iLuthier

Shrunken Binding Fix-Up

Saturday, January 14th, 2006

To repair plastic binding that has shrunk and detached itself away from the waist of an instrument, just use a light bulb or goose-neck lamp and aim it close over the area for a couple of minutes or so. When the binding becomes soft enough you can gently ease it back and then glue and tape it tightly to the body again.

NOTE: I should add that you need to be extra careful that you don’t ruin the finish of the instrument by keeping the light bulb concentrated in the same area for too long – otherwise you’ll have a much longer and much more involved repair job to undertake!

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Spalted Cuban Mahogany pen blanks wood turning inlay
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Genuine Lignum Vitae pen blanks wood turning inlay
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Genuine Lignum Vitae pen blanks wood turning inlay
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Posted in Binding, Tips & Tricks | No Comments »

Soldering Iron Fret Removal

Monday, January 2nd, 2006

Some problem frets getting you down?

Often when you’re pulling frets out from an ebony or rosewood finger board they tend to chip and break the wood as they come out, resulting in more work gluing and filling the boards before the refret. As you know, time is money!

Instead, try using a hot soldering iron to remove problem frets. Place the tip of the iron on the fret to help loosen it and then remove the fret – chip free – with your pliers.

The heat expands the fret tang and shrinks the wood around it slightly, allowing for easier removal. Make sure you have a damp rag at hand jut in case you need to cool things down quickly.

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21pcs Bass Guitar Fret Wire Fretwire Set 2.7mm High Quality
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Posted in Fretting, Tips & Tricks | No Comments »

Flexible Rasp

Wednesday, December 28th, 2005

Flexible Rasp This is a simple but very effective tool to make. It might not look that flash and it’s certainly not gonna win any prizes for its beauty, but it’s very cheap to make and sure as heck works well.

To make it you will need four to six good quality hacksaw blades. Make sure they’re the flexible type and not too brittle (that’s why you need good quality blades and not those cheap Chinese ones).

Start by laying the first one on its side and then stack the rest of them on top, but alternating the direction of their teeth. This ensures that the tool will cut effectively in both directions.

Tape the ends of the stack with masking tape or, even better, duct tape if you have some of that lying around (and why wouldn’t you? It’s very handy stuff). Make sure you use enough tape so that your hands won’t be cut up by the teeth of the blades.

Once the ends are securely taped up you can try your brand new – and very low tech – tool out

To use your newly made flexible rasp, lightly flex it with your thumbs and scrape away at the wood using either a pushing or pulling motion. I find it’s much easier to use on the pull stroke rather than the push stroke, but each to their own. You’ll find that that this tool is especially good at cleaning up backs and bellies of violins and arch-tops prior to using more conventional scrapers.

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Posted in Tips & Tricks, Tools | No Comments »

Mini Sander/Polisher

Monday, December 26th, 2005

If you don’t have any of those drill press mounted or the smaller “Dremel type” drum sanders, or if you’ve run out of the special sleeves you need to buy for some of the smaller drums then you still have an alternative.

Slot a piece of 1/2″ or 3/8″ wooden dowel and slide a strip of sandpaper through it. Wrap it all around the dowel and add a drop of superglue to the end of it to keep it in place. You’ve now created an instant mini drum sander and you’ll find it’s great for getting into those hard to reach areas!

Likewise if you wrap a piece of flannel cloth or a similar rag around the dowel in the same manner you’ll find you’ll have a mini polisher, which is great for putting a glassy finish on bone nuts and saddles.

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15/16"X4 5/8 "X32 1/2 "L Spalted Ash Guitar neck blank
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Roasted Stabilized Q-sawn Reg. Maple Luthier Guitar Neck Blank 1.2" x 4" x 30"
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BLANK BONE GUITAR NUT NECK PIECE 2 5/32 X 11/32 X 1/4"
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BLANK BONE GUITAR NUT SQUARE NECK PIECE 2 X 3/4 X 3/16"
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Posted in Tips & Tricks | No Comments »

Make “Grabby Frets” With Super Glue

Friday, December 23rd, 2005

Squirt some super glue into your fret slots, wait for it to dry, and then carefully recut the slots so that fret tangs will have a harder and more stable surface to “grab” and bite into. This is really only necessary if you’re having trouble with the frets not grabbing properly in the first place though so most times you can do without.

Also, on the subject of super glue, it can often be quite messy – resulting in fingers being covered in the stuff. If you don’t have any remover then use some sandpaper or a pumice stone and remove the glue that way. Be warned though that you only have seven layers of skin so it can become rather tender there towards the end. Also make sure that your glued-up hands are nowhere near your face or eyes as the vapors from super glue is enough to cause much discomfort.