ANNOUNCEMENT: I’ll be hosting the Luthiers Workshop today at noon over at the Pickin' in the Pines Bluegrass & Acoustic Music Festival
Are you coming out to the amphitheater for the shows? I’ll be outside the fairgrounds area where they have the workshop stage. We’ll be talking about tone woods and tap tones and all sorts of guitar building related matters.
Hope to see you there!
In the meantime, go check out my line of guitars @solsticeguitars …
#guitar #luthier #teaching
Can you over-humidify an acoustic guitar?
Check out my recent article. Link in bio.
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excerpt
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Northern Arizona is known for being a high desert. The dryness is a valid concern to musicians with acoustic instruments. Obviously, dryness can cause all sorts of problems for instruments made of wood, cracks, playability issues and other things. It’s a common topic I bring up with customers…
But today I want to talk about something that seems new, or at least rare. This recent level of consistent moisture and sustained humidity is unprecedented.
When it gets dry again be careful! Your guitar is going to experience a shock. I’ll tell you how to help prevent it later. But this is why it matters.
— full article at customsoundinstruments.com —
Hey @guitarspecialistinc , the guy with the glue cannon worked on this one too. He even managed to do some target practice with a bridge pin and blasted it to the tail block. Impressive skills.
#cleaned up and #shielded with a couple #mods.
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#guitarrepair #guitar #guitarcustomization
#arizonaluthier #luthier #electronics #electricmod #electricguitar #flagstaff
Getting a lot of things done with my new assistant @jdcurnalia !
Jeremiah was hanging out around the store 2-3 years ago while he was getting his engineering degree at @nauflagstaff … Apparently he got infected with the guitar building bug and has since completed the full course work at @robertovenn.school.of.luthiery … this was news to me!
I was completely surprised when he contacted me and said he was trying to make it back up north to #flagstaff.
I am absolutely stoked to have him around the shop now as the first person to be hired since closing down the retail store.
#efficiency #synergy #goodfit
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#arizona #arizonaguitar #arizonaluthier #luthier #guitar #guitarrepair #guitarrestoration #electric #electricguitar #acousticguitar #customsound #fixit #customshop #guitarsetup #vintageguitar
This new way of removing necks is truly an amazing thing. No steam. So clean and so much less risk if done right. I was able to knock out two neck removals in less time than it normally takes for one.
This is a big thanks to @ianhatesguitars @monsterfret @totalvise @ted.woodford … and @martinguitar
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#arizona #arizonaluthier #luthier #guitar #guitarluthier #guitarrepair #restoration #guitarrestoration #acoustic #acousticguitar #repair #guitars #custom #sound #customsound #fixit #customshop #vintageguitar #vintage #vintagemartin #neckreset
The #two #tenors …
Strange things compound and waves of occurrence do often occur. These two instruments came in on the same day, from two different clients. Both tenors are bout 100 years old. One #banjo one #tenorguitar #occurrence #serendpity
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#vintage #luthier #restoration #arizonaluthier #customsound #tenor #fourstrings
#guitarrepair
I don’t like controversy for the sake of controversy. But I want to speak up because this issue affects my industry and independent builders.
Gibson has been attacking our friends in the luthier industry with dubious legal trademark threats and greedy corporate scare tactics. Their practices are attempting to put some of the best independent builders out of business. Instead of competing by building better and new products, Gibson has become a trademark troll.
In joining @ianhatesguitars and hopefully other repair luthiers, I am boycotting repair work on all new Gibson instruments purchased in the last year.
And I hope you won’t buy a new Gibson until they change their tactics with trademark issues. If you bring me a new Gibson I will tell you to call them directly to resolve the issue, even if it’s just a setup.
This is an issue of ethics and scale. Gibson is happy to threaten a lawsuit they know they could easily loose in court. They also know they’re going after builders who can’t defend themselves legally against a corporate giant.
Our small and tight-knit industry has always worked a little different, and we've long resisted toxic business practices. But humanity and decency don’t seem to be part of the standards at companies like Gibson.
For the full article and more details visit my website.
customsoundinstruments.com
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#smallbusiness #loothboycott #independentbusiness #issueastatement #playauthentic #luthier #independentluthier #supportsmallbusiness #indie #gibson #gibsonguitar #boycottgibson
One of my favorite parts of working on instruments... sometimes when I’m done with a job the instrument gives me a song.
It’s a privilege to play all these instruments when they’re done and completed to my satisfaction. And some of them end up being pretty special. Some of them you’d expect, but some you wouldn’t. And some will give your fingers new songs to play that you wouldn’t have come up with otherwise.
I’m not a #mandolin player, but this awesome old 1919 Gibson A style just taught me a new little chord melody. The #refret turned out perfect. Check out the previous post for before and after.
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#arizona #flagstaff #arizonaluthier #luthier #guitar #guitarrestoration #acoustic #restoration #sound #customsound #fixit #vintagegibson #mando #vintage #loothing #customsound
Wanna see something nasty?
Swipe for the final result...
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#mandolin #vintage #vintagegibson #luthier #loothing #restoration #repair #arizona #flagstaff #customsound
This was an unconventional bridge reglue. It required a little extra help on the #wings. But the broken plywood underneath was such a good fitting puzzle piece that it was able to go just fine without doing much prep work, which was the idea since this guitar wasn’t worth a compete and tedious job. If you know what you’re doing, sometimes you can do a professional hack job, keep a customer happy within budget, and bring a guitar back to life for more pickin.
Video coming soon...
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#prohackjob #arizona #loothing #arizonaguitar #arizonaluthier #luthier #guitar #guitarluthier #guitarrepair #guitarrestoration #acoustic #acousticguitar #restoration #guitars #custom #sound #customsound #fixit
It’s alive!
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#dust
#squeeze
#glue #guitarrepair #arizonaluthier
Check out this #old label. These frets are basically flat with the fingerboard. They’re tearing out pretty bad, but we’re #gettingthere ... it will clean up just fine.
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#arizona #arizonaguitar #arizonaluthier #luthier #guitar #guitarluthier #guitarrepair #guitarrestoration #acoustic #acousticguitar #restoration #guitars #custom #sound #customsound #fixit #whatsonyourbench #customshop #vintagemandolin #vintage
For some reason the last post didn’t display both pics. Here’s that bridge plate.
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#arizona #arizonaguitar #arizonaluthier #luthier #guitar #guitarluthier #guitarrepair #guitarrestoration #acoustic #acousticguitar #restoration #guitars #custom #sound #customsound #fixit #whatsonyourbench #customshop
Here’s something I didn’t mention. That @collingsguitars D1 in the last post has a K&K bridge plate #transducer #pickup. This made the bridge reglue a little more involved than normal. I had to make a #custom clamping caul for inside to avoid the pickup heads and to get proper clamping #pressure. #loothin
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#arizona #arizonaguitar #arizonaluthier #luthier #guitar #guitarluthier #guitarrepair #guitarrestoration #acoustic #acousticguitar #restoration #guitars #wood #sound #customsound #fixit #loothing #whatsonyourbench #customshop
Tricky #bridge reglue on @collingsguitars D1... turned out perfect.
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#arizona #arizonaguitar #arizonaluthier #luthier #guitar #guitarluthier #guitarrepair #guitarrestoration #acoustic #acousticguitar #restoration #guitars #custom #sound #customsound #fixit #customshop #loothing
