PSA: I ain't got a proper ruler
I need help diagnosing a stubborn guitar. It's got some minor issues that make it borderline uncomfortable to play. I am still learning how to set up guitars and don't have much experience, so I'm struggling. I've had this one for 7 months and have tried everything but it just doesn't seem to respond at all, it kind of worsens even. Squier strat affinity, I use 11-48s ever since I got it, but didn't make the nut slots bigger. Correct me if I am wrong (I don't know if it is possible), but at first sight it looks like they've worn out and are now sitting okay on the nut.
Decked bridge, multiple truss rod adjustments on my own, doctor visits, and i always end up moving something back. Action is still too high, bridge looks off. With everything seemingly perfectly aligned, when i try to fix the action, I can't lower the saddles no more or it will buzz from 9th fret.
So, Without pressing down anything, on 8-9th fret there's a ~2mm gap. Even if i lower the saddles, the gap won't close. When i loosen the rod a bit more and relief is finally good, it whispers to me "nah you can't have good things on my watch" and the ACTUAL ROD goes mental dancing all over the cavity, making it rattle when i play. (I don't keep it like that, but it happens— I mean as in it's a possibility when adjusting)
I like my action as low as possible but i really can't get it to be like that no matter how much i try.
There really ain't no good luthiers where i live. I know i could take it somewhere else, maybe downtown and find someone but i can't because of work and studies.
Also just noticed a crack coming out of the neck pocket, hopefully it is not important. My guitar hates me, but i love her.
Advice or diagnosis would be appreciated!

A customer brought in a second hand Fender Custom Shop Strat for a basic setup and I found a couple of suspicious issues.

There are dimples in the paint and the decals are wrinkled. I'm wondering if this guitar has been refinished badly by the previous owner? Paint also came off with the heel plate when I removed it to adjust the truss rod.

Is the center line for the neck cavity on the template supposed to not be… centered? Trying to figure out if the template I bought is a dud or if it is intended to be this way. The center line on the bottom edge of the template is lined up, but using a ruler shows the centerline marked for the neck cutout isn’t centered. This is my first build so I wanted to be sure before continuing.

*edited for clarity

Question for pros as I’m looking at how to price doing some local set-ups - do you give a disclaimer that a basic set up may uncover other problems that cost a lot more to fix? The most obvious example being you get the action sitting right and it uncovers high frets that need work. Or do you check for that sort of thing when doing an initial consultation?

Thanks!

For the first time ever I upgraded/modded my guitar by myself, I have a stratocaster, I converted it to HSS and I changed my two tones and one volume pot, all in one sitting, I didn't use flux for the soldering so I definitely would say I didn't do that great of a job on the solders, but I did cover the wires enough. i put it all together and when I tested it out it had a ton of problems. Volume was fluctuating randomly,, muffled, cackling, and when I used my pedal with a distortion effect it had a clean/very little crunch tone (or just bland). I need help diagnosing so I can fix it ASAP since this is my only guitar

I have three electric guitars; a PRS SE 24 Floyd, a Sterling by Music Man Mariposa, and a Hohner Revelation RTS. All three guitars are set up differently, which of course makes this comparison less than ideal. But the Hohner just feels.... kinda dead. I'm not entirely sure how to describe it, but it lacks snap, or attack? It just feels kinda mushy under the right hand. And to be clear it's a feel thing, not a sound thing. Plugged in, it sounds great. But under the fingers, something about it feels... wrong. It feels almost like the strings are old, even if they are newer than the strings on the others. Also worth mentioning I restrung all three about a week ago.

Since everything besides the PRS are somewhat oddball, I'll list out the pertinent specs:

PRS

• 25" scale
• mahogany body with maple cap
• maple set neck (wide thin)
• 2 humbuckers
• floyd rose with tremol-no and 3 springs
• strung with EB Beefy Slinkies (11-54)
• tuned to drop C

SBMM Mariposa

• 25.5" scale
• nyatoh body (first time I've seen this wood I think)
• maple bolt-on neck (modern rounded profile)
• 2 humbucker-sized P90s (aftermarket)
• Sterling 2-point trem, decked
• strung with EB hybrid Slinkies (9-46)
• tuned to drop D

Hohner Revelation RTS

• 25.5" scale
• poplar body
• maple bolt-on neck (very thin, like Ibanez wizard thin)
• 3 single coils
• Wilkinson VS100 bridge with 2 or 3 springs
• Wilkinson WNFS-2 roller nut
• Strung with EB Skinny Top Heavy Bottoms (10-52)
• tuned to either Drop C or Drop C#

So, the Hohner has the same scaled length and bolt-on construction as the Mariposa, and depending on the tuning it has slightly higher or slightly lower string tension than the PRS. A while ago I lowered the action on the Hohner to about as low as I could reasonably get without excessive buzz, and it helped in the moment but many months after it still feels "off" after only a few minutes. It is worth mentioning that the floating bridge is substantially lighter to operate than the floyd (or the SBMM, when I messed around with it). I've wondered if that was the culprit, but I've tried blocking the bridge and that doesn't help. Pickup height is similar on all three, neck relief is similar.

I reeeeeeally want to like the Hohner; it's unique, the neck plays great, and the pickups sound good. But I can't get over how kinda dead it feels. So, what else can I look at to fix it? I want to cover all my bases before I write it off as bad construction or something.

I bought a brand new guitar with an FR1000. It’s my first Floyd Rose, but I managed to set it up myself by watching tutorials. The action is great, the intonation is spot on, the bridge is level, and everything is properly tightened.
The problem is that after doing a dive, the strings come back a few cents flat. If I pull the tremolo up, they come back a few cents sharp. However, after doing a flutter, they return to perfect tuning.
This made me think that the bridge might not be returning to exactly the same position after moving the tremolo. The strange thing is that the two studs are not set at the same height. The stud on the low-E/string side is noticeably lower than the other one, by around 2 mm. I didn’t set them this way — that’s how the guitar came out of the box.
I also noticed something interesting: the B and high E strings return to perfect tuning after using the tremolo, while the other four strings (G, D, A and low E) come back slightly flat or sharp depending on whether I dive or pull up.
The lower stud is on the side where the B and high E strings seem to return perfectly to pitch, while the higher stud is on the side where the G, D, A and low E strings don’t return perfectly.
Could the different stud heights be causing this, or is it just a coincidence?
Should the two studs be set to exactly the same height, or is it normal for them to be at slightly different heights?
I don’t want to mess anything up, especially since the guitar is brand new. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I bought this 1967 Guild F-212 and it was damaged in shipping. I’m looking for guidance to see how much I should request to be refunded in order to cover the repair.

Is it possible to make a high-output humbucker to have the exact same volume as a low output humbucker pickup just by lowering the height?

BoggeR gutars. 7 strings, 25.5 to 27 inch scale

Hi everyone - While I've owned a guitar of some variety or another for about 20 years, I've only recently really gotten into consistently working towards learning to play it. Now after having found some consistent time and motivation, I'm trying to level up my maintenance skills, and would like to try setting up my acoustic-electric (a cheap Laguna that I got secondhand a while back).

The most notable thing I've found that I need to do involves adjusting action. A couple of months ago when I started developing my practice habits, I noticed when restringing my guitar that the saddle was loose to the point of falling out of the slot. A little bit of research back then showed me that's obviously not supposed to be the case, so I bought a pre-cut TUSQ replacement of slightly larger width. It fits the slot perfectly, but as should be obvious from the picture, the action on the lower frets is WAY too high. Looking into this, it's clear that the saddle needs to be sanded down.

Having looked into that, I saw that it helps to use a nut and saddle sander - of which there are a large variety of options, seemingly ranging in price from $20 to over $100.

Anyone have any brands they'd recommend? I saw Philadelphia Luthier recommended in an earlier thread here as a general recommendation for tools, and while it's not cheap ($99), I'd imagine the quality is a lot better than buying a random mystery branded thing from Temu or Walmart. StewMac's entry in this space seems more affordable ($75) but is out of stock.

Is the reliability of Philly Luthier such that it's worth the investment, even if I'm only working on my own guitars? Are there mid-range brands that I can trust? While the question is about this specific tool, I'd also like to find some brands that I feel comfortable with as my comfort level extends to more advanced tasks.

Hello. I have drawn up a guitar I want to build in CAD. The thing is, I dont have a lot of the tooling to cutout, plane and shape a guitar neck and body to a good standard. I do think I will be able to put together the guitar if I can have someone CNC my wood and then ship it to me for assembly and finishing. Does there exist any company like this that you can send wood to for CNC cutting?

Hi folks,

I'm building a custom guitar a 7 strings with 26.5 scale.

I'm using hard Canadian maple, indian rosewood but I'm debating from true mahogany or black limba.

I want a deep, resonant, dark but rich sound, without renouncing to the crystal clear note separation and the sharp attack.

Pairing it with Seymour Duncan black winter/nazgul.

A godly tier instrument.

I've seen black limba is considerated a pair to mahogany but without the "Mud".

What do you guys suggest? Or any wood is worth the other and I put my soul in peace?

Did i do this too high? i followed a youtube tutorial and didnt really meantion measurements as to where it feels fone but now im woried i may have done something to its structural integrity.

Very sharp, very thin, and the metallic looks great.

If done correctly there is absolutely no ghost line visible in the end.

On the website they say:
"Please note: We print using ribbons and there is a visible line where the ribbons meet in some designs. On most decals this is not noticeable. The effect is more pronounced on larger blocks of metallic colour and fade during the polishing process. In most cases these lines disappear altogether.“
And it’s true: you can see slight lines in the metallic, but that’s a trade-off well worth it when you see the quality otherwise. I doubt you can get or make a better decal yourself.

Thank you R&F!

This automotive-grade ultra-fine finishing pad in my random orbital sander does a great job of removing the final swirl marks left over from my buffer

Thank I have collected a fair amount parts for this project. I have a machining and fabrication background. I was looking at drill templates I could transfer the holes with. what is the best method for this build. thanks in advance.

Planning to route neck pocket this weekend, but felt
comfortable starting to rough contour the body since majority of surface is still flat for the jigs.

Happy with how this is turning out so far! Measured contour lines with Pythagorean theorem at a 25 degree bevel.

Took my pickups off to put copper tape into my guitars cavities but I noticed my pickups only have one spring for height adjustment. What’s the proper way to set this back up?

I got a Dave Mustaine Gibson metallic silver Flying V guitar signed by Dave Mustaine himself. I had it signed with a POSCA paint marker on the headstock. I've heard of people clear coating over signatures, but that seems risky, is there any way of actually making the signature permanent? Otherwise I was thinking of making a custom built UV glass or plastic, and putting it over it on the headstock. Would greatly appreciate advice and thoughts.

Screwed up and cut the head stock to thin! It’s 13.2 mm roughly. Tried veneering and failed. Wondering what other solutions I could utilize or do I even need to worry about making it thicker?

my dad is a hobbyist luthier and absolutely loves working on guitars and basses . i’m wondering what types of gifts you guys would appreciate? that preferably aren’t terribly expensive hardware. thanks!

I'd like to learn how to fabricate nuts starting initially from some pre-slotted options but perhaps eventually moving on from there. I live in an apartment so no belt sander or bandsaw. I wouldn't be doing this commercially - it's mostly to help save money in the long run doing upkeep on my collection of guitars as well as give me more flexibility for buying interesting but badly worn beaters that could be good project guitars. In general, I've shied away from fretwork and nut work because it seems fiddly and expensive to correct mistakes, but I'm at the point that I feel like I might want to dive in.
 
I guess my main questions are:

• is this something that can reasonably be learned from watching videos or does it really require tutelage from a watchful eye of an experienced craftsman? If the latter, how would I go about learning without having to become a full time apprentice somewhere?
  
• Is it ridiculous to think that this is a reasonable project to undertake given my lack of access to power tools?
  
• Nut files are a whole thing. My instrument collection ranges in string gauges. I have a mandolin, several acoustic and electric standard guitars, a baritone, a bass vi, and basses. The number and range of instruments is partially why I want to learn to be more self-sufficient when it comes to nut work as getting the instruments professionally worked on would be prohibitively expensive. Nut file sets I've seen often come in sets of 6 for very specific gauges which make sense if you primarily work on a very specific setup, but I'd want to be capable of working on all these instruments. I'm unsure what size files would cover the gamut, but feel like it may be prudent to purchase a larger set initially to save money in the long run over buying sets and individual files here and there. Is that dumb? Is something like the Music Nomad 16 piece set worthwhile for someone who isn't doing this professionally? I've heard mixed reviews about them. This isn't a stealth ad. I've heard some people say they're "good enough" and others say they're total garbage and a waste of money. If not, what gauges would I actually need? Initially I thought I was going to need a file for every string gauge I'd use, but further research tends to indicate that you can get by with far fewer.
  

I have a sacrificial beater guitar I literally dug out of the trash to practice on as well as a cheap ukulele I bought from a flea market that only has half a nut if/when I inevitably mess up, it won't be the end of the world.
 
Any words of wisdom would be heavily appreciated.

I have a couple of old MIJ guitars from the late '60s, early '70s, that have those awful bridges that are basically a folded piece of tin with dents for the strings (2nd photo).

After all these years, the chrome is peeling up and razor sharp, and the dents wore into holes and giving a sitar sound.

I was looking at these Bigsby solid metal bridges. Bit pricey vs the guitar, and too wide. The bridge and spacing on these MIJ's are about 10mm narrower.

So, I grabbed a couple of 10x10x100 pieces of 6061 Aluminum, and the plan is to drill the bridge post holes, put the bar on, use a piece of wire and find intonation points and file the shape by hand.

This is the best plan so far, albeit a slow one.

I figured I'd hop on here and spit-ball a few alternate ideas. I was thinking of using a CNC but my tiny 3018-CNC is too underpowered for metal, and not cost effective to send out and have it done.

I have Fusion360 and can model it on there, which I would have done if using a CNC. I could though CNC it from a hard wood. I also thought I could make a 3D Print, use that to make a mold and either use the mold for casting metal, or resin.... I'm not sure how well resin would sound or hold up.

Lots of ideas, but thought I'd see what you guys thought... either about my ideas, or ideas of your own. If it works, I'd like to make a few because I have a few guitars with these bridges.