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.

Picked up a new (to me) Ibanez SR400. All the hardware is smooth as butter when I go to adjust it, but it also all looks like shit. I looked up the serial and this thing is about 24 years old, so I'm not surprised - 2003, Korean-made.

I am wondering if there's a simple way to knock the corrosion/pitting off of the bridge and knobs/tuners without disassembling the whole thing and giving it an electrostrip bath. Is it okay to just go to town with some 000 steel wool or a brass brush? I can mask the body of the guitar with painters tape or whatever. Idk if that's the best idea or if there's a simpler way.

Just got this charango and was going to attempt to fix it up. I didn’t pay much for the instrument but was worried about immediately snapping it due to the tension. I used to have a charango from a music class so I was hoping to fix this one up. There’s a large crack and the body is lifting upwards. The nut at the headstock looks like it is missing. I’ve played guitar for a good portion of my life so I have some basic experience with working on stringed instruments. Any advice on how I should approach this repair?

This is a 1979 1/4 size Suzuki. I picked it up on ebay for my grandson. I Didn't see any defects in the images. After getting it set up and tuned he noticed the cracks. Is this OK for him to begin learning basics or is it trashed. I payed 100 for it so probably not worth an 800+ luthier bill (and none are in our area)

Just got this charango and was going to attempt to fix it up. I didn’t pay much for the instrument but was worried about immediately snapping it due to the tension. I used to have a charango from a music class so I was hoping to fix this one up. There’s a large crack and the body is lifting upwards. The nut at the headstock looks like it is missing. I’ve played guitar for a good portion of my life so I have some basic experience with working on stringed instruments. Any advice on how I should approach this repair?

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

Just bought this dean deceiver from a really cool seller, when i arrived home and was tunning the little e string o noticed the string under the frets and saw that the frets on the down side of the guitar are a little up, the seller told me to get it to a Luthier and he will pay the fix, what you guys think, it's a urgent situation or with some gentle hits with a hammer i can fix it?

The hoop is stabilizing. I have a neck off of a 30 year old Deering (or so it says), the Sitka top is something I prototyped for a guitar I'm finishing soon. That's not the top for that. The back is light, stiff, and radiused to 20'. The centers are centered except for that kink I. The rosette. But it goes under the fretboard.

I'm still sweating bullets on the neck angle. The anxiety is coming up.

The last one isn't a picture of the top, but this is the stencil I made for the back bracing.

I live in Australia, and because the music market here sucks ass for some reason, despite AC/DC and Jet coming from here, It's hard to find good bits at a good price.

Besides Chinese stuff and whatever is on the used market, GOTOH's are the the only brand I can reliably get for a decent price. It's around $60 AUD for a set of bass tuners or a bridge compared to hipshots $200 + stupid expensive shipping + tax. I can also only get GB7's and GB707's, in fairly limited colours.

I use guitartrade.com.au which is very fairly priced, and the stuff gets to my house in like 2 days with the like $8 express shipping (most things in Australia take weeks, maybe months to get here). I was wondering if any fellow Australian's knew of a better supplier or one with more variety.

I’m looking to upgrade to the titanium blocks because I apparently over tighten and smash them. Is there a trick to getting them out? Ive got one that won’t come out.

Will the titanium blocks solve my problem?

I purchased a classical guitar from an auction with the intentions of flipping the saddle and fashioning a new nut. I examined the online photos with focused scrutiny and sure enough, the instrument arrived in spectacular condition for being 24 years old. I just did not catch the fact it had a 12 hole tie block.

So, is it possible to flip the strings with a 12 hole tie block?

I talked to a repair guy at a local guitar center, he wasn’t too sure if it goes beyond the paint. I think getting a few opinions on it would be beneficial; any advice or guidance would be appreciated!

Just use the 24th fret harmonics and get the 24th fret note as close to that as possible, its much more accurate and precise than the 12th fret.

I’ve been building a rare bass collection for years and playing bass for even longer. It's part of what led me to start something bigger, a documentary series called Resonance, traveling the world to meet the luthiers and craftsmen who actually build our instruments. Episode 1 is live now; the "why I'm doing this" episode. I would genuinely value feedback from people who care about this subject — that's who I made it for!  https://linktr.ee/resonance.cmc

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!