HIGH ACTION
Too much neck relief, nut slots not deep enough, bridge/saddles too high, or any combination of these.
LOW ACTION, NOTES BUZZING
Neck is back-bowed, nut slots too deep, bridge/saddles too low, or any combination of these. May need fretwork to maintain clean playing if you want to keep low action.
ELECTRICS NOT WORKING
Broken connection at jack, faulty switch, short in wiring, poor solder joint, faulty pick up, bad battery in active system.
HEADSTOCK BROKEN OFF OR CRACKED AT NECK
DO NOT TRY TO GLUE IT YOURSELF. This will make it much more difficult to fix in the end.
This is a very common injury, especially with Gibson/Epiphone and more especially with Les Paul models and we see it nearly every week and are able to fix nearly every case, much to the owner’s relief.
The best thing to do to bring the guitar in to the shop as soon as possible.
TREMOLO BRIDGE GUITAR - WON’T STAY IN TUNE OR CAN’T INTONATE
Worn or loose locknut, guitar neck is loose, tremolo bridge pins drifting, strings pinching in nut, too much drag through nut and string trees.
SCRATCHY SOUND WHEN KNOBS TURNED
Controls need cleaning or replacement.
GETS BUZZY IN SUMMER / HARD TO PLAY IN WINTER
Guitar is humidity sensitive and requires seasonal maintenance, especially truss rod adjustment.
May want to purchase in-case guitar humidifier for winter.
PICKUPS HUM INTERMITTENT SIGNAL / CUTS OUT
Poor or no ground connection, single coil p-u 60 cycle noise is accentuated with high-gain amp settings, shielding may be required, hum-canceling pickups may need to be installed.
PICKUPS SQUEAL / SCREECH
This is microphonic noise and has an abrupt & uncontrollable threshold. Occurs commonly in old and/or single coil pickups. pickups may need to be wax dipped (potted) or replaced
INTERMITTENT SIGNAL / CUTS OUT
Bad solder connection or switch, hot circuit may be touching ground wire somewhere in controls, corroded jack contacts.
VOLUME CONTROL INEFFECTIVE/ CUTS OUT TOO QUICKLY
Control will need replacement or "tone circuit" modification or a linear potentiometer instead of usual audio pot may be desired.
BUZZING / DEAD NOTES ON NECK
This is microphonic noise and has an abrupt & uncontrollable threshold. Occurs commonly in old and/or single coil p-u’s. P-u’s may need to be wax dipped (potted) or replaced
FINGER NOISE ON STRINGS
Strings are old and tarnished or rusted, frets need cleaning & polishing, flat or semi-flat wound strings may be desired.
STRING ENDS STUCK IN TREMOLO BRIDGE
Clamp blocks have been over tightened and are split and spread, locking screws are stripping and jammed from over-tightening. In standard tremolo bridges, the holes may be too small for the string balls. Holes will need to be enlarged.
STRINGS BREAK AT HEAD
String is pinched in nut slot, sharp burr at tension bar, string trees, or holes in string posts.
STRINGS BREAK AT BRIDGE
Saddles worn, sharp burr at saddles or string anchor point. Saddle crown too steep or sharp.
STRINGS BREAK IN MIDDLE
Worn or sharp frets; "ding" in frets - strings too old – more frequent string replacement required.
STRAP BUTTON LOOSE
Stripped or worn screw hole. Hole needs to be plugged with wood and re-drilled.
AWKWARD CONTROL PLACEMENT OR FEW CONTROL OPTIONS
SIGNAL BREAKS UP
Bad solder connection, faulty switch, hot/ground short aggravated by vibrations in guitar. Weak battery (active systems)
CRACKED OR BROKEN NECK OR HEAD
Don’t fix it yourself!!!!! Nothing is harder to fix than a bad repair. This is often an inexpensive repair except for refinishing the damaged area on more expensive instruments with colored paint or stain.
OPEN STRING TWANGS IN NUT
Nut slot too wide, not enough back tension behind nut, nut slot cut too low.
BROKEN OR CHIPPED NUT
This can often be repaired with "dental" style filling and re-cutting, otherwise nut replacement is required.
CONVERT RIGHT HANDED GUITAR FOR LEFT HANDED PLAYER
May need adjustment of saddle(s), bridge, pickguard, and/or controls. Nut will need reslotting or replacement. Difficulty of work depends on guitar.
Acoustic - CRACK IN FACE OR SIDE
Needs careful glue, clamp, refinish and reinforcement on the side.
Acoustic - DEEP CRACK W/ GAP (WON’T CLOSE)
Needs to be splinted, reinforced & refinished, often after re-humidification.
Acoustic - HUMP IN NECK AT BODY
Fret dressing for mild hump. Re-fret and/or fingerboard leveling for severe cases.
Acoustic - HIGH ACTION THAT CAN’T BE ADJUSTED
Bridge and saddle profiling for mild case — May need neck reset for severe case
Acoustic - HEEL SEPARATION FROM BODY
Reset neck on better guitars. "Salvage" fix on cheap guitars involves penetrating glue and a bolt through heel and neck block, disguised with a strap button.
Acoustic - FRET BUZZ at 1st POSITION
Frets may be worn deeply from heavy use with open chords – needs fret dressing or partial fret replacement.
Acoustic - VOLUME CONTROL INEFFECTIVE/ CUTS OUT TOO QUICKLY
Control will need replacement or "tone circuit" modification.A linear potentiometer instead of usual audio pot may be desired.
Acoustic - ELECTRICS NOT WORKING
Broken connection at jack, dead battery, short at battery cap, broken pickup, controls need cleaning.
