From the Bench

2008 USA American Standard Stratocaster

This 3-color sunburst American Standard Stratocaster came in for a setup, cleaning, polish, and verification photos. The serial/spec lookup matched a USA-made American Standard Stratocaster with rosewood fingerboard, SSS American Standard pickups, 2-point tremolo, medium jumbo frets, and a Modern C maple neck.

Relief

.40mm to .10mm

12th High E

2.50mm to 1.95mm

12th Low E

3.00mm to 2.25mm

1. Recorded pre-setup measurements and found high action with a few fret rockers.
2. Removed the neck, bridge, tuners, and pickguard for inspection and documentation.
3. Verified USA Strat details through the neck heel, neck pocket, truss plug, skunk stripe, and under-pickguard markings.
4. Polished the tuners, jack plate, hardware, and body, then treated rusty bridge and saddle parts.
5. Reassembled with new Ernie Ball 9.5-44 Slinky strings and dialed in the setup for lower action while noting a future light level, crown, and polish.

1997 Ibanez RG470 restoration

Carlos brought in his first guitar: a black, Made in Korea 1997 Ibanez RG470 with HSH pickups and a Floyd Rose Lo-TRS II tremolo. The repair covered fret crowning and polish, body and neck cleanup, tremolo service, wiring repairs, a custom veneer shim, and a final setup with 11-49 strings.

Pickups

INF1, INFS1, INF2 HSH

Bridge

Lo-TRS II tremolo service

Setup

.50mm shim, 11-49 strings

1. Documented the guitar, measured the setup, checked fret condition, and removed old strings and hardware.
2. Cleaned and conditioned the fretboard, taped the board, then crowned, dressed, and polished the frets.
3. Disassembled and cleaned the Ibanez Floyd Rose Lo-TRS II, replaced bad screws, refreshed the cavity tape, and noted stripped blade screw retainers causing high action and tuning instability.
4. Scraped and blended dried glue around the repaired scarf joint, then polished the headstock, neck, body, and hardware.
5. Repaired cold solder joints on the middle pickup, resoldered the bridge ground, cleaned rust from the 5-way switch, and tested all pickup positions.
6. Installed a custom .50mm veneer shim, strung it with 11-49s, stretched the strings, tuned with the fine tuners, and reviewed a future Seymour Duncan pickup upgrade option.

1960s Epiphone FT-160N 12-string neck reset

This vintage Epiphone 12-string came in with a neck heel separating from the pocket by about 0.71mm, leaving the action far too high to play comfortably. The repair converted the joint with threaded inserts and bolts, added a 0.25 angled shim to restore the break angle, cleaned up the tuners, and preserved as much original fret height as possible.

Before

Low E at 12th: 6.0mm

Gap

0.71mm heel separation

Fix

Threaded inserts, bolts, angled shim

1. Measured action, string tension, and neck pocket separation.
2. Removed the neck and planned the reset with the customer.
3. Serviced loose tuner blocks, polished hardware, and oiled the worm gears.
4. Lightly dressed frets 0-7 to smooth string wear while preserving fret life.
5. Drilled for threaded inserts, added CA glue, and let the joint cure overnight.
6. Fit the angled shim, reassembled, strung below full tension, and let it settle before final play testing.

White 2016 Mitchell MD200 fret rescue

This came in from PV Music House as a buzzing low E. Someone had tried to level the frets with the wrong tools, flattening the bass side of the fretboard and the rest of the frets. The job was saved from a complete re-fret with two files, six sandpaper grits, and a final leather polish.

DIY Explorer Gibson 498T pickup wiring

Carlos brought in a DIY Explorer he built in woodworking class, along with Gibson 498T pickups and a pre-soldered switch and pot kit. The pickups were installed, the wiring was shielded and tucked cleanly, and a clear wiring diagram was created for future service work.