the girls on saturday

working on: three Les Pauls and a Jazz bass

"let's move the wax and put the fan on."
"am I going down, or up?"
"so that guy's living in a yurt behind her house?"
"he used to live rent free above the porn shop."
"plek has stopped!"
"he said he'd sell me his UV curing light when he's done with it"
"where's the two-headed fret hammer?"
"I set it up and Leo knocked it out of the park."
"a walk would do you good."
"no, your walk would do us good"
"what's for lunch?"

weather: sunny and cool
playing: right-handed fingerstyle arpeggio patterns on a lefty guitar
watching: vignettes of Paul Newman movies on youtube

glue starved or just couldn't take it anymore

This guitar came to us in two pieces. It's the original neck joint and it came apart extremely cleanly. It almost looks as if not enough glue was used during the original assembly. With this type of break we first clean up the old glue, shim the side to side part of the joint (since that's where most of the strength is required it needs to fit tightly) and then glue it up. This join will need no reinforcement since it is the original neck joint and fits together so well. Notice Tim's trick of putting a clamp on in the middle of the neck to use as a place to attach a separate clamp that pulls the neck into the body. Before putting the neck on it's also a good opportunity to check the neck angle to make sure the bridge will be the correct height off the body for desired action.

human nature and why it can be so good

Here's Tim playing one of his own custom built Tim Frick five string basses, brought into the shop today by Jim Cooper. Jim purchased the instrument after being approached by a person on the street. He paid an absurdly low price and was taking the bass around to various shops to affirm it's provenance. No one could tell him who the manufacturer was. Turns out the bass had been stolen from Tim two years ago. When the realization sank in Jim offered it to Tim for the same absurd figure, including the various pedals and the case it all housed. Jim believes in karma. Tim is glad to have his bass back. You never know what's going to happen, do you?

The challenge of assisted sustain, making Gary's brain explode

Allen our wonderful man of many hats and blogmaster has been in and out of town so I (Gary) have been at it.
Today I had to make EMG pickups work with a Fernandes sustainer.
Owners send me these tasks from far and wide and I'm not a stranger to them. Recently Gibson hired me as a consultant to assist in the prototyping of the Neal Schon guitar ( a very cool Les Paul with a Sustainer, Floyd Rose and smoothed out neck heel joint).

Always learning!!!!

Here we have to combine a sustainer with an EMG 81 and an EMG SA pickup in the neck of a Neal Schon Les Paul. The challenge: according to the fine instructions included with the sustainer you simply hook it up as shown and you're off and running. Well, that's okay if you like low pitch oscillation creeping in while playing in the sustain mode and a deafening high pitched squeal. Our solution: install a filter to decouple the power supply between the sustainer and the EMG pickups (sharing the same power supply made them oscillate to distraction). There were a few other options but this turned out to be the most stable (and we could get away with using one battery). Result: Low rumble & squeal gone!!!!

Other tweaks, mods, etc. involved in this particular job: I tried padding the EMG signal going into the circuit to make it a little more like the passive signal it expects but I found a better idea. I added a trim pot to to the gain circuit so we have the ability to further turn down the gain of the sustain. Since the drive was much higher with the active pickup input there was plenty to spare. Here are some work in progress pics. On Fernandes's behalf they do state how difficult it is to use the sustainer circuitry in applications that stray from how it was originally intended to be used (and that we did!). I'm glad they now make it available, because there was a time they would not sell sustainers outside of the guitars they built since it is so difficult an installation. There are also a few other Sustainer products on the market that in some ways are easier to install and work great. I will go over them in the future.

Always a big thanks to our friend: Doc K.R.!!!

the wax man cometh (Tim has a melting moment)

Electric guitar pickups can squeal. The approximately 6,000 to 9,000 turns of very fine magnetic wire that make up a pickup coil can start vibrating within itself. As the gain increases so does the vibration and that brings with it the potential for microphonic feedback. Metal pickup covers, pole-piece screws or anything loose can also vibrate annoyingly on a pickup. Squeals are typically quelled by potting (or dipping) the pickup in a thin waxy liquid that permeates the coil and holds it all together. We use hot wax in a vacuum to get as much permeation as possible. Occasionally we may use lacquer or very thin epoxy - whatever is best for the job and will not compromise the pickup. Here Tim is mixing up waxes with different properties. Some experimentation is required to come up with the best formula.

a very strong neck repair

Gary was out on a mission in the South-Eastern United States and, as he will, visited a guitar repair shop. As repair peeps are wont to do they start comparing notes about what ever happens to be
on the bench at that moment. This particular visit they shared a way to inlay a graphite weave and epoxy resin into the back of a guitar neck to repair and reinforce a cracked peghead. We've tried various resin and cloth reinforcement methods over the years but usually stick to matching a wood lamination over the back of the break. With our newfound knowledge and a taste for adventure we put Trevor to implementing this graphite weave.

What's nice about this method is the way it inlays. You can control the distribution of strength of the graphite cloth by altering the direction of the fiber lengths. The cupping effect of the cloth running lengthwise with the neck will also add strength and support. The success of this repair also depends upon finding an epoxy with the correct characteristics.

The repair was a grand success and has the added benefit of a look of it's own. Think tennis racket vs spaceship. In theory this is now the strongest part of the neck. The added stiffness may add some attack and sustain to the overall sound of the guitar. I'm guessing we'll be sticking to our matching wood laminates for most of the severe neck breaks since the laminates can be stained and finished to match most wood grain. Of course we can always paint over anything. Most important, the owner that paid us do this to his guitar is extremely pleased and back on the road touring. This peg-head that had broken repeatedly is now the least of his concerns. He can get back to the important stuff like where the band is sleeping tonight.

Keeping it dry down the rapids!!

My (Gary's) girlfriend Ms. Liz just came back from a 2 week trip river rafting through the Grand Canyon. Boatman Extraordinare Matt Herman came up with a great way not to leave his guitar behind. He built a crunch-proof, boat-flip-proof, running-the-rapids-at-Lava-Falls-proof custom wood case-- waterproofed that and found a dry bag to fit the whole thing. So far so good.....and it floats!

It's you again!

Old friends sometimes come to visit, co-workers from the long ago time before time...they appropriate some free bench space (a rare commodity) and carry on the conversation that lapsed the day they left.

Here the inimitable Max Butler performs a quick pickup install into a much played and well loved acoustic.

fight or flight

cant take it....they'll understand...no one could carry on under this pressure...the dust in my eyes...a sweatshop...the brutality...and I hate guitars - there! I said it! I hate 'em...their little gritty strings and shiny round parts and the cases! Don't get me started on the cases....O! There's the phone...should I answer it? They might smell the fear....

yeah, the owner knows it's silly

This instrument (shown in its detached plumage) presented with a severe case of neck to headstock delamination. The join at the top of the original yellow neck where wood meets acrylic was like a science textbook image of a slip fault, just on a smaller scale. Plate tectonics notwithstanding, the challenge of separating and reattaching the acrylic with the wood would have been too great a financial burden to justify the repair. We chose to "drop ten and punt" (thanks Vince Lombardi) and ordered up a replacement neck from the manufacturer. Sadly, they were out of yellow acrylic. Permanently. Happily, the owner has an appreciation of the absurd and opted for the two-tone approach.

unsung heroes

Does a day go by wherein we do not casually and ofttimes thoughtlessly rely upon these icons of modern life? Like a parent smirking misguidedly in gratitude as a passerby admires their child, does the manufacturer of these incredibly important objects get to smugly grasp responsibility? No. These items exist in their own universe. If it hadn't been one womb, it would have been another. The essential nature of these two products called themselves into being.

deeper into the purple...

So enough already about how odd, interesting and inspiring the finished work is...how about how the in the hell did you do that?

Our can-do attitude made it impossible to accept the manufacturer's claim that a nine volt battery will not power those Fulltone Deja Vibe stompbox guts steaming inside that poor exhausted Epiphone Sheraton. So first we wired six 1.5 volt AA batteries in series, providing nine volts at increased amp/hours above a standard nine volt battery. As a just-in-case fallback fail-safe we also wired a Fulltone standard power input jack into the side of the instrument body. If Matt Z. is oscillating a heavy ostinato he doesn't want to stop to change batteries. We also built a custom circuit to reference the voltage from the indicator LED connected to the Fulltone guts. The LED on the pedal guts gets brighter and dimmer corresponding to the modulation of that effect. And that voltage from the LED going into our circuit makes it possible to put out a specific amount of plus and minus voltage so our LEDs would alternate equally; also corresponding to the pedal effect. To get that characteristic psychedelic purple we combined red and blue LEDs using a diode on one of those colors so the two colors flash at the same rate. Red and blue LEDs react differently to the same level of voltage, no?

(Special Thanks to our Super Friend KR without whom this mod would be possible but improbable)

the amazing purple light-up guitar!

Matt Z. of The Bad Hand had a request (see our entry for Thursday, May 22nd). He acknowledged his odd request wasn't right for all but knew we were crazy enough to handle it. Using our super powers and putting our heads together with our super friends we were able to install the guts of a Fulltone Deja Vibe pedal inside the body of this outraged Epiphone Sheraton. And since too much is never enough, each F-hole lights up a purple LED array concurrent with the signal oscillation. This is our idea of a good time.

(to be continued: Deeper Into the Tech Behind the Mod.)

a syncretism of space & time!

We've mentioned before that it's a small shop but have we mentioned the often eye-opening amount of fecund psychic energy contributing to our seemingly random happenstance and synchronicity? This is only an everyday occurrence. If a name comes up it's usually because the person belonging to it is close by.

A perfect storm of Les Pauls, all picked up at the same exact moment: an action adjustment, a fretmill and a refret. Their Moms know them as: (L-R) Mark, Brian, and David.

dust flying on Saturday

"you okay Leo?"
"that bass sounded really dead when he brought it in"
"did I mention how much I love my incredible neck tweezers?"
"last night I woke up at 3 in the morning and thought: 'why don't I take the best bits out of the two boxes of forstner bits I have beneath my bench and make one box of good bits?'"
"is there a place where the razor blades are?"
"I don't suppose there's a cardboard box of Skyway saddles around here..."
"do you have one of the straight-edges and can I borrow it?"
"the back of this neck feels gooood!"
"hey tim have you ever waxed a superglue finish?"
"what's for lunch?"
watching: the Olympics

a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away

Here our Fearless Leader sights down the fretboard of a tiger-striped shredder prior to giving it a last little nudge required to send that spandexed power ballad solo into the troposphere. The Eighties were hard on everyone.

We're not the first to point this out

but if you want a very low profile and low cost option to shiny metal knurls poking out the ends of your guitar strap simply purchase a pack of frosty cold Grolsch beer. After enjoying your adult beverage responsibly, prize the proud red washer off the top of the bottle and force it gently over the strap button while the strap is on the guitar. Works like a charm and won't set off TSA weapon detectors. Reduce/Reuse/Recycle...that's one of our mottos too.

weirder & cooler

After being bent by the notorious fastmatt (check out *his* blog) this charming preschool-level learning device does stuff it's manufacturer clearly never intended. Now, one of our more charming customers is interested in continuing the mod a step farther, this time to benefit a hands free performance environment. Clearly anyone would want their hands free while operating this machine. It's a simple issue of employee safety. Safety is our number one concern, after tone, playability, reflectivity, clarity and throughput.

inspiration

From the exalted to the base.

a great, simple (but not easy) mod

The bridge in this photograph has individual saddles for each of the strings on a Rickenbacker 12-string electric guitar. This is a good upgrade, and challenging for the tech to get the spacing just right. The stock bridge on this guitar combines each of the string courses on a single saddle, making it difficult to intonate. This is one of many cleaver tweaks we can perform on this unique and characteristic instrument to make it smoothly playable and sound even more glorious.

Righteous Indignation (or: Fedex Has a Posse)

We ship instruments all over the country. We've done this for decades. No turnip trucks have recently been fallen off of by us. Well, there was a burrito truck once...but that's a story for another time. Recently we became aggressively hounded (via phone, email & USPS) by a collection agency for an incorrectly billed Fedex shipment (their screwup) to Denver for one of our touring clients. When contacting Fedex to clear up the situation the Corporate Helper Underling Delinquent (CHUD) biodroid insisted it was our responsibility to contact the collection agency and call off the dogs. Using the powers of Moral Superiority I managed to get the CHUD to admit the collection agency is actually a division of Fedex. This (right) is what they currently call themselves. Now you know too.

sanity

things that help us retain the will to live:

1. (top right) cool jobs - the owner of this funky archtop has elected, against all common sense, to bring it back to life. That translates to a neck reset, a refret, bone nut, and glueing up various sections of binding and most of the braces. It's illogical, it's irrational and it's oh so cool. The owner is aware of these judgments. We love work like this.

2. (top left) the repairman's friend - entertainment that doesn't monopolize all the lobes (we can only watch reruns of Men in Black so many times).

3. (duh) lunch - sandwiches, who can get tired of them?

the hands of Leo Knapp

Leo is dressing the fingerboard of a Fender Stratocaster prior to refretting. By using a sanding block he's able to "true" the fretboard. Trueing the fretboard makes it possible to take less metal off the frets during the computerized fretmill (PLEK). Less metal off the top of the fret means a longer life for the fret. Leo is fond of pointing out that wood was never intended for guitar building. It evolved as an integral element of the earth's ecosystem. He tells us stuff like that because he's confident we'll listen.

rockstar senility

you know the joke:

what are the two signs of rockstar senility?

1.) speaking about yourself in the third person
2.) golf

let's add a third...

timing is everything

From the thoughtful and erudite note included in the case of a USA Fender Strat shipped to us from the far back of beyond (yes, Idaho) for a stainless steel refret. The gent who owns this guitar knows exactly what he wants, makes his decisions with confidence and will be picking it up in person while his family collects their visas from the French consulate in San Francisco for their big move to that country. The instrument's owner is fifteen years old. We'll have it done in time.

ouch #1627

One of two guitars in cases placed carefully side by side next to her car and she turned away for a moment and a friend backed his pickup over them.

For want of a nail....

The gentleman who owns this pretty vintage Gibson Hummingbird choose to upgrade and repair the guitar with a neck reset, a refret, a new rosewood bridge as well as a new bone saddle and bone nut. This complete and necessary refurbishing yielded excellent results except for one little problem. An intermittent buzz/rattle, only at certain times and only on certain notes, often not repeatable and, ultimately, very frustrating. Until Gary, nosing around with the instrument in his lap, solved the mystery. He tightened the strap button.

Parking is terrible

but we're reasonably close to the Civic Center BART station in San Francisco. Condos spring up around us and drivers spend more and more time circling the block. Here Tim demonstrates a serviceable form of transportation (if you only have one guitar and it's on your shoulder in a bag).

Here's directions from BART: exit the station at the West end and head uptown on Market St. to 11th St. Turn left. Go one block to Mission St. and turn right. Within half a block turn left onto Lafayette St. and we're the 3rd door on the left. See you soon!

Rant #970

We love our suppliers, even when they make us wait (I'm talking to you, Fender) and we're excited like kids when we receive a shipment of pretty much anything. Our needs our simple. Anyway, we request that our suppliers always ship to us in bulk and *not* use styrofoam peanuts as packaging. It's one thing if the peanuts are grain sorghum or corn starch. That's fun because I can stick them to my forehead and they decompose nicely. But styrofoam (polystyrene) is nasty stuff, it gets into the environment really easily (just try herding a handful!) and breaks down into molecules that do not play well with flora and fauna. Of course in the process of repairing or modifying your instrument we may well use material known to the state of California to cause cancer so we don't pretend to be innocent. But, if a non-toxic choice is available we'll choose it.

Rant #374

We're a small shop in a small space doing a big job. Guitars can be shaped awkwardly, too heavy for their architecture; and the shiny finish, exposed to other sharp and abrasive objects, is easily marked in an unpleasant manner. People: please feel free to bring your guitars to us but (O Please) bring them in a case. The case not only protects your guitar but also provides convenient pockets to store your replacement parts/strings, etc. Cases also act as a deterrent against Spontaneous Rock Posing (dread applicator of chagrin to un-cased instruments the world over). No one is going to take the time required to remove a guitar from a case simply to strike the pose most appropriate to express a feeling. Like Zappa's bands, we can dance this stuff, too.

It didn't play right for Cat Stevens

and that means it probably wouldn't play right for you. Here Leo (L) and Glenn pow-wow on adjustments to this big body Gibson. Offered by the manufacturer to Yusef Islam, recording recently in the United States, the guitar was returned with a few polite but pointed suggestions about playability. If you have a Gibson, under warranty or no, we have the ability to have it play as well as it should.

A conundrum

This instrument, according to the owner, doesn't play or stay in tune. To "play" in tune is different than to "stay" in tune, and requires a different fix. If the instrument isn't staying in tune after being tuned up we recommend stretching out the strings, keeping the winds around the posts to two or three maximum and having us set-up the guitar (which includes modifying the slots in the nut). If the guitar doesn't play in tune then it's an intonation issue, also usually taken care of with a set-up which includes adjusting the saddle(s). In the case of the guitar in these photographs, the position of the bridge studs (top) is incorrect. Earlier attempts to modify bridge are clearly visible. In the second photograph (bottom) the zero fret is in the wrong place, relative to the rest of the frets. This instrument requires that the bridge be moved, the zero fret also must be moved and only then will a set-up be worthwhile. Otherwise, it will never play in tune. You might as well hang this guitar on the wall to "hide the nasty stain that's lying there"*.

* - 10CC - I'm Not In Love

Excessive clamping pressure

is one of the conditions warned of regarding the proper use of the adhesive product that Tim is about to apply to the break in the wood of the headstock of this Gibson Les Paul. With any new product, tool, or procedure Tim reads the directions first.

some quietalonetime

One of the lovely little benefits of working on a guitar is testing it out through a real amplifier after the work is completed. Sometimes a persistant fault can be detected out here, away from the bench. Even better, it's an opportunity to play cool guitars...well hell, let's face it: to have a chance to play every cool guitar known. Maybe we become better players because of all this extra time adjusting to different kinds of instruments. Here Trevor meditates with an SG after spending several hours making it play well.