Guitar Repair: 5-Step Survival Guide

1. Guitar Repair: 5-Step Survival Guide

2. Introduction You'd rather play your guitar than spend time mending it, we know that much. Our practical guide to quick and simple modifications and repairs, from truss rod tweaking to fret-slot fettling, will offer you all the information you need, though, if you want it to perform well and if you want to be able to depend on it for gigs and jam sessions. All of our DIY and workshop features have one thing in common: we want to help guitar owners become more self-sufficient while also saving you money. If you comprehend the fundamentals and practise basic maintenance, you'll be able to decide when a trip to the luthier is actually necessary and when a quick fix at home will suffice.

3. There are apparent similarities between maintaining a car and maintaining a guitar, and a guitar owner's relationship with the luthier frequently resembles that between a car owner and their mechanic. For instance, if you've ever owned a vintage Alfa Romeo, you may be familiar with the term "Italian tune-up." A typical scenario is as follows: the owner drives carefully, never exceeds the speed limit, always accelerates gradually, and keeps the rpm well below the red line. The owner determines the automobile needs a tune-up and takes it to the garage every few months though, as it starts to feel sluggish and unresponsive.

4. KITS For Guitar Repair Here is a list of recommended tools to buy in order to complete the bulk of common guitar maintenance tasks: a string winder, pliers with wire snips, a soldering iron, a multimeter, a variety of flat- and cross-head screwdrivers, lighter fluid, fingerboard oil, a socket set, truss rod tools, finish reviver, spare batteries, and a set of Allen keys.

5. Truss Rod Essential Truss rod adjustment is the normal guitar maintenance procedure that most closely resembles the Italian tune-up comparison. If you do some research on the topic, you'll come across grave cautions about the risks associated with amateurs using truss rod wrenches and how this delicate process should be left to "trained luthiers." It's unclear what qualifies as a "qualified luthier," but on your next visit, consider asking to check your luthier's credentials. It should go without saying that every "certified luthier" had to start somewhere; most likely, they did exactly the things we'll be teaching you to accomplish in this section.

6. Your truss rod needs adjusting if the distance between the strings and the 7th and 8th frets is larger or smaller than usual. Returning to truss rods, technicians find that their workload increases twice a year when customers request that their guitars be set up. These times typically correspond with the weather turning colder in the fall and milder in the spring.

7. Most often, these weather fluctuations will cause necks to bow up or down; the telltale signs include a shift in a guitar's motion and slightly incorrect intonation. Considering how unlikely it is for a bridge's height or saddles to have changed on their own (because they cannot move on an acoustic), any quick change must be attributed to a neck reacting to changes in atmospheric conditions. The fact that necks move somewhat constantly may be the reason why some days your guitar plays better than others. If you switch to a different string gauge or even a new brand of the same gauge, truss rod adjustment can also be required.

8. Ideally, truss rod adjustments are performed with the neck under tension from the strings, but this is frequently not possible with necks manufactured in the original Fender design. Fortunately, you don't need to completely remove the neck to complete the task; however, you must immediately loosen the strings. Before removing the neck screws, we advise placing a capo on the first fret to keep the strings coiled around the tuner posts and in the nut slots. In order to observe the truss rod screw, try to gently raise the neck in its pocket.

9. 2. Defects In Electronics Every electric guitar occasionally makes unwelcome electrical noises, and we've all occasionally experienced "pot scratch fever." The all-too-common signs include hum, intermittent jacks, sticky switches, and crackly pots. When these things occur, it's all too tempting to take everything out and replace it, but repairs are frequently a quicker and more cost-effective option than replacement. Since noisy pots are the most frequent electronic issue, let's start there. We must first ascertain whether the scratchy noise is actually coming from the volume pot or something else. To determine whether another guitar also sounds rough, try switching to it.

10. If every guitar you play through your amp sounds scratchy, the issue is probably stray amp current leaking through the guitar cord. See if the noise issue is resolved by inserting a buffered pedal between your guitar and amplifier. Any Boss pedal will work, and a lot of tuners are buffered as well. It's time to call the amp tech rather than your luthier if this stops the scratchiness. By the way, buffered pedals can also sometimes fix scratchy wah pedals.

11. 3. Socket To 'EM Switches can become loud and rigid with use. In reality, the 1963 Olympic White Strat that was the subject of our previous issue had a switch that hardly moved when it was delivered. We added 3-In-1 oil to the pivot point of the switch after Servisol was sprayed onto the contacts, and we allowed it to absorb. The 55-year-old switch began to function like it was brand-new after a short while. Jack sockets can occasionally become unreliable; if this happens, twist the cable near the output socket and strike a chord. Try a different cable if the signal keeps cutting in and out; if it stops, the problem is with the cable rather than the output socket.

12. 4. Tuner Advice Tuners are a good example of how moving guitar parts frequently need maintenance. They may go one way and feel sloppy and loose with time, or they may go the other way and feel stiff or even stiffen up. So, is it time for a new tuner? No, not always. Starting with the open-geared tuners that are frequently seen on acoustics, Gretsches, and other instruments, let's move on. Each tuner is fixed to the headstock by two screws that are typically found on the gear plate. After unscrewing the screw securing the gear to the string post, remove the screws necessary to remove the tuner. After everything has been disassembled, the metal components can be cleaned using a cotton bud dipped in naphtha (lighter fluid).

13. There might be a tonne of dried grease and caked filth there. After cleaning, put petroleum jelly in between all the moving components, wipe out any extra, and then reinstall the tuners on the instrument. In the gear housings of Kluson-style tuners, the grease also has a tendency to harden. Remove the guitar tuners, warm them up on a heater or using a hairdryer, and then soak the gear housings in naphtha. With really stiff or seized tuners, you may need to soak them in the naphtha for a while before you can force it in with a syringe.

14. 5. Common Nut Issues Unless you’re buying a reasonably high-end guitar, most guitars are shipped with nuts that have relatively shallow string slots. Cutting nut slots to a perfect depth takes time, which isn’t conducive to mass-producing guitars. Cutting them just deep enough so the guitar plays, but high enough to prevent the open strings buzzing against the 1st fret, ensures that there will be no rejects. The problem here is that high nut slots tend to make open chords sound out of tune.

15. Bone nut slots can be filled with baking soda and then a drop of water-thin Super Glue can be added, which should be allowed to wick into the powder and set firm, preferably overnight. You can also use bone dust, but you'll need to recut the slot with a needle file or the proper string covered in abrasive paper. If the slot was just slightly too low to begin with, add a small amount of powder rather than filling it completely.

16. Regular Maintenance Some guitarists fail to tell the difference between beautiful vintage patina and plain old dirt and never clean their instruments. Although it's a matter of opinion, we believe that routinely cleaned and maintained guitars function more consistently. Make it a practise to clean your strings after jamming or performing with a clean cloth or a specialised string cleaner. By cleaning sweat, grease, and filth from your strings, these treatments are inexpensive, quick, and simple to use. They may also last longer, which will save you money. Try cleaning your fingerboard while performing a routine string change two or three times a year.