Chubbuck Guitars / Kevin Chubbuck, making & repairing guitars in an old building just north of Boston, Massachusetts.
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bench
A noisy pickup that needs to be replaced. This pickguard assembly is super clean, but the pickup is epoxied and screwed to the ebony making it difficult to remove. The tiny screws stripped and/or broke on me so out comes the heat lamp to soften things up. Aluminum foil helps direct the heat to only the pickup mounting tab, though some heat does transfer via the metal tab to the pickup. Not a big deal since the pickup is bad.
A 70's style Strat back in the shop to complete it's Lowell George-esque setup with a Tele bridge pickup and Alembic Blastor preamp. Above the body is being routed out for a Seymour Duncan Tele bridge pickup. I forgot to photo the method used to enlarge the bridge in the pickguard (yes, a Tele bridge pickup is bigger than a Strat pickup). What I did was to take a Tele bridge, double-stick taped it to the pickguard and used a violin knife to pare away the excess. It worked fairly well.
The owner found a NOS original Blastor from the 1970's (not the newer Blaster / Strat-o-Blaster). Pictured above is the back of the body is being routed out to accept a 9V battery box to power the Alembic preamp. A battery box is not required, but it's nice to have easy access. You can install the battery under the pickguard but it can be a pain having to take off the pickguard for each battery change. I would not install a battery box on a vintage instrument. Also note that we ended up lowering the action at the nut considerably from last time it was in.
A creative alternative to shimming a nut with this small piece of wood. I see a lot of business card scraps but this is the first mini nut to come across the bench. Unfortunately in this position the "fix" wreaks havoc on intonation as it shortens the scale length on the G string. Ideally I like to replace the nut but removing the additional piece of wood and filling / recutting the nut slot was a more economical solution for the customer.
This M-20 has been in the shop multiple times now for bridge reglues. Seems it likes to fail yearly most likely due to the fact it is so thin in the wings. I am trying to hold off on replacing the bridge until the guitar needs a neck reset. But really I think the guitar is pissed I did this to it's brother.
Here is Mousa 003's body glue-up from last month. I glue up the back first, remove it from the mold and then glue up the top. Currently I'm finishing up the body binding and the neck fit is coming up soon. Check out the body glue-up video from the vlog down below.
![Lowell George setup :: 2001 Fender Stratocaster [7.5 lbs]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53dfcee2e4b0c0da377c65c7/1456387850900-NU41WBIMVZD1JGJQEGS7/image-asset.jpeg)
![Interesting nut shim :: 1997 Gibson Blues Hawk [6.5 lbs]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/53dfcee2e4b0c0da377c65c7/1455925126085-0ZLJTQNEWXQSNERKW2HF/image-asset.jpeg)
