Maestro Guitar Hospital

Rants from the workshop

[maestroguitars-blog]

Guitar Restoration

Customer: “ hey dude, my guitar was crushed pretty badly by the courier. Is there anything you can do about it?” 

Technicians: (assess the guitar) Holi Moli, that’s a lot of things need to be done.

&  it is 

Oh my goodness!!!!!!!  (This guitar is sold approximately for more than USD 35000).

The only instructions from the customer was to fix all the cracks & change the top to Cedar top. 

We salvage the rosette & bridge. Try to replicate the bracing patterns + dimension, refinishing the body,. 

After months of waiting,

tada!!!

(NOTE: The guitar tone will be different & it’s subjective, there is no way the guitar will sounds 100 % like what it was.) 

Maestro guitar HQ & Hospital

9 Kaki Bukit Road 2 Gordon Warehouse Unit #04-34 Singapore 417842

Opening Hours: Weekdays -9am to 6pm Saturday - 10am to 2pm Sunday & PH - Close

Book Appointment!!!!

Tel: [phone] (Maestro guitar HQ & Hospital), 63378687 (Maestro Concept store)

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PLEK Machine & SETUP ?!!!

The PLEK machine is the HIGH-END guitar technology & it’s made in GERMANY

HELL YEA !!!! The plek has been developed to be used in guitar production factories and service- repair shops as a tool that not only performs precise fret dressing but also assist with quality control and R&D.

In Maestro Guitars, We have PLEK STATION in our small scale production line workshop and Maestro guitar hospital. AND listen up!!  we are the PIONEER of using PLEK machine in SINGAPORE!

How we do it ??

- Tune the guitar to standard tuning 

- Locate and set up the guitar at the provided guitar “seat”(photo below)

- Key in the guitar data (photo below) 

-The machine will do the scanning also known as “PLEK SCAN” on the fretboard & even pluck the string of each playing position so the machine will have know the string tension & differential.

- information (eg: the uneveness of fretboard, fretwire, fretwire height, fretboard radius & relief of the neck) will be shown in the monitor. (photo as shown below). 

-   From there, guitar technician/ operator will use the software to adjust the fret height , relief of the neck to an optimal level.

- After adjustment is done, the machine will cut the fret by using high speed rotary fret cutter in SURGICAL PRECISION  (tolerance of +/-0.001mm)

After cutting, operator will strung up the string & use the machine to scan the fretboard again to ensure the quality of optimal fret dressing is achieve. 

- Lastly the technician will manually adjust the string action to the optimal level )

ABOVE is just one example of PLEK machine can do. There are a many more task can be done by the machine. (eg: nut cutting, fretboard planing, saddle cutting, saddle slot cutting , etc) 

For more information: http://www.plek.com.

FAQ in a dialogue (not the happy one): 

FUSSY& PARANOID customer: “ Hey my guitar is having fret buzz ; plek setup has been done; but it’s still having fret buzz?? did you set up properly ? “ 

(The technician access the guitar, just by naked eyes you can see the string action is super low; ...then scanned it with plek machine, & compare the current setup with the previous setup (done by the same techinician and the customer was happy with the  setup) being recorded in PLEK machine......the current strings action is way too low at the 12 fret about 0.85mm (previous setup was LOW E=2.2mm, high e= 1. 25mm)

Technician : “ Sir, you have lowered the string action too much. The strings need more rooms to vibrate. 

FUSSY& PARANOID customer (kinda ..pissed off) :  “ yea i did, so what ?!  BUT, i have a friend with a guitar with much lower string action than mine...&you can play as fucking hard as you can & it will never buzz. It must be the fault of your fucked up setup.

Technician(calmly) :

HELL YEA....tell you what ?  you bring that fucking guitar to me & if the guitar doesn’t buzz i will give you SGD 1000. ..oh wait .. how about SGD 10000... i can afford it. IF there is a tiny little fucking buzz .. you give me SGD 10000. Fair ENOUGH ?!!! 

( GUESS WHAT FOLKS ?!!!!!! . he never bring that FUCKING GUITAR & i still keep my SGD 10000) 

TELL YOU WHAT, PLEASE BE REASONABLE & GUITAR TECHNICIAN deserved  RESPECT TOO.  FUSSY & PARANOID is never a good thing. 

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GOOD NEWS EVERYONE !!!!

First 10 customers of each month will enjoy the PLEK fret dressing setup for ONLY SGD 150!!!!

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(note: Currently, the plek machine can’t plek any fan frets guitar)

Maestro guitar HQ & Hospital

9 Kaki Bukit Road 2

Gordon Warehouse

Unit #04-34

Singapore 417842

Opening Hours:

Weekdays -9am to 6pm

Saturday - 10am to 2pm

Sunday & PH - Close

PLEASE Book Appointment!!!!

Please feel free to visit our website:

www.maestroguitars.com

Tel: [phone] (Maestro guitar HQ & Hospital), 63378687 (Maestro Concept store)

[maestroguitars-blog]

FRET BUTTER

FAQ: What is the simplest way to clean and condition your guitar fretboard?

Ladies and Gentlemen!!!!! 

HERE~~~~  IS YOUR ANSWER: 

HURRAY !!!!!!! BEHOLD the FRET BUTTER !!!!!!! 

YOU CAN CLEAN & CONDITION your precious guitar fretboard ALL-IN-ONE cloth.

All you need to do :

- Remove the old strings

Before Fret Butter is applied. As you can see the fret wire is a bit cloudy.(Photo above)

- "Spread” the Fret Butter on the fretboard.(photo below) 

-Wipe entire fretboard with a clean rag, DRI or cloth. Immediately, you can see the shinny first fret (photo below) 

-DONE !!! (photo below) 

HURRY TO OUR STORE TO GRAB AS MANY AS YOU WANT! While STOCK LAst! 

IT is ONLY  SGD 15/pack!! 

Please feel free to VISIT our STORE

Maestro Concept Store 5 Coleman Street #B1-30 Excelsior Shopping Centre 179805 Singapore Tel:  [phone]

Opening Hours: Monday - Saturday 12pm -7:30pm Sunday                          12pm -6pm      

Please feel free to visit our website: 

www.maestroguitars.com

[maestroguitars-blog]

DRY & DIRTY FRETBOARD+ FRET WIRE

Guitar owner: “the guitar fretboard is pretty rough , not as smooth as it suppose to be”.

(when the guitar taken out from his guitar bag.... guess what!?  OH COKE  !!! grimes everywhere, worn out fret wire, rusty old strings, tarnished fret wire, dry fretboard) 

Guitar tech: No Worries man, your guitar need partial refrets and PROPER CLEAN UP .

Find out more on refrets: https://www.tumblr.com/edit/159293756695/?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Fmaestroguitars.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F159293756695%2Ffret-wire-worn-out-fret-wire-best-re-fret-ever

Appropriate cleaning and conditioning of your guitar is essential. Apart from hygienic reason, it’s also affect the tone(sublte) and playability(mostly).  It’s not difficult to clean and condition a guitar.

When we play a guitar for a period of time, our dead skin cells, sweat, and dirt will built up and makes the fretboard looks unattractive. Furthermore, the moisture, low ph rating (acidic) , and salts in sweat cause the wood around the frets to deteriorate. Gradually, rot and dry the fingerboard, which results in loose frets and very expensive repairs. WORSE scenario; when sweat evaporates, it takes away the moisture of the wood , which dry up the wood &  lead to CRACKS !!!!!!! and that’s terrifying.

TO CLEAN & CONDITIONING the fretboard.

(Note: Below i will demostrate to clean ONLY one fret; so that you can do a comparison with the adjacent fret) 

- Assess the fretboard 

- Remove the old strings 

  OMG!! You have no idea!! Now your know (photo above) 

- Apply ZIPPO (it’s lighter fluid & of course stay away from any sparks or fire!!!!) on very fine steel wool. We use zippo because it’s not water and evaporate faster

- Gently brush the greenish greenish dirts away using steel wool. (Photo below)

- The tarnish fret wire, can’t be easily brushed away by just using steel wool; It’s just too STUBBORN !! So we need stronger weapon to overkill those dirts. I think you got it... .OH YEA!! BEHOLD!!!  the Fret wire BUFFING WHEEL !!! (photo Below) 

- As the fretboard is too dry , we use our Maestro premium lemon oil  to condition our fretboard (photo below)

-Rub it using our Maestro DRI cloth or clean rag. (photo below).

- ABRACADABRA!!!! (photo below) 

The difference is obvious, the fretboard with a dot of inlay it looks fresher , the wood color looks darker and the fretwire just beg to be played. On the other side, the fretboard is dry and the fretwire just looks unattractive. 

Suggestion: If you are not comfortable to clean the fretboard, Please leave it to the professional.

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Maestro guitar HQ & Hospital

9 Kaki Bukit Road 2 Gordon Warehouse Unit #04-34 Singapore 417842

Opening Hours: Weekdays -9am to 6pm Saturday - 10am to 2pm Sunday & PH - Close

Book Appointment!!!!

Tel: [phone] (Maestro guitar HQ & Hospital), 63378687 (Maestro Concept store)

Please feel free to visit our website:

www.maestroguitars.com

[maestroguitars-blog]

FRET WIRE , WORN OUT FRET WIRE & BEST RE-FRET EVER in Singapore!!! We welcome any Challengers!!! (we do Stainless steel re-frets too!!!!!!!!)

#You don’t need a rocket scientist to tell you that all guitars have frets (except you are fond of fretless guitar).

Materials for fret wire:

1)Nickel-silver (NS) fretwire:

it’s the standard materials and most often used on fretted instrument

Cheaper as compare to other fret wire materials

Worn out rate is faster than SS & EVO fretwire

2)Stainless steel (SS) fretwire:

HELL !!!! lot of request for guitar player to have this SS fretwire on their guitar fretboard

EXTREMELY HARD!!!! for guitar builder and technician to work with & blunting our cutting tools in fast pacing rate.

EXPENSIVE !!! but WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!!

Hardly oxidized/ Tarnished, stay shinny .. like ..forever

By far, it’s the hardest to worn out

3) EVO fretwire:

It’s golden in colour (OMG !!!!!!!!! it looks FUCKING awesome!!!) 

Slightly harder for guitar builder and technician to work with as compare to NS fret.

Harder than NS fretwire but softer than SS fretwire

EXPENSIVE !!! (in fact more expensive than Stainless steel fretwire) but WORTH EVERY PENNY!!!! 

Harder to worn out

Fret wire conditions:

There are several conditions we probably seen it and overlook it:

- Dirty frets (photo above)

-Worn out fret (photo above)

- flat fret & extreme low fret (photo above) 

-loose fret (photo above) 

- Uneven fret height (The photo above are served as an example, the uneven fret doesn’t only apply on fret#2 or 1, it applies to any fret on a guitar fretboard)

(note: To check uneven fret you need to ensure the neck is dead straight by adjusting the trussrod, use a straight-edge to compare one fret with the adjacent fret on the fret board)

REFRET

Generally, refretting job is painstakingly time consuming job and required hell lot of attention to details and focus.

A professional guitar builder/ technician will advice you whether your guitar need a full refret or partial refret

Below are the example & general steps taken to do a full refret from NS to SS fretwire :

-Proper heat up the fretwire to loosen up the glue (just in case there is glue inside the fretwire slot)

-Carefully and slowly pull out the fret wire (photo shown below).

- Clear the debris away from the fretwire slot. (photo shown below).

-Adjusting trussrod to straighten the neck to dead flat

- Leveled and smoothed up the surface by fine sanding it using radius profile sanding block. (photo shown below).

- Used long straight edge to check the evenness of the fretboard.

- Bend the SS fretwire into desire curvature (photo shown below).

- Cut the SS fretwire according to each length of the fret slot. 

- Cut away the excess tang by using tang nipper

- Manually bend the SS fretwire again whenever necessary before hammering into the fret slot

- Carefully hammered in the SS fretwire into the fret slot. (photo shown below)

- Carefully filed away the sharp edges of the SS fretwires. (photo shown below)

- The smooth edge of the fretwire not only looks good , it also ensure the safety of the guitarist hand won’t be cut by the fretwire.  (photo shown below) 

- The guitar will go into our PLEK STATION for fret leveling

- In Maestro guitar Hospital, we are confident that we can offer the BEST re-fret job in Singapore because we engaged PLEK station which can deliver the BEST OPTIMIZED!!!! fret dressing in the whole universe.  (photo shown below)

- After the fret wire being PLEK’D, all SS fretwire will be polished  (photo shown below)  

- String up the guitar will new set of strings

- Do necessary setup for the guitar

- TADA!!!!!!! 

FAQ:

Will SS fretwire affects the playability and tone?

Tone: Yes, you will get slightly brighter tone. The effect is more noticeable on acoustic guitar

Playability: Yes, improved. AND if you want an extra slippery feel along with super smooth bending.

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Maestro guitar HQ & Hospital

9 Kaki Bukit Road 2 Gordon Warehouse Unit #04-34 Singapore 417842

Opening Hours: Weekdays -9am to 6pm Saturday - 10am to 2pm Sunday & PH - Close

Book Appointment!!!!

Tel: [phone] (Maestro guitar HQ & Hospital), 63378687 (Maestro Concept store)

Please feel free to visit our website:

www.maestroguitars.com

[maestroguitars-blog]

LOOSE BRACINGS

Guitar Owner : “ hey man, when strumming the guitar, i heard rattling sounds from the guitar body .”

Maestro Guitars Sfaff: “ ( after strumming a few chords) YEA~~~, i suspect the guitar bracings are loosen. Tell you what... please leave the guitar here, i will deliver the guitar to our guitar workshop and let our technician to confirm the culprit. Once confirmed , he will give you a call.

(At the workshop) Gotcha...

What is guitar bracings?

Guitar bracings are the internal reinforcement or support of a guitar top and back. 

It serves 2 functions:

- To keep the guitar from collapsing or deform from string tensions 

(Note: total tension of a set of  light gauge acoustic steel strings is about 70+ kg, medium gauge; is about 80kg;easily..... a set of normal tension nylon classical guitars strings is about 35kg , hard tension is about 40kg  )

- To shape guitar sounds

What are the causes of loose bracings?

The cause can be quite complex.

Generally there are 4 factors:

1) The guitar subjected to extremely high and low temperature (note: ideal temperature is around 16.5 - 25.5 degree Celcius) 

2) The guitar subjected to extreme low & high relative humidity (note: ideal relative humidity for a guitar is around 45- 55%) 

3) Any accident due to human recklessness

4) Lousy wood glue.

In short, if your guitar fulfill any criteria as per above. You are risking your guitar into any sort of problems.

To Fix it: 

- sand or scrap away the old glue.

- apply special wood glue on very thin spatula & push in loose bracing gaps.

- Use jacks (photo shown below) ; well...sometimes clamps were used, depending on the location of the loose brace

- clean away the excess glue before it dries.

- wait for the glue to dry up

FAQ:

“ after fixing it, will my guitar tone be altered?”

short answer: experience tells me ....yes but very subtle (sometimes,even better) 

Long answer: What the heck am i suppose to know your guitar?!!!!  unless, i tested your guitar before the bracings were loosen & after the fixed.

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Maestro guitar HQ & Hospital 

9 Kaki Bukit Road 2 Gordon Warehouse Unit #04-34 Singapore 417842 

Opening Hours: Weekdays -9am to 6pm Saturday - 10am to 2pm Sunday & PH - Close

Book Appointment!!!!

Tel: [phone]

Please feel free to visit our website:

www.maestroguitars.com

[maestroguitars-blog]

        Nasty customers: “ My guitar neck just break by itself,  the Quality ; damn sucks!! “ 

Staff : " ....hold on a minute! guitar doesn’t have legs, how could that be possible, that must be damage that results from abuse, we can’t cover it under warranty, we can fix it , YOU gonna pay for it.

Nasty customers: “ Urm.....ok”

(The dialogue above only refers to the situation we experienced before& the guitar in the photo doesn’t belong to the nasty customers)

Facts:

-Guitar doesn’t have LEGS, HANDS, etc

- “scar” is inevitable after repair (unless they opt for cosmetic repair)

To Fix it:

- apply our exclusive “special” glue generously

- clamp it

- clean up the excess glue 

- Monitor if the excess glue being squeeze out

- wait for it to dry.

- Cosmetic repair (if customer willing to pay more).

REMINDER:

-Wear from normal use, improper string gauge usage, damage that results from abuse, neglect, accident, act of supernatural  or from exposure of the guitar to extreme temperature or humidity

DOES NOT COVER UNDER WARRANTY !!!!

- Settling of finish is considered “normal use”  and is NOT COVER UNDER WARRANTY !!!!

- Setup, Action and Tone ARE NOT CONSIDERED A WARRANTY ISSUE as they are the matter of PERSONAL PREFERENCE. 

- Shipping damages are NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY and insurance should be undertaken ( Please note that shipping/insurance charges are not part of the warranty package and is the owner's responsibility with no exception.)

- For more warranty information, please visit: http://www.maestroguitars.com/warranty-registration/

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Customer: “ my uke  buzzs on all 4 strings”

Buzzzzzzzing & rattttttttttllling is one of the nightmare guitar repair man or women face almost everyday.

FACTS: 

There is no such things as zero buzz on any frets instruments. 

Yes, i know it’s irritating!!!!!. 

Can’t be help. All the guitars or fret instrument in the world will have buzzing or rattling issue, just the degree:from

negligible buzzing------minor buzzing-------- VERY serious buzzing

In the ends, it’s all comes down to the player him or herself, on HOW THEY TREAT THEIR GUITAR (for this case is ukulele), HOW THEY PLAY and TOLERATE it.

Back to the this ukulele, do you see what’s wrong with it? what cause it to buzz?

The answer is obvious: somehow a lot of player also overlook this matter. It’s RESTRING issue.

- The way he or she restring is incorrect. The string at the head-stock machine head should be winded down towards the wood in order to give enough BREAK ANGLE at the nut. Those excessive strings didn’t cut it  or coiled it, that cause the excess strings vibrate and randomly hit anywhere “they” want. 

- At the bridge, the way they tied the strings at the bridge is a big mistake and the excess strings will vibrate and randomly hit the sound board in pretty high frequency.

To FIX it:

This ukulele needs proper re-string. That’s all.

Advice:

If you don’t know the proper restring method, Please leave it to the professional

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A customer’s guitar (Tanglewood TW28) with a lifting bridge. There are many reasons why guitar bridge can separate from the body, crack, or break. The 3 main reasons are improper environmental condition, abuse and improper gluing. 

To fix it:

- The bridge need to be heated up to soften up the glue.

- Carefully use spatula to remove the bridge.

- clear out the old glue.

- smoothed the gluing surface by carefully sand off the uneven surface.

- apply special glue generously to the gluing surface.

- clamp it back 

- wipe off the excess glue, make it’s clean and neat

- Just wait for it to dry.However,while waiting, technician would keep monitoring the excess glue. It was because in most cases, after 1st attempt wiping of the excess glue, there are more excess glue being squeezed out. Or else it will be a nightmare when the excess glue is dried.

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This Taylor 914 CE came in with bubbling under the finish. It is quite a common problem for guitars in Singapore given that we do experience pretty hot and humid weather conditions here. So we took this guitar in, stripped it of its finish and re-sprayed a whole new coat of lacquer on it. Guitar looks as good as new!

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Refret work done on an acoustic guitar.

Refretting work is straightforward but lengthy - frets have to be removed, one by one, before the fretboard is sanded down and cleaned to house new frets. 

We also offer the Plek service to customers who wish to achieve an optimal fret level for their guitars. All of the low action playability, none of the buzz. 

[maestroguitars-blog]

Greetings from Maestro Guitars!

Hello there! We are Maestro Guitars from Singapore. For over the past decade, we have been striving to provide guitar players and enthusiasts alike with access to the best instruments possible; handcrafting guitars with the best materials and workmanship possible. But on some days, we repair guitars as well. Here you will find periodic updates on who we are and what we do. We welcome you to join us on our daily adventures in the workshop!