A Toothpick Trick For Loose Screws
A carpenter once showed me a great trick with a toothpick. One of our doors was sagging, because the screws in the hinges were loose, and couldn’t be tightened. With a glint in his eye, he pulled out a handful of toothpicks from his pocket, saying “my secret weapon”. After removing the loose screws for the hinge, he stuffed a few toothpicks in each hole, cut them off flush, and then re-tightened the screws in the holes. Presto chango- it was all nice and tight. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best!
In this video, I apply this simple trick to the tuners on my Epiphone Riviera P93. Some of these screws have been loose since day one – the kind of loose where no matter how much you try to tighten the screw, it just spins freely in the hole. The wood fibers in the hole are stripped out and no longer gripping the screw threads. One simple toothpick, inserted in each hole and cut off flush, just like that carpenter had shown me- and now the screws go in nice and tight. The soft wood of the toothpick makes the perfect filler. No glue necessary.
That same carpenter also shared these fine words of wisdom: “Caulk and paint are what a painter ain’t”, but that’s a story for another day 
The most critical factor in an electric guitar’s sound
“Until it’s recognized that the amplifier is AT LEAST 50% of the sound of the electric guitar, its full potential cannot be realized” -Leo Fender
I couldn’t verify whether that quote is truly attributable to Leo Fender, but it’s a good point.
We tinkerers spend all this time tweaking our electric guitars’ pots, caps, pickups, etc- when really the biggest factors in how your guitar sounds are the amp and pedals you play through. Your guitar may be puttin out the most beautifully kickin tone in the world, but if you’re playing it through a crappy amp, you’re gonna hear crap.
I found this interesting collection of FAQ’s about amps, tubes, etc (along with a ton of other tips) by Steve McKinley at Atlanta Tube Amp. Check it out:
http://www.mindspring.com/~atlantatubeamp/id15.html
Pickup Wiring Options
In this article, Pete Biltoft at Vintage Vibe Guitars gives an in-depth explanation of pickup coil wiring options. Note this information is provided in the context of humbuckers, but applies just as well to a pair of single coil pickups that are RWRP relative to each other. You may also find my earlier posts useful: Humbucker Wiring and Coil Splitting, and Pete’s previous article on Coil Splitting/Tapping.
Thanks again to Pete for the permission to post this here!
January 2013
Howdy!
In this Tech Tips newsletter I would like to discuss the wiring options possible with a single humbucking pickup which has a four conductor output cable with an independent ground lead.
The following information applies not only to conventional humbucking pickups with side by side coils, but also to stacked humbuckers and humbuckers in other size formats or configurations.
In this newsletter I do not plan to cover the details of wiring one or more switches to accomplish the possible coil configurations described below. A great deal of useful information on this topic is provided on the Stewart MacDonald website, the Guitar Nuts website and on www.deaf-eddie.net
First, let’s start with the basics:
Waterslide Decals
Here’s the table of contents for the whole DIY pedal building series:
- Intro to DIY Pedal Building
- Beginner’s Course in Sketchup, Modeling a 125B Guitar Pedal Enclosure
- Drilling a 125B Guitar Effects Pedal Enclosure
- Pedal Enclosure Finishing: Surface Prep, Priming and Painting
- Using GIMP to Create Pedal Artwork
- Printing and Applying Waterslide Decal to Pedal Enclosure
In this final installment on finishing your own guitar effects pedals, I demonstrate how to print and apply the waterslide decal to the pedal, and apply a durable clear finish. In previous videos, I showed how to model, drill, and paint the enclosure, and design and prepare the artwork and labels in GIMP.
I use clear waterslide decal paper, and print on my inkjet Canon Pro9000mkII. After printing, and waiting a while to ensure the ink is dry, I spray on a few coats of Krylon Acrylic Crystal Clear acrylic to protect the ink during the soak. Then, after the clearcoat dries for 30 minutes or so, I trim the paper to final dimensions and soak the paper in warm water. When the decal starts to move freely from its backing, I wet the surface of the enclosure and slide the decal directly onto it. I iron out the bubbles with wet fingers, and adjust the decal into its final position, being careful not to stretch the decal.
Coil Splitting and Coil Tapping
In this article, Pete Biltoft at Vintage Vibe Guitars gives an in-depth explanation of humbucker coil splitting and tapping. You may also find my earlier posts useful: Humbucker Wiring and Coil Splitting.
Thanks again to Pete for the permission to post this here!
October 2012
Howdy!
The topic for this tech tips newsletter will be Coil Splitting and Coil Tapping.
Coil Splitting and Coil Tapping are two methods which can be used to extend the range of tones on can get from a magnetic pickup.
First, a few definitions:
Coil splitting refers to disabling one of the two coils of a humbucking pickup by shunting that coil’s output to electrical ground.
Coil tapping is most often used to describe a single coil pickup which has a coil start and more than one coil end (output tap).
Because I intend to devote most of this article to Coil Tapping, let me start with Coil Splitting.