My next project guitar is on the way, and should arrive before the end of the week.
Most likely the truss rod will need replacing in this one (the previous owners cannibalized all the hardware from it), but with the fresh experience of having replaced a truss rod a couple months ago with another guitar I'm still working on, it should be a piece of cake.
I have never posted on this thread much, but just returned from the Mississippi Delta, and am definitely in love with the place, the history and the music, which is still as alive and real as it ever was--
I'd put money on the over-tightening of the truss rod. I know that when you store or ship a guitar - and especially a bass - you're supposed to slack the strings so that they don't bend the neck. I would think that there would be a lot of tension on a baritone guitar's neck that would cause some bending and perhaps the previous owner over compensated this by tweaking the trussrod too much. It also could have been stored on pegs on a wall and could have dried out - I can't remember if it was a hallowbody or even a neck-thru-body... nice looking piece.
Are you a hobby luthier? (Hubby is considering something like that for a retirement career... )
Are you a hobby luthier? (Hubby is considering something like that for a retirement career... )
I've become something of a "hobby luthier" this past winter, when I pulled out my closet a solid-body electric I had built in
my high school woodshop back in '78 ( I posted a pic earlier in this thread, back a hundred pages or so :) ) and decided to give it a makeover. I was never satisfied with the neck , so I reshaped it, removed the old mohagany fretboard and installed a double-action trussrod and an ebony board. Now I'm working on the body, having added a brass control plate and
am in the process of designing and making a pickguard. And some handmade ebony pickup rings.
Don't know how it's going to sound yet, but it will look good - like a Rickenbacker's "evil twin".
Does your hubby already own a lot of tools, or a workshop? That would be a great retirement job!
Dan - he's got a few tools. He's better at cleaning up a schmutzy guitar, changing strings, tweaking a neck or a bridge, etc. He's great at changing tubes on amps and troubleshooting problems with amps tho - basic meat & potatoes fix-it stuff. I've considered getting him a gift certificate for luthier workshops in the area - there's generally something in the Boston area for that. I guess simple restoration is more his thing than building or serious repairs.
Oh I may still employ a hammer, though ever so cautiously, in concert with a putty knife, a razor blade, and a hot steamin' iron.
The Gretsch baritone arrived safely yesterday, shipped in a taped-up Ibanez "Artcore" box. Not a shred of hardware on it save for the plate and
screws attaching the neck to the body and the wholly frozen non-functioning truss rod in the neck itself. My gut inclination is remove that nasty truss rod
from it as soon as possible, to replace it with a Stew Mac two-way adjustable "Hot Rod" and perhaps some carbon fiber reinforcements.
And then I will proceed onto giving this thing a bit more character beyond the average stock Chinese "Gretsch".
It is so cool to see how wonderfully you blended in with us here at the cafe. I bet you feel so much lighter mentally than you were in that last 6 months or so before y'all left twi. I'm so glad you are here. :)
After an all-nighter spent in my evil workshop, the Gretsch fretboard has been (for the most part) successfully removed from the neck intact (despite a minor skirmish with some stubborn wood near the beginning of this venture), and the truss rod exposed as indeed the culprit - it had been so overtightened as to snap the weld of the flexible parallel bar.
About a couple hours after I started......this is the steam iron "riding" down the fretboard at a snail's pace, followed by a razor blade and a sharpened putty knife....yup...
Near the end...sorry I didn't have space here for all those action-packed pics...
Viola!
I took a pic of the truss rod by itself, but only my thumb and a different part of the room came out.
Near the end...sorry I didn't have space here for all those action-packed pics...
Well some men find fishing shows or golfing shows exciting and even though I like to fish (never golfed) I think your pictures portray something very heart action. It must have been awesome for you seeing it come together.
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ChattyKathy
Actually today I think I feel a bit acclimated already. Can't stay now, back after dinner.
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TheInvisibleDan
My next project guitar is on the way, and should arrive before the end of the week.
Most likely the truss rod will need replacing in this one (the previous owners cannibalized all the hardware from it), but with the fresh experience of having replaced a truss rod a couple months ago with another guitar I'm still working on, it should be a piece of cake.
Danny
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mstar1
I have never posted on this thread much, but just returned from the Mississippi Delta, and am definitely in love with the place, the history and the music, which is still as alive and real as it ever was--
maybe more later---and yes I found THE crossroads
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ChasUFarley
Danny - How neat! I see the seller is from Nashville - any ideas of the history of it? I love baritone guitars - great sound~
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TheInvisibleDan
Chas,
Haven't the foggiest idea what that thing's been through - it was a very impulsive bid on my part.
My guess is either the truss rod is defective, or the previous owner over-tightened the rod.
I'll most likely replace the rod to be the safe side.
But I'll know more when it arrives.
I already have a set of tuners, a couple bridges, and some pickups that might fit.
All I need is a Bigsby or Bigsby-clone. And some strings.
Look forward to playing around with a baritone. None of the guitar stores in my area carries them.
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ChasUFarley
I'd put money on the over-tightening of the truss rod. I know that when you store or ship a guitar - and especially a bass - you're supposed to slack the strings so that they don't bend the neck. I would think that there would be a lot of tension on a baritone guitar's neck that would cause some bending and perhaps the previous owner over compensated this by tweaking the trussrod too much. It also could have been stored on pegs on a wall and could have dried out - I can't remember if it was a hallowbody or even a neck-thru-body... nice looking piece.
Are you a hobby luthier? (Hubby is considering something like that for a retirement career... )
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TheInvisibleDan
I've become something of a "hobby luthier" this past winter, when I pulled out my closet a solid-body electric I had built in
my high school woodshop back in '78 ( I posted a pic earlier in this thread, back a hundred pages or so :) ) and decided to give it a makeover. I was never satisfied with the neck , so I reshaped it, removed the old mohagany fretboard and installed a double-action trussrod and an ebony board. Now I'm working on the body, having added a brass control plate and
am in the process of designing and making a pickguard. And some handmade ebony pickup rings.
Don't know how it's going to sound yet, but it will look good - like a Rickenbacker's "evil twin".
Does your hubby already own a lot of tools, or a workshop? That would be a great retirement job!
The cost for tools does add up though...
:)
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ChasUFarley
Dan - he's got a few tools. He's better at cleaning up a schmutzy guitar, changing strings, tweaking a neck or a bridge, etc. He's great at changing tubes on amps and troubleshooting problems with amps tho - basic meat & potatoes fix-it stuff. I've considered getting him a gift certificate for luthier workshops in the area - there's generally something in the Boston area for that. I guess simple restoration is more his thing than building or serious repairs.
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ChattyKathy
Very nice Dan. Please let us see it when completed if you can.
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TheInvisibleDan
Chas,
Does your husband know about this website - www.projectguitar.com ?
It's a cool site, which has proven for me a great help through their tutorials and
forum. Their information on how to remove a fretboard with a clothes iron
is pretty EZ, and really works. :)
It's amazing the online lutherie resources readily available today to kids both
young and old .
Why back in 1978, I had to walk 30 miles in the snow just to measure my friends' guitars.
The only reference I had back then was Hideo Kamimoto's "Complete Guitar Repair".
It's held up quite well.
Danny
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TheInvisibleDan
Hi Kathy -
Will be glad to do a photo shoot and some sounds samples when completed.
It will give me a good reason to upgrade from my cheesy $10 digital camera which
I picked up at Walmart a couple weeks back (lol).
Danny
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polar bear
I prefer to remove my fretboards with a hammer.
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ChattyKathy
PB,
Dan,
That's usually when I get new things myself when the current ones don't work as they need to. :)
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waysider
It give a whole new meaning to "hammer-on/ Pull-off".
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T-Bone
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dmiller
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TheInvisibleDan
Oh I may still employ a hammer, though ever so cautiously, in concert with a putty knife, a razor blade, and a hot steamin' iron.
The Gretsch baritone arrived safely yesterday, shipped in a taped-up Ibanez "Artcore" box. Not a shred of hardware on it save for the plate and
screws attaching the neck to the body and the wholly frozen non-functioning truss rod in the neck itself. My gut inclination is remove that nasty truss rod
from it as soon as possible, to replace it with a Stew Mac two-way adjustable "Hot Rod" and perhaps some carbon fiber reinforcements.
And then I will proceed onto giving this thing a bit more character beyond the average stock Chinese "Gretsch".
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polar bear
Dan-you should change your screen name fro greasespot to Martin. Then you could be Marin Luthier.
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ChattyKathy
PB,
It is so cool to see how wonderfully you blended in with us here at the cafe. I bet you feel so much lighter mentally than you were in that last 6 months or so before y'all left twi. I'm so glad you are here. :)
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ChasUFarley
I love it - Martin Luthier!
(I'm going to save that for a dog name if I get a boy - that's awesome!)
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waysider
:biglaugh
: 
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TheInvisibleDan
Actually, I like "Lex Luthier" but someone else has already laid claim to that name in another forum.
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TheInvisibleDan
After an all-nighter spent in my evil workshop, the Gretsch fretboard has been (for the most part) successfully removed from the neck intact (despite a minor skirmish with some stubborn wood near the beginning of this venture), and the truss rod exposed as indeed the culprit - it had been so overtightened as to snap the weld of the flexible parallel bar.
About a couple hours after I started......this is the steam iron "riding" down the fretboard at a snail's pace, followed by a razor blade and a sharpened putty knife....yup...
Near the end...sorry I didn't have space here for all those action-packed pics...
Viola!
I took a pic of the truss rod by itself, but only my thumb and a different part of the room came out.
As I mentioned earlier, it's a very cheap camera!
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ChattyKathy
Well some men find fishing shows or golfing shows exciting and even though I like to fish (never golfed) I think your pictures portray something very heart action. It must have been awesome for you seeing it come together.
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