Restring vintage style tuners 6 on a side peghead.

Here's a quick walk through to restringing vintage style tuners on a 6 on a side peghead.

Enjoy let me know if you have any questions. Share it with your friends.

Leave a comment if you feel so inclined

Jack cleaning

In this post we are going to cover one of the most common, easily fixable, and solderless electronic problems you will encounter. Save yourself the $25-40 bench fee, and fix it yourself.  Let me start by saying use your head, if your dealing with something expensive, vintage, or rare and you are all thumbs when it comes to holding a screw driver leave it to a pro, I will not be held responsible for your mistakes.  Although, this is an extremely easy repair to make.

If your jack is the barrel type (doesn't look like the following pictures) leave it alone, they are extremely finicky, and this will not fix it.

So, first of all lets start by finding your jack. You guessed it, its where you plug in!!

It is going to be secured by either a jack plate, a cup, or directly to the wood.

DO NOT REMOVE IT YET!

It may look different on other guitars, but it's always right where you plug in.

Now, lets grab a piece of 320 grit sandpaper, and cut a piece off about 2"x4"

 

Now, roll your strip of sand paper. Try to keep it about the size of a standard 1/4" plug.

Now, with out removing your jack. Insert your sandpaper roll about a 1/2" deep and rotate.

This will clean off any oxidation that has built up over the years.

At, this point I am going to switch views so you can see the business end.

When you are working you will have 2-3 wires attached be gentle to make sure you don't disturb them.

That right there will clean the ground connection of your guitar, and should cure 90% of your woes.

If you'd like to go further and clean the hot connection as well read on.

Your gonna need a phillips screwdriver, and a 1/2" or 7/16" nut driver.

If your jack tightens with a 7/16" nut driver it's crap, it should be replaced. 

Start by exposing your jack. Many guitars are unique in the way they attach.

Use your brain, if it's hard to remove your doing it wrong!

There's probably another way. Think about it. 

DON'T PULL ON THE WIRES!

Now, that you have your jack exposed let me show you the area to clean.

The tip of your plug only contacts the jack in the very middle of the prong.

DO NOT BEND THE JACK!!!!!

You will break it.

The area that you need to clean is marked in black below.

Now, take your sandpaper roll and scuff up the area until all the oxidation is removed.

Now, just reattach your jack to your guitar. Tighten the jack and your done!

Now a little note about jacks. 

Switchcraft is the only jack I recommend.

Here is a pic of the correct mounting hardware (a flat washer, lock washer, and nut)

The lock washer goes on the jack inside the guitar.

The flat washer is installed on the jack outside the guitar, and the nut goes over top of it.

It is always best to hold the jack from the inside as you tighten, to avoid spinning the wires off.

If your jack looks like the picture below, it's import crap and should be replaced.

If your jack looks like the picture below it's good.

 If you have an active system it should like like the picture below, clean both contact points. 

That's all for today folks enjoy, please feel free to leave comments and ask any questions.
Thanks for reading,

                          Peter Brown

A Cheap and easy way to keep your guitar humidified

     Today we are going to cover one of the most commonly overlooked factors that harm your instruments, humidity.

     First of all let me explain why monitoring the humidity is a good idea. IT SAVES YOU MONEY! When your guitar dries out (electrics included) it causes the wood that your guitar is made of to shrink, which in turn causes all kinds of setup, and structural issues, protruding fret ends, lifting bridges, sinking/cracked acoustic guitar tops, and bowing necks to name a few.

     It is very easy and inexpensive to prevent this from happening to you. Rather than running to your local guitar shop and purchasing a guitar humidifier, I'd recommend you follow this little tutorial on making your own out of things that you commonly have around the house. I feel that this humidifier is far superior to the commercially manufactured ones for the simple reason that they do not hold enough water, and require refilling too frequently, not to mention they are grossly more expensive.  Let's be honest here, all a guitar humidifier is made of is a sponge inside of some type of case that prevents the water from touching your instrument, yet it allows the moisture to evaporate, which in turn hydrates your guitar.

     Let's get to it.

All the supplies you need are a water bottle and a new dish sponge

Start by drinking the bottle of water (fyi humans should consume 8 8oz glasses per day)

Then I generally remove the label and cap.  Using a pointed object I poke about 20 holes into the bottle.

Don't hurt yourself, be careful whenever you are using sharp objects.

Then, I "fluff" the bottle back up, and proceed to cut my dish sponge into 3 lengthwise pieces.

Again, don't cut yourself!

Now, insert the 3 sponges into your bottle.

Wet the sponges, then drain the bottle.

 

Gently squeeze the bottle.

Walk outside place your finger over the opening and "whip" the excess water out.

 

The object here is to make sure the bottle is not dripping water.

Dry off the outside of the bottle, and find a place to keep it in your guitar case. 

Don't be afraid to compress the bottle.

Now comes the important part!
Keep your guitar in it's case during the winter months.

My recommendation is that you go into whatever calendar program you use and setup a reminder for every Sunday between November 1 and April 15. Simply label it "Refill your humidifier".

Then, anytime your phone, or computer sends out a reminder just fill it up.

Taking this simple precaution will save your instruments from needing necessary repairs from neglect.

Thanks for reading through please pass the word along, and humidify your guitars.

If you have any remaining questions feel free to ask.

Make a great day folks,

Pete