Books Now Available at Long & McQuade
J. Blackwood
Jonny Blackwood is the content developer and head honcho @BlackwoodGuitarworks. He's a professional guitarist and guitar tech/ luthier for over 25 years and teaches the fine-art of guitar maintenance & repair through group classes, online articles and his best-selling book titles.
Headstock Repair with Splines Part 2
Headstock Repair with Splines Part 1
Books Now Available at Chapters/ Indigo
Larrivee OM-10 Broken Headstock, Split Top Shipping Repair
Another beautiful old “Victoria Label” Larrivee OM10 model arrived in the shop. This one sustained some shipping damage, which fractured the neck. It also had a couple of other issues: a split top and a lifting bridge.
How To Revive a Dehydrated Acoustic Guitar After a Cold, Dry Winter
So the guitar was playing just fine before winter, but when you picked it up recently to strum out some favourites, it goes buzz buzz buzz. The strings are frapping out all over the place. Nothing but buzz and sadness.…
How to Fix Stripped Pickguard Screw Holes
I received an email the other day asking how to fill stripped pickguard screw holes: …”I have replaced the pickups and pickguard on my guitar so often that some of the pickguard screws won‘t stay in the holes. If I…
Gibson Broken Headstock Syndrome
For every ten guitars I repair with broken headstocks, nine of them are Gibson Les Pauls. Besides being heavier than the average guitar, they also have a radical headstock angle, which is their weakest point… so, if you drop or…
Acoustic Guitars in Winter
Guitars are commonly manufactured in climate-controlled plants, usually somewhere at 47%-54% relative humidity. This is the environment it was made to be in and live out its life. If it’s changed, the guitar may not respond well! Winters can be…
Are Your Frets Worn?
These frets have big, deep divots from many hours of playing all over the neck. Fret wear like this can produce fret buzz as well as poor tone and intonation. Frets eventually wear out, and that’s when it’s time for…
About Nut Replacements
A pretty common repair job is to replace a broken, worn, or improperly cut nut on a guitar and bass, although many people are under the false impression that it’s a simple replacement and will just easily “pop into place.”…
Custom Tele Touch-up Repair
The Guitar This guitar was brought to me in 20 pieces, a project guitar with all the parts sourced out from completely different places. A lot of the parts didn’t fit- they required custom installation. Thankfully, my background is in…
The Importance of a Guitar Setup
Setups and Adjustments The difference between a great playing guitar and a lousy one… is quite often as simple as a setup. Have you ever had a great setup done on your guitar? It’s amazing what a few adjustments can…
