Viewing entries in
repair

Comment

2013 Fender Squire Mini Strat [5.4 lbs] :: student setup

2013 Fender Squire Mini Strat [5.4 lbs] :: student setup.

This guitar was set up with 9's for a player's daughter to start learning on.  Its smaller proportions and short 22 3/4" scale make it ideal for kids or those will small hands.  Unfortunately this guitar suffers the common ailment of student instruments in that it uses budget hardware.  Upgrading the tuners would make tuning much, much easier but would add to the cost of the guitar.  Spending the money on such an upgrade would depend on the student's interest in learning to play.  I attempted to lubricate the tuners but it didn't seem to improve them.

I could see this guitar being fun to record in the studio.  The 22 3/4" scale is close to short scale Fender lap steels (22 1/2") so heavy strings and a slide might add a unique sound to a track.  Nashville high-strung might be a cool option as well.

Comment

Comment

Top crack :: to splint or not to splint?

Top crack :: to splint or not to splint?

This guitar has a top center crack caused by low humidity and I've been battling with it for most of the summer.  The top was dried to the point of concavity (lower in the center than the edges).  Normally acoustic guitar tops have an arch or are at least flat.  I have had good luck in the past by humidifying guitars to close small cracks before gluing and cleating them.  This crack repair however keeps wanting to pull itself apart, even in my climate controlled shop.  I've gone through two iterations of structural / finish repairs and both times tiny checks developed in parts of the repair.  Having to wait 3-4 weeks for the finish repairs to cure before rubbing and buffing only to find unsatisfactory results was frustrating.  The repairs didn't look terrible, but I knew it could be better. 

So I decided that this crack needed to be cut open and the top allowed to work out it's internal stresses.  After the crack was reopened, I fit a splint that will be glued in, scraped flush and the area's finish repaired (again).

This guitar's crack appeared borderline at first but I wanted to try closing the crack before using the splint method.  Thankfully the owner has been extremely patient, but this will be best for the guitar in the long run.

Comment