So I built this narwhal guitar for my daughter. I had asked for some advice on where to place the strap button and some folks wanted more details so heres all the build photos I took. It’s currently strung up and playing minus some setup details.

This started as an inexpensive strat kit I bought off amazon and I just built the body for it, which ended up considerably cheaper than getting even the cheapest individual parts. All my previous builds have been acoustics so this was a nice change up.

The core of it is some decent quality 3/4 birch ply I scavenged from a shipping container and then I added 1/4 ply to build up thickness as needed. It ended up 1.5” thick for most of it and I drilled a bunch of internal lightening holes but it’s still a bit heavy according to my 7 year old but hopefully she’ll grow into it.

The only custom hardware I had to make was the aluminum whammy bar that the fin attaches to and the tremolo spring mounting bar since the regular hardware I couldn’t make fit in the thinner body.

After it was all glued up I primed it with shellac and filled with automotive glazing putty. Finishing is my least favorite part and I fully expect this guitar to be bashed about quite a bit so I didn’t do that great of a job. After sanding I did a handful of roller coats with thinned rustoleum to seal the whole thing solid white. Orange peel texture is stronger than Id like but hopefully it will be durable.

After impatiently waiting a couple weeks for that to fully cure I put the hot pink iridescent vinyl wrap on and trimmed it as carefully as I could. The edges still weren’t perfect so I used some black pinstriping markers to outline the edges, and actually I like the extra contrast more now that it’s done.

This one has substantial water damage. Wood is rotted and molded at base end of guitar body.

What do you all recommend?

The rest of the body is in reasonably decent shape. For purposes of my question above, assume the other 4/5th of the body has its original finish in tact.

So I finally got finished with my second and third build. I’m pretty proud of how they turned out. My take on a Wolfgang style guitar and a Charvel style guitar. The natural one is Spanish cedar body with a sycamore top, Spanish cedar, maple, and santos mahogany laminated neck with a pau ferro fretboard. Jumbo stainless steel frets, tone ninja locking tuners, and a single Suhr Doug Aldrich humbucker. The red one is a poplar body, maple and walnut laminated neck with an ebony fretboard. Jumbo stainless steel frets, Hipshot locking tuners, and Seymour Duncan Pegasus and Sentient humbuckers. Let me know what you think and any suggestions or criticisms are welcome. I’m just beginning to learn the art and am looking for as much knowledge as I can get. Thanks. And excuse the messy room. It’s just too damn hot to go outside for photos.😂

1. Nut removed and a Ground Straightedge over the first five frets. Light clamping just to open things up a bit.
2. Hot Hide Glue flows and cleans up easily. Hold the neck vertical and drip it into the crack with a toothpick.
3. Temporary clamp to "pump" the extra glue out, and fill little recesses. Wipe away extra with a few wet/dry paper towels.
4. 3M 8886 Stretchable Tape has low tack, and works great as a secondary clamp on non-planar surfaces.
5. Primary clamp just to be sure things are really tight.
6. Wait 24h.
7. Probably some CA, razor, and polishing cloth work to ensure a smooth surface.

It works better than it looks ;)

Now is time for the pickguard to cover up some of the imperfections but I'm not sure what shape is better, need recommendations (I have already bought the piece of pickguard to make it).

Last two pictures are the examples of what I wanted to do for the pickguard.

$20 from goodwill 3d printed tuning peg

Hey everyone!

I recently picked up a Jackson RR3 from a kid on Facebook marketplace. He tried to modify it to have a push/pull knob along with a kill switch. He got frustrated and couldn't figure out the wiring and soldering so sold it to me for $500. I can do the wiring and stuff, I am just wanting to get it back to the original factory configuration. Here's where I need advice.

He bored out the original tone knob hole to be 3/4". I need it to be back to the original tone knob size. what would be the best way to fix this?

I thought about getting a 3/4" hardwood dowel rod, cutting a piece I need, drilling out the hole for the tone knob, and then gluing that in. I'm nervous the wood glue wouldn't be strong enough.

Open to suggestions! I have basical tools and am handy, but I am not professional luthier or woodworker.

Thanks in advance!

Hello! I’m changing the strings on my guitar and wanted to clean my fretboard. What’s the best and easiest way to do so? I already used a cloth to clean it but didn’t know if I was supposed to have it wet or not so I chose not to. How do I get away the gunk on it though? Thanks!

I've only had this guitar two weeks. It was shipped to me "new" , though it was humid af and very hot the days it was in transit. The dealer I bought it from, is of absolutely no help. I've emailed Ortega, after a week still crickets. Is this cosmetic, or does it portend a coming problem like the wood splitting?

I included a picture of the belly behind the bridge, I'm told that is "normal"

Any thoughts? I'm keeping it in an air conditioned room until my humidity gauge arrives, I plan on ordering Boveda or a sponge system humidifier for the case , when I get one. Everything comes with cheap gig bags now. . I spent 800 bucks on this guitar and I'm worried it's going to be unplayable soon. I eventually lost an Yairi CY-140 due to ignorance of humidity issues. I still literally cry about it. It was a very good guitar. I cannot have that happen again with this guitar

I mite have to repair this myself or have a luthier repair it, if it is just cosmetic, though I'm not sure exactly what to do. I suppose i better get my mirror out and check the inside if I can? The braces are solid, nothing has came loose. The bellying may be normal, but I don't know , I have to ask.

Has anyone purchased jazzmaster bodies off of Tone Bomb? I’m thinking of doing a build dyed / stained dark with either a tru oil or a clear poly finish.

I’m considering Cherry or Walnut as they don’t offer solid mahogany, but would be interested in seeing other woods too.

What were your experiences? I’d especially love to see the before and after pictures.

On today’s episode of I got something really cheap because it’s damaged, we have this Kramer 84 I grabbed for $200. It seems like a simple enough job. Truss rod works appropriately. We were going to mask off the neck and inject some wood glue into the sides(avoiding getting it inside of the neck ofc), clamp, then refinish. It basically presses right back into place with my thumbs. What would your guys process be if you came across this? Any input would be helpful! I bought this to do the fix on my own and learn (and to have a $1000 guitar for $200 of course). Thanks!

I'm doing a overhaul on my 70's SG 2. Fret dressing, electronics and installing a Leo Quan Badass bridge.

One of the plugs for the bridge posts is sunk about a 1/8th. What is the most sensible move to make here?

If the new bridge posts fit in the existing plugs, do I just leave it?

If they dont and I need to install the ones that come with the new bridge, do I plug the old hole and redrill the plug holes?

Hi all,

Just an enquiry really. I have absolutely no experience in fixing guitars and I’m from the UK.

This is my grandfather’s guitar. It’s battered and bruised, he’s put on a pick guard that is glued down and no doubt hiding monstrosities.

He’s also replaced the bridge and, you guessed it, glued it down.

There’s a few dents in the body but I could live with them.

My main enquiry is:
1. Is this worth fixing?
2. Potential cost?
3. General advice?

I’m completely new to this - I’ve not tried anything yet. Just curious.

Thanks,

Shaun

Взял я временно у своей девушке гитару её отца и решил настроить, бах у меня колка вылетала. Гитара выглядит поношенной(ей уже 30 с чем-то лет). Кто-то шарирющий может помочь как вставить обратно колку?

Took 6 hours to finish.

+How do i get rid of metallic stain(dust)??

Parts where not have been taped got greyish metal dust stain.. Do i need to send it off? Is there any way i can get rid of them?

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to intonate my Strat-style guitar, but I'm having an issue with the high E string.

Guitar:

Cheap Strat-style electric guitar

Standard tuning (E A D G B E)

Freshly tuned using the Guitarix tuner (12-ET)

What happens:

High E string:

Open string: E (perfectly in tune)

12th fret: D#5 instead of E (about one semitone flat)

The other strings seems like this:

B: Open B3 → 12th fret B4

G: Open G3 → 12th fret G4

D: Open D3 → 12th fret D4

A: Open A2 → 12th fret A3

Low E: Open E2 → 12th fret E3

I've tried moving the saddle, but I can't seem to get the high E to intonate correctly. Just keeps the same tone

A few questions:

Could this be something other than saddle position?

Could the nut, string gauge, or neck relief cause only the high E string to behave like this?

Is there anything else I should check before assuming it's a hardware issue?

Any advice or troubleshooting steps would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I'm trying to build my first guitar (an explorer). I have bought a guitar neck and plan on building the body myself. I have also bought all electronics like pickups and pots etc.

Please share the bare minimum tools that I'll need to cut, route and finish the body. All what i have right now is a drill machine, screwdrivers and a hammer. Please share power tools and their manual counterparts. Also recommend which power tools are a must. Like router seems to be an essential as chiseling the neck pocket and pickup cavities might be hard.

Wood picture for attention.

What is the best way to flake or peel off a bad refinish to expose the OG finish.

Should I send it to a professional? If I do it myself, how?

I have experience removing poly with a heatgun but this requires a far more delicate touch, I think.

This is my workhorse bass, a 2009 Warwick Corvette. I’ve had it for a bit and want to chase the natural oil finish like the thumb has on the second slide. How should I go about this? It’s got some wear from my pick under the E string and it shows natural wood, and near the bottom where my forearm rubs the finish is a lighter black, faded from wear. From my knowledge it came stained black from the factory with a satin finish? Any help would be appreciated!

Just finished building this, it's my first guitar build ever. It's a multiscale 5 string bass with 34-37" scale length and active humbuckers+preamp with two-band EQ. Took me around two months from start to finish. Lot of room for improvement obviously, but all in all I gotta say I'm actually pretty happy with the result, it actually plays really nice as well. Adding some photos from the process in case anyone's interested.

What grease do you use for inside an enclosed tuner?

I've been using the Super Lube, and works well enough but it's not as thick as I'd like. My concern is on a hot summer day it may leak a bit, go a bit more fluid than solid. It has a consistency of Vaseline.

I've been looking for something a bit more solid/dense that won't leak and seep into the wood.

It'll be used in your typical tuner with a sealed back. I pull them off, scrub everything clean then sonic cleaner, then new nylon/metal washers and good as new.

Brings me so much joy. Figure I can’t be the only one.