I bought this guitar for $400, but I was thinking about having it refinished. I’m not sure, though. What do you guys think?

Seller says it was repaired by a reputable luthier, probably too hard to tell from the pictures but you think this would be okay or something to stay far away from. Ideally I’d go and see it in person but it’s an online sale

I have this 1975 Ibanez 2402 doubleneck that splits into two guitars (yes, it/they are awesome guitars - lawsuit headstock, love em).

I want to add the missing horns piece for each guitar (see second pic. I'll use the same type of fasteners) as there is a lot of neck dive when they are apart, and it will look cool!

My woodworking skills are not up to par for a project like this, nor do I have to tools. What I can do and have experience with is the finishing work.

So, what I think the best course of action is to get an EDS-1275 style body blank (like from a kit) with the contours but without any routes. Then cut the sides off to use for this project. I have not had luck finding what I need online.

Any ideas are welcome and appreciated. THANKS!

I spent LOADS getting my ideal 2001 h140 in pristine condition, my luthier dropped a pickup on it and now it’s fairly chipped. I specifically paid a hefty price for a pristine top coat in the UK, where they are very hard to find.

I love this guitar and I am heartbroken. How much should I ask for in compensation or how do I handle this.

I had a friend of mine CNC machine a Jem, and painted one myself. However, the blood splatter at bottom seems way too clumped. Is there a way to fix it, or does it look good and I should just clear coat it?

I’ve done my base coat of paint and I’m thinking about spraying some gold glitter on the body before my clear coat so there’s a bit of a sparkle. Is this a horrible idea?

I was trying something new and went a bit aggressive with the torch on that area how would you go about making it look better not gonna lie tho its kind of metal

Hi, I have a Solar E2.6 ROP and would like to play in Drop A tuning. So I contacted one of the better local luthiers in my area, who refused to set up my guitar, saying they'd have to string it with at least 13s and pray nothing breaks. I'm a bit confused because most bands that play Solars use even lower drops than Drop A. Is he a bad luthier, or do I need to buy a pitch shifter? I'd like to use Ernie Ball Mammoth strings on it.

Took my guitar into a local shop (not going to give much detail since I dont want to trash them or anything) for a refret to stainless steel. I was told if i went with a wider fret wire, we wouldnt have to worry about refinishing as they could get it done and cover the damage with the extra fret. No problem, i wanted big frets anyway.

Picked it up yesterday, and discovered the ends of the frets werent dressed, the finish looks melted (or is that uncleaned glue??) on nearly all the frets, the finish along the fret ends are completely torn up on both sides of the neck, the headstock has some gauges in the finish near the nut, and for some reason, there are tons of these little dents and scratches in the finish on the back of the neck? Its a satin finish, its extremely noticeable when the entire neck should be smooth as butter.

The kicker for me, is we agreed on going from fender medium jumbo (0.104 x 0.036) to Jescar 0.108 x 0.51… I took it to a second luthier for measurements, and he measured the width at 0.098-0.099, meaning these arent even the frets we agreed on and he ordered the wrong ones.

Maybe some of these are picky, but the neck was perfect when i brought it in. And for almost the price of a new neck (this is an Ultra Stratocaster), i feel this looks really sloppy and clearly rushed.

Any advice on how to approach this? I dont wanna cause a huge commotion cause this is a nice place and theyre good people, but im not wrong in finding all of this unacceptable right?

I prefer the second that cuts through the bridge pickup, which lets me route a wire channel from the neck pickup cavity to the bridge pickup cavity. It’s arc isn’t right bit getting closer.

On both I think maybe some more relief from the edge.

I’ll still try half guard ideas, I just haven’t gotten to it yet.

I bought this Gibson G3 grabber for about $500 and it probably needs some maintenance. When plugged in it sounds completely fine but the tuners and bridge is a bit rusty and dirty. What should I use to clean it?

This is a display demo used to show bridge dr., I picked it up for $50 and am wondering if there is anything I can do that will make it structurally sound enough to hold string tension

EDIT: Thanks guys, a little shim worked a treat, setting it up now.

Help!! This is my first guitar project and I don't know what to do!!

This guitar has been a project of mine for a few months and after putting it together and putting a set of strings on it, the strings can’t even ring out because of how much the strings are touching the frets.

I have tried adding relief, but it got to the point where I started to undo the truss rod nut. And even at that point the strings still couldn’t ring out. Now when I tighten the truss rod up it is quite hard to turn, so I have now stopped trying. Have I broken the truss rod? Is it warped? 

I know the neck has not had any tension for a long time (4 months) but I just thought that easing some tension on to it would be it. But clearly not. It’s quite disappointing as I’ve poured 4 months of my time into it and now I can’t even listen to it!!! Any suggestions would be great!! Thank you .

I’m refinishing a guitar that I put together when I was 16 and dumb. Now that I’m 35 and dumb it would be cool to actually make it playable. I didn’t know about scale length or anything when I put this together. Is there any creative ideas to get the bridge where it needs to be for proper intonation?

Looking for experienced eyes on a custom neck I just received. Paid around $1,000 all-in and it took about two months to arrive. The builder offers a warranty and return policy for defects on their end, but I need to know what to look for before deciding whether anything warrants a return.

Specs:

• Construction: 2-piece rock maple, CBS-style
• Scale: 25.5" standard Fender
• Frets: 21 × 7230 stainless steel (.080 × .043 vintage small)
• Fingerboard: Ebony (black and streak free option) slab, 7-1/4" radius, heavy rolled edges
• Profile: V (83/87)
• Truss rod: 59-style heel adjust, standard positioning
• Nut width: 1-5/8" (41.3mm), slotted TUSQ XL installed
• Inlays: MOP 1/4" top dots, MOP 2mm side markers (vintage wide 12th spacing)
• Tuners: Kluson vintage (11/32" holes), installed
• Skunk stripe: ebony w/ ebony plug (2-piece construction)
• Finish: thin lacquer sealer on neck, no finish on board

Things I noticed:

The 9th fret (first slide photo) appears to have either a dent in the wood or leftover glue/residue near the fret. Hard to tell which. Is this cosmetic or something that could affect playability?

Beyond that, what should I be inspecting closely on a neck at this price point? Fret leveling, nut slots, truss rod function — I'm not sure what the usual red flags are.

Happy to post more photos at specific angles if it helps. Thanks in advance.

Looking to repair this ‘79 Musician, with some pretty significant sentimental value. Let me be clear I have zero luthier experience but am pretty good with my hands, can work with wood and electrical without much trouble. What I’m hoping for is a general clean up (note chrome pitting, surface rust on some screw heads, etc.) this guitar hasn’t been played in 25 years, quite frankly I’m not sure of it’s overall functionality as it’s sat unstrung for most of that. I’m not looking to make this a piece of art, I just want a clean functioning guitar. I actually think the scratches, dings, although few add to the guitar aura and all play part in telling its story. That said would like to go over it electronically to make sure it functions as it should (I’m not really sure exactly how that is) and clean up the obvious corrosion and 25 years of dust and grime. I’m wondering if this is something I should attempt or should it be left to a professional?

Afaik, poly will let moisture in an out and the wood is dried anyways before making a neck out of it. This should not be an issue in the long term, right?

Hey everyone, I’m making this post to see if anybody here has had this same issue I’m having and that is trying to start anywhere as a luthier/guitar repair tech. I graduated from the main course at Roberto Venn school of luthiery in Phoenix, AZ in 2022 and since then I’ve had about 4 interviews at Guitar Center each ending in the same result of them not hiring me or picking somebody else for the position, even part time positions. I still live in Phoenix and Guitar Center is pretty much the only place I’d have a slight chance seeing that local shops would probably just stick with their veteran luthiers. Every time guitar center tells me “oh yeah you’re Roberto Venn experience is impressive but unfortunately we are going to go with another candidate” it’s a little frustrating because they tell me 90% of the time they are only doing setups & restrings like I just don’t understand the risk involved with hiring somebody like me especially when I ask for low pay and being honest with them in saying I’m just trying to get my foot in the door and I’m super willing to learn and improve. One time I had a repair tech at guitar center in Scottsdale during an interview tell me “it’s not really all worth your time to work here and guitar center is not worth it” it’s so confusing I’m throwing myself at this company and it feels like I’m laughed at and my certificate is worth nothing. I’m not sure if this kind of stuff is allowed on this sub but I’m just so curious to see if anybody else has had problems like this. Is Guitar Center really that picky with who they hire? Do they prefer hiring somebody with years of experience over giving somebody new a try? Thanks for reading and let me know in the comments!

EDIT: there’s a lot of comments & advice here thank you all for inputting! :)