How to Make a Bone Nut

A bone nut is a fantastic upgrade for a guitar or bass. I’m going to step you through how I make a great nut from a bone blank.

Check it out…

Guitar RepairGerry Hayes7 October 2019guitar, bass, nut, bone, diy, repair, setup, strings, string-spacing

Bizarre guitar-related freak accident

Where to start? This is one of the weirder things that’s happened me. There are some photos – not massively gory but, if you’re squeamish, you might give this one a miss.

HousekeepingGerry Hayes13 July 2019guitar, bass, strings, string tension, injury

How to String: Winding Direction

What direction to wind a string onto a tuner is something that can be confusion to some players, especially those starting out. Doing it the wrong way can have consequences so check out how it's done.

SetupGerry Hayes13 July 2019guitar, bass, strings, stringing, tuners, diy

String radius from the top or bottom of strings

If you set your string action by ensuring the bottoms of each string are a consistent distance from the frets, doesn’t that mean the tops of the strings are now inconsistent because of the different string diameters? Is this a problem? Do you need to be concerned?

SetupGerry Hayes3 July 2019setup, action, strings, guitar, bass, radius

Guitar String Spreaders

Keep those strings out of your way when you work on your guitar. It’s easy (easier) with string spreaders.

Check it out…

Guitar RepairGerry Hayes14 June 2019repair, setup, guitar, bass, strings, tools, tips

Troubleshooting Tuning: The Nut

If you were lining tuning problems up against a cop-station height chart, the NUT would be the prime suspect. He’s got motive and opportunity and his alibi is looking shaky.

That damn nut is probably the biggest cause of tuning problems.

Guitar RepairGerry Hayes30 October 2018tuning, troubleshooting tuning, setup, strings, nut, gutiar, bass

Troubleshooting Tuning: Stretching Strings

String-stretching is an oddly contentious subject so I’m not opening the floor for arguments or opinions. What follows is my considered view on how and why to stretch new strings. It works and it helps.

Feel free to disagree but do it on your own site. 😉

Guitar RepairGerry Hayes16 October 2018tuning, troubleshooting, strings, stringing, setup, maintenance, troubleshooting tuning

Troubleshooting Tuning: Stringing

Continuing our look at tuning problems, let’s start with something pretty fundamental. If your guitar’s not strung well, you’re already on the back-foot. Get this right and it just might lead to a more stable instrument.

Guitar RepairGerry Hayes14 October 2018tuning, troubleshooting, strings, stringing, troubleshooting tuning, restring

An Old G and a New G

When it comes to compensation and intonation the change from a wound G string to a plain one caused a lot of hassle in sections of the guitar community. Get the skinny on G-strings…

Should I Slacken String Tension For Storage?

Guitar and bass strings can exert hundreds of pounds of tension on a guitar neck. So, it makes sense to slacken off the strings when you're not using the instrument, right?

Maybe not…

SetupGerry Hayes30 October 2017guitar, bass, storage, hard case, flight case, truss-rod, string tension, strings, neck, relief, vintage

Setup FAQ: Setting up for Dropped Tunings

If you play in dropped tunings or you detune your guitar, you'll probably want to give some thought to the instrument's setup. Do you set up for the dropped or standard tuning? What sort of setup adjustments should you worry about. What's the low-down?

Get it? Low-down. Ha. Click through for more info and fewer jokes.