1961 Martin OO-18G [3.2 lbs] :: clean up & bridge reglue

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This vintage Martin was picked up this morning after having it's bridge reglued, a couple loose back brace ends secured and an overall cleaning.  The owner's mother purchased this guitar for her brand new in 1961 for $160!  After 55 years together, she is looking to sell it so please feel free to contact me if you are interested.

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Bridge reglue :: 1961 Martin OO-18G

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A vintage Martin classical came in with it's bridge removed.  I cleaned up the mating surfaces, made a few custom clamping cauls (one internal, three external) and reglued the bridge with hot hide glue.

Component swap :: 1986 Fender MIJ Stratocaster Contemporary [7.9 lbs]

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A local player for a funk band picked up this made in Japan Strat years ago and loves how it plays, but not so much on how it sounds.  He found the original pickups to be lacking output (all pickups 6.0k) so he brought it by the shop to install new guts under the pickgaurd.  The new pickups he supplied are GFS 1963 Strat Texas wound pickups with their outputs reading 6.1k (neck), 6.5k (middle - RW/RP) and 8.6k in the bridge.  The middle pickup's "RW/RP" stands for "reverse wound / reverse polarity" which means that it is hum cancelling when combined with the neck or bridge pickup (positions 2 & 4 on the 5-way switch).  He also supplied CTS pots, a 0.022 µf Orange Drop tone cap, new 5-way switch and Switchcraft output jack.

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Full contact neck shim :: 2015 Squire Jaguar [8.6 lbs]

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The owner of this Jag was playing around with the setup and found the bridge height he liked that would allow enough down pressure to hold the strings on the saddle.  At this height, the action was sky high making it tough to play.  He brought it by the shop and I made a tapered full-contact shim to increase the neck angle over the body.  These shims are much more involved to fabricate when compared to the common simple shim in the back of the neck pocket.  Being a full contact shim, it eliminates any empty space in the neck joint and theoretically improves sustain.  A full shim also better supports the neck and helps prevent the common fingerboard rise over the body (aka "ski jump") that can be caused by smaller step shims.

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Also note that I had to add foam under the pickups in order to raise them up to the new neck set.

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Seriously deep pick wear :: 2008 Takamine Santa Fe TSF48C [5.5 lbs]

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Check out those gouges!!!  The player of this freshly refretted Takamine uses metal picks and seems to keep the pick wear to very localized areas.  I love seeing this stuff - unique legitimate player wear.

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The video below is pulled from my Snapchat nonsense.  Make sure you add me (@chubbuckguitars) so we can hook up!