Repairs

My sit-down workbench, wood, tools, old faces

Some Common Repair Problems:

• Slipping or sticking pegs make tuning difficult and unreliable. Click here for instructions on installing wooden pegs by Dwain Wilder.
  
  
• A loose neck joint makes the action too high. You can re-glue it easily if it is hide glue. Test the glue with a warm water. If it softens, you might be able to just push it back together. Otherwise try epoxy to re-glue the joint.
  
  
• A warped body causes high action. This can be remedied by resetting the angle of the neck or lifting the face and trimming down the top edge of the body. See the Neck Reset page.
  
  
• Loose or split soundboard braces can cause buzzing and lose volume and/or tone. A difficult repair, the rose must be loosened and dropped into the body. Long clamps may be necessary to re-glue the braces.
  
  
• A worn fingerboard causes strings to buzz or rattle. Sand it flat with a sanding block as long and wide as the fingerboard. Start with 100 grit, then 200, 400 and polish with 0000 steel wool. Apply a little oil (any vegetable oil) to condition the wood.
  
  
• Cracks in the soundboard or back ribs can lose volume or buzz or rattle as the crack will dissipate vibration. Glue hair-line cracks and fill open seams with wood slivers of matching material.
  
  
• A warped face interferes with the strings' vibration. Some ouds are made with flat soundboards. These will distort under the string tension and raise up around the large rose, sometimes enough to interfere with the strings when vibrating. This can be remedied by removing the edging at the sides and trimming down the top edge of the top rib. This will lower the face to provide clearance for the strings.
  
  
• My favorite repair information resource is the Items for Luthiers page, a huge information site by Frank Ford the Guru of Guitar repair - lots of useful ideas here.