MIMF

He has church gigs, the bass owner, over the holidays so he may be using it to get through the next month. The bass is playable, well would not call it playable, it still works enough to play basic stuff. I told him I would do research on the problem and think about how to proceed. I'm happy to get ...

You unscrew the truss rod nut (lefty-loosey) all the way and remove it. You may have to remove the neck but it doesn't look like that's necessary. Then you need to find washers that have the same outside diameter as the nut (or whatever will fit in the groove) and an inside diameter that will fit o...

12208571_1520424941609034_6259768878399798462_n.jpg Ok, so the truss rod has a female Allen socket on the end of it and it can be turned with an Allen wrench and the opposite end is not exposed on the head stock. What I'm asking is, does the Allen head nut come out? Where do we put the washers? See...

I friend told me to back the truss rod off and see if by chance it is "hung up" in the channel somehow and let the neck relax.

If I back out the truss rod will it come all the way out? I don't work on basses so I am kind of flying blind here. What should I expect to be the process?

Hi, I have a problem with a bass in for repair and it's not my regular thing, need ask about it. Nice bass, maple body and neck. Owner had it made for him about 15-20 years ago. The neck is bowed badly and the truss rod is tightened all the way. I have the numbers on the action written in the shop (...

"I'm not going to take the fish glue bait anymore either. I now have ten years of fish glue guitars out there, and still don't know what the big deal is." Fish Glue....I've got a Manuel Reyes flamenco made in the 60's with fish glue...today the top, binding and purfling are all undone and...

Joel, Evereything you are asking is correct to ask, and the guys answering are right on as usual. Don't think I could add anything. I was only joking about how exhausting it is to read. The old MIMF had a rule about making jokes you had to use this symbol <g> after you cracked a joke to make sure ev...

Is this how we used to to do it <G>?

Man I'm exhausted reading this <g>

Clay, that is really a good idea, I might just do that. Besides being a vetted design, it is recognizable as a classic design that buyer & lookers can place. While my plantilla is attractive for what it is designed for a size 1 could even be a better size for the customer volumetrically. There i...

Brad, The last time I saw one of your classicals it was pretty nice, I'm sure your smaller ones are terrific. I've gone a small plantilla also and I'm focusing on two plantillas one is my old Santos plantilla that i use for flamencos and the other is one I drew in 2006 and still use. it's 18-1/2&quo...

Yeah, there is a surfboard maker here and he charges a lot ( materials are expensive) so I am going to make a terz guitar and send it to him via a third party and say if you like it trade me for custom long board. If he does not want it he'll send it back, if he likes it he'll make a board for me. I...

I'd pass on the fish glue, it has a tendency to weaken in time...you want your instrument to last? There's been a tendency in recent years to avoid Titebond glue. I've read knowledgeable people saying "throw your Titebond in the trash"...but that is hogwash. Titebond is fantastic for buil...

Alain, Please share the document on the new French makers if you can. Yes I oriented the transverse bar on the flat grain, it makes sense. I've made ouds and and lutes and repairs on them and in those instruments flat grain is normal. I use flat gain and vertical grain on regular transverse bars at ...

Hello Clay! Thanks maybe you can help. My shop pay scale is not very interzresting, but the jokes are! Seriously, I just built a Requinto with nylon strings and I am aiming to use the same body shape for a steel string. Here's the Requinto about the same size as your terz. I was also thinking of usi...

Terz.

I start make one on Terzday, finish on Saturzday.

I have a sceme to build a Terz steel string. Any admonitions, kibitzing or advice? I've never built a steel string regular guitar.

Alain, Thank you for the help. So I did clip the outside of the bar a bit on both treble and bass sides. Just 3" long section that cut 1/4" deep off in a taper. Next time I'll try to make a more exact Bouchet from a plan. The part that is interesting, ( on the plan I've been looking at ) h...

Well this guitar with the retro installed Bouchet bar is quite fun. It's mixed bag, it made it stronger in some ways a bit less potent in others. Overall an improvement, but it radically changed the character in terms of feel under the right hand. I read the blog entry by Cumpiano where he describes...

Here it is! In all its extemporaneous glory. This guitar was built for myself to play, so rebuilding it until I get a lesson out of it makes sense.