Guitar Pictures

Author: James Marshall

The String Action Gauge: Stop Guessing at Your Guitar Setup
You pick up your favorite guitar, and it just feels… off.

Photo: TT Zop, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

You know the feeling. You’re lost. You tweak a saddle, play a chord, and try to remember what it felt like a minute ago. Was that better? Worse? You have no anchor point, no objective truth. You’re locked out of your own instrument’s potential, and it’s a uniquely sad and deflating feeling. You’re relying on guesswork—or worse, pocket change—and it’s a maddening cycle. But what if you could trade that guesswork for certainty, all for the price of a couple of packs of strings?

📚 The Master’s Tool for Objective Truth

Dan Erlewine doesn’t guess. He measures. In this essential video, he shows the simple, professional tool that ends the setup guessing game forever, and turns the “dark art” of a perfect setup into a repeatable science.

📏 Why It’s Not Just a Ruler

I used to try and use a standard 6-inch ruler for setups, and it was always a fight. The StewMac String Action Gauge is different by design, built by luthiers for this exact job.
1. It Eliminates the “Teeter-Totter”.
  A standard ruler balances on a single fret, making it wobble and “teeter-totter.” As Dan shows, this gauge rests across several frets, creating a stable, unshakeable base. This guarantees you get a true, square reading every time.
2. Precision You Can Actually Read.
  Forget thick, fuzzy millimeter markings. This gauge is marked in thousandths of an inch—the language of luthiers—with graduations for every 10,000th. The markings are etched and blackened, making them incredibly easy to read at a glance.
🛠️ The “Swiss Army Knife” for Your Bench

This is more than a one-trick pony. It’s a fundamental tool that quickly becomes indispensable for multiple jobs, adding immense value for its low cost.
- Perfecting Pickup Balance: By pressing a string down at the last fret, you can use the gauge to accurately measure the distance to each pickup pole piece. This allows you to balance the output of your pickups for a smooth, even tone across all strings.
- The “Save Your Settings” Trick: This is a pro-level move that prevents a huge headache. Before you remove a bridge for cleaning or repair, use the gauge to measure the height of the thumb wheels. Write it down. Now, you can reinstall the bridge, pre-set the height to your exact measurement, and avoid the “tune-detune-tweak” death loop.
- The Handy 3-Inch Ruler: And yes, it’s also just a great little ruler, perfect for quick jobs like measuring bridge stud spacing or nut width.
💰 The Smartest Investment on Your Bench

As an aspiring luthier, I can tell you this is one of a handful of truly essential tools. It’s foundational equipment, serving both the beginner doing their first string change and the semi-pro looking for consistency. Championing a low-cost, high-ROI tool like this is a no-brainer. It signals that we’re here to help you build our skills from the ground up, not just sell you expensive gear. This tool is the true starting point.

✨ The Payoff: The Power of Knowing Your Numbers

The first time you use this gauge to dial in a perfect .060″ action, a door opens in your mind. You feel useful. Something that seemed hard was actually simple. Those Fender or Gibson specs you used to see online? They were just vague numbers before. Now, they are a recipe you can follow. This cheap tool gives you the superpower of **replication and restoration**. You can now decode the “magic numbers” from your favorite guitar and clone that perfect feel onto any other instrument. You have the power of a pro, and you got it for less than the cost of a new pedal.

What are your ‘magic numbers’? Share your go-to action height at the 12th fret in the comments below!
August 2, 2025
The TrueChannel Jig: Your Secret to Flawless Guitar Binding
It’s the luthier’s scarlet letter: a bad binding job.
Those ugly gaps and uneven lines are more than a simple mistake; they’re a very visible, permanent scar. For a builder, it reflects a shortcoming—not enough experience, a bad method, or a simple slip. But the real devastation is the timing. It’s a failure at the finish line. After you’ve poured countless hours into a million perfect little steps to get to that point, a flawed binding job is utterly heartbreaking. It all traces back to a hidden, geometric problem: the non-square channel caused by a router tilting on an angled guitar back.
📚 Dan Erlewine’s Elegant Solution
This is precisely the kind of high-stakes problem Dan Erlewine excels at solving. He didn’t just accept this frustration; he engineered an elegant solution that de-risks one of lutherie’s most nerve-wracking tasks. Watch how he makes a complex problem simple.
💡 The Genius of Staying Square
The beauty of the TrueChannel Jig is that it solves a complex problem with an almost obvious mechanical principle. It “takes away the human mechanical variables,” transforming a high-wire act into a guided, repeatable process. As Dan shows, the jig simply rides along the top edge of the instrument, using it as a stable guide. This single point of contact forces the router bit to remain perfectly square to the sides, regardless of the back’s radius. The result? A perfect, 90-degree channel, every single time.

⚙️ A Closer Look: The Engineering of Precision
For a high-ticket item, understanding the mechanics is key. Let’s break down the two critical adjustments that make this jig so effective and versatile.
1. Dialing in the Height.
  Guitars have different body depths and binding comes in different heights. The jig accounts for this with a simple and robust height adjustment. The entire router mount slides up and down on the main vertical tower, allowing you to precisely position the router bit exactly where you need it on the guitar’s side. This ensures your binding channel is perfectly centered and consistent all the way around the body.
2. Controlling the Depth with Bearings.
  While the jig keeps the cut square, the depth of the channel is controlled by the bearing on your router bit. This is why using a dedicated Binding Router Bit Set is so important. By swapping out the bearings, you can precisely set how deep the bit cuts into the wood, allowing you to create stepped channels for multi-layered bindings with absolute precision. The jig handles the X-axis (squareness), the bearings handle the Y-axis (depth).
🎸 Beyond Acoustics: A Tool for Your Entire Fleet
For a builder like me—an “intelligent hack” who is learning—the goal is to build smart systems. This jig isn’t just for one type of guitar; it’s a “one system to rule them all” for binding jobs. It works flawlessly on carve tops, flat tops, and just about anything that has binding. This versatility means you don’t need a drawer full of different ad-hoc solutions. You master one perfect, universal workflow, which is satisfying and unlocks the ability to confidently take on work for customers, not just personal projects.
💰 The Investment in Flawless Lines
Let’s be honest: taking a high-speed router to the edge of a nearly finished instrument is terrifying. This jig acts as a “confidence multiplier.” It doesn’t ask you to be a robot; it provides a safety net that lets you leverage the speed of a power tool without the risk of a project-ending mistake. It’s a strategic investment in a guaranteed, professional-level outcome.
You’re buying your way out of a skill gap, which is the smartest move a craftsman can make. The core of the system is the StewMac TrueChannel Binding Routing Jig. (Note: This is a pro tool and can sometimes be out of stock, but it’s the one to get). Of course, the jig is only half the equation. You’ll need the right bits to make the cut, and the StewMac Binding Router Bit Set is engineered to work perfectly with it.
✨ The Payoff: “Glad I Called That Guy”
When the binding is glued, scraped flush, and that first coat of finish makes the seam disappear into a single, perfect line, the feeling is incredible. It’s that “Billy Madison” moment where you look at the perfect result and think, “Glad I called that guy.”
You outsourced the risk to the right tool. From that moment, you feel the excitement that you CAN and WILL build more guitars and get this critical step right, every time. You’ve proven you can identify a high-stress “mini job” and apply a targeted solution to reduce its stress to zero. That’s the win.
What’s the one binding ‘trick’ or tool that saved a project for you? Share your wisdom below.
July 29, 2025
The Erlewine ShopStand: The Rock-Solid Hub Your Workshop is Missing
This is it: the glorious, rock-solid monster that anchors your entire workshop and changes the game forever.

It puts a decisive end to the familiar, frustrating reality for so many of us: that slight wobble you try to ignore, the cluttered benchtop that forces you into awkward angles, the constant, low-level fear that one slip could turn a precise job into a disaster. Every stroke matters with a file, and if the very foundation holding your work is moving, your accuracy suffers. The noise, the feel… it’s enough to drive you mad. This isn’t just an inconvenience; it’s a corrosive agent that fundamentally undermines your confidence and focus. You’re fighting your environment instead of mastering your craft.

📚 The Master’s Vision for a Flawless Workflow

To solve a foundational problem, we look to a master. Dan Erlewine didn’t just accept the limitations of a traditional workbench; he reimagined the very hub of the workshop. In this video, he lays out his thesis for why a dedicated, stable, and adaptable workstation is not a luxury, but an absolute necessity for professional-level work.

🏆 The Three Pillars of a Professional Foundation

The genius of the ShopStand lies in how it systematically dismantles the core problems of a hobbyist setup. It’s built on three pillars that create a truly professional foundation.
1. Reclaim Your Workshop (The Space-Saver).
  For a smaller shop, bench space is prime real estate. The ShopStand solves the “real estate crisis” by replacing a bulky, space-hogging bench with a tiny footprint. You no longer have to sacrifice half your workshop to permanently-stationed power tools; the ShopStand becomes a hot-swappable hub, maximizing every square foot.
2. The End of ‘Wobble-Induced’ Fear (The Stabilizer).
  Bolted directly to your floor, this heavy-duty, rock-steady column is the ultimate confidence booster. The constant, subconscious micro-corrections you make on a wobbly surface vanish. That fear of slipping is replaced by the profound stability needed for the most delicate and demanding tasks.
3. Bring the Work to You (The Ergonomic Hub).
  With a height adjustment range of 27″ to 36″, the ShopStand adapts to you, not the other way around. It eliminates the “shop floor shuffle” of bending and hauling tools. Even better, it unlocks 360-degree access, allowing you to move completely around the workpiece without bumping into a bench—a game-changer for shaping necks or buffing a body.
🛠️ The System in Action: From Fretwork to Final Polish

The “Aha!” moment comes when you realize this isn’t just a stand; it’s a modular system. A task that used to be a frustrating, multi-step “unclamp-flip-reclamp” dance suddenly becomes fluid and intuitive.
- Precision Fret & Setup Work: With a neck jig locked into the Guitar Repair Vise, you can tip the instrument into the perfect playing position and orbit the work, inspecting every angle without breaking focus.
- Effortless Nut & Saddle Shaping: As Dan demonstrates, you can clamp a belt sander into the Angle Vise, bringing the tool to the perfect height for comfortable, precise shaping.
- Flawless Buffing: The stand’s rigidity makes it the “perfect buffing stand.” It provides the stable base needed to apply Dan’s “Gibson secret”—keeping the piece moving in a circular motion, like steering a car, to achieve a beautiful, streak-free finish.
💰 The Investment: Forging Your Workshop’s Central Hub

Let’s be direct: this is a serious tool at a serious price. You could probably try to build one yourself if you have a welder and time to burn on grinding, drilling, and painting. But that’s a fair bit of work that pulls you away from the actual craft of lutherie. The real argument for a “buy once, cry once” tool like this is about what you’re truly investing in.

This isn’t just an expense; it’s an investment in confidence. It’s the aesthetic and functional upgrade that professionalizes your space. It’s knowing that if it’s good enough for Dan Erlewine, it’s good enough for you. You can build your ultimate workstation starting with the cornerstone: the Erlewine ShopStand. And remember, StewMac often has “SAVE WITH THE SET!” bundles that package the stand with the essential vises for a better value.

✨ The Payoff: The Feeling of “The Real Deal”

After you bolt this to your floor and complete your first major job, the lasting feeling isn’t just satisfaction with the work. It’s an ascension. You’ve eliminated the amateur’s biggest variable—an unstable environment—and have earned the right to see yourself differently. Suddenly, you feel you can take on more complex jobs, to demand more precision from yourself. It’s the moment you stop feeling like a hobbyist and start thinking like a professional. You become the quasi-professional, and the path to becoming the real thing is finally clear.

What’s the one tool that transformed your workshop from a hobby space to a pro-level environment? Share your story below.
July 17, 2025
End Fret Buzz: Pinpoint Problem Frets with the Fret Rocker
That frustrating, tell-tale buzz. You know the sound.

Whether it’s an open string ringing sour or a note dying out on the fretboard, persistent fret buzz is a common plague for guitarists. It ruins tone, compromises playability, and can drive even the most patient musician to distraction.

The main culprits are almost always frets that are either too high or too low. Pinpointing the exact offender, however, can feel like a game of whack-a-mole. You could end up chasing your tail, taking material off one fret only to find the next one is now wrong. It would be a nightmare pursuit trying to guess and play around with it.

For the serious hobbyist aiming for professional results, precision matters. This guide introduces the Fret Rocker, an essential tool for accurately diagnosing fret issues, and arms you with the knowledge to silence that buzz for good. You’ll gain the confidence that your guitar will play properly, and you can’t blame it for your bad playing!

🎦 The Master’s Approach: Dan Erlewine and the Fret Rocker

When it comes to essential guitar setup and repair, Dan Erlewine from StewMac is the master. In this video, he demonstrates his “Fret Rocker,” an ingenious tool designed to quickly identify problematic frets.

Watch as he shows you the simple yet effective method for pinpointing the source of fret buzz.

✨ Engineered for Precision: What Makes the Fret Rocker Essential

The Fret Rocker is a small, precision-ground straight edge specifically designed to quickly pinpoint high or low frets. Its method of use is deceptively simple: you span three frets at a time. If the tool rocks, you’ve found a problem area. But its true genius lies in its engineering:
- Multiple Lengths: The Fret Rocker comes in short, medium, and long lengths, allowing it to accurately span three frets anywhere on the neck – from the narrowest spots near the nut to the wider areas over the body.
- Unmatched Accuracy: These lengths are precision-ground to within **1 and a half thousandths of an inch**. This extreme accuracy is what separates it from improvised tools, ensuring your diagnosis is reliable.
- Diagnostic Power: When the tool rocks, it indicates a problem with one of the three frets it spans. As Dan notes, “the chances are 50:50 each way” that it’s either a high fret or a low fret *next to* the point of contact. This precision tells you *where* to investigate further, rather than just guessing.
This tool is so reliable it’s used on valuable instruments, including vintage guitars like the 1959 Gibson ES-125T (as seen in the video). This communicates a clear message: if it’s good enough for an expensive, valuable, historic guitar, it’s certainly reliable for yours.

💰 Precision vs. Penny-Pinching: The Fret Rocker’s True Value

Many hobbyists consider alternatives like credit cards or homemade metal straight edges to check for high frets. While these DIY methods might offer a quick, low-cost starting point, they come with significant risks.

A homemade tool could be out of tolerance, not perfectly flat, or could even introduce inaccuracies if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing. This can lead to inaccurate measurements and sloppy fret work, wasting your time and potentially damaging your instrument.

For the serious hobbyist who values their time and strives for professional results, investing in a high-quality, purpose-built tool like the StewMac Fret Rocker is a “buy once, cry once” decision. It guarantees precision and consistency, eliminating guesswork and significantly reducing the risk of errors. The confidence you gain from knowing your diagnostic tool is perfectly accurate is invaluable.

Ensure your fretwork starts with precision: StewMac Fret Rocker (Amazon).

🔧 Beyond Detection: Your Next Steps to a Buzz-Free Neck

Identifying a problem fret with the Fret Rocker is the crucial first step. To completely eliminate the buzz, you’ll need to follow up with a few more precise operations:
1. Leveling:
  The identified high or low fret (or frets) needs to be carefully leveled to match the height of its neighbors. This often involves a precision filing tool.
2. Crowning (Reshaping):
  Once the fret is level, it must be reshaped to its proper “crown” profile. This is vital for proper intonation and preventing string contact across too wide an area. A specialized crowning file is essential for this. We recommend the StewMac Compact Z-File Guitar Fret Crowning File (Amazon) for its efficiency.
3. Polishing:
  Finally, the frets must be polished to a smooth, mirror-like shine. This removes any file marks and ensures effortless string bending and vibrato. Always use fret protection like the StewMac Fingerboard Guards (Amazon) to protect your fretboard during these steps.
🏆 The Payoff: Play with Confidence, Craft with Precision

Eliminating fret buzz transforms your playing experience, allowing your guitar to truly sing. The Fret Rocker empowers you to diagnose problems with absolute confidence, setting the stage for precise, effective repairs. The satisfaction of doing this work yourself, knowing your guitar plays perfectly because of your own accurate efforts, is immeasurable. It’s a testament to your mastery and dedication as a craftsman.

What’s your most stubborn fret buzz story, and how did you finally silence it? Share your experience below.
July 11, 2025
Mini Cam Clamps: Precision Clamping for Fragile Pieces in Tight Spaces
You’re deep inside your guitar, trying to clamp a loose brace, but your traditional clamps are fighting you every step of the way.

You squeeze, pump, and wrestle, but the clamp either won’t do up tight enough, or the little rubber pads keep sliding off, forcing you to constantly check and readjust. Even worse, if you’re working near a taller brace, your clamp “contacting here and bottoms out” before it can even touch the piece you actually need to fix. This isn’t just frustrating; it’s a direct threat to your delicate repair, risking damage to the guitar’s top from excessive weight or imprecise pressure. As fellow craftsmen, we know that an improvised setup is a recipe for wasted time and potential disaster. We want tools that remove all doubt, allowing us to focus entirely on the craft. The goal isn’t just a successful repair; it’s the profound confidence that comes from using a tool perfectly designed for the job. You can make your own tools, but the right ones from the right place inspire confidence.

🎦 The Master’s Viewpoint: Dan Erlewine’s Elegant Solution

When it comes to solving common luthier frustrations, Dan Erlewine from StewMac is the master. In this essential video, he introduces his innovative Mini Cam Clamps, revealing how they solve the very problems that plague traditional clamps when working inside a guitar. Pay attention to the subtle genius of their design—it’s the kind of detail that transforms a difficult job into a precise repair.

✨ The ‘Aha!’ Moment: It’s All in the Jaw’s Design

The true genius of Dan Erlewine’s Mini Cam Clamps lies in a seemingly small, yet profoundly impactful, design feature: the **cutaway on the lower jaw**. This isn’t just a cosmetic detail; it’s the specific innovation that allows these clamps to:
- Reach Over Obstructions: Unlike traditional clamps that “bottom out” against adjacent, taller braces before making contact with the target, the cutaway allows the Mini Cam Clamp to clear these obstacles. This means you can effectively clamp the brace you actually need to fix, even in tight, obstructed internal spaces.
- Apply Perfect Pressure: By preventing unwanted contact, the cutaway ensures that the clamping pressure is applied precisely where it’s needed—on the loose brace itself—rather than being diverted by other internal components. This guarantees a secure, effective bond.
This design makes precision possible, transforming what could be a frustrating, ineffective clamping attempt into a clean, targeted repair.

🛠️ Mini Cam Clamps: Lighter, Slimmer, More Versatile

Developed by Dan Erlewine himself, these Mini Cam Clamps are a testament to purpose-built design. They offer the same easy adjustment as standard cam clamps—simply slide the upper jaw into position and flip the cam lever to tighten. But where they truly shine is in their size and versatility: they are **10 ounces lighter** and significantly slimmer than even StewMac’s smallest traditional cam clamps, making them ideal for:
- Internal Guitar Work: Their thin profile (1/2″ width) allows them to navigate tight spaces within acoustic guitars for brace repairs, and even for bridge clamping.
- Smaller Instruments: Perfect for ukuleles, mandolins, and other compact instruments where larger clamps are simply too bulky.
- Delicate Components: The sturdy hardwood and cork jaw linings provide plenty of pressure without risking damage to fragile pieces like fingerboards, side splints, or thin instrument tops.
- Multiple Clamp Placement: Their reduced weight and slimness mean you can fit more of them through a soundhole, enabling comprehensive, even clamping across a repair area.
Photo: StewMac.com

What Fellow Craftsmen Are Saying (and What to Know)

User reviews confirm these clamps are “one of the most useful and usable tools in my shop,” with many expressing a desire to buy more due to their versatility. They’re praised for being “super lightweight but plenty strong,” “perfect fit, weight and tension for clamping bridge through the sound hole,” and “extremely versatile.”

However, an “unimpeachable, nuanced truth” means acknowledging their specific applications. Users note they “are not particularly powerful” for heavy-duty crack closing, and some report that the cork pads can come loose (an easy fix with a little glue). A few also mentioned that while small, they might still not fit the soundhole of *every* ukulele kit. Despite these minor points, the overwhelming consensus is that these “little buggers are perfect” for their intended purpose, providing “precision placement and light pressure” for delicate operations.

Make this cornerstone investment in your workshop today: StewMac Mini Cam Clamps (Amazon).

🔦 See Clearly, Glue Strongly: Essential Supporting Tools

Precise clamping often requires clear visibility and reliable adhesion. Here are two indispensable tools to complement your Mini Cam Clamps:
1. Internal Inspection:
  To ensure your clamps are placed exactly where they need to be, especially within the guitar body, a good inspection light and mirror are crucial. The StewMac 3-Piece Inspection Mirror Kit (Amazon) and the StewMac Guitar Internal Inspection Light Kit (Amazon) provide the necessary visual access to ensure every clamp is perfectly positioned.
2. Reliable Adhesion:
  For securely re-attaching braces, the industry standard is a high-quality wood glue. Titebond Original Wood Glue (2-Pack, Amazon) provides a strong, reliable bond that sets quickly, making it ideal for brace repair.
📝 Workshop Wisdom: The Padded Body Support

Beyond specialized tools, smart workshop habits drastically improve efficiency and safety. Dan Erlewine also demonstrates a simple yet effective **padded body support**. This ingenious accessory, which you can easily make yourself, consists of a padded block of wood attached to a dowel with cross holes and an indexing pin. Its primary purpose is to hold a guitar securely while it’s in your repair vise, or to quickly lift an instrument—like a customer’s old j45—off a dirty workbench surface in a hurry, providing a safe, clean spot for your valuable instrument.

🏆 The Payoff: Clamping with Confidence

The journey from frustration to flawless execution often begins with the right tool. By eliminating the struggles of generic clamps and embracing specialized solutions like the Mini Cam Clamps, you’re not just performing a better repair; you’re building your own confidence and sense of accomplishment as a craftsman. You know the tool will work as designed, allowing you to focus on the skill, not the struggle. That is the true prize.

Have you ever found a clamp was too large for small or fragile work? Share your experience below.
July 10, 2025
A Luthier’s Only Vise
If you’re currently using a clunky, old woodworking vise with foam pads taped to the jaws to hold your precious guitar—stop.

Just stop. That improvised setup, that slight wobble you try to ignore, that nagging fear in the back of your mind every time you apply pressure is the single biggest unaddressed risk in your workshop. You’re one slip away from a damaged finish, a cracked neck, or worse. As a fellow serious hobbyist, I believe some tools aren’t just purchases; they are foundational decisions. A proper vise isn’t about convenience; it’s the heart of your workbench, the trusted hands that hold your instrument while you perform surgery. The goal is to build a setup so reliable that you can remove all doubt and focus entirely on your craft, knowing with certainty that the tool will not fail you.

🎦 The Master’s Viewpoint

To understand the professional standard, we look to the master, Dan Erlewine. In this video, he walks through why a specialized vise is so central to his workflow. It’s not just a holding device; it’s an enabling tool that makes complex jobs possible. His insights set the benchmark for why this tool is different.

🛠️ The Cornerstone Investment: Why This Vise is Essential

This isn’t just a vise; it’s a purpose-built system for lutherie. I can say with full certainty this is a cornerstone tool, because its design solves the exact problems guitar work presents. Three features make it non-negotiable for holding tapered, irregular shapes:
1. Independent Swiveling Jaws.
  They can tilt and adjust side-to-side, allowing them to perfectly match the tapered angle of a guitar neck without slipping.
2. 360-Degree Jaw Rotation.
  Each jaw can be completely spun around and then locked, letting you find the absolute perfect grip for any job, from fretwork to body routing.
3. Frictionless Operation.
  A custom roller bearing ensures the vise glides open and shut smoothly, while the removable hand crank means it never snags your clothes or gets in the way during a delicate task.
Ultimately, it’s about absolute trust. Users describe it as a “game changer,” and after experiencing that rock-solid stability, you’ll understand why it’s worth every penny. This is the one you buy once. Find the latest version, which now includes protective neck inserts, here: StewMac Guitar Repair Vise (Amazon).

💰 Price vs. The Lifetime Promise

Let’s address the elephant in the room: the price. It’s a serious investment. You can find other “pattern maker” vises, some for slightly less. But here’s the crucial distinction: you’re not just buying a piece of steel, you’re investing in the StewMac ecosystem. If you wait for one of their frequent sales, you can get a great discount. But more importantly, if you ever have an issue, they will look after you. Their lifetime guarantee isn’t a marketing slogan; it’s an operational promise. That peace of mind, knowing the company stands behind the most critical tool on your bench, makes the upfront cost a long-term bargain.

✅ The Pro’s Tradecraft: Two Details for Perfect Use

Owning a pro tool is the first step; using it like a pro is the next. Here are two pieces of “insider knowledge” that make a difference.
1. The Safety Net Rule.
  Any pro will tell you that a moment of carelessness can lead to disaster. The biggest risk is loosening the jaws before you have a new grip, causing the neck to drop onto the vise’s metal rails. While the new version of this vise commendably includes foam “Neck Protectors,” you can add a “belt-and-suspenders” safety net with a simple, folded microfiber cloth draped underneath. It’s a zero-cost piece of tradecraft that provides total peace of mind.
2. The Mounting Choice.
  The vise offers two mounting heights depending on whether you install it on top of or under your workbench (for an 8″ or 9-3/4″ height). Take a moment to consider your primary working stance—sitting or standing—and choose the height that minimizes strain on your back during long sessions.
🏆 The Payoff: The Sound of Silence

The true prize of owning this vise isn’t what it does, but what it stops. It stops the doubt. It silences the fear. It eliminates the risk of your improvised setup failing at the worst possible moment. Plug in your guitar, and it sounds the same. But work on it, and the confidence you feel is a new kind of music. You achieved a professional result because you invested in a professional foundation.

The workbench isn’t complete until the right vise is bolted to it. Do you agree that this is the first cornerstone of any serious workshop? Join the discussion below.
July 8, 2025
Rescue Your Guitar’s Broken Truss Rod: A Pro’s Blueprint for Serious Hobbyists
You reach for your truss rod wrench, but it just spins freely—or worse, gnaws away at a mangled, stripped nut that simply won’t budge.

Photo: Detlev Dördelmann (Wickler), CC BY-SA 2.0 DE, via Wikimedia Commons

This isn’t just frustrating; it’s a critical injury to your guitar’s neck, compromising playability, action, and tone. For the dedicated instrument builder and serious hobbyist, a broken truss rod has historically meant complex, risky surgery—or the expense of a professional luthier. But what if you could fix it yourself, with professional precision, without the fear of irreversible damage?

This guide taps into a master luthier’s insights, offering a pathway to repairing even severely damaged truss rods with game-changing specialized tools and techniques. What would typically be a “major drama” can be a surprisingly achievable fix. I’m like you, perhaps not a pro, but always striving for professional-level results. The key is to leverage the right tools and master a proven process, ensuring your skills aren’t held back by your equipment. Dan Erlewine, a titan in the lutherie world, recently demonstrated a repair that embodies this ethos, turning a daunting task into a manageable one.

▶️ The Master at Work: Fixing a Mangled Rod

In this essential video, Dan Erlewine takes on a severely mangled truss rod, showing how he brings it back from the brink. His decades of experience are distilled into a clear, methodical approach that we can all learn from. Pay close attention to his steady hand and subtle insights—they are gold.

🛠️ The Game-Changing Arsenal: StewMac’s Rescue Kit

Before the existence of tools like these, repairing a damaged truss rod often meant dismantling a guitar’s neck—a truly daunting prospect.

The brilliance of StewMac’s Truss Rod Rescue Tools lies in their ability to eliminate this “major surgery,” making the repair dramatically more accessible for us. It’s an investment that ensures you can achieve pro-level results, without the hassle of attempting complex, high-risk procedures.

The core of the system is composed of two primary tools, along with crucial accessories:
1. The 3/8-inch Cutter.
  This tool’s specific function is to bore away a minimal amount of wood around the damaged rod, precisely exposing unused or undamaged sections of the truss rod. It creates a clean pocket, allowing you access to the underlying problem without unnecessary material removal.
2. The Thread Cutting Die.
  Once the cutter has opened access, this die fits perfectly into the newly created pocket. Its main purpose is to chase (clean up) mangled threads or cut entirely new threads on the truss rod, ensuring that a fresh adjusting nut can engage securely and properly.
This ingenious two-part system is designed to remove the smallest amount of wood necessary, preserving the neck’s strength. You can acquire this essential kit here: StewMac Truss Rod Rescue Kit (Amazon).

🧰 The Fine Details: Tools & Techniques of a Master

Mastering a repair isn’t just about the main tools; it’s about the nuances that separate an amateur job from a truly professional outcome. Dan’s process is full of them:
1. Controlling Depth with Spacers.
  After cutting threads, it’s common to find the new nut doesn’t sit flush, making a truss rod cover impossible to install. Dan’s solution is the strategic use of thin **washers or “spacers.”** These polished metal pieces fit within the cutter’s cavity, allowing precise control over how deep the new adjusting nut sits. They also crucially provide a steel bearing surface for the nut, preventing it from crushing the wood of the neck. These vital parts are sold by StewMac and can typically be found on their main Truss Rod Rescue Tools & Parts page.
2. Strategic Nut Selection.
  For depth issues, Dan demonstrates that sometimes a different type of nut is the answer. While longer Fender-style nuts offer more thread strength, he pivoted to a **Gibson-style acorn nut** because its smaller size allowed it to seat deeper into the neck, providing necessary clearance for a truss rod cover without requiring more wood removal from what is often a “weak area” of the neck. This thoughtful decision balances immediate solution with long-term structural integrity. You can find these essential Gibson-style nuts here: StewMac Truss Rod Adjusting Nut for Gibson (Amazon).
3. No Lube for Adhesion.
  A testament to his foresight, Dan advises using minimal to no lubrication when cutting new threads with the die. His reasoning: “the less you use any lube the better chance you have for any kind of wood plug you want to glue in or whatever is happening.” This nuance ensures optimal adhesion for any potential future repairs or plugs, highlighting a comprehensive view of instrument integrity.
4. The “Sleeve” Secret.
  Dan uses **blue masking tape wrapped around the truss rod** during installation, calling it a “sleeve.” This simple, unconventional trick prevents glue from sticking to the rod, ensuring it can function freely without binding—a detail that safeguards future adjustments.
5. The Magnet “Trade Secret”.
  After using the 3/8″ cutter to expose the rod, Dan uses a simple **magnet to easily pull the cutter out** from the newly created pocket. It’s a small detail, but one that adds to the efficiency and reduces frustration during the process.
✨ The Critical Pro Step: Helping the Rod Adjust

Perhaps Dan’s most emphasized and often “overlooked” technique is “helping the rod adjust.” He asserts that he “just don’t understand” why so many people omit it, as it’s vital for a successful, low-stress adjustment, especially post-repair. This method prevents the truss rod nut from doing all the work by himself and risking further damage:
1. Loosen the Truss Rod Nut First.
  Always begin by completely loosening the truss rod nut.
2. Backbow the Neck.
  This is the crucial step. You actively bend the neck into a slight backbow (reverse curve). Dan has evolved his methods over the years, from using his dad’s carpenter’s level to custom-made boards. Today, he often employs **3D-printed aids**, like specialized barbs that slide under the strings to create this controlled curve. (While it’s not confirmed these specific jigs are from them, resources like The Looth Group on Patreon are known for providing excellent 3D-printer files for similar professional-grade luthier jigs, showcasing this modern approach.)
3. Tighten the Rod.
  Only *after* the neck is manually brought into a backbow do you then tighten the truss rod nut. This allows the rod to adjust into position with significantly less strain on the nut and its newly cut threads, greatly increasing the longevity and effectiveness of the repair. It essentially means “we’re taking all the tension off of the nut; we’re helping the rod along.”
🏆 The Payoff: A Revived Instrument, Confident Hands

The successful repair of a broken truss rod, once considered a catastrophic event, is now within reach for the serious hobbyist. Following Dan Erlewine’s methods and utilizing the right tools transforms a complex, high-risk job into a satisfying win.

Your guitar neck will feel right again, the action will be dialed, and the satisfaction of performing a truly professional-level repair yourself is immeasurable. This empowers you not just to fix your instrument, but to become a better, more confident craftsman.

Every luthier has a horror story about a broken truss rod. What single method or tool finally allowed you to conquer yours? Share your experience below.
July 7, 2025
Master Your Guitar’s String Spacing with Pro Precision
You’ve replaced your worn-out nut, the string height is dialed in, but something still feels off.

Photo: Martin Hesketh from London, UK, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Perhaps your bass strings feel cramped, your fingers stumbling over each other on chords, or certain single-note runs feel surprisingly awkward. The real problem? Inaccurate string spacing. It’s a subtle but critical detail often overlooked in DIY setups, leading to what pros call “crowded bass strings” and that nagging feeling that your guitar isn’t playing as comfortably or “fast” as it could be. Look, as dedicated builders and serious hobbyists, our time and the quality of our work are everything. Sure, a master luthier can probably eyeball perfect proportional spacing after decades on the bench, but you shouldn’t have to. The path to doing more, quicker, and constantly improving applies here too. As I always say, I’m no pro, but I want pro tools so with my limited skills, I know at least the tools aren’t holding me back. True mastery is often about leveraging the right tools to get pro-level results **without the tedious repetition of trial and error.**

📐 Pro String Spacing? Here’s How Dan Erlewine Simplifies It

When it comes to string spacing, Dan Erlewine from StewMac is basically *the* guy. In this essential video, he walks through his proven method for getting perfectly aligned strings on a new bone nut. Sure, the know-how behind it took him years to nail, but he’s got it down to an art that’s now surprisingly straightforward for us to follow.

📏 The Game-Changer: The StewMac String Spacing Rule

For us, who aren’t trying to spend years developing Dan’s exact knack for eyeballing it, there’s a game-changing piece of gear. His accumulated mastery? It’s been built right into the StewMac String Spacing Rule (Amazon). This isn’t just any old rule; it automatically handles different string thicknesses. Unlike those basic methods that just put strings equal distance from center-to-center (which almost always gives you those frustratingly ‘crowded bass strings’), this rule has Dan’s proportional spacing baked right in. It means your strings will feel just right under your fingers – making complex chords and fast runs smooth and effortless. Honestly, it transforms a good setup into a genuinely professional-feeling instrument, quick as a flash.

🧰 Before You Start: The Nut Blank & Essential Tools

Before you even grab the spacing rule, you’ll need your materials and tools lined up. For the best tone and classic feel, we always lean towards a quality bone nut blank. This StewMac Unbleached Bone Nut Blank for Fender (Amazon) is a great place to start. Just a heads up, bone can be a bit ‘slippery,’ so being super precise when you mark your slots is key. The rule helps with the layout, but when it comes to cutting those perfect, binding-free slots—the ones that truly make a difference—you really can’t skip on quality files. The StewMac Gauged Nut Slotting File Set for Electric Guitar, for Medium Strings (Amazon) are basically designed to eliminate guesswork, giving you clean, accurate slots that are crucial for a truly great setup.

📝 Beyond the Tool: Nailing the Full Pro Process

While the String Spacing Rule makes a massive difference, getting truly perfect results still means following a careful process:
1. Set Your Boundaries First:
  This is critical. Get your high and low E strings on the nut with just enough tension to keep them in place. Nudge each one carefully so it’s sitting about 1/16th of an inch in from the fretboard edge. This is what keeps your strings from flying off while you play! Once they’re exactly where you want them, make a small mark and nick these points with a sharp file. That defines your overall string width.
2. Let the Rule Work Its Magic:
  With those outer marks in place, grab your String Spacing Rule. Line it up against your nut blank and slide it until the rule’s six pre-marked spots line up perfectly with your outside E string marks. Suddenly, the rule tells you exactly where your inner four string slots need to go. No more guessing, no more complicated math.
3. Mark with Precision:
  Dan’s got a couple of ways he likes to do this. You can simply “pencil in the other marks” right onto the bone through the rule’s slots, or if you’re feeling keen, you can directly “scribe the marks into the bone through these slots” with a sharp scribing tool. Either way, you’re transferring that perfect proportional spacing straight onto your nut, ready for filing.
4. File Carefully:
  Now for the cutting. Using your precision nut slotting files, gently work each slot down to the right depth at those newly marked points. Remember, bone is notoriously slippery, so take your time and file slowly and deliberately. This is where you keep your spacing spot-on and avoid any nasty slips.
✨ The Payoff: Effortless Playability & That ‘Pro’ Feeling

Plug in, fret a chord, run a scale. The difference in feel is huge. Those strings will just fall perfectly under your fingers, chords will sound more open, and suddenly those complex licks feel super fluid. That satisfying feeling—of everything just *working* perfectly—is what happens when you nail details like proportional string spacing. It really does make you feel like a next-level pro in your craft. You’re taking a master’s insights, using the right tools, and seriously elevating your own work, producing a result you can genuinely sleep at night knowing is absolutely spot-on.

The line between ‘correct’ and ‘comfortable’ string spacing is personal. What method or discovery made it finally feel right for you? Join the conversation below.
July 7, 2025
Is Your Guitar Nut the Bottleneck to Perfect Tone?
You look down at your guitar’s nut and it’s a chaotic landscape.

Photo: TorrentFox at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

The low E string swims side-to-side in its slot while the G-string binds and pings when you tune. Even worse, the high E has worn down so far it’s buzzing open against the first fret, killing notes completely. This isn’t just sloppy—it’s the physical bottleneck holding back your guitar from its true potential. The hard truth is that the stock nut on most guitars is compromising your tone, feel, and tuning stability. I’m not a professional luthier, and maybe you aren’t either. But I believe that we, the serious hobbyists, can achieve results that even pros would respect. The key is to follow a proven process and use the right tools—removing our own limited skill as a variable. This guide is the result of obsessive research, designed to be a blueprint for a professional-level upgrade, even for those of us still on the journey.

📚 The Masterclass: Dan Erlewine Shows the Way

Your time is your most valuable asset. So instead of reinventing the wheel, we’re going to look to a master for the solution. Dan Erlewine from StewMac walks through the essential technique for fitting a preshaped nut in this video. This is the fix. The principles he teaches are universal, authoritative, and the key to getting this job done right.

🛠️ The Real Investment: Ensuring the Tools Aren’t Holding You Back

As you saw, a pre-slotted nut gets you 90% of the way there, but perfecting that last 10%—filing the slots to the perfect depth—is what separates a good job from a great one. This is where a “buy once, cry once” investment is non-negotiable. I want pro tools so I know, with absolute certainty, that with my limited skill, at least the tools aren’t holding me back. The heart of any professional setup is a set of precision-gauged files. Investing in the StewMac Gauged Nut Slotting File Set for Electric Guitar, for Medium Strings – Set of 6 (Amazon) is an investment in certainty. These files are engineered to match specific string sizes, removing the guesswork and ensuring a clean, binding-free slot every time. It’s the difference between a hack job and a professional result.

To apply Dan’s flawless technique to the best available component, our recommendation is the StewMac Slotted Unbleached Bone Nut, for Fender (Amazon).

✅ The Professional’s Playbook: Four Details to Adopt for a Flawless Job

With the right component and the right tools, the final step is to adopt the process of a professional. These are the details that matter.
1. Protect the Investment First.
  Before a single file touches the guitar, a pro protects the finish. The method is a two-tape system: first, a layer of low-tack drafting tape directly on the finish, followed by a heavier-duty tape over it. Thank God for details like this—it can save an original finish from a disastrous slip.
2. Use the Fretboard as the Jig.
  To ensure the nut’s bottom perfectly matches the fretboard radius, we can use Dan Erlewine’s elegant trick. Stick a piece of 80- or 120-grit sandpaper directly onto the fretboard (between the nut and the tuners) and gently sand the bottom of the nut against it. The fretboard itself becomes the perfect template.
3. Think Like a Repairman, Not an Assembler.
  Most of us have reached for super glue. A pro thinks differently. The goal is a firm connection that is also serviceable. A few drops of shellac are all you need. It provides a solid bond but “will come apart easier if you want to take it out later.”
4. Calibrate the System.
  Use a precision gauge like the StewMac String Action Gauge (Amazon) to perform the final and most critical step: the “balancing act.” The string height at the nut must work in harmony with the string radius at the bridge. This holistic view is the key to a setup that feels right across the entire neck.
✨ The Payoff: The Sound of a Job Done Right

Plug it in. Strum a chord. The sound is clearer, the sustain is richer. The feel is consistent. But the real prize is the profound satisfaction of knowing you did it. You, the dedicated enthusiast, achieved a professional result because you followed a professional process.

Every luthier has a story about a stubborn guitar nut. What’s yours? Join the discussion below.
July 7, 2025