Guitar Repair: 5-Step Survival Guide

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Guitar Repair 5-Step
Survival Guide
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Introduction

• You'd rather play your guitar than spend time
  mending it, we know that much. Our practical
  guide to quick and simple modifications and
  repairs, from truss rod tweaking to fret-slot
  fettling, will offer you all the information you
  need, though, if you want it to perform well and
  if you want to be able to depend on it for gigs
  and jam sessions.
• All of our DIY and workshop features have one
  thing in common we want to help guitar owners
  become more self-sufficient while also saving you
  money. If you comprehend the fundamentals and
  practise basic maintenance, you'll be able to
  decide when a trip to the luthier is actually
  necessary and when a quick fix at home will
  suffice.

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• There are apparent similarities between
  maintaining a car and maintaining a guitar, and a
  guitar owner's relationship with the luthier
  frequently resembles that between a car owner and
  their mechanic. For instance, if you've ever
  owned a vintage Alfa Romeo, you may be familiar
  with the term "Italian tune-up." A typical
  scenario is as follows the owner drives
  carefully, never exceeds the speed limit, always
  accelerates gradually, and keeps the rpm well
  below the red line. The owner determines the
  automobile needs a tune-up and takes it to the
  garage every few months though, as it starts to
  feel sluggish and unresponsive.

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• KITS For Guitar Repair

• Here is a list of recommended tools to buy in
  order to complete the bulk of common guitar
  maintenance tasks
• a string winder, pliers with wire snips, a
  soldering iron, a multimeter, a variety of flat-
  and cross-head screwdrivers, lighter fluid,
  fingerboard oil, a socket set, truss rod tools,
  finish reviver, spare batteries, and a set of
  Allen keys.

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Truss Rod Essential

• Truss rod adjustment is the normal guitar
  maintenance procedure that most closely resembles
  the Italian tune-up comparison. If you do some
  research on the topic, you'll come across grave
  cautions about the risks associated with amateurs
  using truss rod wrenches and how this delicate
  process should be left to "trained luthiers."
  It's unclear what qualifies as a "qualified
  luthier," but on your next visit, consider asking
  to check your luthier's credentials.
• It should go without saying that every "certified
  luthier" had to start somewhere most likely,
  they did exactly the things we'll be teaching you
  to accomplish in this section.

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• Your truss rod needs adjusting if the distance
  between the strings and the 7th and 8th frets is
  larger or smaller than usual.
• Returning to truss rods, technicians find that
  their workload increases twice a year when
  customers request that their guitars be set up.
  These times typically correspond with the weather
  turning colder in the fall and milder in the
  spring.

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• Most often, these weather fluctuations will cause
  necks to bow up or down the telltale signs
  include a shift in a guitar's motion and slightly
  incorrect intonation. Considering how unlikely it
  is for a bridge's height or saddles to have
  changed on their own (because they cannot move on
  an acoustic), any quick change must be attributed
  to a neck reacting to changes in atmospheric
  conditions. The fact that necks move somewhat
  constantly may be the reason why some days your
  guitar plays better than others. If you switch to
  a different string gauge or even a new brand of
  the same gauge, truss rod adjustment can also be
  required.

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• Ideally, truss rod adjustments are performed with
  the neck under tension from the strings, but this
  is frequently not possible with necks
  manufactured in the original Fender design.
  Fortunately, you don't need to completely remove
  the neck to complete the task however, you must
  immediately loosen the strings. Before removing
  the neck screws, we advise placing a capo on the
  first fret to keep the strings coiled around the
  tuner posts and in the nut slots. In order to
  observe the truss rod screw, try to gently raise
  the neck in its pocket.

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2. Defects In Electronics

• Every electric guitar occasionally makes
  unwelcome electrical noises, and we've all
  occasionally experienced "pot scratch fever." The
  all-too-common signs include hum, intermittent
  jacks, sticky switches, and crackly pots. When
  these things occur, it's all too tempting to take
  everything out and replace it, but repairs are
  frequently a quicker and more cost-effective
  option than replacement. Since noisy pots are the
  most frequent electronic issue, let's start
  there. We must first ascertain whether the
  scratchy noise is actually coming from the volume
  pot or something else. To determine whether
  another guitar also sounds rough, try switching
  to it.

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• If every guitar you play through your amp sounds
  scratchy, the issue is probably stray amp current
  leaking through the guitar cord.
• See if the noise issue is resolved by inserting a
  buffered pedal between your guitar and amplifier.
  Any Boss pedal will work, and a lot of tuners are
  buffered as well. It's time to call the amp tech
  rather than your luthier if this stops the
  scratchiness. By the way, buffered pedals can
  also sometimes fix scratchy wah pedals.

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3. Socket To 'EM

• Switches can become loud and rigid with use. In
  reality, the 1963 Olympic White Strat that was
  the subject of our previous issue had a switch
  that hardly moved when it was delivered. We added
  3-In-1 oil to the pivot point of the switch after
  Servisol was sprayed onto the contacts, and we
  allowed it to absorb. The 55-year-old switch
  began to function like it was brand-new after a
  short while. Jack sockets can occasionally become
  unreliable if this happens, twist the cable near
  the output socket and strike a chord. Try a
  different cable if the signal keeps cutting in
  and out if it stops, the problem is with the
  cable rather than the output socket.

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4. Tuner Advice

• Tuners are a good example of how moving guitar
  parts frequently need maintenance. They may go
  one way and feel sloppy and loose with time, or
  they may go the other way and feel stiff or even
  stiffen up. So, is it time for a new tuner? No,
  not always.
• Starting with the open-geared tuners that are
  frequently seen on acoustics, Gretsches, and
  other instruments, let's move on. Each tuner is
  fixed to the headstock by two screws that are
  typically found on the gear plate. After
  unscrewing the screw securing the gear to the
  string post, remove the screws necessary to
  remove the tuner. After everything has been
  disassembled, the metal components can be cleaned
  using a cotton bud dipped in naphtha (lighter
  fluid).

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• There might be a tonne of dried grease and caked
  filth there. After cleaning, put petroleum jelly
  in between all the moving components, wipe out
  any extra, and then reinstall the tuners on the
  instrument. In the gear housings of Kluson-style
  tuners, the grease also has a tendency to harden.
  Remove the guitar tuners, warm them up on a
  heater or using a hairdryer, and then soak the
  gear housings in naphtha. With really stiff or
  seized tuners, you may need to soak them in the
  naphtha for a while before you can force it in
  with a syringe.

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5. Common Nut Issues

• Unless youre buying a reasonably high-end
  guitar, most guitars are shipped with nuts that
  have relatively shallow string slots. Cutting nut
  slots to a perfect depth takes time, which isnt
  conducive to mass-producing guitars. Cutting them
  just deep enough so the guitar plays, but high
  enough to prevent the open strings buzzing
  against the 1st fret, ensures that there will be
  no rejects. The problem here is that high nut
  slots tend to make open chords sound out of tune.

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• Bone nut slots can be filled with baking soda and
  then a drop of water-thin Super Glue can be
  added, which should be allowed to wick into the
  powder and set firm, preferably overnight. You
  can also use bone dust, but you'll need to recut
  the slot with a needle file or the proper string
  covered in abrasive paper. If the slot was just
  slightly too low to begin with, add a small
  amount of powder rather than filling it
  completely.

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Regular Maintenance

• Some guitarists fail to tell the difference
  between beautiful vintage patina and plain old
  dirt and never clean their instruments. Although
  it's a matter of opinion, we believe that
  routinely cleaned and maintained guitars function
  more consistently.
• Make it a practise to clean your strings after
  jamming or performing with a clean cloth or a
  specialised string cleaner. By cleaning sweat,
  grease, and filth from your strings, these
  treatments are inexpensive, quick, and simple to
  use. They may also last longer, which will save
  you money.
• Try cleaning your fingerboard while performing a
  routine string change two or three times a year.