GuitArcher

A few weeks ago, I came across a 1989 Made in Korea Squier Stratocaster for sale or trade,  nearly identical to my first electric guitar.  Like so many other guitar stories you read on the internet, I sold it in pursuit of something more, and have regretted it ever since. It did get me thinking about why I sold it though, and it's something I need to remind myself of on a near constant basis - If your guitar is not agreeing with you, the problem is your maintenance of the guitar, not the guitar's relationship with the magical voodoo fairies. This one is listed at $425. Let Me Count the Reasons I really did love that Squier Stratocaster, right up until I started to get "good enough" to notice some problems.   First and foremost, the guitar wasn't in tune up the neck.  With new strings it was barely noticeable, but as they aged, it became maddening.  For a 13 year old playing "Nothing Else Matters" over and over again, it was unacceptabl...

Work continued on the Ses Taul today.  With the buzzing seeming to come from a nut too low, I was set on raising my new right nut. I had decided against more TUSQ.  With shimming material lying around, I figured I could cut and sand a piece down, saving me material and time. In short, I'm an idiot. LET'S LEARN THE HARD WAY!!!! I set my plan in motion, using the utility knife to cut the rough shape of the piece I would need.  The idea was to use the thinnest end of the shim (the looked solid). Like tracing, but with a knife Unfortunately, it became apparent that even at it's thinnest, the shim was much too high.  Sandpaper seemed to be the solution, right? Even the slide player thinks this is too high Except not, because after 15 minutes of rubbing a tiny piece of wood on some scratchy paper (how's that for technical?), this happened: Oh for F$%K sake. I went through the process again, but was finding myself frustrated by the time it wa...

...where "right" is a synonym for "correct".  What do you think I meant? A quick trip to the local music store and I scored a TUSQ graphite nut in the appropriate size.  The color is a bit off from the aged yellow of the binding, but actually matches the color of the inlays better.  I also sanded off the excess glue from fret board between the nut and the first fret. No more creepy shine on the board.

So this morning I returned to the cave to examine the Stagg. Things were good: The smell was gone.  The neck hadn't snapped. Excellent. I decided to grab the bridge and tailpiece and string it up.  May as well find out if I can tune and intonate it, right? Holding it in playing position, I noticed the nut was hanging past the edge of the high e side of the neck. Dammit Janet. The glue all over the fret board indicated that the nut job was a shit show, and this pretty much confirmed it.  The nut spacing was clearly wrong for the neck, and the nut was seated improperly (too much glue for one..). In the pic below you can see the overhang.  How did I miss this? TOO BIG MAN!!! Well, a bit of wiggling and some light prying with the Gerber and POP - Nut is off. Busted a nut.  Phrasing. This is probably a good thing.  I can use a razor blade to clean off the excess glue, head to a music store and get an appropriate nut blank.  Whil...

A few months ago, a family member came to town on a visit. He brought a guitar. I had mentioned on a previous visit that I had taken some of mine apart and replaced parts, and he was eager to find out what I could do with his. Challenge accepted? Well, I've let it sit around for a few months, but I've finally made some progress... But we've got a long way to go.