The late luthier and instrument repairer Frank Ford was identified for generously sharing his deep information of all issues fretted, together with within the pages of Acoustic Guitar. Ford contributed many articles within the early to mid-2000s, and here’s a sampling of the sage recommendation he provided in his common contributions to the journal’s common question-and-answer column. 

I’d like to put in a strap button on my Washburn D10SCE acoustic-electric. What’s the greatest place on the guitar to place it? 

When you take a look at prewar pictures of the celebrities of the Grand Ole Opry, you’ll see that just about all of the guitar gamers tied their straps onto the peghead, beneath the strings proper on the nut—a marked distinction with at present’s gamers, who connect their straps close to the bottom of the neck. The thought for the latter strap attachment was most likely impressed by the factory-installed strap buttons on solidbody electrical guitars. Attaching the strap on the base of the neck makes the guitar extra maneuverable onstage. Additionally, the view of the neck and fingerboard is just not obstructed by the strap.

By far the most well-liked location for a strap button is on the treble facet of the heel, roughly centered vertically on the neck. (In case you have a guitar with a bolted neck, it’s clever to have an thought of the placement of the bolts earlier than putting in a strap button.) In virtually all situations, it’s secure to find the button right here. One other in style location for the strap button is the bass facet of the guitar close to the neck. Right here, it’s very important to ensure the button screw goes into the neck block contained in the guitar. 

On devices with small neck blocks, it’s crucial and cheap so as to add a little bit of reinforcement on the within. Guitars with a large, flat heel appear to ask for a strap button proper within the middle, and with the button on this location, the strap is held very securely and the guitar balances nicely. A strap button can typically be put in within the heel cap, however that tends to make the guitar tip ahead. 

In all circumstances, it’s vital for the strap to attract at about 90 levels to the button, simply because it does on the endpin. Putting in a strap button is an inexpensive do-it-yourself job, requiring a little bit of woodworking expertise and customary sense. The largest single problem is to drill an acceptable pilot gap for the screw. Any competent luthier can set up a strap button rapidly and simply.

I bought a brand new Gibson Superior Jumbo and seen that the 2 sides of the highest wooden don’t match—one is barely darker than the opposite. Does this distinction in tint have an effect on the sound of the guitar? 

What you’re describing is just not a query of tint however reasonably the visible impact of a phenomenon generally known as grain runout, which happens when the grain doesn’t run straight via the size of a bit of lumber. When you place two items of wooden with totally different levels of runout subsequent to one another, they may mirror mild in a different way, creating the impression that one is darker or lighter than the opposite. [For an illustrated explanation, type “frets.com runout” into Google’s search engine. —ed.] 

It’s an virtually strictly beauty matter—grain runout must be extraordinarily pronounced to have any vital structural impression. So it is best to resolve whether or not or to not preserve the guitar based mostly on whether or not or not you want the way it seems. In case you are not happy by the looks now, chances are high it would eat at you, and also you may remorse that you just did not return it for that cause. When you do resolve to return it, by all means make it clear that the grain runout is a matter for you, in order that the seller will look out for it sooner or later. Such suggestions could be helpful for each sellers and factories. If the grain runout look is just not offensive to you, relaxation assured that it’s going to not have any specific impression on the tone or getting old strategy of the guitar. A few of the world’s greatest-sounding devices have spruce tops that the majority of us would choose as visually unappealing.

There’s loads of debate about bolt-on necks versus conventional dovetail joints. What are the relative deserves of every? 

After I first began in lutherie, greater than 30 years in the past, it was generally held that necks wanted to be reset solely on actually outdated devices and/or poorly constructed ones. However just about all steel-string guitars, together with frivolously constructed archtops, ultimately endure physique form adjustments that lead to a neck-angle downside, and at present we settle for that it’s solely a matter of time earlier than any flattop guitar might want to have its neck eliminated and reset as shut as doable to the unique angle with respect to the highest and the bridge. Actually, many will want that job repeated at common intervals. 

With that in thoughts, why not drift and make a guitar with a neck that may come off with minimal injury to the end or construction of the instrument? A glued dovetail neck is detachable so long as the glue could be softened fairly simply. It’s the normal technique, however that doesn’t make it superior to a bolted mortise. Many individuals argue that the neck joint contributes to tone—claiming that Taylor guitars sound brilliant and Martins have a fuller bass response due to their totally different neck joints—however that’s evaluating apples and oranges. Within the dreadnought measurement, for instance, Taylor devices have totally different, heavier high bracing, which makes for a stiffer high that emphasizes treble response, whereas Martins are extra versatile, as a consequence of lighter bracing and related thickness tops and backs, permitting for a fuller bass. Every now and then, I’ve been requested to transform a guitar from a strong nonremovable to a bolted neck, and in no case have both I or the proprietor of the guitar detected a lack of tone.

Classical and flamenco builders, within the curiosity of playability and tone, typically purpose for a reasonably low bridge and saddle top, however that presents nasty challenges for restore because the guitar’s motion adjustments over time. I’ve met various offended house owners of high-end Spanish classical guitars who have been upset that their necks couldn’t be eliminated and reset. Due to Bob Taylor and different extremely regarded makers akin to Collings and Huss and Dalton, the stigma of a bolt-on neck is now a factor of the previous, so why not let the dovetail be a factor of the previous, too?

This text initially appeared within the Might/June 2024 challenge of Acoustic Guitar journal.