This was a “budget build” from Twitch, using a donor heirloom guitar that belonged to my father. Some build decisions were made to keep costs down. Scratches are from a lawn chair arm. I fiddled with the nut and shimmed it. Needless to say I wasn’t happy with it so I took it in for professional repair lol. PS. I’m embarrassed to say I strung those strings in the wrong order. 😮
That's completely understandable and has been a thing for years. Coincidentally the Star Trek episode that just aired included a plot point that a piece of the first ship named Enterprise had been included in the current ship named Enterprise. I did not know that was a thing for navy ships. Personally, I've been asked to do that (include bits of wood of sentimental value in a commissioned item). And I think every guitarist has done that while stringing their guitar. Worst is when you do it with the B and high E, you've already trimmed the excess, and now you don't have enough length to do it correctly.
"There's a difference between something that looks hand made versus something that looks home made." Haha, that's great. I'm definitely stealing that one!
Well as he said it was still visible and if you see for a moment the light shone at a different angle and the gluing was visible in comparison to the original finish. Although you would not be able to feel it you can see it but as Ted said it was never disappearing it could only be made to feel like light playwear.
When you were filing the nut, I unconsciously blew air at the screen to clear the dust! 😅 Your videos are evidently physically engaging as well. Great work as always.
I finally understand that the instruments themselves are the characters of the format, especially now, where most viewers probably have seen most of the techniques you show on a regular basis. This guitar is a strong character if I’ve ever seen one. You basically are some type of curator: always informed and very knowledgeable in the eyes of most viewers I reckon. The fruits of the research which you present really helps the storytelling aspect and engagement I feel.
Didn’t think I was going to hear something like “Certain Scandinavian runic inscriptions on standing stones” on a guitar video. But that’s why I keep coming back. These types of videos scratch all my nerd itches
Meth is a hell of a drug. 😆 Seriously though, the runic inscription didn't look that odd to me. It's a shame someone painted it with a broom then got all groovy with it, but whadda ya gonna do? 🤷♂
@@tiki_trash It's the orientation and the direction of the lettering. That plus the slogan itself are legitimate historical relics. I don't think this was exactly a top grade instrument for its time. I like it when people personalize their instruments like I used to personalize my notebooks in school. It says, "This instrument is an expression of me, and no one else." The next owner (if there is one) can refinish it and do their own thing with it. It's a kind of total commitment. And if the original owner grew in their career to be someone famous or legendary, that guitar might be worth more than a 59 Les Paul. You never know! 🙂
Jeez, I think Clyde just started carving without a whole lot of planning. Had to follow the curve of the guitar when he underestimated how much space he needed. With 😂
The esteemed Ernst Leitz Optical company of Germany used Canada balsam glues way back in the 1930s on their world famous Leica camera lenses and rangefinders. An unfortunate consequence of using these organic glues was that if the camera was stored in a humid environment, the glue became an ideal medium for fungus to grow, which could actually etch into the glass elements, thus rendering lenses worthless that are today highly desirable and can sell for thousands. As a erstwhile avid Leica collector, I saw many otherwise fine examples of ultra rare lenses that were damaged beyond repair due to this. When buying these older cameras, the first thing you would do is open the back and take a good sniff (the schnozzola test) to determine if there was a 'fungus among us'... (Sorry , I couldn't resist; your mention of the Canada balsam glues brought back an intense wave of nostalgia. Or was that neuralgia?)
I love guitars; collect them, wrk on them and cherish them. I fabricate metal professionally & wrk at a garage on weekends. Unfortunately I’m kinda losing all of these things to a cyst in my spinal cord pushing it out internally that spans 5 vertebrae causing significant numbness/tingling in a couple of my fingers of my right hand. Basically thank you for your videos. Sometimes little things keep you going.
Yeah. My best friend and guitarist for my old band has recently suffered a minor stroke. His fine motor skills are shot (writing is almost impossible for him). He's afraid to pick up a guitar and find he can no longer play.
Hey man, wishing you well through this challenge to your health. Follow up with the doctors and therapists things can change for the better. A couple of blown discs gimped my right arm for about five years, it was a tough time, lots of loss but we can rebuild take good care of yourself and get back to all those things you love to do eh!
I've had a lifetime of neck, back and knee problems. I feel better after losing some weight. It's been a balancing act to keep moving without getting incapacitated. Blood has to flow to those disc.
Jep, looking at the headstock it absolutely printed paper, you can quite clearly see the matrix from printing. And now we know how one can make "semi-custom" guitars that cheaply - by simply cutting every corner available.
These scratches remind me on similar ones that I had on a metal suitcase lying around in the trunk of my car. It moved around in the trunk while I was driving, and on the bottom surface of the trunk there was a lot of small stuff like sand, dirt and the like that I was not aware of until I saw the result.
I think the culprit for the D and G strings being reversed is the fact that some strings are packaged in pairs. When I was a newbie at guitar, it used to happen to me pretty frequently when I changed strings--it's an easy mistake to make if you're not paying attention.
Agreed. Looking at the number of winds around the tuning gear, it's the work of a noob. I wonder if they messed with the nut too. Good thing it's with Ted.
Yeah but correct me if I’m wrong here, I’m just going off of memory but I think they usually group the strings as 1 and 6, 2 and 5, and 3 and 4. Or 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6. So it wouldnt really make sense to confuse the D and A. As they wouldn’t have been grouped together.
Thinking about the writing on the back of the guitar: I'm imagining someone started carving "POWER" while wearing the guitar strap (or having it across their lap) and having flipped the guitar over, looking down at the guitar. Then as they ran out of room, they started curving until the guitar was now hanging vertically / with the body away from them and the neck more towards. Then the heart and names were carved when the guitar was in this awkward backwards rotated position. Just a thought! (It was bugging me trying to make the writing orientation make sense. 😅)
The guitar I'm working on now had a big, deep wham'o on the face of the body. I filled it, scraped, sanded, then by OSD, I filled a bunch more little dings. Now the whole body is sanded. I need to move through the grains up and then start polishing back to a factory mirror shine. I made the mountain from the mole hill. I sure hope I do not burn through what is left of the finish. If that happens, I have a big mess to fix. Wish me luck fellows.
'Most of the time it won't.' How true. Spot on about the waterbornes, as well. I had an entire top finish come away in almost a single piece. Why? Really interesting discussion of nut spacing. There's still a problem with Ted Bergstrom's approach, though, as people change string gauges. I love the way everyone talks about witness lines (presumably because they bear witness to the level below?). I prefer 'corpse lines'. because they look for all the world like those chalk or tape lines you see round where the corpse was in old cop dramas like Columbo and Police Squad. 'Big stripper'!
Awesome content Ted. I like all your content but I tend to gravitate to those oddball electrics that most people didn't even know exsisted. This was one of those guitars, and you presented well. Thank you for putting in the extra effort to bring us along while you take something unplayable, and turn it into a good playing, and sounding musical instrument.
I always use scaled spacing, but honestly, it's only because I prefer how it looks. What you say about lateral movement is true, but really only when you get towards the middle part of the string. Up by the nut (or down by the saddle), there just isn't much vibration.
Hey Ted, your witty and erudite comments really make the channel. That comment about the runes was amazing! I must say that if I lived even semi-close to you rather than in Orangeville, I would be harassing you to do work for me, as you do such quality work.
I'm pretty sure I researched lead in paint and it basically only happens in lighter colours as they used lead oxide to make white. The other thing too, which is interesting, is that on wood the lead tends to migrate into the wood surface, creating the yellowing, which, when the paint is removed, has the lead migrating back out to the surface. I'd done this (research) after a friend removed yellowed paint on the doors and window frames of a well old house not even thinking about lead and not having any problems but then latter his daughter got sick as she was always running her hands over the unfinished wood. Both were tested and he didn't have lead in him from the removal process.
That Jack White quote about wanting to fight the guitar is interesting. I heard Rich Robinson of the Black Crows make a similar comment years ago, he was referring to his vintage Martin.
As someone only recently starting guitar repairs as a professional career, it makes me so happy to see a problem in these videos, think of how I would tackle it, and then see Ted fix it the same way that I would come up with if it was on my bench, especially since I don't have the 10s of thousands of dollars worth of equipment that they always default to in StewMac videos. Thanks Ted for teaching me so much over the years!!!
Many years ago I had a Yamaha solid body electric, 2 P90 clones, but the same shape, and the same rebate around the edge. Wasn't a terrible guitar. But a mate of mine, a studio player, called it a 'plank'. And so it was christened. That same fella bought it off me.
I've gotten into all fifths tuning, and it has incidentally brought up some string gap issues. On my primary guitar, a strat style, I had, note and gauge, G2 42w, D2 54w, D3 28w, A3 17p, E4 13p and B3 16p. And I had to replace the D2 54w with a G3 26w because it was nearly impossible to play the G2 or D3 while the D2 was ringing open, without the D2's significant girth going through its also rather substantial displacement bashing into ones finger, even at the fourth fret, further down the neck, forget it! The nut is 1.664" wide, outside string spacing at nut 1.321", outside string spacing at bridge 2.101". Largest gap between the strings at the nut now is .251" between the D3 and A3, smallest is between the G2 and D3 at .229", the G3 and A3 gap is .24" Previously with the D2 54w in there, it was .215" between the G3 and D2, and .226" between the D2 and D3. The latter .226" doesn't sound that bad, but with that big string swinging at that low frequency from the D2, it was a huge problem. I'm gonna have to go to four or fice courses on an electric guitar with a standard nut width to play the way I do with the all fifths tunings. Actually I'm going to have to start making my own from scratch for them to be right with the low notes, relatively high string tension and doublets and triples in the courses that I want, and my sometimes very aggressive playing, other times very soft. High tensile loading of stings is critical for a broad range of force applied to the string, to avoid buzzing off of frets with a reasonable string height. Granted, this is a unique situation with a seemingly chaotic tuning scheme, but, my point being, there are some scenarios where that gap between the strings matters a lot. Another factor I have discovered in my experimental research, is that the wound strings core to wrap ratio, along with the tension it's put under, has a gargantuan effect on the distance that it's swinging during its oscillations. This is especially apparent when aggressively playing open strings. Anyways, thanks for another great video! I'm always learning something from you! edit: my guitar(if it can be called that with all fifths tuning) is solidly in the "homemade" look department instead of the "handmade" as of now, ha!!!
Great point about string spacing. Your analysis is, to me, accurate: the player is not playing the spaces between the strings. I agree. But that’s just me. After 40 years of professional playing. Your recommendation for placing the scalpel dead center first and then offer the ruler to the scalpel is the method Paul Sellers also uses for fine wood working.
I did my first nut last week and it came out great! I took a page from Stewmac, it seems. Without seeing their tool, I figured if I measured the 1st fret and added 10-20 thousandths to that, it'd be a good start for slot depth. So I stacked up feeler gauges to match the fret height plus x amount and just file until I hit the feeler gauges, then did fine tuning from there. It came out PERFECT. 1st try, too! And people will tell you it takes YEARS to learn how to make a nut correctly. That's a bunch of foolishness. It took me about 20 minutes. But then, I'm also much smarter than the average person. So that probably has a lot to do with it.
Someone so smart would understand that one success doesn't a master make. The skill referred to so flippantly is the ability to make a nut quickly, consistently and precisely.
Two great sounding guitars. The Twitch easily matches many Martins and beats many more. The Supra, with the tone it emits, must be a great blues machine. When you plugged in and played that first bit; hit me deep in my blues heart! BTW, no post last week had me to worried...
8:11 you can see the print ink blotches. Weird that they didn't do the acetone transfer trick to a piece of veneer. They have a bit to learn, even on a cheapie, the trick doesn't cost much more, but gives a good solid finish.
I always liked to dial off string spacing in the nut using a Bridgeport milling machine. I still have the collection of ball nose end mills that I used before loosing access to the milling machines.
As a primarily electric player of imported guitars (Agile and Ibanez) it doesn’t make sense to me to have the strings equally spaced, center to center, at the bridge, and then do it differently at the nut. I agree totally with Ted on this one.
I've been watching your channel for several years now. I'm not a luthier and I just started practicing seriously in 2020. I did build a guitar from a kit during that year too. I love your videos. My dad was a very serious hobby woodworker with a 2 car garage, not containing cars. Just wanted to say I really appreciate and love watching your videos. Your dry sense of humor also reminds me of my dad. Thank you. Please keep doing what you're doing.
i LOVE your Channel can watch it all day it kinda reminds of one of those old cool public access channel tv shows that teach you how to fix up your house or car or whatever but it's musical instruments instead which is freaking awesome & perfect for me!! i have a Eastwood reissue of that Supro Dual Tone. Twin Tone Airline guitar but in white body with black neck!
I would have difficulty finding fault with any of your videos.....they are just AWESOME. I wish you would consider doing a video on 'Sanding, Polishing, Sanding, Polishing, as you put it. I would love would to see a start to finish with all the girts of sandpaper you use and your polishing method and the products.
Pretty sure the two outer pole screws adjust the pickup height. If I'm correct the bridge pickup isn't weak the down position on pickup selector is a bass cut for bridge pickup. Middle position is bridge pickup alone unfiltered and up position is neck only
The pickup switching may depend on the year. My Dual Tone is a ‘57 and has a rotary selector: neck, bridge, both…in that order left to right. On mine the outer polepieces hold the pickups in place but there’s no proper height adjustment. The neck pickup is louder than the bridge but I just roll back its volume to balance ‘em out. Must be “50s wiring” ‘cuz I can cut the vol quite a bit before the pickup gets noticeably darker.
Wow, I had a pawn shop special that just didn't feel right. It had that same spacing on the nut. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but it was a a badly mismatched nut "modified" to that guitar with superglue.
I really enjoy artisans repairing stuff. I'm in the UK, the home of Imperial measurement. We all know how this mode of measurement landed on the North American continent. But the UK moved on, decades ago, to a more, I believe, easier assimilated system of measurement. But, even now, in this age of launching space vehicles, I bet American manufacturers are churning out satellites with Imperial dimensions!
When using the SM string ruler, you can compensate for string gauge when setting your two E strings. (Lighter strings would be closer to the fretboard edge)
Had a guitar that I made years ago and decided to reshape neck profile. I did a job, but kinda forgot about acrylic properties and didn't fully remove old paint. I threw new layer over old one, now I have the strangiest maple neck with stripes.
My first electric guitar was a '59 Supro lp style. I damaged it and dismantled it (I was about 10), it had a wood body ( a white wood, pretty dense, mighta been maple) covered with like a white plastic and black accessories.
Good points on the string spacing at the nut. On guitar yes equal centerlines might work. On a bass, not so much :D at least I prefer a "compensated" string spacing on a bass, where the gaps between the string outer edges are equal.
What auto polish do you use to do the finishing? Or more importantly, what should I be looking for on the bottle to find a reasonable equivalent south of your border?
Variable spacing Well, the feel on the neck will vary Depending on the strings chosen. But Well it's Sunday and time to hit this blunt and really think about the nut and the size of string in the nut and the playability and changes to the tone. This is never a issue with high end pianos. It's either perfect with a slight flaw Or junk. Thanks for the extra work you do to share. If you make a video I will watch it. 🙋♂️🙋♂️🙋♂️🤔🤔🤔😜😜😜🐒🐒🐒😎😎😎
Those Twitch solid body guitars are pretty funky. The ones I saw were pretty gawdy, TBH. Seems like they're having someone make bodies and necks and they're assembling them.
You might also add, in your epigraphic study, that there is a Greek "e" in the word "The" with a standard Roman "e" in the rest of the words (on the back). I am not sure what it means, but it is emblematic of a freeform, polyglot graphology. Fascinating... as Mr. Spock might have said.
Cool old Valco! I disagree with making the transition from paint to natural "elegant" though. Should be just sanded through and feathered from one to the other IMHO.
I ran into an old Hofner Very Thin that had the full "Hippie Flower Power" hand painted finish, a "handy man" neck reset, and was completely stripped of hardware and wiring. I still wonder if I made a mistake passing on it. Considering the seller was charging extra for "character", I think I made the right choice.
This was a “budget build” from Twitch, using a donor heirloom guitar that belonged to my father. Some build decisions were made to keep costs down.
Scratches are from a lawn chair arm.
I fiddled with the nut and shimmed it. Needless to say I wasn’t happy with it so I took it in for professional repair lol.
PS. I’m embarrassed to say I strung those strings in the wrong order. 😮
Much respect for the update and confessions. 😜
It’s a nice piece! I hope it brings you many hours of enjoyment! :) ❤from N. Ontario
That's completely understandable and has been a thing for years. Coincidentally the Star Trek episode that just aired included a plot point that a piece of the first ship named Enterprise had been included in the current ship named Enterprise. I did not know that was a thing for navy ships.
Personally, I've been asked to do that (include bits of wood of sentimental value in a commissioned item). And I think every guitarist has done that while stringing their guitar. Worst is when you do it with the B and high E, you've already trimmed the excess, and now you don't have enough length to do it correctly.
Beautiful flat top
Pretty cool guitar
"usually prefer a big stripper" is the only thing separating this channel from being a PBS show
I dont know…. That old man cajun guy who had a cooking show on PBS said some pretty low-key racy stuff…..
Groucho: "Blonde? Brunette, or Redhead?"
Not putting any stripper on the main shaft seemed like an oversight...
ok, I'll see myself out now....
"There's a difference between something that looks hand made versus something that looks home made."
Haha, that's great. I'm definitely stealing that one!
That scratch buffing/gluing was astounding!
Well as he said it was still visible and if you see for a moment the light shone at a different angle and the gluing was visible in comparison to the original finish. Although you would not be able to feel it you can see it but as Ted said it was never disappearing it could only be made to feel like light playwear.
Can't get over the strangeness of the epigraphy on that Supro. Haunting... I'm sure Clyde and Dolores were interesting folks!
When you were filing the nut, I unconsciously blew air at the screen to clear the dust! 😅 Your videos are evidently physically engaging as well. Great work as always.
I finally understand that the instruments themselves are the characters of the format, especially now, where most viewers probably have seen most of the techniques you show on a regular basis. This guitar is a strong character if I’ve ever seen one.
You basically are some type of curator: always informed and very knowledgeable in the eyes of most viewers I reckon.
The fruits of the research which you present really helps the storytelling aspect and engagement I feel.
A great master class in making nut grooves accurately! Thanks Ted.
Didn’t think I was going to hear something like “Certain Scandinavian runic inscriptions on standing stones” on a guitar video. But that’s why I keep coming back. These types of videos scratch all my nerd itches
Let's say it together: "Epigraphy!"
Maybe it wasn't expected but you probably aren't surprised you heard it are you?
Meth is a hell of a drug. 😆 Seriously though, the runic inscription didn't look that odd to me. It's a shame someone painted it with a broom then got all groovy with it, but whadda ya gonna do? 🤷♂
@@tiki_trash It's the orientation and the direction of the lettering. That plus the slogan itself are legitimate historical relics. I don't think this was exactly a top grade instrument for its time. I like it when people personalize their instruments like I used to personalize my notebooks in school. It says, "This instrument is an expression of me, and no one else." The next owner (if there is one) can refinish it and do their own thing with it. It's a kind of total commitment. And if the original owner grew in their career to be someone famous or legendary, that guitar might be worth more than a 59 Les Paul. You never know! 🙂
Jeez, I think Clyde just started carving without a whole lot of planning. Had to follow the curve of the guitar when he underestimated how much space he needed. With 😂
The esteemed Ernst Leitz Optical company of Germany used Canada balsam glues way back in the 1930s on their world famous Leica camera lenses and rangefinders. An unfortunate consequence of using these organic glues was that if the camera was stored in a humid environment, the glue became an ideal medium for fungus to grow, which could actually etch into the glass elements, thus rendering lenses worthless that are today highly desirable and can sell for thousands.
As a erstwhile avid Leica collector, I saw many otherwise fine examples of ultra rare lenses that were damaged beyond repair due to this. When buying these older cameras, the first thing you would do is open the back and take a good sniff (the schnozzola test) to determine if there was a 'fungus among us'... (Sorry , I couldn't resist; your mention of the Canada balsam glues brought back an intense wave of nostalgia. Or was that neuralgia?)
"I usually prefer a big stripper..." made me chuckle.
11:00 Ted is a man of many vices. 🙂
We used to use Canada Balsam for making microscope slides in geology. It has the same refractive index as quartz.
I love guitars; collect them, wrk on them and cherish them. I fabricate metal professionally & wrk at a garage on weekends. Unfortunately I’m kinda losing all of these things to a cyst in my spinal cord pushing it out internally that spans 5 vertebrae causing significant numbness/tingling in a couple of my fingers of my right hand. Basically thank you for your videos. Sometimes little things keep you going.
Hang in there buddy!
Yeah. My best friend and guitarist for my old band has recently suffered a minor stroke. His fine motor skills are shot (writing is almost impossible for him). He's afraid to pick up a guitar and find he can no longer play.
Hey man, wishing you well through this challenge to your health.
Follow up with the doctors and therapists things can change for the better.
A couple of blown discs gimped my right arm for about five years, it was a tough time, lots of loss but we can rebuild take good care of yourself and get back to all those things you love to do eh!
I've had a lifetime of neck, back and knee problems. I feel better after losing some weight. It's been a balancing act to keep moving without getting incapacitated. Blood has to flow to those disc.
Jep, looking at the headstock it absolutely printed paper, you can quite clearly see the matrix from printing. And now we know how one can make "semi-custom" guitars that cheaply - by simply cutting every corner available.
Remember-- heirloom neck. Probably just covered the previous headstock.
These scratches remind me on similar ones that I had on a metal suitcase lying around in the trunk of my car. It moved around in the trunk while I was driving, and on the bottom surface of the trunk there was a lot of small stuff like sand, dirt and the like that I was not aware of until I saw the result.
I think the culprit for the D and G strings being reversed is the fact that some strings are packaged in pairs. When I was a newbie at guitar, it used to happen to me pretty frequently when I changed strings--it's an easy mistake to make if you're not paying attention.
Agreed. Looking at the number of winds around the tuning gear, it's the work of a noob. I wonder if they messed with the nut too. Good thing it's with Ted.
That shit gay
@@michaelpacinus242what?
Yeah but correct me if I’m wrong here, I’m just going off of memory but I think they usually group the strings as 1 and 6, 2 and 5, and 3 and 4. Or 1 and 2, 3 and 4, and 5 and 6. So it wouldnt really make sense to confuse the D and A. As they wouldn’t have been grouped together.
@@Gubbinsmcbumbersnoot It might have fallen out of fashion since the 90's, but I distinctly remember strings that were packaged E/A, D/G, B/E
Thinking about the writing on the back of the guitar: I'm imagining someone started carving "POWER" while wearing the guitar strap (or having it across their lap) and having flipped the guitar over, looking down at the guitar. Then as they ran out of room, they started curving until the guitar was now hanging vertically / with the body away from them and the neck more towards. Then the heart and names were carved when the guitar was in this awkward backwards rotated position. Just a thought!
(It was bugging me trying to make the writing orientation make sense. 😅)
Come for the luthiery, stay for the epigraphy! Great episode.
The guitar I'm working on now had a big, deep wham'o on the face of the body. I filled it, scraped, sanded, then by OSD, I filled a bunch more little dings. Now the whole body is sanded. I need to move through the grains up and then start polishing back to a factory mirror shine. I made the mountain from the mole hill. I sure hope I do not burn through what is left of the finish. If that happens, I have a big mess to fix. Wish me luck fellows.
"...I prefer a big Stripper..." I love your dry humor! It gets me every time!
'Most of the time it won't.' How true. Spot on about the waterbornes, as well. I had an entire top finish come away in almost a single piece. Why? Really interesting discussion of nut spacing. There's still a problem with Ted Bergstrom's approach, though, as people change string gauges. I love the way everyone talks about witness lines (presumably because they bear witness to the level below?). I prefer 'corpse lines'. because they look for all the world like those chalk or tape lines you see round where the corpse was in old cop dramas like Columbo and Police Squad. 'Big stripper'!
Awesome content Ted. I like all your content but I tend to gravitate to those oddball electrics that most people didn't even know exsisted. This was one of those guitars, and you presented well. Thank you for putting in the extra effort to bring us along while you take something unplayable, and turn it into a good playing, and sounding musical instrument.
Scaled string spacing is sensible considering the travel of the vibrating stings. Lighter strings have much less lateral movement.
I always use scaled spacing, but honestly, it's only because I prefer how it looks. What you say about lateral movement is true, but really only when you get towards the middle part of the string. Up by the nut (or down by the saddle), there just isn't much vibration.
Wow, that was a great video of a unique piece of musical history! You certainly did it justice. Thanks, Ted!
I used satin polyurethane from Minwax on my Mexican Strat and it came out very well. Feels like it was produced that way.
😂😂😂 at the stripper comment. Absolute gold!
Hey Ted, your witty and erudite comments really make the channel. That comment about the runes was amazing! I must say that if I lived even semi-close to you rather than in Orangeville, I would be harassing you to do work for me, as you do such quality work.
I'm pretty sure I researched lead in paint and it basically only happens in lighter colours as they used lead oxide to make white. The other thing too, which is interesting, is that on wood the lead tends to migrate into the wood surface, creating the yellowing, which, when the paint is removed, has the lead migrating back out to the surface. I'd done this (research) after a friend removed yellowed paint on the doors and window frames of a well old house not even thinking about lead and not having any problems but then latter his daughter got sick as she was always running her hands over the unfinished wood. Both were tested and he didn't have lead in him from the removal process.
That Jack White quote about wanting to fight the guitar is interesting. I heard Rich Robinson of the Black Crows make a similar comment years ago, he was referring to his vintage Martin.
Some people use extremely heavy strings or a higher than usual action for the same exact reason.
That Supro's design has some retro-futuristic dystopian vibes like it is from the original (1979) Mad Max movie or something.
It definitely has a steampunk vibe to it.
The writing may have been done by a left handed person, in which case it would be easy to shape it that way.
As someone only recently starting guitar repairs as a professional career, it makes me so happy to see a problem in these videos, think of how I would tackle it, and then see Ted fix it the same way that I would come up with if it was on my bench, especially since I don't have the 10s of thousands of dollars worth of equipment that they always default to in StewMac videos. Thanks Ted for teaching me so much over the years!!!
Many years ago I had a Yamaha solid body electric, 2 P90 clones, but the same shape, and the same rebate around the edge. Wasn't a terrible guitar. But a mate of mine, a studio player, called it a 'plank'. And so it was christened. That same fella bought it off me.
Merch idea - t-shirt that says "polishing... polishing... polishing....". I'd buy it.
Some of the coolest guitars are seen right here.... Thanks, Ted.
I don't know why I never thought of using a larger vise to clamp onto a bit of wood that itself hosts a smaller vise, but I didn't.
that buff procedure yield astounding result!
I've gotten into all fifths tuning, and it has incidentally brought up some string gap issues.
On my primary guitar, a strat style, I had, note and gauge, G2 42w, D2 54w, D3 28w, A3 17p, E4 13p and B3 16p. And I had to replace the D2 54w with a G3 26w because it was nearly impossible to play the G2 or D3 while the D2 was ringing open, without the D2's significant girth going through its also rather substantial displacement bashing into ones finger, even at the fourth fret, further down the neck, forget it!
The nut is 1.664" wide, outside string spacing at nut 1.321", outside string spacing at bridge 2.101".
Largest gap between the strings at the nut now is .251" between the D3 and A3, smallest is between the G2 and D3 at .229", the G3 and A3 gap is .24"
Previously with the D2 54w in there, it was .215" between the G3 and D2, and .226" between the D2 and D3. The latter .226" doesn't sound that bad, but with that big string swinging at that low frequency from the D2, it was a huge problem.
I'm gonna have to go to four or fice courses on an electric guitar with a standard nut width to play the way I do with the all fifths tunings. Actually I'm going to have to start making my own from scratch for them to be right with the low notes, relatively high string tension and doublets and triples in the courses that I want, and my sometimes very aggressive playing, other times very soft. High tensile loading of stings is critical for a broad range of force applied to the string, to avoid buzzing off of frets with a reasonable string height.
Granted, this is a unique situation with a seemingly chaotic tuning scheme, but, my point being, there are some scenarios where that gap between the strings matters a lot.
Another factor I have discovered in my experimental research, is that the wound strings core to wrap ratio, along with the tension it's put under, has a gargantuan effect on the distance that it's swinging during its oscillations. This is especially apparent when aggressively playing open strings.
Anyways, thanks for another great video! I'm always learning something from you!
edit: my guitar(if it can be called that with all fifths tuning) is solidly in the "homemade" look department instead of the "handmade" as of now, ha!!!
Also check core construction.
Hex core is stiffer then round core.
I love the Vise holding a smaller Vise 🤣
Great point about string spacing. Your analysis is, to me, accurate: the player is not playing the spaces between the strings. I agree. But that’s just me. After 40 years of professional playing.
Your recommendation for placing the scalpel dead center first and then offer the ruler to the scalpel is the method Paul Sellers also uses for fine wood working.
I did my first nut last week and it came out great! I took a page from Stewmac, it seems. Without seeing their tool, I figured if I measured the 1st fret and added 10-20 thousandths to that, it'd be a good start for slot depth. So I stacked up feeler gauges to match the fret height plus x amount and just file until I hit the feeler gauges, then did fine tuning from there.
It came out PERFECT. 1st try, too! And people will tell you it takes YEARS to learn how to make a nut correctly. That's a bunch of foolishness. It took me about 20 minutes. But then, I'm also much smarter than the average person. So that probably has a lot to do with it.
That is an ingenious solution. Thanks for the knowledge. Now run a guitar channel and document for others! :)
Someone so smart would understand that one success doesn't a master make. The skill referred to so flippantly is the ability to make a nut quickly, consistently and precisely.
Two great sounding guitars. The Twitch easily matches many Martins and beats many more. The Supra, with the tone it emits, must be a great blues machine. When you plugged in and played that first bit; hit me deep in my blues heart!
BTW, no post last week had me to worried...
8:11 you can see the print ink blotches. Weird that they didn't do the acetone transfer trick to a piece of veneer. They have a bit to learn, even on a cheapie, the trick doesn't cost much more, but gives a good solid finish.
I always liked to dial off string spacing in the nut using a Bridgeport milling machine. I still have the collection of ball nose end mills that I used before loosing access to the milling machines.
Ted, a most excellent adventure
Awesome video, Ted! Also nice explanation on the nut string spacing 👍👍👍
Loved the scratch removal technique. Finished it looked great.
As a primarily electric player of imported guitars (Agile and Ibanez) it doesn’t make sense to me to have the strings equally spaced, center to center, at the bridge, and then do it differently at the nut. I agree totally with Ted on this one.
You're so cool, and the best quality of Luther ever. Wish you could work on my guitar man
Boy, Clyde must have really liked him some Delores! Clyde -N- Delores 🤣👍
I'd love to find out how it all worked out. Did they marry? Ect.
An investigation into this would be worth watching. 4 Shure.
I've been watching your channel for several years now. I'm not a luthier and I just started practicing seriously in 2020. I did build a guitar from a kit during that year too.
I love your videos. My dad was a very serious hobby woodworker with a 2 car garage, not containing cars.
Just wanted to say I really appreciate and love watching your videos. Your dry sense of humor also reminds me of my dad.
Thank you. Please keep doing what you're doing.
Fascinating guitars, great knowledge, and superb work. The amount I've learned from and been entertained by this channel.... thanks, Ted.
i LOVE your Channel can watch it all day it kinda reminds of one of those old cool public access channel tv shows that teach you how to fix up your house or car or whatever but it's musical instruments instead which is freaking awesome & perfect for me!! i have a Eastwood reissue of that Supro Dual Tone. Twin Tone Airline guitar but in white body with black neck!
Fantastic job on those scratches!
I would have difficulty finding fault with any of your videos.....they are just AWESOME. I wish you would consider doing a video on 'Sanding, Polishing, Sanding, Polishing, as you put it. I would love would to see a start to finish with all the girts of sandpaper you use and your polishing method and the products.
Listening to you talking about the messages on the guitar reminds me of your breadth of knowledge. Well done Sir. Well done.
Nice to know Wolfie Smith's 'battle cry' from 'Citizen Smith' still lives on....
Showing your age there
UK?
Freedom for Tooting!
Oh man that Supro had the best middle position tone I’ve heard honestly.
Funny but so accurate line, "There is a difference between something that looks hand made vs something that looks home made", take care.
i definitely like your point about the fact that your fingers come down on the top center of the string, not on the spaces between strings.
That was really fun to watch, Thank you
Oohhhh! Perfect! I've got some deep scratches that I thought might benefit from super glue fill, scrape, and buff. I may have to try that soon.
Really interesting videos and complete with polishing...life is good.
Canada balsam is also used as a leveling agent in artists' oil paint. Besides giving a smooth finish, it slows drying.
Pretty sure the two outer pole screws adjust the pickup height. If I'm correct the bridge pickup isn't weak the down position on pickup selector is a bass cut for bridge pickup. Middle position is bridge pickup alone unfiltered and up position is neck only
The pickup switching may depend on the year. My Dual Tone is a ‘57 and has a rotary selector: neck, bridge, both…in that order left to right.
On mine the outer polepieces hold the pickups in place but there’s no proper height adjustment. The neck pickup is louder than the bridge but I just roll back its volume to balance ‘em out. Must be “50s wiring” ‘cuz I can cut the vol quite a bit before the pickup gets noticeably darker.
Great stuff Ted! The sticker paper headstock cover makes sense if it’s a reused neck
Very nice work, as usual.👍
Wow, I had a pawn shop special that just didn't feel right. It had that same spacing on the nut. I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, but it was a a badly mismatched nut "modified" to that guitar with superglue.
I really enjoy artisans repairing stuff. I'm in the UK, the home of Imperial measurement. We all know how this mode of measurement landed on the North American continent. But the UK moved on, decades ago, to a more, I believe, easier assimilated system of measurement. But, even now, in this age of launching space vehicles, I bet American manufacturers are churning out satellites with Imperial dimensions!
When using the SM string ruler, you can compensate for string gauge when setting your two E strings. (Lighter strings would be closer to the fretboard edge)
Had a guitar that I made years ago and decided to reshape neck profile. I did a job, but kinda forgot about acrylic properties and didn't fully remove old paint. I threw new layer over old one, now I have the strangiest maple neck with stripes.
@ 10:58 Are you sure you're Canadian?
The lack of any Black Flies, Beer and duct tape leave me questioning...
As usual a hive of information. Makes my day as always, whilst working from home
Fantastic. thanks.
Love that Supro.
Me too !
I own a reissue of this guitar and it was a great deal for the money. Bought it used.
My first electric guitar was a '59 Supro lp style. I damaged it and dismantled it (I was about 10), it had a wood body ( a white wood, pretty dense, mighta been maple) covered with like a white plastic and black accessories.
lmao @ the "big stripper" crack. Me too, Ted, me too.
That's the perfect guitar for amusing yourself while taking a break from doing drywall...
Neck job of the black guitar, good job
Good points on the string spacing at the nut. On guitar yes equal centerlines might work. On a bass, not so much :D at least I prefer a "compensated" string spacing on a bass, where the gaps between the string outer edges are equal.
👍 thanx for the double vise idea I'll be sure to use it soon.
"I usually prefer a big stripper"! 🤣😂 Priceless!
Great video Ted!
What auto polish do you use to do the finishing? Or more importantly, what should I be looking for on the bottle to find a reasonable equivalent south of your border?
Variable spacing
Well, the feel on the neck will vary
Depending on the strings chosen.
But
Well it's Sunday and time to hit this blunt and really think about the nut and the size of string in the nut and the playability and changes to the tone.
This is never a issue with high end pianos.
It's either perfect with a slight flaw
Or junk.
Thanks for the extra work you do to share.
If you make a video
I will watch it.
🙋♂️🙋♂️🙋♂️🤔🤔🤔😜😜😜🐒🐒🐒😎😎😎
I really like the Stew Mac spacing ruler, I use it on all my builds and new nuts.
Those Twitch solid body guitars are pretty funky. The ones I saw were pretty gawdy, TBH. Seems like they're having someone make bodies and necks and they're assembling them.
You might also add, in your epigraphic study, that there is a Greek "e" in the word "The" with a standard Roman "e" in the rest of the words (on the back). I am not sure what it means, but it is emblematic of a freeform, polyglot graphology. Fascinating... as Mr. Spock might have said.
He's back!
There was a Delores Johnson who sang for the Ikettes for a time. No idea who Clive might have been though...
Cool old Valco! I disagree with making the transition from paint to natural "elegant" though. Should be just sanded through and feathered from one to the other IMHO.
Nice CW Stoneking chording at the end.
They are curently banning the chemicals in paint strippers so If you like to use them you might want to get some extra.
Do you use Rupes polishing compounds?
I love that gumby headstock.
Water based finishes are notorious for that kind of scuffing,at least the ones I’ve tried
That supro looks very cool ngl
Were you playing the chords to "Fucking with my Head" by Beck with the Dreadnought at the end there?
I ran into an old Hofner Very Thin that had the full "Hippie Flower Power" hand painted finish, a "handy man" neck reset, and was completely stripped of hardware and wiring. I still wonder if I made a mistake passing on it. Considering the seller was charging extra for "character", I think I made the right choice.