Guitar Nerds Anonymous

I love the colour, gonna be a banger!

Guitar humidifiers, what should I buy? Thinking about my acoustics but are they a good idea for solid body guitars as well?

OK, I think I've found the answer, just need to find somewhere that has them in stock...

1 Attachment

So now I've been told by someone else not to bother with a humidifier as it may actually damage my guitars... What sayest thou?

Isn't it hot and dry where you are?
Isn't this all part of the aging process that makes old guitars sound ace?

Hot and humid down here, I'm probably just babying the new acoustic more than I need to... We're coming into summer so it's gonna get pretty toasty, just wanna protect it as it'll probably move a little bit as a new guitar... But I dunno, could all be absolute bollocks! 🙃

I received the cabinet for my princeton reverb build today, glad I went with the blonde tolex. I've made decent progress with the amp, PCB is populated and soldered and I've started wiring up the chassis. Anxious to get this finished :-)

1 Attachment

whoa that's nice. where's the kit from?

The amp kit is from Uraltone in Finland, and I got the cabinet separately from a builder in Belgium (selling on ebay). There's some lead time on the cabs, but price vs. quality seems excellent.

So the guy restoring my 59 Junior broke the neck on it... 54 years without a break and this joker snaps it after having it for just a couple of months... He had it hung up from a strap button, that failed, came into his workshop to find it in two bits... He says he's done an invisible repair, I haven't seen it yet... Crestfallen...

He called me at lunchtime, I'm still in fucking shock... 😟

Oof, sorry to hear that. Proper stuff of nightmares, both hanging up guitars and traditional strap buttons fill me with dread.

Is it insured?

Is the luthier insured? Sounds like he broke it then went ahead and fixed it without telling you...

Really sorry to hear about this, I'd be gutted

I'd be fucking furious. How much value has he wiped off it?

And who hangs a guitar from a strap button?

that's some pretty shoddy behaviour. is it salvageable at least?

it might be covered on your home insurance policy under accidental damage, but I guess you couldn't just replace it anyway.
Will the repair make it "good as new"?

He reckons he's fixed it so you can't see the break... Thing is I was in so much shock when he called I couldn't process what he was telling me, my jaw actually fucking dropped... I was at work, only took the call cuz I thought he was gonna say it was ready to pick up, I was so excited...

There's no way out of this, this really isn't the restoration I was hoping for... I'll get him to finish the job I guess, not sure what to do about payment, whole situation is fucked!

You could argue I'm being overdramatic, it wasn't a museum piece, there was loads wrong with it but he's just fucked it up way more so I'm either gonna have to suck it up or go the insurance route... Gutted!! 😟

PS The dude is a really nice guy, he is horrified this has happened and I know he's done everything in his power to make things right... You can't unbreak a neck tho', that's the tough bit... I'm going over to talk to him tomorrow as well as see what the repair looks like... I've kinda got the feeling like when you've just been burgled, very strange... Just a bit brokenhearted really, silly, I know... It's just a fucking guitar!!

You could argue I'm being overdramatic, it wasn't a museum piece

No, it's an easy out for him to say that it had lost all it's value just because it was being repainted. It's a bit careless. If you're in the business of restoring any '59... imagine it had been a Standard instead? Imagine you hadn't wanted a solid colour? I'm angry for you!

I assume it's the headstock? It's very possible to fix that invisibily, and at the same time make the joint much stronger than it used to be. Whether you'll notice it once it's in your hands, I guess that's a judgement call.

I can't believe he'd try to charge you for the neck repair.

I guess it's almost redeemable if he does ALL the work for free and offers you some form of compensation for doing irreversible damage to a valuable an irreplaceable instrument he was supposed to be looking after.

I know Gibson headstock repairs are common and repairs can be stronger and near-invisible, but as you say, it can't be unbroken.

He's not gonna charge for that, that would be MADNESS!! We'll discuss money tomorrow but nothing is gonna take that broken neck taste out of my mouth, even a free refin... It's just a totally fucking shit situation... He was careless and it's cost me...

It's actually made me feel a bit nauseous...

Oh man that's awful. Like you say, there's no outcome that doesn't suck, but I hope he has a damned good go at making it up to you.

After much soul searching I've resolved the cracked neck issue... I took a closer look at the photos of the repair last night and the paint looked fucking terrible... He's blown a colour over the entire area and then tried to paint grain in, it's terrible...

Went up to see it this morning, he'd redone it and it was way better but I could still see the site of the repair, the whole area was ever so slightly darker. I wouldn't be able to look at it ever again if I left it like that...

So late last night I decided the best thing to do would be to get the whole guitar sprayed black and give it a new lease of life as something a bit different. Toyed with the idea of TV again and decided black was more apt in the circumstances...

I won't be paying him, I won't be dragging his name through the mud, we'll both walk away hopefully having learnt something from the experience... For my part, I've come away from the deal with a finish I didn't originally want and a cracked neck, he has put a lot of other stuff right but that pales compared to the crack... He showed me how it was hung, he screws a hook into the strap hole and hangs it with the headstock pointing towards the floor... Can't believe he didn't check the strap hole to make sure it was safe to hang it...

I also took him to task for not contacting me before doing the repair, he'd already drilled out the wood around the studs without asking me (it had been filled with softwood plugs at some point 🤷🏻‍♂️) so was quite happy to just go ahead and do his own thing without asking me, not best practice...

Anyway, onwards and upwards... Sorry fucking episode, I've been depressed, angry and homicidal in equal measure since Wednesday...

On the upside I'll be taking delivery of something that looks a bit like this sometime soon...

PS The guitar originally cost me fuck all, there were a ton of things wrong with it to begin with, the only thing right with it was the neck so it was never gonna be a museum grade instrument... I thought about legal action but soon realised the only people to benefit from that would be the lawyers, the luthier is a nice guy, I think he may have been a little arrogant, doubt he'll be that from now, and he panicked... I do believe he was trying to make things right but all he actually did was dig himself a deeper hole... Anyway, hoping for no more disasters between now and getting the guitar back...

2 Attachments

What a bag of fucking nails. Retaining your humanity is the worst part of these situations. It’s never nice to go postal on someone, especially when they know they fucked up. Good you’ve got an outcome you’re alright with. Move on quick mate. Have a good old rage blast on the JCM900 when you get it back.

I didn't go postal at the guy at all, I did tell him how fucked off I was then he tried to come over all sensitive and 'attacked' and I was forced to remind him who had just had their fucking treasured guitar destroyed... That shut him up pretty quick...

Anyway, I'm excited to get it back now... Might have to join a punk band so I can take it out with the white one as a spare!

I’m looking for for a Roland re201 space echo. Getting harder to find.. anyone have one or know of one for sale around £800? Not after a minter, even consider one that needs work so long as the motor hasn’t burnt out.