Guitar repair – Tackling Techno trouble – I

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’. Now, I have seen a few of these: laminate guitars but not too bad. This one too fell in the same category – at least it looked the bit. It must have been 4 – 5 years old but even though it neither had strings, nor a saddle, nor any bridgepins, it seemed cared for.

The owner brought it in for a belly bulge and high action. I checked within the guitar but all braces were securely attached where they needed to be. I asked my man if the bridge was lifting and he said, ‘No’.

Just to check, I slipped in a paper and

that was how much the paper was going all the way around the business end of the bridge.

Now, this was an electro-acoustic instrument. The owner complained that sometimes the pick-up works and at others, it doesn’t.  As I fetched into the saddle slot and pulled out the piezo element, I saw that it was pretty hefty and pretty chewed up ( I thought I had clicked a photo of it?). I told the man that replacing the piezo element should do the trick and he agreed to the replacement.

Underneath the piezo element, was hiding my friend – a card shim!

Along with the belly, the bridge, the owner also decided to put in a bone nut and saddle. With so much to be done, I decided to start right away, and to gain access to the all-important bridge area, decided to first take off the bridge. With the bridge out of the way, tackling the belly would be that much easier.

Talking of the bridge, there was a canyon of a crack between the bridgepin holes, which also needed to be addressed.

But the way the bridge ‘crackled’ when my tools tried to make way under it, I knew that nothing but super glue had been used to set the bridge in place. But boy, this bridge fought me tooth and nail before it decided to give in (up?).

Naturally there was tear out but nothing which could not be handled.

And do you see the clean margins all around on the bridge and its footprint? That is where the glue never reached, or, was never applied.

But we’ll come to that later. First, the footprint of the bridge needed to be repaired.  After the necessary steps, the bridge area was clamped down and left to rest.

In the meantime, I got down to cleaning and repairing the bridge.

I must confess that a little dab of dye never hurt any bridge. What say you?

Besides, I also noticed a crack/gouge on the fretboard which would have to be addressed too.

All this and more, next time. Stay tuned!!