1954 Martin D-28/45 Neck Reset

Posted on March 26, 2014 by twang-rite

D28_45H_Inlay

Sinature

I just completed a neck reset on a 1954 Martin D-28 that had been converted into a D-45 by guitar builder Wayne Henderson in 1976. He did a nice job inlaying all the abalone  but the neck was in bad need of  a reset:

The string height at the 12th fret was about 7/32″ + and the saddle was as low as it could go:

Action SaddleOld

First, I used my trusty old Sunbeam iron to loosen the glue on the fretboard extension.
I found the “Rayon” setting works best.

Iron Spatulas

This is my home-made neck removal jig and  Mr. Coffee steam  machine:

Jig

Steamer2

Here it is all apart:

NeckOff

I did all the usual chiseling, sanding, shimming, fitting and gluing and clamped it up:

NeckClamped

Now it’s playable again. The string height came down to just under 3/32″ and my new saddle has plenty of height:

Ruler

SaddleNew2

This guitar really needs a refret too but the customer decided to wait on that, so I did a major fret dress and crowning. Good enough for now…

Tape

File

So there you have it. Until next time…

twangrite.com

 

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1930 Washburn: Reset Neck and Make New Bridge

Posted on March 7, 2014 by twang-rite

This 1930 Washburn came in to the shop in need of a neck reset and a new bridge.
Here’s some photos and stuff about the repair:

WashburnGuitar
The bridge was cracked and sanded too thin. They don’t make a replacement for this so I had to make a new one. Also the neck needed a reset and the bar frets had to be crowned.

WashburnDisassembled
Here it is all apart. The neck joint was very loose and crude, it had thick shims and was off centered.

NeckShim
This the shim I had to use to tighten up the dovetail and shift it over to center.

NeckCenter
Dry-fit, perfectly centered and tight enough to restring without glue.

Clamps2
Glued and clamped.

NewBridge1
The old bridge was way too thin and had a big crack in the saddle slot.
(I actually did the bridge first so I’d have something to measure for the reset).

NewBridge2

NewBridge3
Getting there..

BridgeInlay3
Starting the inlay…

BridgeInlay2
Inlays done, ready to glue it on the guitar…

BridgeClamps

Finished BridgeNoSlot
Success!

SaddleSlotJig1
My home-made saddle routing jig, looks funky but it works good.

RouterBit
I like these 1/8″ and 3/32″ spiral bits, they cut the cleanest slots.

FretCrown
I also crowned the bejeebers out of these flat, square bar frets.

FinishedGuitar
Here’s the finished guitar, good as new!

Check out twangrite.com for more info. Thanks!

Posted in 1930 Washburn, Guitar Repair, Inlay, Instrument Repair, Make Guitar Bridge, Neck Reset | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Old Hofner Electric 12 String Neck Reset

Posted on July 31, 2012 by twang-rite

Hofner12f string hollowbody

I got to work on this 1960’s Hofner electric 12 string. The neck needed to be reset and there was some internal bracing issues that caused the body to “cave in” a bit.

High action

Yikes! Almost 7/32″ I’m thinking somewhere around 3/32″ would be better.

Not to mention….

Neck Joint crooked

Steam holes in heel

I decided to go in from the neck heel instead of the fretboard because I wasn’t quite sure where the neck block ended on this thing.

Steaming with Mr. CoffeeI got a brand new Mr. Coffee espresso maker on sale for $24.99 at Target, My yard sale machine finally died after about 10 years. The new one works great. Anyhoo…

Neck and body It came apart pretty easily. There was no dove tail and after I cleaned it up and removed the shims, it was a pretty loose fit.

Neck GlueAfter some pretty creative shimming and wedging and chiseling, I glued it up. Since there was no dove tail joint to hold the neck into the body I had to use a long clamp to keep it in place. By the way, this Instrument Maker’s Glue from Luthier’s Mercantile is great.

Lowered actionMuch better!

Neck Joint AfterAnd I even straitened the twist. I had to do some work internally, there were some missing and loose braces and the neck block was really small so I fitted a block of wood to strengthen it a bit. I also added some dowels under the heel cap and under the strap button into the neck block.

Thanks, HappyTrails…..Twang-rite!

Posted in Guitar Repair, Honer 12 string | Leave a comment

Smashed Side Repair

Posted on June 6, 2012 by twang-rite

Got this old guitar with a totally smashed in side.
Here it is after I pulled out all the broken pieces and cut a nice clean “hole”:

Broken guitar before

I made some kerfing out of some mahogany and glued it in (The kerfing on the top
is the original salvaged from this guitar):

Broken guitar in progress

I found this piece of a side in my pile of miscellaneous broken guitar parts and it fit pretty close. I had to mess with it a bit to fit it better.

Here it is all glued up:

Glued up guitar

After de-clampping:

New side glued on guitar

Ater a little sanding, filling and finishing… Good as new:

Finished guitar repair

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Harmony Rebel Refret

Posted on February 23, 2012 by twang-rite

Harmony Rebel GuitarThis cool old Harmony Rebel came into the shop for a fret dressing but there was not much fret left to work with so I decided to replace them.

 

Old Frets

THIS IS WHAT I PULLED OUT OF THE FRETBOARD!

Here’s the “AFTER”:

Harmony Rebel Guitar detail 4Harmony Rebel Guitar detail 2Harmony Rebel Guitar detail 1Harmony Rebel Guitar detail 3Looks, plays and sounds GREAT now.

Posted in Guitar Repair, Harmony Rebel, Instrument Repair, Refret | Leave a comment

Guitar Repair Stuff Coming Soon

Posted on February 5, 2012 by twang-rite

I’ve been repairing and restoring guitars and other stringed instruments for the last 30 years but only recently figured I should take photos and talk about it. I should have many photos and more info down the road. In the meantime here’s some pictures of my shop and other random shots:

My repair shopShop window

Flood-damaged '50's Gibson

MyPedalboard

My Pedalboard

Posted in Guitar Repair, Instrument Repair | Tagged , , | 1 Comment