I have a Hallmark guitar with a crooked string guide. I need to remove it and put it back on. I assume it is glued. Any advise from those familiar with such things on removal and/or proper regluing?

Makai

Squid wrote:

I humbly suggest you direct your question to: http://hallmarkguitars.com/contact/contact.shtml

with a "please" and "thanks in advance" in your note.

Best wishes to you.

Done. I bought the guitar directly from Bob Shade. I told him about the crooked string guide (and included the pic below) immediately upon receiving the guitar. His response was, “Shim it”. First, it is impossible to shim something that is glued. Second, it would not solve the problem.

The issue with the guitar is the end of the fretboard where the string guide rests is cut crooked. The edges (the neck binding between the zero fret and string guide) are equidistant on each side, but the actual fretboard between them is angled from the low E to the B string. You can then see the gap under the high E. To fix this I have to remove the string guide and file the fretboard ‘hump’ between the binding edges and then reinstall the string guide. The hardest part is removing the string guide cleanly. Any suggestions from those familiar with Hallmarks, Mosrites and the like?

Makai

Last edited: Aug 09, 2020 14:47:47

I zoomed your image and you can see the hump between the D and G strings. That is definitely not a straight cut from the low to high E edges. What a terrible job they did on that part of the guitar. I'm surprised it got out of the factory.

If I'd gotten this guitar, I'd also either ask for my money back or ask that Mr. Shade pay for a professional luthier to fix it.

Even if you could get the string guide off, I don't think you'll be happy with a repair with a file. You'll invariably take wood off the low and high E sides. Maybe a really sharp chisel, taking just a bit of wood off each time? I wonder what a real luthier would do.

However, to answer your question, it looks like that string guide is made of metal. You could gently apply heat in hopes of loosening the glue. I'd use a soldering iron with a thin piece of copper between the iron and guide.

Good luck.

If I'd stop buying old guitars to fix, I might actually learn to play.
Bringing instruments back to life since 2013.

Last edited: Aug 09, 2020 16:07:34

I do not know how to multi-quote so hopefully this will address SandBug, lmk and Surfadelphia.

The string guide is definately crooked. It is easiest to notice if you just look at the gap distance between the zero fret and string guide on each edge of the fretboard. The gap is bigger in the high E side.

(This is easy to see but not necessarily to explain. I do not want to over complicate. Crude drawing below). There was no transit damage. It was miscut. The short version is the small cut from the high E to the B is straight (parallel to the zero fret). The cut from the low E to the B (in red) is a straight line but not parallel to the zero fret. Because the second cut was crooked the string guide cannot be seated properly (the line between the arrows is where the guide should be resting). I.E., it is not missing wood under the high E, it has too much wood from the low E to B.

I ordered not one but two guitars from Bob. Both were backordered. I prepaid for the pair and waited (I think) 3-4 months for them. I sent a set of strings for each guitar for Bob to do the initial setup. We spoke and e-mailed over this time period. He inspected (presumably since he set them up) each guitar personally. One guitar was perfect. The other had this issue plus one of the pickup rings had only two holes drilled (they are not just missing the screw, the body is not drilled, pic below).

Immediately upon receipt I sent Bob the same pic I posted above and explained the problem. His response was terse. He said he did not see any problem (?) and if I thought it was crooked, “shim it”. I did not want to be “that” Karen customer and get all rambunctious. I knew both issues were fixable. I was hoping he would make some effort to do something but if I recall he did not even give a cursory sorry. I felt particularly brushed off.

.

Makai

Last edited: Aug 10, 2020 00:45:11

You shouldn't feel at all bad about insisting, in a calm way, on getting the guitar you paid for.

I don't know this guitar. Set neck? If not, have Shade send you a replacement neck.

If I'd stop buying old guitars to fix, I might actually learn to play.
Bringing instruments back to life since 2013.

Just so everyone knows, that customer did contact me, and e-mailed me an image that was dark and I could not see the issue but knew what he was talking about. We spoke about the possibilities and I offered a couple of ideas for a quick fix, and I did apologize for the inconvenience and he seemed good with that. As well I did give him the option to send the guitar back for closer inspection and or repair if needed. (which still stands today) I do stand behind our products.
I also send him some a complimentary Hallmark Guitars Presents cd with a booklet to check out while he was waiting on his order, and went the extra mile of putting his strings on the guitars to set it up just for those which I do not mind doing at no additional charge.
I do take my customers seriously and hope for a pleasant experience for everyone. I hope this helps and please know I am available at any time. Sincerely, Bob Shade/ Hallmark Guitars

Last edited: Aug 10, 2020 16:33:14

Hallmark wrote:

Just so everyone knows, that customer did contact me, and e-mailed me an image that was dark and I could not see the issue but knew what he was talking about. We spoke about the possibilities and I offered a couple of ideas for a quick fix, and I did apologize for the inconvenience and he seemed good with that. As well I did give him the option to send the guitar back for closer inspection and or repair if needed. (which still stands today) I do stand behind our products.
I also send him some a complimentary Hallmark Guitars Presents cd with a booklet to check out while he was waiting on his order, and went the extra mile of putting his strings on the guitars to set it up just for those which I do not mind doing at no additional charge.
I do take my customers seriously and hope for a pleasant experience for everyone. I hope this helps and please know I am available at any time. Sincerely, Bob Shade/ Hallmark Guitars

This is a copy and paste of our final contact:

Me:
I received the guitars. The fretboards are great! Beautifully dark and clean. One guitar is fit as a fiddle but the other has two issues (pics included). First, only two holes were drilled for the rear pickup ring. The two holes nearest the bridge are undrilled and sans screws. Second, the string guide is crooked and the end of the fretboard cut at an angle. Not a smidge aesthetically off, but enough that the G binds. In the pic you can see the end of the fretboard is cut at an angle (not parallel to the zero fret) from the low E to the B and then a large gap under the hi E. The degree of crookedness may not come through by just eyeballing the pic, but if you look at the distance between the zero fret and string guide at the low E binding and then look at that same at the hi E (which should be the same as the low E to be parallel) the angle is more evident.

I can set the pickup ring screws if you will send wood screws same as the other six. The string guide is medable as the miscut left extra wood (rather than taking away too much wood) but will require a professional guitar luthier out of pocket. The ends of the binding between the zero fret and string guide are cut evenly with one another on the low and hi E sides. For whatever reason when the end of the fretboard was cut it was done so at an angle and those sides were not connected (hence the gap under the hi E). To be repaired the string guide will have to be removed and the extra wood at the end of the fretboard cut straight across to the even binding ends then the string guide reinstalled up against the straight fretboard end.

Mr. Shade:
I will be happy to send you the two screws that are missing.

As far as the string guide slot being off I cannot tell from the photo. I do not recommend having it re-cut. I would suggest a shim if it is not to your liking.

I will get the screws out to you tomorrow.

I do not know how one can not see that gap under the high E. I will take him at his word that he did not. However, even if he did not notice the problem he should have followed up given I mentioned out of pocket repair cost about a brand new item I just opened.

Do to some things that transpired over the course of the transaction I mentioned the luthier specifically to see if Mr. Shade would respond in a proactive manner. He did not and I had waited so long for the guitars I did not want to drag it out any longer by making demands. This was the last contact we had. He did not given me any option to return/repair the guitar which seems overly cumbersome not to mention other issues.

As a separate issue, he did notice and acknowledge the undrilled pickup ring holes. He was courteous and sent the replacement screws I asked for and drilling two screw holes is not a big deal. But as I had mentioned in a previous post, there is not even a cursory apology or any sense of how can I make this right. Remember, I prepaid over $2200 and waited months for these guitars. His response felt like he had his phone and 15 seconds before his movie started and that was that. He never followed up.

Makai

Manufacturing errors combined with a quality control fail. I second others suggestions to return it to Bob.

I'll say it again. Send him the neck, sans tuning machines. Shipping cost should be less than 20 bucks. If it were me, either this neck repaired or a replacement neck would be fine.

If I'd stop buying old guitars to fix, I might actually learn to play.
Bringing instruments back to life since 2013.