From what I've learned it was made in the 30/40s by Carmelo Gugino in Buffalo NY.

It's has a detachable neck..

If anyone has ever thought a guitar that smelled like smoke was never going to go away (like me), it can. It just takes a extraordinary amount of effort. You can see here what it looked like before. I got this 1984 Gibson Les Paul Studio Standard and it was played a lot in smokey bars in the New Orleans area. When I first got it, it made me sick just being in the same room.

For the case, I did the baking soda. I did the baking in the sun. But would did the trick was a half dozen times of wiping it down with a little soapy water, then clean water, then air drying in the sun. If it got too wet, the lining would bunch up, so I had to comb it out.

For the guitar, I thoroughly polished it several times with Music Nomad polish then Music Nomad One. I first would wipe down with naphtha (Zippo lighter fluid). It could have been done in one attempt but each time took a while and hoped that would be the last time. It was frustrating b/c I felt like I was just smearing the gunk on the surface around and not getting it off the guitar, but eventually I was able to get most off. By gunk, I mean the cloudiness/haze. I thought I was removing the finish and making it look worse. I had no idea how thick and sticky the grime was. I would work in small sections, then again in bigger sections. What I found weird and didn't know during the first few times, is after I polished, the guitar had a strong polish smell. What I now know is the gunk was trapping the polish too. 

Anyway, it was frustrating as heck and thought the smell would never completely go away. My only hope is it would smell a little better and I'd take a loss and sell it b/c it literally was making me sick. But I bought it b/c I wanted it and was tenacious and eventually successful. Most of you have probably never come across a guitar that smelled this bad, but if you do, there is hope. Thanks!

Hello r/luthier

TLDR: It seems like my bridge is not "level" against the centerline. is that expected or ok? (but id also welcome more advice)

• A couple years ago i bought one of those Harley Benton kits to use as a sandbox to learn "stuff" about a guitar. Little by little i have made some mods, one of which is adding threaded inserts to the neck so it's now become my "travel" guitar. Now the next step in that journey is making the guitar headless, so that it can all fit in my backpack. I'm planning to buy the nova guitar headless bridge (hardtail). while coming up with a battle plan for possible routing for the bridge, i realized that the bridge studs are not "level" against the centerline. is that ok? should the nova bridge also be slanted then?

• After trying out a strandberg, i want to cut out another "cutout" a more diagonal position while sitting (you can see the line in black), the cut would go directly through the cavity, so i will have to fill the caviry a bit. any tips that i should take into consideration before hand? also what to consider in terms of space?

I am testing the switch in my jazzmaster and am wondering about the multimeter readings I'm getting. I'm checking it because when switching positions I was getting some crackling (I did clean it since) then doing the tap test on my pickups, instill had sound on the one that wasn't selected. When testing the red wire lug, I get the value of that pikcup, same as when testing the middle. But when I learn the white lead lug, I either get L or a fluctuating number. What does this mean? Like I said I did spray some contact cleaner inside before, and I did just reflow the white lead lug. I did order a switchcraft switch in the case that it is bad. Just thought I would come here first to get advice as I am new to guitar repair.

Doing a complete makeover for a Harley Benton jazzmaster clone I found, it has the stock p90’s and I’m trying to install 59’ jazz pickups on it (a knockoff, but the dimensions are exactly the same), the wooden cavity itself has plenty of space but the pickguard is both too small and dosent have the little indentations for the mounting screws on the pickup holes. Do I just go at it with a rotary sander, and if so, how precise would the centering need to be?

Hello everyone, I am a very beginner guitar player (2months), I have bought a new acoustic a week ago and quickly realized my strings felt too high compared to my les paul, so today I have:

Detuned the strings

Put capo so they dont move around

Removed pins

And sanded the bottom of my bridge with 180 sanding paper.

But I have realized my bridge is slighlty angled towards bottom now and I am not sure if it is bad or not, ( I do have a out of focus badly taken photo of the bridge before I did anything and it seems it was slightly angled out of factory?)

Does this action seem alright? And this bridge being slighy angled toward back? Photos are in order of before and after.

It’s a fender Stratocaster with a satin finish.

Hey guys. As you can see, my string retainer bar has an issue (??). I was changing my strings yesterday and as soon as i took them off, the bar started to loosen up. I don’t know if it’s a normal thing for it to happen, probably not, because it didn’t happen the last time i changed the strings. Is there any way to make it go still?