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Tag: guitar repair

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
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
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