r/Luthier

Update: I have all the info I need. really appreciate helping me out!

Hi everyone! I was given this guitar from a friend after their dad passed. No one else plays in their family and they knew I was interested in learning. I'm hoping an experienced luthier in the USA could give me an estimate for repair so I can determine if I should fix it or ask my friend if they want to have it back for keep-sake wall art. I'd feel weird selling it.

*this is not me asking for actual quotes to complete the work. i just need an idea of what this might cost. i'm unable to answer questions about the history.*

It says Truetone guitar (stamped with "steel reinforced neck" on the back). There’s no paper inside but some images online are pointing me to believe it’s a Calypso. A few areas that look damaged are:

The Bridge: There is a gap forming on the bottom part of the bridge.

The Neck Heel: On the back where the neck attaches to the body, there is a small but visible gap and separation where it looks like the wood is pulling away.

The Soundhole: The wood right around the edge of the soundhole is a bit splintered but not on the fretboard.

I have a few estimate requests I sent last week in arizona but haven't heard back so thought I'd try this route.

Thanks for the help!

The design is inspired by the game Journey

The music used in the video is Nana by Paco Seco

Bought it for $10 (wanted a project guitar and the missing horn looked cool lol) and managed to get it working. I want to make upgrades on it starting with the bridge. This is my first upgrade ever btw so any advice is appreciated.

Hi, I’m seeing this for sale for pretty cheap. I’ve never put together a guitar before, can anyone tell me what kind of bridge this was drilled for? The 4 holes beneath the two large post holes are unfamiliar to me.

It’s a fender Stratocaster with a satin finish.

If anyone has ever thought a guitar that smelled like smoke was never going to go away (like me), it can. It just takes a extraordinary amount of effort. You can see here what it looked like before. I got this 1984 Gibson Les Paul Studio Standard and it was played a lot in smokey bars in the New Orleans area. When I first got it, it made me sick just being in the same room.

For the case, I did the baking soda. I did the baking in the sun. But what did the trick was a half dozen times of wiping it down with a little soapy water, then clean water, then air drying in the sun. If it got too wet, the lining would bunch up, so I had to comb it out.

For the guitar, I thoroughly polished it several times with Music Nomad polish then Music Nomad One. I first would wipe down with naphtha (Zippo lighter fluid). It could have been done in one attempt but each time took a while and hoped that would be the last time. It was frustrating b/c I felt like I was just smearing the gunk on the surface around and not getting it off the guitar, but eventually I was able to get most off. By gunk, I mean the cloudiness/haze. I thought I was removing the finish and making it look worse. I had no idea how thick and sticky the grime was. I would work in small sections, then again in bigger sections. What I found weird and didn't know during the first few times, is after I polished, the guitar had a strong polish smell. What I now know is the gunk was trapping the polish too. 

Anyway, it was frustrating as heck and thought the smell would never completely go away. My only hope is it would smell a little better and I'd take a loss and sell it b/c it literally was making me sick. But I bought it b/c I wanted it and was tenacious and eventually successful. Most of you have probably never come across a guitar that smelled this bad, but if you do, there is hope. Thanks!

Got this neck used for cheap so I won't feel too bad about fucking anything up. My first thought was CA glue and rosewood dust, but I don't really have any other pieces of rosewood to file down. Would taking some off the end be okay? It's a little dented there, anyway. My main concern is how I'm gonna get the filling into the right corner shape.

Hello everyone, I am a very beginner guitar player (2months), I have bought a new acoustic a week ago and quickly realized my strings felt too high compared to my les paul, so today I have:

Detuned the strings

Put capo so they dont move around

Removed pins

And sanded the bottom of my bridge with 180 sanding paper.

But I have realized my bridge is slighlty angled towards bottom now and I am not sure if it is bad or not, ( I do have a out of focus badly taken photo of the bridge before I did anything and it seems it was slightly angled out of factory?)

Does this action seem alright? And this bridge being slighy angled toward back? Photos are in order of before and after.

This morning i saw that my locking tuner was bent, Is there a way to fix this?

I purchased a Legator Opus 7 last year and spec sheet stated SS frets. Went to play today and noticing a really weird discoloration, almost like an oxidization on the frets. Case kept it's whole life, I am in NY and it is very humid here but this seems really odd, I have 5 other guitars with ss frets for years and never noticed anything like this. Is there a chance this was somehow shipped with nickel frets and mislabeled or something else? Pics for reference

Im sanding a tele after cutting it with a saw (I dont know the name in english but in spanish is called Sierra caladora. It has a straight saw that can do some angled cuts lol) and I missed a lot of parts (all of them are over the lines by milimiters).

The problem is that I dont know how to sand lol. I want to get rid of all that deep spots and make the guitar round like its supposed to and not square on some places lol.

How can I sand this? Is there a technique? Its my second build, in my first one I didnt sand it because it got less curves lmao. Im kinda scared to ruin the guitar so if there is a way to do this Ill be happy if you guys could share with me. I dont have a lot of money thats why I try my best with hand things lol

Hi everyone, I noticed on my Charvel a little bit of split wood around the string retainer holes and i'm thinking about countersink the hole like the second picture to stop the fenomenom, any advice or experiment to give ? Thanks !

From what I've learned it was made in the 30/40s by Carmelo Gugino in Buffalo NY.

It's has a detachable neck..

This absolutely criminal level of AI slop going on in this ad for a "professional lutheir's tool kit" on Amazon. Also, wtf is a "rtooller"?

I have a neck thru Carvin DC127 that is 30+ years old. I took it to a reputable repair shop in my area, and the tech informed me there is a hump in the neck (see around the 8th fret to the 14th fret).

He recommended a full re-fret, and said he wants to sand the fretboard a little to remove the hump. Do you all agree this is a good plan of action for this issue?

My biggest concern is the guitar intonating properly across the entire fretboard. For example, is it possible the fret slots have moved a bit, and they are no longer in the correct place for the guitar to still be in tune after he finishes sanding and re-fretting?

Not sure if I am being worried for nothing, but this guitar has incredible sustain and I love the color and would love to restore it. I know there is a lot of talent in this subreddit and appreciate your time and any insight you can offer.

Thank you.

Hi !

I tried to find answers, but they didn't match with the guitar I'm looking at : this beautiful Navigator Jagmaster has a transparent PG; I guess there is shielding paint everywhere on the back, but is this enough ? I would try to do something like this, but I only saw pictures, have you experiences similar guitars ?

Thanks, have a great day.

I am about to list another guitar on Reverb. On the top back of the neck there is a small (~4mm at its widest point) chip in the finish. It's smooth (no sharp edges) as I had already dropped a little CA in there a while back to seal it. Should I bother even attempting to drop fill this more in an attempt to completely smooth it out, or just leave it? I already have the listing set up (not published) with the picture I am adding here and the description of the chip. Personally, I don't feel like it's worth fixing as it. It doesn't affect anything other than someone knowing it's there and perhaps occasionally feeling it.

I'm not a luthier, and I haven't attempted to repair such a thing (especially on a curved surface). I don't think I would have a problem, it's just that I would have to go out and buy more materials as I don't have the sandpaper, polish, and I need some thin CA glue. Amazing you can't find thin CA anywhere in stores, you have to order it online. I sure miss being able to buy things at a store as everything gets put on hold as you have to wait for a 2 oz. bottle of glue to be shipped and delivered. That's a different problem. Hah.

If enough people say "fix it", hell I'll go for it. It's still a learning experience. I'm not sure it's just "drop fill", sand it down, polish, and voila. It will still probably be a visible repair around the edges, but maybe sanding down a little first, to remove any embedded grime and all will be the key there.

Thanks for you time!

Oh, for reference, I had seen this StewMac video in the past. Seems like a lot of effort, but if that is what it takes there here we are. Again, this is curved surface, so it makes the old razor blade scraping a little more difficult.

Fixing a Small Chip in a Guitar Finish:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTVScFJoe24