A guitar in need of the Guitar Doctor(Doctor)Michael Schenker's son Tyson brought in one of his Vs for some much needed attention. The guitar was a gift from his father and Tyson has owned it for the best part of 10 years.The guitar had suffered a few injuries from all the travelling it had done We knew we had a few things to do, but more issues reared their head and we agreed to do everything needed to make it work again, and maybe better than it ever had before.Tyson was happy for us to share the workflow with you as it looked like it would be an involved job.
Tyson has two V's . The baby one was a present given to him when he accompanied his father on a MSG world tour as a child and the other is his full size V that was a gift from his father and it is that guitar we will be dealing with this time.
I think the writing under the truss rod cover saying Schenker #1 lets me know who this guitar belongs to.
Unfortunately the neck to body join had sustained a break that hadn't been dealt with. There was a small degree of flex which suggested that there was a break in the tenon inside. We were going to have to break the neck out to get a chance to fix it up properly.
Earlier we popped the frets out, as once we are done we will definitely need to relevel the board and refret this beast.
OK - getting the neck out was a bit of a task but we got there .
We were a bit busy and didn't get any pics of that process but there was a lot of effort and a few swear words too.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
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Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
All sanded and smoothed up to 2000 grit - much smoother than they do at the Gibson factory.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Ooh - silky, shiny wood!
Glued a chipped out piece of the tenon back on.
There is still part of the tenon firmly stuck in the body rebate, which will be good to help align the neck perfectly again.
Not pretty , but it mates perfectly with the body , so looking forward to getting a good glue joint.
Surfaces all clean and ready to take fresh glue. We had to remove any traces of the old glue as we want a good wood to wood joint.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
We found the piece that was always loose in the body pocket and firmly reglued it back before proceeding with our body to neck repair.
And there she goes back together in a dry run before we glue her properly. I think we'll use a shaped radius block against the fingerboard to firmly hold that down when we glue her back together.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
The pickguard with a pair of Seymour Duncan Alnico 2 pro humbuckers (again a present from Schenker senior). The guitar came in with failing electrics so we'll see what she needs to get her going.
Right - this is where the original problem was (all fixed up now).
Firstly - why do Gibson and Fender put such faith in the components being earthed simply from their contact with a flimsy bit of foil under a pickguard (or a metal control plare with fender). As soon as the guitar gets dirty or things come loose everything loses it's earth path and cuts out. A proper soldered wire is what was neede... See More
We now added some screening paint - a layer of nickel that will help keep noise and interference away from the pickups and wiring harness.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Neck all glued in and solid - Tyson asked us not to go too made touching in the chips as he kind of likes the distressed look of the guitar - says it suits him and also it tells a story of the life the guitar has had.
When we cut the fretwire , we remove the tang for a small portion at each end . The wire is cut overlong and the tang is cut to exactly the width of the fingerboard or maybe just a whisker under. This means that we don't have tang sticking out the sides of the neck.
Here is the rack of wire being prepared
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
you can see as we lie the fretwire on the neck that the tang is just long enough for the width of the fingerboard. The ends of the overhang will be pushed firmly down and then trimmed when the wire is installed
For the main part of the fretboard we will use a mix of the fret press and a trusty hammer(mainly for the ends)
So here we go - most of the main part of the board is done. We will now have to switch to one of ouur other presses as the arbor press starts to risk fouling the body joint.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
This can be fixed to the neck and can apply downward pressure to the fret to fix in the slot
(We ALWAYS use glue as well).
The brass former holds down at the correct radius and we can increase the pressure on this to ensure proper seating of the fret, although the hammer gets things started .
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
It allows us to simulate string tension on the neck and level the frets perfectly under the same conditions it will be under when the neck is fully strung
Frets are now all dressed, recrowned and polished and the guitar is ready to be rerassembled.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
We installed an Earvana nut that will improve the intonation and how in tune the guitar sounds.
The evidence of the previous neck damage can still be seen - we didn't touch this part of the guitar at all
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
"Guitar is awesome. Thanks again"
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!
Awesome work.
... and the fact you have such high profile clients... speaks volumes about the quality of your work.
Many guitars have a re-sale value. Some you'll never want to sell.
Stockist of: Earvana & Graphtech nuts, Faber Tonepros & Gotoh hardware, Fatcat bridges. Highwood Saddles.
Pickups from BKP, Oil City & Monty's pickups.
Expert guitar repairs and upgrades - fretwork our speciality! www.felineguitars.com. Facebook too!