I was chatting with two boutique guitar builders who make very fine guitars indeed but when I asked whether they tap tune the guitars to voice then they said no, and rely only on deflection. I understand that introduces consistency in the guitars, but why not also use tap tuning? Do some believe it's unnecessary and deflection works just as well?

I have made this partial neck through bass with the neck being made from bocote and the body made from mahogany. I was just wanting to see if anyone had a solution on how to finish bocote or other exotic, oily woods. I have seen a lot of different answers, but i haven't seen one talking about finishing bocote and mahogany in the same piece. I plan on staining the mahogany, and usually use polyurethane to finish all of my other mahogany bodies, but have seen that the oils in bocote mess with the curing process of the polyethylene.

Also, learn from my mistakes and never use bocote as a neck. Sanding, rasping, and filing has been a terrible experience. And it kind of smells like boiled hotdogs.

New version of my Terrasonic model.

A DiMarzio EP1111 three-way switch controls both pickups simultaneously:

• Up — Series: Full humbucker output, thick and punchy.
• Center — Coil Split: Single-coil character with more bite and clarity.
• Down — Parallel: Both coils active, brighter and more open than series, while retaining hum cancellation.

A separate three-way blade selects neck, bridge, or both, giving nine combinations in total.

Body: Korina
Top: Burl Ash
Neck: Birdseye Sapelle
Fretboard: Brazilian Rosewood

This one features my new 6 in line headstock design.

I’m getting ready to paint this old Strat body I stripped down, is leaving the paint in the electronics cavity or neck pocket an issue? she’s wet in the pictures following a 400 grit sand.

Hey there! I have a vintage Gibson that kind of fell into my lap, and I’m curious what (if any) repair should be done. This guitar appears to have been kept in a poor climate because the neck seems to very dried out. The binding is separating a little the closer to the body and a few of the inlays are popping up. I don’t have a ton of money, so sending it to a fancy shop isn’t really a possibility right now. I cleaned it up, strung it, and have been playing it as is, but I’m curious if I’m doing my harm than good. Thanks for any info/advice!

I believe this is not a well known brand? - Trinity - TNY-3950C N ( Made in Indonesia )

From what I checked, it's not a bolted neck joint, it's a glued neck joint. I say this because, i looked into the guitar using my mobile and there aren't any bolts at the area where the joint exists. It's all plain

I do have another guitar i.e Yamaha C80 but this guitar was my first guitar, so it does carry a sentimental value for me. Should i stop playing it? or it's fine to use it? Also can someone explain what the exact damage is?

Thank You!

When I made a test body out of poplar, the pickups fit just fine. It was an up cut bit and when I cut this it was with down cut bit. Both 1/4”. This was done on a cnc by the way. I’m thinking hand tools here but am hesitant lol. More comfortable with a router but think that opens the door to many possibilities of making firewood. Guess I need to buy a set of good chisels and scrapers.

Sorry if this is a dumb question but I’ve searched and can’t find the answer on my own.

I bought some stainless steel saddles to throw on my guitar. They have Philips head screws to adjust the intonation. The stock saddles that came with the guitar have Allen head intonation screws.

I’d like to keep using the Allen head screws, I always seem to strip Philips heads, but they seem to be just a tad bigger than the new saddles and don’t fit. Anyone know where to get screws like this?

Thanks in advance!

Got hammered and dragged my poly finish les paul across my driveway thinking it will be a cool relic job. Should I pay someone to relic the whole guitar now because I’ve ruined it? I don’t think there is a way to salvage it

I bought this damaged D-15 Martin for $300 with the intention of repairing it as project for our family guitar club. We are novice woodworkers with our only guitar building experience coming from the Woodcraft build your own acoustic guitar weekend class. Our first club meeting is Nov 4th and I expect there will be plenty of discussion on how best to repair her. My opinion is for the repair to favor sound quality over appearance since she's 26yo and my plan is to name her Scar-let. The crack starts just above the sound hole and wraps around to be just short of the strap button. Any advice will be greatly appreciated ! Thanks, GCG

i’m wanting to put individual volume pots in my tele with a 3 way style mud switch but i’m getting confused on if wiring a blade switch as an on/off/on is possible. thanks for any help!

* Body: 000, 14-fret

* Top: Bearclaw Engelmann Spruce (Picea engelmannii)

* Sides: Purpleheart (Peltogyne spp.)

* Back: Three-piece Purpleheart and Katalox (Swartzia cubensis)

* Binding: Flamed Maple (Acer rubrum)

* Rosette: Mother of Pearl and Cocobolo (Dalbergia retusa)

* Neck: Five-piece Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), Katalox, and Flamed Maple

* Fingerboard: Ebony (Diospyros crassiflora)

* Fingerboard Inlays: Hand-cut Mother of Pearl

* Bridge: Ebony, pyramid style

* Nut & Saddle: Bone

* Headstock: Purpleheart

* Headstock Inlay: Lizardite

* Tuners: Gotoh 15:1, nickel

* Scale Length: 25 21/32”

* Fingerboard Radius: 12”

* Finish: High-gloss nitrocellulose lacquer

Hello, I'm looking for a tremolo bridge that can still go up and down. I don't want anything that's hard to do a string change on, just something that will do its job. I don't want anything like a Floyd for a big ol bigsby.

I was looking at the Gotoh Wilkinson VS100N Tremolo and the WVS50 IIK Tremolo.

I am planning a guitar build based around a Jaguar body and pickguard, I've tinkered a bit on guitars but custom wiring always trips me up.

I'd have a single coil neck and a humbucker at the bridge, the humbucker I'm looking at is built with two different coils with their own distinct sounds, and so I'd love to utilize the three on/off switches traditionally on the Jag control plate to be able to turn on each coil individually (neck, bridge top, bridge bottom). Is this doable, and would it have any effect on the humbucking ability of the pickup? Would one of the split coils and the neck single coil be out of phase with each other?

Additionally I intend to use the rhythm circuit switch as a bridge pickup override, switching the volume and tone controls to the roller pots on the side with different values, the neck would still go to the master volume and tone knobs.

Any input is appreciated! There's a good chance whenever I get all the parts I'll end up going to a pro, but I like to do things myself when I can.

Howdy all, getting my guitar signed by my favorite band and i was planning on using a gold sharpie for them to use on the body. I don’t trust myself to not mess up putting on a clear coat as Iv never done anything like that to a guitar and it’s my pride and joy. Any brands that are good for an operation like this and I take it I should call around to guitar shops and see if they offer paint services? What would an average job like this cost?

I have bass parts lying around and was wondering if I could remove the frets from the neck, fill up the places where the frets were so I can keep the markings and learn how to play fretless. Is that possible? I don't care how tedious the work would be, I have time

No glue bleed through. First sealer coat wiped in last night. The stoke is very real. Flash/No flash/head on. Yea I know the center line isn't perfect. Madrone is a b*tch. I'm very happy with it

Hello, I dropped my Yamaha FG700S and this happened on the bottom left side of the top. It doesn’t appear that there is any structural damage, although part of the chip goes down to wood.

It seems like scraping it flat and using CA glue is the way to go for repair? If so, does the viscosity of the CA glue matter? Also, what kind of compound or polish or sandpaper is recommended for restoring the glossy finish once the repair is done?

Thanks in advance.

Recently picked up a G4M 30” baritone and noticed that not all of the saddles are facing the same way. Is it supposed to be like this? And if so, why?

I'm starting a PRS SE style build, but can't find any resources on how deep the 'slope' is on the sides of the top. There also seems to be different depths for the sides/ bottom, vs the cutaway. Does anyone know the measurements?

Hi Guys, I need some advice about replacing a guitar bridge. Lately, I wanted to resurrect an old guitar I had at home, a Dinky DK2 Jackson. I don't remember the code of the specific variant. It was made in Japan in the early 2000s and was bought for around 1000 euro at the time.

I still think that the construction quality of these instruments is top-notch, even compared to the much more expensive newer guitars I own.

Unfortunately, to keep the price lower than the made in USA line, Jackson saved money on the pickups, which are a poor Seymour Duncan design with no dynamics (good for trash metal only), and the electronics. Also The bridge is a JT-580LP, which is surprisingly good at staying in tune even when you abuse the bar, but it's not made of the best materials, and it's not really smooth either. It requires new springs, and the blades are probably not in the best shape either, as it's quite old and used.

In summary, I want to replace the pickup with a new DiMarzio, bridge, lock nuts and locking tuners with something far higher quality and revive this amazing instrument. If I do everything correctly with nice wiring and shielding, I think I will get a beast with a really small investment.

But my problem is the bridge.

I'm in love with the Gotoh-1997T, it's my favourite Floyd style Bridge after the Lo-pro / edge Pro by Ibanez. I like the whammy bar, the quality of the materials, etc. but it uses 11 mm studs. The bridge I currently have is attached to the guitar with 10 mm studs that are slightly shorter than the one on the Gotoh 1996t. This means that I would need to enlarge the holes in the wood in order to install the new Studs for the bridge. This could be fine too , but I think there is a high chance of damaging the finish of the guitar and do a shitty job because the current studs are very close to the edge of the bridge cavity. So i would need to do way too much work to install everything correctly.

So in summary my questions are these 3 :

• - Can i use some Good quality Steel stud from a OFR or Schaller Lockmeister instead than the original one made by gotoh ? The bridge will work the same ? I risk to damage the blades and getting poor performance ?
• - I also saw that Gotoh make smaller studs in steel for their Tremolo System 510TS in theory they should be compatible with the Gotoh-1997t . it's true or there is a error in the description and the comment i read online ?
• - Do you think i should just give up on the Gotoh-1997t and buy the Schaller Tremolo or Lockmeister instead ? Even if a little more expensive I think they will be literally plug-and-play . The quality is pretty high on both but i know well the Gotoh and i have little experience on the Schaller honestly . I used old OFR tho that are made by Schaller as well i guess the quality is still pretty high in these one as well ? the whammy bar is smooth like in the gotoh 1997t ?

If you have any experience with these bridges, please could you give me some advice?

Thanks in advance!

I am planning to create a partscaster with Fender Fat ‘50s in the neck and middle (RWRP), and Suhr Thornbucker in the bridge. Possibly doing push-pull or toggle coil split and adding the neck to any position mod for tone knob.

Any potential issues with this setup? Also interested to know if anyone has used it before. Thank you all

This is the guitar I shared here a while back, and I decided to enter it in a custom guitar contest!
I somehow made it through the first round and advanced to the final round.
They’re also holding a public vote as part of an exhibition, so if you like my guitar, I’d really appreciate it if you could vote for #27!

https://tcgakki.com/pages/modified-guitar-contest-2026-vote

There are lots of unique guitars in the contest, so you might find another one you like, too!
The website is in Japanese, but it has photos and descriptions of all the guitars, so feel free to check it out!

https://tcgakki.com/pages/magazine-modified-guitar-contest-2026-1st-round

My previous post about the guitar is here.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Luthier/s/9Z1P4DWncN

I think I need to glue down (reseat) most frets on a technical wood fretboard. I'm worried that it will respond differently to wax and super glue and make it difficult to clean up. I'm also worried about scratches and if I'll be able to sand any away.

This is my ususal plan for reseating frets and I'd like to know if it's okay to do on technical wood:

1. put some wax next to the frets so that super glue is easier to scrape off
2. wick some super glue underneath the fret
3. let the glue dry
4. scrape it off with a razor blade or chisel
5. (...fret related fretjob things)
6. possibly use steel whool at one point to clean the board of stuff
7. possibly sand away any tool marks
8. oil the fretboard

Is there anything I should be doing differently or avoiding? Thanks!