gonna finish with polymerized tung oil.
Parts will be Gotoh relic bridge and tuners, with self reliced control(dom knobs)
+ ivory pickup cover.

Any recommandations of flowers to paint on at the horn??(i thinking daisy)

Hello. I just bought a Harley Benton TE-52 and am having difficulties setting it up.

There's significant fret buzz on all strings, worst in first position (fretting 1st, string contacts 2nd). Clean on a very light pluck, but buzzes when picking with any force, bad enough to hear through an amp. Can't pick anywhere near as hard as on my Strat or Les Paul, both of which have lower action. The frets are completely level up to about the 13th, but that's not where the buzz is. It's always on the adjacent fret (I can hear this clearly).

Strings are 10-46 (supposedly D'Addario, sound new), tuned to Eb. E is same thing.

Measurements, low E:

Action at 12th: tried 1.25-2mm. Worse at 1.25 but still bad at 2mm. (Video was 2mm)

Relief (capo 1st, fretting 17th, measuring 8th): tried 0.1-0.3mm. No significant difference.

Fretting 3rd, gap over 4th: just over 0.13mm. Fretting 7th, gap over 8th: about 0.2mm.

Nut is a quite high (0.75mm at 1st fret open), but I don't see how that causes this.

For comparison, my Strat is a hair over 0.1mm fretting 3rd over 4th, about 0.15mm fretting 7th over 8th, 0.1mm relief, 1.25mm action at the 12th, and doesn't buzz in first position. So the Tele has more clearance and more relief everywhere and still buzzes far worse.

The Tele's action is almost flat from 12th to last fret, where as the Strat goes 1.25 to 1.75. But my Les Paul is also nearly flat and plays fine.

What causes buzz when it's got more clearance than a guitar that doesn't buzz, and level frets?

Thanks for any ideas.

Traded for this MIJ 80s strat, prior owner said poly finish broke off and they sanded around the edges. Looks more like an attempt to relic without the patience, and now there are deep sanding scratches near each of the 3 worn spots. It's a player not collector, so I'd like to clean it up somehow -- how do you recommend I fix this so that I can end up with something a bit more finished looking? If sanding, starting with which grit up to which and how long to sand for each? If polishing, what and when? I appreciate any insights! Thanks.

Hi all. I’m doing a little refurbishing of my years-old, reliable Peavey Milestone II bass. Volume and tone pots are gone which I’m replacing. But it got me to wondering what some of you may do with an electric bass to upgrade, improve sound, electronics, etc…. This is really the first time in years I’ve done anything to it other than change strings or adjust action. Thanks for any input.

Need to swap the neck pickup’s base plate for a shorter one and wire it up still… Extremely mix matched colors; various test parts fitted together. But I think the overall combination still looks pretty nice.

I’d like the final prototype, and hopefully the first production batch, to be mostly natural aluminum color, dark grey fretboard, and the rest of the accents dark grey/ black. I think I’ll keep the yellow switch cap as well, or maybe find a more orange one.

7.4lbs right now, I plan on removing more material from the inside of the neck to get that even lower next time around.

Hey guys. Just bought this Gibson SG Faded Cherry. I reely like the finish, but this neck is filthy. I don't care it looks worn but the dirty look bothers me a lot. It is possible to see how dirty it is by the difference in the color from the neck to the worned down part on the back of the body. Does anyone know how I can clean it up without removing the finish completely?

I made this one in honor of my mom (Lyndiera is just a fancy spin on Linda). She doesn't play, but she's one of the biggest reasons why I got to where I am, and why I'm able to make things I love making

A couple years ago, I started getting into making instruments. Started with 3d printing a snare drum, then 3d printed guitars, then moved on to making them out of wood

This build is incredibly compact. There is a theme of family throughout: each dove represents an immediate family member, and the one in the headstock represents my mom. The fretboard inlay (gold epoxy resin) is meant to be a family "vine"

Body, top, and neck are all locally sourced walnut, and the fretboard is Bolivian rosewood

Feedback welcome! I'm actually a lifelong drummer who absolutely fell in love with the craft. This was guitar build #5 of 6 (so far), so still new to this and welcome to any constructive criticism from the pros!

Hello,

I picked up this archtop by Vintage and the strings are being muted/hitting the pickup surround.

The pickup surround cannot be lowered any more. It could be sanded, keeping the correct angles but this would only bring a minimum clearance, plus the neck pup is still there, likely causing the same issue.

I thought of a new adjustable bridge to raise the height but this could lead to too high action on the fretboard. I'll post a pic from a top down/playing position soon. Only issue with this is there is a piezo pup in the bridge so not straight forward. Though an upgraded bridge to help fine tune the internation (when I get there) would mean a better guitar overall.

Other than that, adjusting the truss won't help as the issue is not related.

Currently thinking;

1. Remove the neck pup, which I don't want to do as I think it will sound awesome blended with the piezo.

2. Get a new piezo bridge and see where it gets me.

3. Try and reset the neck to a better angle allowing all current hardware and pups to stay. Never tried it but why should that stop anyone?

I think I'll go for 2 and see for now. Any help appreciated.

Thank you