Scott's Guitar Blog

Walnut and Cedar Jumbo Building

Here's a new guitar I'm building for a nice young new Dad in Idaho...I figured I'd share this the week after Father's Day with him, and all of you! It is a Claro Walnut  cutaway body, with a Cedar top jumbo...it will have a big, warm, massage-like quality to it, with just enough bang to give it some power.  I can't wait to finish it! These photos show my 10 year old son watching me glue on the lining clamps as I explain how important they are structurally..."These little guys are what hold the top to the rim...we need to make sure they're on really right!"

You can see the rim and linings being installed both without and with the back joined to the rim. Please visit my website CustomGuitars.com to see more on these topics!

J-200 Bridge Woes

This 70's Gibson J-200 had the kiss of death tone killing hardware that breaks the "don't modify" rule.
There was an internal strut similar to a "bridge doctor" device running across the soundboard under the bridge, with a 1" steel pad on a threaded bolt, designed to push up against the top for stability. All it did was kill vibration and thusly tone. It is common to remove this device, thus enabling the soundbaord to vibtrate more freely, and also lighten the overall weight of the guitar.

This article picks up after that was done, addressing the horrible "Tune-o-matic" bridge insert, (as in Les Paul designs) which sat in a huge routed channel in the rosewood bridge. This tone-killing monstrosity virtually ruined any chance of this guitar sounding good!

What I did was to remove all screws, bushings, and metal posts from the guitar, replace the worn bridge plate with an exact matching maple plate (MINUS all the hardware holes), machine out an exact color and grain piece of Brazilian Rosewood to plug into the hole in the bridge, level it, reslot the bridge, and make a proper bone saddle. The customer was thrilled, and when it was done, it sounded better than most j-200s I've ever heard. This is because the soundboard was free to vibrate, and the saddle/bridge transfered the energy correctly to the top.

Please check out my website for more on custom guitars, and guitar repair!