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Yeah! A troubled soul contacted me recently, asking if could repair his Mohan Veena. Now, to those who were enjoying teenage in the mid 90s, Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt winning the Grammy on his acoustic guitar improvisation - the Mohan Veena - was a big thing. At least to me it was. Why? I don't know. His name and the name of the instrument just got stuck in my memory. So, after all these years, fancy being bumped by a pleasant memory! I took one look at it and I said that I would do it. The tailpiece had somehow ...

This guitar came in recently with the lady owner complaining of fretwire buzz around the 10th fret - across the fretboard - but primarily on the 'e' string. I took one look at the saddle and saw the saddle falling forward. Meanwhile, at the nut end of things, the slots seemed a little too deep for my liking. I suggested to the owner that changing the nut and saddle to a set of proper dimensions, and that too of bone, should help solve the issue. A saddle standing straight in its slot, would raise up the strings automatically. But before ...

YEAH! I work on electrics too - but only fretwire stuff and (God forbid) structural damage. This pristine US-made Stratocaster from 2002 was brought to me after the owner - himself quite capable of taking care of his instruments - had tried just about everything to get rid of the irritating fretwire buzz. Out came the tape and assortment of tools to tackle the issue: I had managed to find six high frets (Find the six red dots to find the naughty fretwires). But before I began employing the tools, it was imperative to protect susceptible areas. So, the mummyfication ...

In my last post, I had urged people to stay away from certain repairs in the interest of the instrument and their pocket. Guitar repair – Some repairs are JUST NOT DIY!! As if to rile me some more, along came this instrument from out of town. I must apologise but what looks like an ordinary lifting bridge, was in fact ravaged by someone who seemed to have got his hands on a chisel and a hammer. You can't see it in these photographs but what I saw was piles and loads of wood glue oozed out and dried form ...

'N'ae pas peur d'essayer' is French phrase meaning 'Don't be afraid to try'! I doubt the author was referring to intricate rectifications to your acoustic guitar! Glue-up jobs on acoustic instruments are not one of those things that I would advise my readers to undertake - unless they have an experience of instrument-making or woodworking. Then too, I prescribe a generous dose of caution. Imagine, you have a Rs 50K guitar and (God forbid) something were to happen to it. Would you try and repair it yourself or take it to someone who sees five such instruments in a day? ...

Having a tall saddle is always a good thing. For one, it increases the break angle of the strings (the angle that the strings make, rising from out of the holes and leading up to the saddle). This, in turn, affects the sound emanating from your guitar. Greater the height, greater the break angle, more is the downward pressure exerted by the strings on the saddle, deeper is the contact of the saddle with the top of the guitar, better is the transfer of  energy, and thus, better is the volume and sustain of the instrument. This is something that ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR, FOLKS! While being a post about a repair I undertook recently, this also is an illustration and proof that you must always bring your guitar with the strings on, even if they are tuned down. This helps me check out a whole host of problems: belly, lifting bridge, action over the fretboard, relief in it... Without the strings, I will have to put on a fresh set of strings, because I need to measure the parameters mentioned above, the cost of which will be PASSED ON TO YOU! This guitar a, #Pluto, sporting a handsome sunburst, came ...

Last week I left you at the point where all was in readiness to glue the bridge to the top - well, almost all. When I placed the bridge on its footprint, just to see how it sat, this is what I got to see. Not encouraging at all. What the lifted wing tips told me was that due to the continued strain of the strings on a lifting bridge, the front corners had warped. Not good at all! So, for me to have any chance for the bridge to glue properly to the top, the bridge would have to ...

Among the new(er) guitars in the Indian market, Tanglewood is a brand that I have come to like for its simplistic yet sturdy design. Yet the Tanglewood that came to me recently had a lifting bridge, and one which seemed to have taken a bit of the top as it lifted. Also, the belly behind the bridge was H-U-G-E!!!! The owner, a returning customer, pleaded with me to get the guitar into shape again and I had to explain to him that I would try my best but as things stood, it did not look too promising, for as I ...

So, this came in a few weeks ago. It was a pretty all-Mahogany Martin (and I got so excited I forgot to take a photograph of the label in the soundhole!!) I looked it over and except for some battle-scars, along the lower bout periphery, could not figure out what was wrong with it. And true to a Martin, it had that beautiful mellow sound, though the action could have come down a tad. It was left for the owner to point out this And then as I thought, all those battle scars were in fact, repairs carried out earlier ...

Remember this one? Guitar repair – Tackling Techno trouble II Well, this was the second in the series of (failed) repairs initially undertaken during the jinxed period of July to October. It came in about a month ago for me to take off the bridge and try and reglue it. And as you can imagine, taking a bridge off is generally a very destructive process. It takes off material from the bridge footprint (the top) which needs to be replaced. I did that and clamped the repair with a block of wood to keep the filling flat. Of course, I ...

So, this came to me - a comparatively new buy, which met with an accident. From the looks of it, something heavy seemed to have fallen on the guitar top, crushing it in and damaging the top-side joint too in the bargin. All in all, the crack/break stretched some 32cm. But first let me introduce the guitar to you. It was a Cort with an almighty high action which I was also asked to correct and bring within playable levels. The first order of work was to stabalise the break on the top. That was done with some strategically placed ...

Sometimes, life presents such scenarios that just trying to visualise the solution can leave you sapped of all energy and leave you exasperated. And yet, in the end, it can all be very anti-climatic! Guitar repair is much like that! A return customer - and a loyal one at that - brought me a newly acquired guitar for the initial set-up, a bone saddle and nut, and a fresh set of strings. Cool! How tough could that be, I thought. And that was my undoing. It was a Vault - not something extravagant but a decent entry-level guitar. However, since ...

Every few months a job turns up that challenges you to the core, forcing you to think - as if survival depended on it! It is jobs like these that keep that spark of creativity alive, which in turn, leads to a satisfied customer, and more importantly, a boost in self confidence: that is if the job is successful. The owner of a guitar got in touch with me and sent me photographs of a broken headstock hanging on by a sliver of wood and a couple of broken braces. When I saw the guitar in person, it was called ...

This is an under-$45 (Rs 3,500) guitar. And mind you, this is not a toy but a functional guitar. You can well imagine the quality (or the lack of it) for that price. Repair in such instruments often exceeds the price of the guitar, and so, for the owner, the economics of it does not work out. For me, there is always doubt whether the tried and tested methods/material of repair will work in these specimens - built any which way they are. If you would like to read more about the 'qualities' of such instruments, it's here: https://lkoguitargarage.com/attention-parents-heres-why-you-should-never-buy-a-rs-3-3-5k-acoustic-guitar/ The ...

Last time, I left you with the bridge area of the 'Techno' clamped - with the bridge removed - as corrective surgery for the bridge footprint. If you wish to read about what transpired earlier, you can do so here Guitar repair – Tackling Techno trouble – I After a couple of days, the clamps were released and the process began to remove the belly (a major cause of elevated action). Forty-eight hours in this position and the belly was all but gone. Next step in the 'healing process' was the glueing of the bridge to the top. Enough glue, ...

Some time back, as I stepped out of my house to run an errand, I spotted this man on a scooter with what looked like a guitar gig bag slung over his shoulders. He seemed to be searching for someone or something - phone in hand. Something poked me and I went up to him and asked him 'Lucknow Guitar Garage'? He gave me a broad grin and nodded in the affirmative. The man - an armyman - had just been posted in town. He brought me his guitar If it isn't clear, the name on the headstock reads 'Techno' ...

That is a hobby file - not very thick, but with at least a 1.5-mm thick blade - going easily under a lifting bridge. That was one problem and the other was a huge belly for which the owner had brought in this instrument. It was a Hertz and an old one at that, with string windings over windings. And as soon as I see eight white dots instead of six, I know my favourite things are hiding in the bridge - nuts and bolts. Allow me to rant! This hardware, ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, does precious little ...

If you didn't know what the picture above shows, it is the neck block of a guitar, and loose from the bottom at that. Incidentally, this is just the second Paul Reed Smith that I have seen in the six years since I have returned to India. This was parlour-sized electro-acoustic instrument and the owner came in with a complaint of high action. But as I looked at the bridge to see if it was lifting, there was only dust that I saw. Yes, but it did have a tall, handsome bone saddle and a nut to match and more ...

Worked on this Cort recently, which had a belly and a lifting bridge - naturally, throwing the action out of sync. It also had a tilting saddle And it had seen cleaner days But first take a look at this colourful thing. You know how sceptical I am about bridge glue-ups in the July to October period, but since it was here, I agreed to do it with the disclaimer that I don't guarantee a fix in the first attempt. So, the first order of business was taking the bridge off and cleaning its underside as well as its footprint ...

You probably remember this one from before. So it returned for a bone saddle and nut, and a free set-up (you get one when you get a bone saddle and nut installed at the Garage). As you can see in the picture on the top, the 'G' and 'A' strings have managed to crush the saddle. The owner also complained that there was a slight intonation problem, to which I frankly told him, 'Let me change the saddle and nut, if there's still a problem, we'll look at it then'! It also took some new strings. But before they went ...

After last year's failed attempts at glueing up a bridge and a broken headstock, during these rainy months of July to October, here in North India, I had vowed never to attempt any glue-up job during these months. In fact, I had returned a number of repairs asking them to be addressed elsewhere, or else, to be brought back after October. As June was ending, this young man, a return customer brought in his guitar which had this for a problem This is the bass side of the guitar, while the treble side was fixed solid to the top. The ...

A return customer brought in his two Sire guitars with the same problem: string buzz. All through March-end till now, I have had to deal with this problem. Many times, the dryness of the wood makes the fretwires stand, and a strategic tap is all that is needed to seat them back in place. At other times, you can tap all you want, but the fretwires will not seat. In that case, they have to be filed, recrowned and polished. In earlier posts, I have explained what a pain it is levelling fretwires: for when you file fretwires, you do ...

PREFACE: This blogpost comes to you a day late - for no fault of mine. Saturday night, as I was giving finishing touches to the post, this website stopped responding. In response to my SOS, the website hosting this site, got back to me on Sunday afternoon, worked through the day to find the fault and rectify it. The good news is that your favourite guitar site is up and running again. Last week I left you at the point where I measured the length of the slot in the bridge to select a proper saddle. After I selected an ...

Once every four score and some repair jobs comes a challenge that tests your patience as much as your abilities. What pushed me to take it on was the fact that it brought back memories of my own first guitar, how I lost it, and how it all gave rise to the Lucknow Guitar Garage. The job was so painstakingly laborious and slow that I have decided to divide it into two parts. The young man who brought me the instrument was himself very talented and accomplished. He wished for his 'first love' to breathe again, and as that storm ...