Official Luthiers Forum!

We keep a list of things that we have found work well for guitar care, cases, gear or supply vendors, stage equipment, and just about any gear or service which strikes us as either the best of the best or a really good bargain. The reason is purely selfish - we minimize our troubleshooting time (crap cables and amp jacks are the #1 reasons for 'my guitar does not work/my guitar hums/my guitar does ____'), and less money spent by our customers for junk solutions means more available for important stuff like paying repair bills.

Along the lines of 'works poorly or not at all', we also have a list of crap that simply does not work, and should be avoided at all costs...we don't circulate that list much outside our circle of enthusiasts and luthier friends, but will steer customers away from bad solutions where possible.

Edit: Note that few of these recommendations are new, and most have been discussed here on numerous occasions, but with the turnover in the active forum membership, as well as those stepping up their game with repair work, worth repeating.

Works:

- Whirlwind Leader Standard cables ($20 for an excellent 15' 1/4" instrument cord with Neutrik plugs and very low noise cable stock...made in USA)

- Howard's Feed'N'Wax ($9 for a very good fretboard cleaner and wax sealant)

- Fender Premium Plush polishing clothes (sheared microfiber loop cloth for final cleaning and polish - about $7 each from Amazon...we put a couple new ones on each bench every month, and wash them as needed or on a weekly basis)

- Anything Hakko (the FX951-66 is our go-to...remains on all day, but idles at 350 deg F when not in use...still on our first fine tip, which sees well over 2000 hours of 'on' time per year)

- LR Baggs Anthem (StagePro, Anthem, and Anthem SL) - Baggs finally gets something right besides the Para Acoustic DI

Does Not Work:

- LocTite Gel CA (short shelf life, ridiculously long and inconsistent cure, and tubes of fresh glue that does not work at all on occasion...banished from the shop)

- Non-methylene chloride paint and epoxy strippers (does not work on anything but lacquer...polyester, polyurethane, and epoxy laughs at this stripper)

I'd be interested in your lists of 'the good stuff' and 'don't even bother' items.

_________________
For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Might just be me, but many years ago I mixed a Plexiglas solvent with freshly mixed epoxy. The mixture apparently entered my blood stream through my fingers. My entire body turned red and hurt like a bad sunburn. It hurt for my clothes to touch my skin.

The Plexiglas solvent was methylene chloride or methelyne dichloride--can't recall. o I would not get the that solvent near uncured epoxy.

Methylene chloride fumes can kill you quickly if you have insufficient ventilation. They are talking about a full ban on the product.

Here is a product that is high on my list: Meguiars 105 Ultra Cut Compound. Despite the name, you can get a high gloss not only with machine application but by hand too.

I also use a lot of auto detailing microfiber cloths. Just remember to wash them separately and don't use fabric softener or the high heat setting during drying.

DR strings suck the big one. I can't tell you how many times a client's issues were because of these POS strings...

Seconded on Hakko we are going to get a few new ones and one for my home shop.

Howards is great and shines up bridges popping figure too.

Sait sandpaper is excellent, we like it.

Bounty paper towels we tested using a microscope to search for scratches, they work great.

LR Baggs is great and K&K pure western/mini is also great and a great value.

The Stew-Mac reamer for pup installations and bridge pins are very high quality I would call them commercial quality.

Martin Retro strings are the rage out this way and I have them on several of my acoustics and love them.

Great idea for a thread!

Definitely not advocating methylene chloride (MC for short in this post)-based stripper as either safe or environmentally friendly, but there seems to be no good alternative for chemically stripping tough finishes like Enduro-Var, polyesters, or epoxies. Awful stuff...but it works!

_________________
For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Waterbased anything finish... looks horrible, not water resistant at all (if you leave a drop of water on it for more than a minute it turns white), and stays soft.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

For -
Howards
Virtuoso cleaner and their polish too. Great for crudded old delicate nitro finishes. Non abrasive and no silicon.
Enduro Var - Forgiving to use WB, presentable finish - and resistant to methanol, acetone, CA remover and spirits- doesn't need an explosion proof fan.
GluBoost
Gotoh tuners
Braggs pickups
D'Addario strings - phosphor, bronze, and nickel bronze, Martin bronzes
SM double grit cranked diamond crowning file
SM bridge pin reamers.
Micromesh polishing sticks, 4 sided.
My home made straight edges (3) and levelling beams (3)
My granite surface plate
LN 62 and 60 1/2, Quangsheng spokeshave and violin plane.
Not so hot -
Double sided tape!

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Seriously????

_________________
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

On a whim I bought one of these scraper burnishing tools:
http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.a ... ,310,41070
I must say that it works better than I expected and does a better, more uniform job than I can accomplish freehand.

One of the big highlights of the Santa Barbara show a few years ago was getting to test pickups side by side. We came home with an Anthem SL. Sounds fantastic

Here are my negatives:

I have never gotten the hang of friendly plastic. To me, the name drips of sarcasm.

Harbor Freight clamps (the ratchet type) seem to me to be worthless.

My list of positives would be too long. I generally see the value from the stuff I buy. I rely a lot on luthier herd mentality for what is a good buy, and it rarely leads me astray.

One item that works but has a flaw that made me stop using them is the StewMac mini clamps for kerfed lining. They are the right size and have plenty of clamping force, but the portions of the metal jaws that are not covered with the red plastic sheath leave dents in the lining and on the outside of the sides.

A guitar accessory that works nicely is the K&M Heli 2 compact folding guitar stand. I've owned and borrowed a variety of compact folding guitar stands and these are the best I've found by a large margin in terms of stability and construction quality. A very well thought out design.

_________________
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

The good:
Bob Smith industries CA, simply the best!
D'Addario strings
Ken smith instrument polish
Solar-Lux dye stains
UV cured finish materials

The bad:
DR strings
any type of nut lube junk
"licensed" Floyd Rose bridges
those top loading bridge pin things

The ugly;
Loctite CA
E-bay direct from china anything...
counterfeit strings

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

I never really cared for DR strings either and I will add to that New Tone strings. I've only used two sets of New Tone's so I guess it's not a fair sample but it was enough for me to never want to buy them again. I don't care for water base finishes either.

For good:

A steel fret leveling beam
Stewmac Nut slot ruler
Stewmac Preservation polish
Pure walnut oil mixed in with shellac
Button shellac
Gurian fret file
Evo fret wire

The good:
3" low tack tape from Stewmac Protects Guitar top while working on frets and the sides by the heel while flossing neck at fitting.
BSI glue (What took me so long?)
Gluboost (What took me so long?)
Small plastic clamps from Harbor freight for kerfed lining. And cheap.
5/16" Poplar dowels for my go bar deck.
Dewalt compact plunge router.
Jig I made for routing saddle slots after the bridge is on the guitar. It is not as good as the one Hesh uses, but it works for me.
Leveling beams for frets.
Mirka adhesive backed sand paper.
Craft sticks for cleaning glue around the bridge and fret board extension. It gets the damp cloth into some tight places.
Plastic key cards from hotel visits. Good for scraping, squeegying, spreading epoxy, and I tape one on the top, on each side of the fret board extension, while working on fret ends. Over the low tack protective tape, of course.

The bad:
Almost all of the other kerfed lining clamps I've tried.
About 50 various jigs I've built that did not work. I laugh when I look at some of them, because I can't figure out what they were supposed to do.
And on everyone's list, Loctite CA.

Yes, Mr. Burkett - good reminder on the low tack tape...brilliant stuff!

For deteriorating neck finishes, as found on many older instruments, we run a strip of the 1" low tack tape down each side of the neck just below the edge of the fretboard, plus another strip between those to fully protect the finish on the back of the neck prior to taping up the surface of the board with 3M 2090. Besides minimizing any possible lacquer peel-off, the tape mask on the fretboard is quickly removed by peeling the low tack tape off first (the pieces of 3M 2090 all land on the low tack...peel the low tack and everything comes off in one big, sticky piece of adhesive and paper).

When bridges go on, the first layer of the tape dam is the 1" low tack, then standard 3M 2090...plenty of adhesion to give registration for the bridge while protecting the top finish from either adhesive swelling or adhesive-induced lacquer pull-off. The 3" wide stuff is perfect for head-plate and body protection, and for on-guitar saddle slot routs with the saddle mill or when any templates are used, we use a layer of the 3" edge-joined (no humps or bumps) for protection from 'template rash.'

Finally, the low tack tape is nice for working on bodies in the white where additional shellac to seal and protect is not warranted.

I'll add one new item:

The StewMac triple roll tape dispenser has replaced our InLine-branded double and triple dispensers for everything except extremely wide tape rolls (the 3" low tack tape roll requires a 4" wide dispenser, and super fine line tapes are better worked from their own dispensers or off the roll). We trialed the SM tape dispenser against both the mid-grade and high-end industrial tape holders in three shops and found that the SM tape deck was preferred - both for the cutting edge protection guard and rock-steady nature. At $20, the SM tape deck is an affordable solution, although we'd like to see SM add parts support to permit us to stock wear parts such as the blade.

And indulge me with a brief rant:

Walmart...sucks. After decades of resisting the totalitarians' push toward the nanny state, Walmart joined that particular parade of lemmings and has bent a knee. In 2018, the Arkansas-based masterminds running the world's largest junk product outlet started eliminating all those chemicals "...known to the State of California as unsafe for idiots but incredibly effective when used by responsible adults..." but somehow missed doing anything about the real killers lurking in their food aisles - quality nutritional choices such as 96 ounce single-serving containers of Doritos (convenient for those intent on avoiding the drudgery of opening multiple bags for a late afternoon 8000 calorie Netflix binge), or the snack-sized package of 48 Twinkies.

So although I cannot buy methylene chloride-based paint stripper (to be used with appropriate protective gear by non-morons) or my chosen 'be safe at home' pest eliminator (Federal Premium HydraShok-Deep 135g 9mm JHP), I can buy thousand of products which - if appearances do not deceive - are in the process of killing a good percentage of Walmart's customer base from obesity-related maladies.

_________________
For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Oh yeah one more thing for the good list that I discovered last year:

De-Glue Goo

I never had a problem using Locktite CA. What is it people don't like about it? It used to be my go to CA as it could be purchased at any hardware store.

It is extremely expensive for the small volume of glue that you get.

De-Goo-Glue is great. Makes removing glue residual from bridges and fretboard extensions after removal a snap.

Here is one thing that does not work very well. Using a template bit to shape bridges and headstocks if there is more than a sliver of extra wood hanging over.

What does work very well is using a RoboSander first and remove that last 1/32” with the template bit.

_________________
It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

^^ Truth!

Why is that? It's the cutting of all the endgrain? I've hacked up the wings of a bridge and shot it across the room twice. Also, I found it was super critical to have a perfectly level zero clearance insert on the router that doesn't flex. Pushing down on the piece with the jointer paddle, if the insert flexes it causes the piece to tip and it's a missle.

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars

Love:

Kobalt mini files for everything from beveling fret slots to final shaping shell inlay
Dozuki saw
Zap-it EZ string winder for cordless drill
Fret Rocker
Inspection light and fold-out mirror
Bridge Saver from SM. $$ maker for any repair shop
Micro chisels
Nut slot depth gauge
Opti-visor
Balsam Fir incense and log cabin burner- great for wonderful smelling shop after sanding bone or spraying CA glue accelerator

No Use For:

SM chip stoppers- don't work and get in the way
Gorgomyte fretboard conditioner- will clean and condition if fretboard is already clean. If nasty, forget about it.

_________________
It will probably be alright.

Works: Reinforced packing tape for glueing bindings. Can apply lots of force to close up the gaps.

Dave

also what works:

Dozuki saws... turns out that's all they ever sell in Taiwan as far as fine woodworking saw goes. Got mine for 20 dollars, picked it specifically because it cuts a .5mm kerf for fretting. I cut like half inch into a piece of purpleheart before I even know it, it's so sharp. Fretwire fits in the slot too, though not a very tight fit. It works better than the Stewmac fret saw because the Stewmac fret saw has a .020" steel that cuts a .020" kerf. With no teeth set how do you expect the saw to cut more than 1mm deep? The Dozuki saw has a .3mm steel and cuts .5mm kerf, so it has some set which is why it cuts.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I won't duplicate the great items already mentioned:

Works:
LIOGIER Hand-stitched Rasps
Mirka Gold Proflex sandpaper - I buy it in bulk packs of sheets. Cuts great, lasts long.
Scary sharp system for sharpening with a Veritas MKII honing guide. I thought I had sharp blades until I started using this.
Mohawk Classic Instrument Lacquer
Iwata LPH80 mini-gun with a 1.2 tip and E4 spray cap. Affordable compact gun that works great with a small compressor. Add the 3M PPS cups for even easier use.
A real scalpel instead of XActo knives. I use #11 blades with a metal handle.
SM preservation polish. Love the stuff.
K&K Pure Mini pickups
SM guitar vise, or similar. Can't live without it.

Doesn't work:
Sherwin Williams LOVOC lacquer - two guitars both never fully cured.
Mohawk Piano Lacquer - fine for solid body, but not for acoustics that need some flexibility in the finish.

_________________
Tony Thatcher
Bozeman, Montana

You can call me James, or you can call me JB, or you can call me JTB. You can even call me James T, but you doesn't has to call me Mr. Burkett.