Tech Tip: Designing a Guitar Body Using Rhinoceros

Most manufacturers and some independent luthiers use CNC machines to build their guitars. The process starts with drawing a design on the computer. My favorite program for doing this is Rhinoceros. Rhino (for short) is a powerful 3-D drafting and rendering program...

Mastering Fretwork: Essential Techniques for Guitar Maintenance

One of the first build or repair traits to catch my eye on any steel-stringed instrument is fretwork. Fretwork allows an instrument to look and feel great when it’s played — but it also can make an instrument unplayable if it’s not carried out properly....

Tech Tip: A Sticky Situation

(Brian Nutter is an instructor at Guitar Craft Academy Nashville and the owner of Nutter Guitars.) Sooner or later in guitar making you’ll need to use glue. The question is, what type of glue should you use and why? Let’s take a quick look at four common types of glue...

How to Remove Guitar Frets

Using a Fret Zapper I use this tool, called a fret zapper, to remove guitar frets. The guys at Gruhn Guitars showed me this when I was working there. It’s essentially a 150-watt soldering gun with the tip replaced with two separate pieces of copper. How to Use a Fret...

How to Adjust a Guitar Truss Rod

Guitar Craft Academy Instructor Steven Mather takes you through the step-by-step process of adjusting the truss rod in a...