I don't have to use these chip stoppers very often but, every now and then, they're invaluable. If you regularly refret guitars, it's worth having them on standby.
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This is an acoustic guitar bridge and there’s something wrong with this picture. Well, the picture’s ok, but there’s definitely a problem with the guitar.
You can see how low the saddle is. The string’s have no ‘break’ angle over it—that first string sits almost horizontally on the saddle.
This means the strings impart very little downward pressure to the saddle. No downward pressure means that much of the strings’ vibration is lost rather than being transferred into the guitar top (which is what provides most of your tone and volume with an acoustic instrument). Poor tone and poor sustain.
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This guitar's see better days. You can see a couple of nasty cracks along the shoulder. They begun at the preamp cutout and because of the tension on that area of bent wood, they easily spread as the centre 'relaxed' while the edges stayed in place, bound to the top and back.
Someone has had a go at repairing this damage already. The previous repairer tried using fibreglass and some mesh tape to secure things. A brace was added near the preamp cutout to reinforce it but that and the fibreglass weren't enough. The arrow shows where that brace has broken. The crack's back.
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In the very old days*, guitars had no truss rods at all. This wasn’t so much of a problem with gut strings but, once steel strings came along, builders realised that some sort of strengthening was required and so various things began to be inserted into guitar necks to help make them stronger.
A while back, I realised I had a couple of Martin guitars of different vintages in for neck resets. So, with the necks off, I took a photo showing the steel rods they've used over the years.
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Ok, so you’ve got to admit that's a little unusual.
What we’ve got is a tailpiece installed on this Takamine. It’s anchoring the strings which pass through the (pinless) bridge and up over the saddles.
Whatever else, it’s an inventive solution to some sort of problem.
Thing is, it’s not the best solution. The tailpiece is resting against the top of the guitar with isn’t the best for getting a good tone. Also, the guitar’s designed to have strings couple to the bridge for good transfer to the top.
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Yes, Gerry's going on about neck shimming again.
But it's important, you see. I'm on a quest. A quest to stamp out bad shimming.
Join me…
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I worked on a Strat-style guitar recently. It was a HSS configuration and there was no output from either of the single coil pickups.
I opened it up to start troubleshooting and spotted the (slightly odd) problem pretty quickly.
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I've been noticing a number of Gibson guitars with damage to their truss rod adjustment nuts. The damage is, almost certainly, from the factory. The nuts have a large (relatively speaking) portion 'ground away'.
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From time to time I encounter an ’S-Shaped’ Neck. This means that you may well come across one too, so it’s good to know what the story is.
WHAT IS AN S-SHAPED NECK?
It’s a guitar or bass neck that has (usually) two humps.
It’s not that uncommon for any neck to develop a hump—sometimes called a ‘ski-slope’—at the last few frets (and there are some things that can aggravate this).
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If you’ve read Sketchy Setups, you’ll probably have spotted that I mention the importance of using the right sized wrench for adjusting your truss rod.
Well, let me just mention it again:
IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT TO USE THE RIGHT SIZED WRENCH!!!
Seriously. Really important.
This is especially true of guitars and basses that use an hex/allen wrench.
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