Ever have a loose output jack on your guitar or bass? Ever tried to tighten it and been frustrated as it spun round and round inside the guitar?
Then, oh boy, are you going to like this. Check it out jack-spinners. 😉
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If you've ever had to wire or replace components inside a hollow or semi-hollow guitar, you probably know what a pain it is. You have to fish all the wiring and components through the f-hole to work on them. Even worse, then you have to get them back. It's like building a ship in a bottle but there are some tricks to make things a little less annoying.
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Correcting excessive relief or neck-bow is easy with an adjustable truss rod. What about those vintage guitars made before adjustable rods were fitted, though? Are those wonderful old instruments never to be played because there's too much bow in the neck?
No way. Find out how to use levelling and compression fretting to save these guitars.
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Getting vintage-nerdy with bar frets…
I only get a few bar fret jobs a year here. And, when I’m levelling them, I generally thank the fret gods for that fact. Bar frets are a bit different to modern frets but, if you’re playing, dealing, or repairing vintage instruments, you’ll likely come across them from time to time.
So, let’s get to know them.
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While most guitars have a single radius along the length of the fingerboard, a compound radius instrument has a radius that gradually increases/flattens as you go further up the neck.
Some players find these a godsend but they do require some different methods to set them up and to perform fretwork on them.
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That’s what players usually want.
I want it really low, but no buzzing. As low as possible without buzzing.
But, it's just not that simple…
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Remember that time Premier Guitar used my pie charts in the magazine and website?
Ha.
Pie charts!?!
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Getting the top of an acoustic instrument moving is vital to getting the best tone from it. You have to make sure you're transferring as much of the strings' energy as possible and a too low a saddle can mess that up and really kill your tone.
Find out more…
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What we generally refer to as the ‘offset’ Fenders (Jazzmaster, Jaguar, Mustang, Jag-Stang) can sometimes be a quirky bunch and one of their more common annoyances is the bridge.
Often, notes can suffer from a lack of focus and sustain. Strings can ‘jump’ from their slots if played even a little too hard, and the bridge itself can be buzzy and rattly. Sometimes you’ll even have saddle height screws vibrating loose and rattling, or even falling out.
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For the last while I’ve been rambling on about string angle over the nut. Now, I’m going right down the other end. Let's talk about how the angle your strings break over your bridge saddles can impact your Gibson (or Gibson-style) guitar.
Specifically, let's talk about collapsed bridges…
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You know the string retainer bar? Also known as the ‘dammit-I-forgot-to-put-the-string-under-it bar’.
It’s that little thing on the headstock, between your nut and tuners. The strings install under it.
You’ll find them most often on guitars with locking tremolo systems like Floyd Rose and Ibanez Edge bridges, and, on these instruments, it's important that it's properly adjusted.
String break angle can cause problems if it's not correct. Too shallow an angle, in particular, can be a source of buzzes, rattles, and general tone-sucking.
Get the skinny on sting angles and avoid sucked tone.
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