Season's Greetings

It seems a good time of year to say thank you to all of the people who’ve trusted me with their instruments and their time. Thank you.

HousekeepingGerry Hayes25 December 2019christmas, guitar, bass, gerry hayes, holiday

Bad to the Bone: Nuts, Saddles, and Bad Bones

Bone for tone, right? Usually, I’d agree. But not all bone is created equal. Check it out…

SetupGerry Hayes17 December 2019nut, saddle, guitar, bass, bone, upgrade, repair., setup

Acoustic Guitar Bridge Crack Repair

Not all cracks in acoustic bridges are repairable. Some require a new bridge, no ifs or buts. Sometimes, though, you can get lucky and repair a bridge in situ.

Check it out…

Guitar RepairGerry Hayes10 December 2019repair, bridge, acoustic, guitar, bass, instrument, crack, glue, lampblack, pigment

The Guitar Compromise Spectrum

Guitars and basses will, so often, require the player to make some sort of compromise. Hardware and setup decisions probably need to be made with some give and take.

Find out more…

OpinionGerry Hayes3 December 2019setup, hardware, upgrade, pickups, bridge, fret buzz, tele, compromise, radius

Guitar Sustainnnnnnn…

Listen to the sustain… It’s a highly revered quality, the ability to sustain for ages. But what happens if something might impact that sustain, and how useful a characteristic is sustain anyway?

Check it out…

OpinionGerry Hayes26 November 2019setup, break angle, string tension, guitar, bass, sustain, bridge, tailpiece, tun-o-matic

Can my Neck Take The Strain?

Is it necessary to drop a guitar’s tuning to prevent its neck from bowing or deforming under string tension? Should we tune lower and use a capo to preserve our guitar necks?

The answer is no. Mostly. Read on…

OpinionGerry Hayes19 November 2019neck, bow, relief, string tension, repair, setup, action, neck relief, guitar, bass, acoustic, 12-string

Nut File Tough Love

I’ve talked a lot about good setup and about how to make a nut so it’s time to address the elephant in the room: Nut files. Long story, short: You need ‘em for a complete setup. So what nut files should you buy and where should you get them?

Check it out…

SetupGerry Hayes12 November 2019review, recommendation, nut file, nuts, guitar, bass, setup, repair

Cheap Nut Files from eBay: Are they any good?

You might have been tempted by a set of double-sided nut files being sold cheaply on eBay. Free postage from China and not much money for a set of gauged guitar nut files sounds great. But are they any good? Let’s review…

SetupGerry Hayes5 November 2019tools, nut files, nut, guitar, bass, diy, repair, setup

How to Make a Bone Nut Part 2

In Part 1, we cut our nut roughly to fit and we began slotting it. Now we get to the delicate business — properly bringing those slots to the correct depth. After than, it’s an easy task to shape and polish it for a great final job.

SetupGerry Hayes29 October 2019nut, bone, repair, setup, guitar, bass