CIRCLE WITH A DOT

@alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com @RyanHyde@techhub.social this is a total aside from your current dilemma, just acknowledging that.

@alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com @RyanHyde@techhub.social

There are a boatload of resources out there now that we're not there when I was in HS doing this. If you have a jig saw, a router, a bunch of good clamps, a high quality sander, and a source of good hardwood, you can get 90% of the way to a finished product then take it to a pro to fret. It goes faster if you have some hand planes as well, but those aren't essential.

For me most of the fun was countouring the back of the body and doing the body shaping. Guitar bodies are art, guitar necks are a rote process you follow step by step. And, as evidence by my hydro dipped crazy bass, you don't need to build a guitar to have that kind of fun - you just need an instrument you really want to refinish.

@RyanHyde@techhub.social @alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com you know, zero regrets. I had a blast building it, and I learned more about how to maintain my instruments by going through the bills process than I would have in ten years of the roadie gig that came after. I would share pics but it's currently packed up in storage.

@alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com also worth adding that @RyanHyde@techhub.social touched on the points I missed - calipers are your friend for getting the correct replacement tuners.

@RyanHyde@techhub.social @alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com agreed. Fretwork requires specialized tools and a lot of experience doing it. My guitar was unplayable because the frets were put in the wrong place between frets 12-15 and it had a zero fret so the lower action from the zero fret ended up biting me in the ass.

@alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com @RyanHyde@techhub.social full disclosure, I was a roadie for a college professors classic rock band in my 20s and have built a guitar that does not play because after 3 attempts at fretting (do not ever do this), I paid to have a guy do it and he screwed the instrument up beyond repair.

@alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com @RyanHyde@techhub.social they are usually attached with a screw and a nut that fits around the actual tuning peg - the nut keeps the tuner level and prevents tilting motion while the screw prevents rotational motion. Super easy to remove and replace. It is a guitar modification that your risk of fubar'ing your axe is very low, and in your case sounds like it would probably fix the axe staying in tune.

Get two sets of spare strings when you do it in case it break one string while putting on the new ones. Use a jewelers screwdriver or electronics screwdriver, avoid even one of those USB charged electric screwdrivers.

@alisynthesis@io.waxandleather.com @samvarma@fosstodon.org no I do not have to return my acoustic when I move the capo around. Never had to on any of my electrics I owned through the years either (I currently don't own an electric that isn't wall decor)