Andy Eagle ( Guitar repair tech for 30 years )

Henry said:
Yesterday I knocked my SG 50s tribute (no neck binding) from a flimsy stand. It took a forward nose dive and didn't play 12th fret notes anymore afterwards. After some panicked troubleshooting I determined that the 13th fret came loose and is sticking out a bit.

Just press it back in with a fret press and apply some super glue on both sides of the fret? (that's one area of guitar maintenance I have never done so far).

I ordered this one from Amazon, hopefully it can do the job:

View attachment 60164
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Yes that will reset a fret but you may need a light dress also to get it perfect.
 
Welcome back, Andy!

You have any tuning/setup tips for hacks like myself who rely on capos too often (because we're too busy at our day jobs to actually practice guitar)? Y'know, besides "Play more"?
 
Digital Igloo said:
Welcome back, Andy!

You have any tuning/setup tips for hacks like myself who rely on capos too often (because we're too busy at our day jobs to actually practice guitar)? Y'know, besides "Play more"?
Click to expand...
The main thing is be very careful how you put your strings on and tune UP to pitch. No more than twice around the post and no overlapping or knotting. Just a sharp right angle bend in the string at the point where it goes through the tuner.
This is 90% of people’s problems. More than any tuners or badly cut nuts. Get this right and broken backlash budget tuners will stay in tune near perfectly.
And Thanks.
 
Hey @Eagle

I know there must be a bazillion tutorials/vids out there, but I feel like so many of them are just talking out of their ass.

What's your tip/approach to having a 6 screw Strat trem dive only in 10-46/9-46? How many springs? Should the spring claw be all against the body? How far should the 6 screws be out? Any other tips? Lubrication?
 
BahamaDada said:
Hey @Eagle

I know there must be a bazillion tutorials/vids out there, but I feel like so many of them are just talking out of their ass.

What's your tip/approach to having a 6 screw Strat trem dive only in 10-46/9-46? How many springs? Should the spring claw be all against the body? How far should the 6 screws be out? Any other tips? Lubrication?
Click to expand...
Hi .
If you have the nut cut properly and don’t use the string trees/ string up with no overlap and only twice around the post you don’t need locking tuners. Get this end working properly then ;
make sure the part on each hole in the base plate is smooth and free from burrs. Check your screws under the head for the first 3/4mm ( smooth no burrs)
Now without strings or springs put in the outside two until they touch the top of the plate but don’t lift the back at all. Then put in the rest until they touch but this time back off a quarter turn.
Now make sure the trem moves freely throughout its travel with no hindrance.
Now fit three springs and string up . You can lube the contact points with chapstick.
You need to set the springs to resist about a full tone on the G without the trem lifting. This should stay in tune pretty well. Remember coming back sharp after trem use or flat after a bend is the nut.
 
Rex said:
Scale length is the total length from the nut to the bridge. It’s not the length of the neck. A 37” truss rod would be longer than the neck itself. Where would you put it?

Your guitar was built to a specific scale length. You don’t want to mess with that.

The truss rod can only act on the part of the neck that’s between the neck joint and the nut, so that’s how long it should be.


But I’m confused — you say you’re building a neck. You’ll have to rout that neck to accept the truss rod. If it’s a preexisting neck, it’s already routed for a truss rod, and there’s already one installed. If you’re building the neck from scratch, take a moment to gather your thoughts. You’re asking questions that indicate that maybe building a neck from scratch is a bit too ambitious at this stage.
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No, I mean the scale length of the bass is currently 33-35”. I want to increase the scale length by building a new neck, adding on to the nut side of the neck (so I don’t have to relocate the bridge). Thing of it as a baritone conversion neck.

So the question is: do I need a super long truss rod? I’m not sure what length rod Dongwalls use, or what the Kalium Quakes are.

I do not want to build a neck from scratch - but I cannot find anyone who is willing to build me one. So it’s either let this bass lie there with a broken neck, or try to make one myself.
 
Hollowway said:
No, I mean the scale length of the bass is currently 33-35”. I want to increase the scale length by building a new neck, adding on to the nut side of the neck (so I don’t have to relocate the bridge). Thing of it as a baritone conversion neck.

So the question is: do I need a super long truss rod? I’m not sure what length rod Dongwalls use, or what the Kalium Quakes are.

I do not want to build a neck from scratch - but I cannot find anyone who is willing to build me one. So it’s either let this bass lie there with a broken neck, or try to make one myself.
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You could just use a rod commercially available that is the closest in length. Your main issue would be working out how to make a new scale length that has the bridge in the same position. You may end up with a strange number of frets.
 
Eagle said:
Hi .
If you have the nut cut properly and don’t use the string trees/ string up with no overlap and only twice around the post you don’t need locking tuners. Get this end working properly then ;
make sure the part on each hole in the base plate is smooth and free from burrs. Check your screws under the head for the first 3/4mm ( smooth no burrs)
Now without strings or springs put in the outside two until they touch the top of the plate but don’t lift the back at all. Then put in the rest until they touch but this time back off a quarter turn.
Now make sure the trem moves freely throughout its travel with no hindrance.
Now fit three springs and string up . You can lube the contact points with chapstick.
You need to set the springs to resist about a full tone on the G without the trem lifting. This should stay in tune pretty well. Remember coming back sharp after trem use or flat after a bend is the nut.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this! I do not know if I did it completely right, but I noodled a bit on the workbench and it was fun to not have it go up.

Again I have two questions...

- Have you ever used the Engl Hardrailer? If yes, what's your verdict on it?

- What's your opinion on locking tuners? On my PRS SE I swapped the stock tuners for the locking ones some time ago. The stock ones were okay, but LTs are just easy to uss. But... I feel like I have less of an angle from tuner to nut (Less windings means string sits higher on the tuner). I will swap back to the normal ones. What's your stance here?
 
BahamaDada said:
Thank you for this! I do not know if I did it completely right, but I noodled a bit on the workbench and it was fun to not have it go up.

Again I have two questions...

- Have you ever used the Engl Hardrailer? If yes, what's your verdict on it?

- What's your opinion on locking tuners? On my PRS SE I swapped the stock tuners for the locking ones some time ago. The stock ones were okay, but LTs are just easy to uss. But... I feel like I have less of an angle from tuner to nut (Less windings means string sits higher on the tuner). I will swap back to the normal ones. What's your stance here?
Click to expand...
The trouble with anything that provides a backstop with the exception of a latched mechanism is that to work properly in the down bend only state requires more spring tension to work properly.
Locking tuners are good because they lessen the angle over the nut and eliminate wrap. You don’t need much angle over the nut to get a clean note and the lost down pressure is only audible on open strings. It’s all a trade off but high pressure on the nut and multiple wraps is not going to work with a trem.
 
Eagle said:
The trouble with anything that provides a backstop with the exception of a latched mechanism is that to work properly in the down bend only state requires more spring tension to work properly.
Locking tuners are good because they lessen the angle over the nut and eliminate wrap. You don’t need much angle over the nut to get a clean note and the lost down pressure is only audible on open strings. It’s all a trade off but high pressure on the nut and multiple wraps is not going to work with a trem.
Click to expand...
Yes, I watched some vids beforehand and they all screwed the Hardtailer in while the trem was floating. That wouldn't work for me as I like to do doublebends. My trem was blocked anyway (wood between cavity and block to prevent it from going down) so I screwed the Hardtailer in while blocked and gave it good tension on the springs so it can withstand a whole note bend on G (as you suggested before). This is on an Ibanez RGA.

Regarding the locking tuners: That's another hardtail PRS SE without a trem (has a wraparound).
 
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