MIMF

There will be no snickering about my diagram. I've had the graph paper since grade school (a while ago). The wiring is 3 on/off/on-reverse phase with the outputs tied to a master volume and tone. The volume/tone circuit here is the "50s Gibson" wiring. I used it for no particular reason. Some people...

The way you have it wired, the volume controls will interact when you have more than one pick up on. Think of typical Gibson wiring. If you connect the pick ups to the center lug of the volume pots and the other lug to the switch, you'll be able to blend multiple pick ups a bit better. Think of a Ja...

Once again I am humbled.

Ryan,

That looks great! You should be pleased.

As has been said, you should take this opportunity to correct any issues with the fingerboard. You should not try to sand those divots out. This is a link to a short article by Frank Ford http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Frets/FBoardDivot/fboardivot.html Now I haven't seen your guit...

Many of the synthetic finishes I've encountered aren't affected by acetone. Find a hidden spot and try both the CA and acetone. You might be able to clean up with the acetone.

You know, after all the discussion about "Is it still a Martin" etc, I might re-frame (no pun intended) it as: A customer brought in an old Martin guitar and the only part worth saving is the neck. This is a perfect opportunity for me to use that old Panamanian mahogany bed frame. What could be bett...

Barry,

Are the top and back cut from the same flitch (if that's the right term)? I'm looking at the "eyes" below the bridge area and the corresponding area on the back. How cool is that?

I'm getting very jealous of the owner of this thing.

Steve,

If you install a PJ set and leave enough room for 2 9 volt batteries, you run the risk of never being seen again. You'll just be standing behind the door, waiting for the next set of pick ups to arrive.

Of course, the next set will sound the best...

EMG sells their passive Jazz Bass bridge pick-up alone, so you could mate that with the pick up you have. It is also humbucking so your new bass would be quiet (it won't hum because it knows the words).

I just saw one on Ebay slightly discounted and $5 ebay lucky bucks off. Google EMG LJHZ

As has been said before, I would start with getting rid of the dowels, filling the holes with wood, fit everything up and glue with HHG. No matter what you do, there is not much gluing surface. If (when) this fails, rather than replacing the neck, how about splicing an extension so you can do a conv...

This is becoming an interesting and evolving study in philosophy. It might have been simpler if your customer had bought a box of parts labelled "Martin 00-17, maybe". At the extreme, which seems to be approaching rapidly, you and your customer will end up with an excellent guitar built on an old Ma...

Whenever Barry starts a project like this, I move to the back of the room and stand slack jawed. That being said, the question of the sides reminded me of an article in GAL journal (#97, p. 48) where damaged sides are lined with veneer. This might allow you to keep the original sides even with repla...

You might want to leave the pickguard off in the future. Test under a tuning machine.

Barry, Are you considering another spruce top or a mahogany top (to match the model # in the guitar)? I can see the guy in Indiana thinking "I will improve this guitar by making it a 00-18". Does it still have rectangular frets? There's so much to think about but I can't see anything wrong with maki...

If you're just need to hear yourself, you can plug into a guitar amp. Broadly speaking, a bass amp should have more power (because it takes more power to reproduce the lower frequencies and even more power to reproduce them cleanly), a tone control section designed around lower frequencies, a larger...

This is almost a philosophical quest. I think of a good instrument as one that "talks to you". That being said, sometimes you have to learn what the instrument has to say... Don't audition too many guitars in one sitting. Your ears get tired. Also, in my opinion, you probably need to find a speciali...

What's wrong with the machines?

If the preamp were dead, there would be no signal going through it. So there would be nothing for the "MIC" setting to amplify. I would hypothesize that there is no or little gain from the preamp. Because I don't know my brass from an oboe, I would start at the pick up and work my way out (as was pr...

http://fingerlakesguitarrepair.com/fend ... trem-stud/

Gordon, I remembered a similar repair posted.