Manchester Guitar Tech
Here’s another Gibson Les Paul headstock repair, the second within the space of two days! The owner of this guitar had left it in his rehearsal room and come back to find it broken. It was pretty clear from the break and other damage on the body that someone had taken the guitar out of its …
The Stewart MacDonald bushing press is a great tool for safely inserting and removing tuner bushings, avoiding finish damage that may be caused by less elegant methods. Full instructions for using the bushing press are on the Stewmac website. This Gibson Les Paul Classic was in the workshop for repair to a nasty headstock break and …
Finish Repair A customer had had an accident with his Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray 5-string bass. He had dropped it and knocked a large piece of the finish off the lower edge of the guitar. I filled the damage with matching lacquer so that the damage was no longer noticeable. Sunburst Gibson L6-S finish repair …
This Les Paul came to me badly refinished in polyurethane varnish. I completely stripped it (apart from the area around the serial number) and refinished it in nitrocellulose lacquer, using the same bronze powder pigments that would have been used originally.
Before doing any levelling, you need to be sure that you are working with a straight neck. I’m using a Stewart MacDonald notched straightedge which allows me to read the fretboard. I adjusted the trussrod until the fretboard was flat. I have marked the top of each fret with a marker pen. This is so …
The Squier Vista Series Jagmaster is one of my favourite guitars. The Squier Vista series was made in Japan to very high standards and comprised around 4 models. If you are going to do this remember that rosewood dust can be an irritant so wear a dust mask when sanding and cutting it. This Jagmaster …
Headstock repair This early 70s Les Paul Signature had suffered a headstock break many years ago and had been left unrepaired. I was told by the owner that it was this very bass that turned Peter Hook on to semi-acoustics! Luckily the owner was careful to keep all the parts and I was able to …