beandip
Frito's Better Half
Random tips and tricks
1. Most of us have heard to use baking soda and superglue to build up a nut slot if it’s been cut too low. Well, being the logical creatures we are, we pack the baking soda into the slot and add a drop of glue. That should do it right? Wrong. I’ve found a way that works much better in my experience. Using some Hot Stuff slow setting superglue (2-3 minute working time), I make a paste of baking soda and glue on a paper plate using a toothpick. This is a much more workable solution, a lot less messy, and you don’t have to worry about the glue setting before it flows down deep into the slot.
2. A great thing to use to burnish and polish a fret slot is a string itself. Yeah, extremely high grit papers are the proper way to go, but I’m trying to save you guys some time and money. I do this on my personal instruments, but never a customer’s. Do it right, or don’t do it at all, ya know? Cut off about a 6” section of your choice of string (use an old one, dumbass) and superglue it to the slender edge of a popsicle stick. You now have a polishing tool for fret slots. Note: This won’t work for your unwound strings. For your unwound slots, any thin rough string will do an ok job.
3. In a pinch, a hacksaw blade, a thin handsaw and a few grits of sandpaper can be used as nut slotting files. Say you’ve ordered a “pre-slotted” shaped nut. We all know that they’re never really slotted, just marked for the proper string spacing, and they’re much too high. Well, I spoke about how to lower the nut in my last article. For your two larger strings, wrap the hacksaw blade in 220 grit sandpaper, and following the downward angle of the precut slots, drop the depth to where you’d like it to be. Remember to follow the radius of the fretboard (I’ll talk about making radius gauges here in a minute). For the D, and G strings, the bare hacksaw blade will give you a good rough cut, followed by a piece of 220 folded to round out the bottom of the slot. For the B and E strings, use your thin cut saw blade. Remember to follow the radius. How do you know you’re at the right height? I’d suggest for a novice to just cut the nut slots deep enough to properly seat the strings, and then lower the nut accordingly. Follow up the nut slots with sandpaper of various grits to 600, and then use the burnishing technique above.
4. How to make your own radius gauges. Radius is measured in inches or in feet when referring to guitars. Using a compass (the drafting type, not for boyscouts), measure from the center of said “circle” to the edge. For instance, a Fender 7.25” radius will be 7.25 inches from center of the circle to the edge. Make you a little line, and you now have a radius. For flatter radiuses, like a 20”, head to a drafting store. They have large radius rulers (and small one’s too if you wanna save some time) for not much money.
5. One of my favorites, that I do to all my Fender style guitars (when I had ‘em
) was instead of using the traditional hex adjustment on the bridge, I would turn the screws upside down and using a Dremel or small saw, cut a flathead screwdriver slot in it. This is a huge time saver, when you’re digging through your tool drawer trying to find that little bitty hex wrench. Now, all you need is any thin flathead driver. Like the one’s that every gas station, dollar store, supermarket, and tool store sell for about 3 dollars.
6. We’re always discussing polishes and such, making sure they don’t contain wax or silicone. Well, guess what? Most “guitar” polishes out there do. Meguire’s doesn’t, but it’s also expensive and not meant for instruments. I’ve found that Cory’s Piano Polish is the absolute best out there. It’s meant for musical instruments (30,000 dollar pianos, none the less!), so it goes on light. The regular gloss formula can put a shine on a gloss finish unlike most others, and the satin polish does a very good job of giving an even sheen across the entire guitar.
7. Most guys out there like the feel of a satin neck. The most common way to do it is 0000 steel wool along the length of the neck. It leaves a slightly white residue from the finish coming off, and can also leave lengthwise scratches. A better option, that I prefer is using 2000 grit sandpaper. It leaves a much “finer” satin, that it’s much better matched to an OEM finish, feels much better and doesn’t leave the tiny scratches. As for getting rid of the white residue, it’s not only left over finish particles but also the edges of the finish on the neck. Take a rag (not a extremely soft one, something like a wash cloth is good), and with a dab of naphtha, use the rag to not only lift away the loose particles but also “burnish” the finish.
1. Most of us have heard to use baking soda and superglue to build up a nut slot if it’s been cut too low. Well, being the logical creatures we are, we pack the baking soda into the slot and add a drop of glue. That should do it right? Wrong. I’ve found a way that works much better in my experience. Using some Hot Stuff slow setting superglue (2-3 minute working time), I make a paste of baking soda and glue on a paper plate using a toothpick. This is a much more workable solution, a lot less messy, and you don’t have to worry about the glue setting before it flows down deep into the slot.
2. A great thing to use to burnish and polish a fret slot is a string itself. Yeah, extremely high grit papers are the proper way to go, but I’m trying to save you guys some time and money. I do this on my personal instruments, but never a customer’s. Do it right, or don’t do it at all, ya know? Cut off about a 6” section of your choice of string (use an old one, dumbass) and superglue it to the slender edge of a popsicle stick. You now have a polishing tool for fret slots. Note: This won’t work for your unwound strings. For your unwound slots, any thin rough string will do an ok job.
3. In a pinch, a hacksaw blade, a thin handsaw and a few grits of sandpaper can be used as nut slotting files. Say you’ve ordered a “pre-slotted” shaped nut. We all know that they’re never really slotted, just marked for the proper string spacing, and they’re much too high. Well, I spoke about how to lower the nut in my last article. For your two larger strings, wrap the hacksaw blade in 220 grit sandpaper, and following the downward angle of the precut slots, drop the depth to where you’d like it to be. Remember to follow the radius of the fretboard (I’ll talk about making radius gauges here in a minute). For the D, and G strings, the bare hacksaw blade will give you a good rough cut, followed by a piece of 220 folded to round out the bottom of the slot. For the B and E strings, use your thin cut saw blade. Remember to follow the radius. How do you know you’re at the right height? I’d suggest for a novice to just cut the nut slots deep enough to properly seat the strings, and then lower the nut accordingly. Follow up the nut slots with sandpaper of various grits to 600, and then use the burnishing technique above.
4. How to make your own radius gauges. Radius is measured in inches or in feet when referring to guitars. Using a compass (the drafting type, not for boyscouts), measure from the center of said “circle” to the edge. For instance, a Fender 7.25” radius will be 7.25 inches from center of the circle to the edge. Make you a little line, and you now have a radius. For flatter radiuses, like a 20”, head to a drafting store. They have large radius rulers (and small one’s too if you wanna save some time) for not much money.
5. One of my favorites, that I do to all my Fender style guitars (when I had ‘em
) was instead of using the traditional hex adjustment on the bridge, I would turn the screws upside down and using a Dremel or small saw, cut a flathead screwdriver slot in it. This is a huge time saver, when you’re digging through your tool drawer trying to find that little bitty hex wrench. Now, all you need is any thin flathead driver. Like the one’s that every gas station, dollar store, supermarket, and tool store sell for about 3 dollars. 6. We’re always discussing polishes and such, making sure they don’t contain wax or silicone. Well, guess what? Most “guitar” polishes out there do. Meguire’s doesn’t, but it’s also expensive and not meant for instruments. I’ve found that Cory’s Piano Polish is the absolute best out there. It’s meant for musical instruments (30,000 dollar pianos, none the less!), so it goes on light. The regular gloss formula can put a shine on a gloss finish unlike most others, and the satin polish does a very good job of giving an even sheen across the entire guitar.
7. Most guys out there like the feel of a satin neck. The most common way to do it is 0000 steel wool along the length of the neck. It leaves a slightly white residue from the finish coming off, and can also leave lengthwise scratches. A better option, that I prefer is using 2000 grit sandpaper. It leaves a much “finer” satin, that it’s much better matched to an OEM finish, feels much better and doesn’t leave the tiny scratches. As for getting rid of the white residue, it’s not only left over finish particles but also the edges of the finish on the neck. Take a rag (not a extremely soft one, something like a wash cloth is good), and with a dab of naphtha, use the rag to not only lift away the loose particles but also “burnish” the finish.
