I am outside the country for a little break, but while here, an interested reader raised a query which has resulted in this blog post. His question was which tool I used to lower the string slots of a nut. I told him I used nothing, because I never lower the slots! As eyebrow-raising as […]
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This was one helluva job III (the add-ons)
When you do such extensive work, like what I did on this Hobner, a little extra effort, a little something from my side, helps sweeten the deal for the customer. Plus, if there is something that does not sit easy in your eye, how can you just let it go? After I had swapped the […]
This was one helluva job II (tackling issues)!
Last week, you took a look at the problems. This week, you shall see me sorting them out. The order in which I decided to go about the work was this: Take off bridge Clean bridge and area on top where it would sit Clean guitar body of epoxy glue Glue bridge back Install new […]
This was one helluva job (and it ain’t over yet)!
The rains is a time when all glueing jobs should be avoided. If imperative, enough time and ventilation should be available for the job to succeed. REMEMBER YOU READ IT, AND READ IT HERE FIRST! Despite knowing that I undertook this job, and boy, did this guitar fight back! Read all about it later. First, […]
A shattered nut makes this 12-string a dull boy!
Ladies and gentlemen, another 12-string visitor that I had the pleasure of giving my attention to. And like I had said some time back, the same make and model guitars visit in twos and threes, by some quirk of nature. So, here is another Pluto! What made it special was that it was a daughter’s […]
Hertz – a chip, a pickguard and a ‘bone upgrade’
The footnote on this page – as also on all other posts – reads that if you are sentimentally attached to your instrument, its value in terms of money means nothing. It could be a Rs1,000 guitar or one hundred times that value but because it means so much to you, and you bring it […]
New strings and some TLC for this Hobner!
This is the last of my friend’s guitars that I attended to, and it sent me back some 30 years, when I started playing the instrument myself. Then, in India, a proper guitar meant a Hobner. Here’s a little side story for you. The German brand Hofner was established in 1887 and gave Sir Paul […]
Troublesome, tilting saddles, the Ashton kind!
So, the next of my friend’s guitars that I took a look at was called an ‘Ashton’. I was unfamiliar with the brand so I looked it up. I learnt that it was an Australian company based in Sydney, which got its instruments made in China (at least that is what the label inside the […]
Leaning saddles are…tilting towards TROUBLE!!!!
Recently, a former colleague landed up at my place with not one, not two but three guitars for me to have a look at! So, the next three guitars that you are going to read about in this blog, all belong to him. The first one that I took a look at was this one. […]
Miraculous sound transformation in this one!
Most guitar repairmen often say this, but I am only realising it now: guitars come in batches! Last week I worked on the same model of the same company and this week, its sibling lands up. The week before last it was a Yamaha F310. If you consider price range, all three guitars are more […]
The Ibanez returns – for strings and bone elements!
I had worked on this guitar some time back though it was only a bit of tuning up that was required then. Recently, it returned for a string change and slight action-correction. I noticed that the saddle and nut were plastic (yes, that is the first thing I notice when instruments are brought to me), […]
A visit by a troubled Yamaha F310
After a long, long time, a proper guitar on the counter top and as you can probably notice, not too used also: the pickguard still carried the skin from the manufacturers! The lady player brought it in on the recommendation of an acquaintance, who is my customer and also an avid reader of this blog. […]
Attention parents: Here’s why you should never buy a Rs 3 – 3.5K acoustic guitar
The period of lockdown has been cataclysmic for most of us, with people wondering what to do with their time. During this period, I have received umpteen calls from children and parents asking if I also sell guitars. My answer in the negative must have been a disappointment for them but I did also guide […]
How to take the smell out of a smelly guitar
The next in the how-to series is how to deodorise a smelly acoustic. But before we do that, first, we must understand how a guitar gets “smelly”. Normally, when an acoustic guitar leaves the factory or the maker, it carries that distinctive smell of wood, varnish and paint. But over the years, due to our […]
Stringing a steel string guitar – how to
A young customer, a student, recently messaged me asking me to teach him how to restring a guitar. While I thought about how to explain to him, I also wondered that often, we talk about big issues, leaving the simplest and the most essential things unexplained. So, I decided that in this blog post, I […]
Hardly any ‘Pleasure’!
This is the second of the ‘clean-up’ jobs and the guitar was ironically labelled ‘Pleasure’. I was in half a mind to ask the chief minister to get me PPE for this – exactly the type that our Covid-19 warriors don. Take a look at what state this was brought to me in. Why do […]
Cleaning caked dust and years of grime off this one!
Do you believe in fate? I have begun to, after last Sunday! Remember, last Sunday, I talked about how you can clean and maintain your acoustic guitar with household items/products? Around noon, a person landed at my doorstep with not one but two guitars that looked as if they had been excavated from under years of […]
Clean your acoustic guitar – with household products!
What makes you go, ‘Wowwww!!!’ when you see a car or a motorcycle? For me, it is when the vehicle is without a speck of dust and grime on it, looks polished, and gives that general look that it is well-cared for. It shows the character of the person driving it too. Of the many, […]
Should you shim your saddle/nut?
That acoustic beauty that you had been eyeing for a long time, you buy and it finally arrives at your doorstep. You rip open the packaging, tune up the instrument but discover that due to a rather low saddle/nut, your brand new guitar is buzzing. Scenario 2: The deal that you’re getting on that old […]
Pesky string buzz, causes and getting rid of it
Hello there, wonderful, beautiful people!!!! Last Sunday, we discussed why particular strings break and what to do to avoid it. This Sunday, we shall dwell upon that godawful problem: string buzz. For those of you who have not encountered it, God bless you, you are fortunate. And then again, maybe you are experiencing it even […]
Every time I change strings, my G (E/ A/ D/ B/ e) string breaks!
Hello, fellow guitarists! How are you holding up? How is practise in lockdown holding up? For all those who used to point towards a paucity of time, now there is no reason. But getting back to the issue, before we discuss it in detail, know that the G string is actually the thinnest string of […]
What’s the buzz about this Ibanez in lockdown?
Hello, peoples!!!! How hangs it with you folks during the lockdown? Yeah! It was pretty boring for me too till this beauty of an Ibanez (V50NJP) landed up on the workbench, buzzing worse than a mosquito in heat! Thing was that the nut – and thankfully, it was a bone nut – on the otherwise […]
Intonation on a few strings on my guitar is out
There are many reasons that may cause this issue. But to understand it completely, one must first understand intonation itself. Intonation is the accuracy of the pitch of a note sounded. When you tune your guitar you do so by plucking the open (unfretted) strings. On fretting, the tension on the string increases, which generally […]
Cracks: whys and what to do about them
The reasons for cracks appearing in acoustic guitars may be twofold. Firstly, due to weather (humidity) changes, and secondly, due to accidents. While the latter you may not always be in a position to control, the former you can almost always prevent. Humidity related cracks Here, in North India, as we head into the […]