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Doc answers More questions about guitars

Here are some more questions that have come up many times over the years.

• We can't include everything that can go wrong with an instrument or all of the possible fixes, but this should give all players some insight.

Doc answers your questions

• Topics include tuning, Floyd Rose string change, used guitars, lessons and other frequently asked questions.
• More guitar repair and maintenance issues are discussed in Repairs and Restoration.
• See below for some real questions and honest answers.

Basic Legal Disclaimer
GUITAR DOCTOR assumes no responsibility for any advice taken
from this website or from telephone or email discussions.
This information is NOT intended as a guide
for "Home Repairs" or "Do-It-Yourself".

Your Question	The Doctor’s Advice
Can I make my fretted bass neck into a fretless? It is made of rosewood. > Could you put dots or markers on it? > How could you fill the spaces where the frets were? > Should the board be finished with anything after the frets are removed to make the wood last longer? > How would that effect the sound? > What kind of strings would sound best? > What would this work cost?	No problem turning you rosewood board into a fretless. We do that with some frequency around here. As far as the lines go, you can have your choice of "fillers". Anything from white plastic or epoxy, to any number of wood veneers in various shades from maple to brown or red woods. You could have your choice of dots, also. As far as finishing over it, I don't recommend it, but we certainly can coat it with clear epoxy or industrial grade cyanoacrilate glue (yup - super glue makes a good hard coating!). The rosewood is very hard and durable and coating it will give you a different tone than the one that is making you consider the conversion. As far as maintenance goes, it's much easier to re-dress the rosewood than it is to redo any kind of coating on it. If you played it a LOT it would still be a couple of years between fingerboard dressings. If it's a decent slab of rosewood, you should be able to get many dressings out of it at a lower cost than re-coating it. An epoxy coating will get maybe two dressings out of it down the road whereas the rosewood will last twenty years or more even with successive dressings. Flat wound strings are a bit dead sounding for my liking, but the 1/2-rounds are a good choice for tone and fingerboard life. Without complications, the "de-fret" will run about $175 - $200 for the immediate work, all said and done. New strings and whatever else would be additional. To coat it will add about $30 - $40 with the super glue, and about $100 with epoxy. If your concerns are tone AND the life of the rosewood, I would say go with the super glue coating. I don't think going with the bare rosewood is a bad thing, and it will keep the tone you're after. The glue-coat will add a little brightness to the tone and not much thickness. The glue-coat is a good "wear indicator". When it blows through, you will know it's time for re-coating & dressing and will prolong the rosewood's life by having it touched up when you notice it. It's just a little more work than redressing the rosewood itself. Epoxy, on the other hand, is just a bitch from A to Z. Expensive, difficult, and brings in its own tone. TOP ↑
What is best to buy, new or used?	There is a great misconception, among people who don't know about guitars, that if it's new it's "better" or "safer". This is the farthest thing from the truth. The guitars built today in the low price range (under $200) are largely what I consider "disposable" guitars. They might last a couple years at best and are often very difficult to play or even get in tune. This is the largest single reason for failure and dropout among beginners. They think they just can't do it; where in fact it's the instrument's fault because they are fighting with it. A proper guitar in any price category should be "playable". Having said all that! - if your shopping locally you need to be choosy and have the help of a knowledgeable player when shopping. If one is not available to you, then you need to find a shop like mine where neither the sale nor the customer comes first, but the guitar comes first. Then we have a happy customer. Every guitar I sell - cheap or expensive - gets the full treatment before I let it out the door. We ensure ease of playing and tuning on even the humblest of instruments. I could go into detail, but I'll get carried away! TOP ↑
How much does it cost to build a custom guitar?	Totally from scratch (from raw wood) will run well over a $1000 for the simplest guitar. Using pre-made bodies and necks will bring the project into the "affordable" range. Likewise, you can spend a ton of money on the parts for it. There is, however, a big stockpile of good quality used parts here at my shop - there are some great savings to be had there. So! The cost of a guitar from scratch at a "low" would likely be around $500 - $600 using available leftovers and somewhere more like $900 - $1500 using all new materials. From there, the sky is the limit! It's not uncommon for a custom to run well above those figures. If you can give me an idea of the style of the guitar you would like to build, and how you'd like it outfitted (non-trem, standard trem, no tremolo, number and type of pick-ups, etc.), then I can give you a more accurate figure to chew on. Do you have specific ideas in mind already or need more questions answered? Just let me know and we'll have at it! I'd be happy to build your custom. It's a nice way to go because you get exactly what you want. Give me some specifics and I'll be happy to give you an accurate price. TOP ↑
I want to sell my guitar. How much should I be asking for it?	If you know what your guitar cost, there is a simple formula for setting the price for it. If you bought it new and have kept it in good condition, it is worth approximately 75% of the original selling price, not the full retail – no one sells for full retail. If you you’re selling it to a store expect to receive ½ of 75%. If you bought your guitar used, it will be worth what you paid for it (if you got a good deal and have kept it up) or perhaps a bit less. Again, selling it to a store expect to receive about ½ of that. Of course, anything is only worth what someone is willing to spend for it. If you do your research, you will get your best price. TOP ↑
Where can I go to find more detailed info on guitars and custom building?	There are many books and magazines on this subject as well as some excellent web resources. I recommend looking at our LINKS page for lots of good basic information. TOP ↑
What’s the difference between a tube amp and solid state?	Solid state amps of the past are something to be aware of. Some were good and some will never be worth much. These days, solid state amps perform well and sound great and offer dependability to those that can’t afford or don’t want to put up the joys of tubes. The big difference is the way that tubes act under the varying attack of the individual player. Tubes "compress" under aggressive picking and create a tone complex with sustain and nice "round wave" distortion. Even the "clean" tone amp settings react this way and richen up the sound through the speakers. "Round wave" is the buzzword. They blend signals better and are rich in complimentary harmonics. Opposed signals tend to cancel out better and leave you with a more defined tone even when distorted. Solid state amps – especially older ones distort with square waves and are typically harsher sounding and require some fiddling to find the "sweet-spot" – if it has one! It will forever be the quest of solid state manufacturers to emulate the response of tubes in their design. Some come close these days. Bottom line is always if you like the sound in conjunction with the price. TOP ↑
How did you get to be "The Guitar Doctor"?	I started playing guitar when I was 14 back in 1969. I took lessons when I was 6 or 7 but that doesn't count because I gave it up until I was 14. Anyway, I was always handy with my hands even when I was little. This was no doubt a huge head start. When I started at 14, I immediately realized my guitar sucked. I needed it to work better and I knew it. I hung around a particular music store in Central Square, Cambridge, MA - just outside the famous Harvard Square. It was actually a pawnshop that happened to have mostly musical gear. These guys probably hated to see me coming as much as I dread to see a few particular people coming to my shop these days! It was called Central Sales. There was a longhaired guy in there who put up with me and seemed to know something about fixing up guitars. I told him my complaints with my axe and he told me what to do. He didn't tell me, however, how to do it! I went home and did some awful things to my guitar. I knew right away that I'd screwed up. I went back and told him what I did. I'm sure he had a good laugh from it all. But he did take the time then, once he realized I was determined to do it myself, to give me some details on "how-to". Like I said, I was handy with my hands and tools even then and had no fear on tackling my needs. It worked! My guitar played better, tuned up properly, and I played better for it, even though I was a raw beginner. I spent hours upon hours alone playing that guitar until I saw its shortcomings and I knew it was time for a good guitar. I didn't know much, but I had some definite ideas about what I liked. I was a big fan of the group Mountain. They played a lot in Boston in those days 'cause they lived out on Martha's Vineyard, and I never missed a show. Leslie West, the guitarist, played a Les Paul Jr. pretty much exclusively then. That was the guitar for me. I was into Alice Cooper big-time too, and they played Gibsons (SG's). But the Jr. was the one. Central had one and I wanted it. During all this time, I had made my way up to an Aria Les Paul copy. It had real Gibson pickups in it and top-of-the-line Grover Imperial tuners on the headstock. I was phat with that. But I wanted that Les Paul Junior. To make a long story short, I went to trade my L.P. copy for the Jr. and they offered me a good deal. I was floored with the prospect that I needed the cash up front to complete the deal. I didn't have it. I thought that I could "make payments" on it while I enjoyed having it. No dice. Well, I didn't have the cash and my caddying job wouldn't get the dough up fast enough. I slogged along until I was able to move up slowly in guitars and finally end up with some cool axes including a Fender Mustang (metallic blue with the racing stripe – king of Mustangs) I wish I never had gotten rid of, and a Hagstrom II – which are now collectable and hold a special place in my heart to this day. All along the way I worked on my guitars under the guidance of anyone who knew more than I. That's how I started. I never went to school for it. I learned from people who were willing to show me things, and I read a lot of books. Eventually, my friends started to ask me to make their guitars play like mine. Then more and more people came to me for work. As the years passed, the repair business overtook my regular job. One day I had too many guitars to work on and not enough time to work on them. I had guitars tucked in every corner of the house - 20 – 30 of them at any one time. I totaled up the situation one day and decided to quit my job. It was the best thing I ever did. I gave myself a raise as soon as I walked out the door. I've been doing it ever since.The way I went about it was the long road. You can certainly go to school for it if you have the means and encouragement from parents or whatever. I've learned all the way through it and I’m still learning. I don't call myself a "luthier" yet. Just a good tech with some building skills. The real thing is to be devoted to it, as with anything you want to strive for. You will get there. My real joy is in making any guitar play its best. The ugliest duckling takes on a new appeal when it screams, cries, and roars in your hands. The Boston scene is cool. There are a handful of luthiers and techs in the area that are any good and we know who we are. We’re pretty friendly amongst each other and occasionally trade goods, services, and, God forbid, advice! Not at all like what I’ve heard about the NY or CA scene where competition is the usual weather. I don’t know – I don’t get out much! That's it in a nutshell. It was the long way to go about it, but I got there. It was totally unintentional. It just snowballed. They say not to make your hobby your livelihood, but for me it was the only choice. Sometimes it seems like "just work", but I don't put any less care into it. I can't - it's just the way it is now. TOP ↑
How did you get to be "The Guitar Doctor"?


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Guitar Doctor
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Whitman, MA - 02383 - U.S.A.
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