Screws can get worn, corroded, and crammed with crud over the years. Removal can become challenging. Here’s the first in a series of posts with tips for removing stubborn screws.
Check it out…
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Word has been going around the internet recently about a cheap alternative to gauged nut files for guitar and bass. Since a proper set of nut files isn’t cheap, this is tempting. But is this alternative any good?
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Installing a pre-cut/pre-shaped nut requires a lot of patience to do well. It’s easy to hack off some bits and glue it in but, doing it well and getting a good setup… that takes time and some Buddha-like levels of patience.
Most of the nut manufacturers don’t tell you that. Go figure.
Check out how to get a great result…
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Installing a pre-cut/pre-shaped nut starts with measuring your existing nut to ensure you choose one that’s right for the job. Most of the measurements are obvious and are those that the nut manufacturers recommend in their own documentation. But… There’s one they rarely mention. And it’s important.
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Fender nuts usually have an arc along their bottom. This mates with a similar curve in the nut slot itself. If you’re installing a new nut, you’ll have to match this radius closely for a good fit.
Find out how…
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I’ve often hammered home the idea that players need to understand that a guitar needs to the setup for their style to prevent fret buzz. ‘As low as it can go’ isn’t as simple as it sounds and the player plays a massive part in whether a guitar buzzes.
But sometimes the guitar is to blame. And I should talk about that too…
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Answering questions about the clever fix made to address limitations around replacing the zero fret on Brian May’s famous Red Special guitar. Great thinking…
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A while back, I wrote about some methods for enlarging holes — for instance, if you wanted to fit larger tuners or a larger control pot into a hole that had housed something smaller.
But what if you want to go the other way? What if you want to remove some hardware that’s bigger than the stuff being installed?
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Guitar and bass neck sometimes get ski jump deformations. Turns out it’s important how you define your ski jump. Avoid confusion and check this out…
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While not completely irrefutable yet, I find the correlation of poor shimming practice and ski jump deformations in instrument necks to be compelling. I strongly recommend using a full-pocket (wedge-shaped) shim if you ever need to shim your bolt-on guitar or bass.
Please read my reasoning…
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Time for a slight rant. I often meet players who insist on treating an electric guitar like an acoustic guitar. And, that’s something that comes with some compromises.
What am I talking about? Read on…
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Sooner or later you’ll have to make a small hole bigger to accommodate some new piece of hardware — tuners are a common one. You can’t just hack at it with a drill bit so find out how to safely make holes bigger.
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