Nathan’s Guitars

Blake Blackim (percussionist for Sunset Sinners and president of Midwest Music) has a cool 2002 Gibson Flying V in his collection of instruments that he and Tony Bowell (guitarist/vocalist for the Sinners) were wanting to break out after years of it sitting on the shelf, and start using it for some Sinner tunes in upcoming live performances. Blake knew it had some unwanted noise issues with the electronics and wouldn’t be playable the way it was, so he asked me to get it up and running. He also wanted me to set it up for easier playing and polish/clean the frets, which had a lot of corrosion and roughness from guitar players in years past.

First thing I did was try to pinpoint the electronic component and/or its wiring that was causing the problems. After testing it plugged in, it seemed likely to be the pickup switch or its wiring causing the unwanted noise/loss of sound problems. I then removed the pickguard to get a visual on the wiring and for further testing, and tracked the problem to a ground wire with really cold solder connecting the pickup switch to the input jack. The wire would move freely in the terminal’s hole on the pickup switch and when plugged in, it was causing crackling/popping, feedback sounds, or completely cutting out when moving the wire or using the pickup switch when playing. Got the wire retined/bonded well to the terminal on the pickup switch and the issues never reoccurred.

After that, I decided to tackle the corroded rough frets. Got all the corrosion removed, rough areas polished out, gave all the frets a mirror finish polish for smooth playing, and conditioned the fretboard, bringing the beautiful natural wood color tone back to life and the crescent moon inlays to a nice shine.

Got strings on it, cleaned it, adjusted the string height at the bridge and nut for easier playing, intonated it and sounding great. Sunset Sinners have a lot of gigs coming up. Hit the tag above to check out what they’ve been working on and where they’re playing next👊

Over the past 7 years, Brad Wilson has trusted me with his guitar setup work and the installation of quite a few K&K pickup systems in his guitars, and this time around, he has a beautiful sounding USA Martin D-35 that he wanted to be able to plug in and amplify. He also wanted me to setup the guitar to make it easier to play.

K&K pickups are known for bringing out the true acoustic sound that is tonally unique to each guitar, and Brad knows this after trying many different pickup systems over the years. First thing I did was prep and adhere each K&K pickup transducer (perfectly spaced and inline) directly under the saddle inside of the guitar per K&Ks instructions to get optimal tone and even output from all the strings. Then I removed the strap button/end pin and widened the hole to accommodate the larger input jack/strap button and installed it.

Once the K&K pickup system was fully installed, I conditioned the fretboard, polished the frets, strung it up with 12-54 strings, lowered the base of the saddle 1 1/2 mm, and lowered the action/string height of each of the strings slot in the nut for easier playing. Everything turned out great. Awesome guitar that sounds and plays better than ever.

Video in the comments below of Brad taking his guitar plugged in for a spin with some nice sounding finger style when he came to pick it up after the setup work and pickup system installation✌️

Mike Alley (guitarist for Doc & The Disorder) knows that I have 10 years of experience in repairing guitars, and now 2 years in my own guitar repair shop and lesson studio, and he had a unique restoration project that he felt confident I could tackle, completely gutting the old worn out electronics in his 1984 Kramer Pacer Imperial guitar, replacing them with new upgraded electronics, and just overall bringing this guitar back to life and good playing condition.

Being inspired by Van Halen and his endorsement of Kramer Guitars, Mike purchased this guitar new in 1984 from Midwest Music in Salina. He gigged with it regularly in rock bands through late 1991 “at which time I got a haircut and real job”. It then stayed in its case for the most part until 2004 when he joined the band Northcutt and resumed gigging with it for several years but transitioned to playing a telecaster guitar instead. For 15 years then, it just hung on the wall. He was poised to sell this guitar, but decided to bring it to me to restore it and start gigging with it again.

First thing I did was remove the old worn out electronics/controls (pots, pickup switch, input jack, and wiring). Then I removed the minimal aluminum foil shielding it had with the intention of fully shielding the entire electronics/control cavity to keep unwanted noise and interference from being picked up by the guitars controls (typically caused by stage lights, amplifiers, and other electronic gear). Then I removed the pickups to get their wire out of the way and to eventually replace the (not original) neck pickup with a new Seymour Duncan 59 SH-1N. Mike wanted to keep and reuse the 1984 Seymour Duncan JB-J pickup he had put in it right after purchasing the guitar. Got the copper foil shielding installed in the control cavity and the underside of its backplate so that the electronics would be fully shielded from unwanted noise. Got the pickups, the new USA Gibson pots, mini pickup switch, and input jack installed, the copper shielding grounded, everything wired up, soldered, and working perfectly.

With many years of pitting, wear, and nicks in the frets, Mike decided it’s best to have them serviced as well. I lightly leveled, recrowned, and mirror finish polished them making it feel smooth and playing easier. After that I adjusted the neck, strung it up with Daddario 10-46 strings, setup the Floyd Rose bridge, intonated it, and got it sounding and playing great.

Video in the comments below of Mike putting it through its paces when he came to pick it up after the repair.

Doc & The Disorder have some upcoming gigs. Hit the tag above to see where they’re playing next 👊

Anita Chase (guitarist and vocalist in The Radicles) was having trouble with the neck pickup on her favorite guitar intermittently cutting out (no sound) and it seemed to be getting worse and to the point where more often than not, the pickup wasn’t working at all. To try and pinpoint where the problem was, I started testing the electronics in different ways. I began by cleaning the pickup switch since it was crackling and cutting out quite a bit in different positions. The crackling went away but the neck pickup was still cutting out or slowly losing volume over time. I tracked the issue to the volume control/pot by tapping on it when testing it and noticed it would cut out. I inspected the wiring and found some cold solder on the volume control input terminal for the neck pickup. The hot wire from the pickup would move freely in the solder on the terminal which can cause a disruption in the signal from the neck pickup and loss of sound. Got the solder heated and retined so that the wire was bonded well to the solder and terminal, and the issue never reoccurred. Then I lightly leveled and recrowned some flat rough frets and gave them all a mirror finish polish to help make playing easier and feel smoother. Set it up with Ernie Ball 10-46 strings and sounding and playing great. Beautiful guitar and an awesome set of pickups.

Video of a cool sounding song in the comments below of Anita trying out her guitar with the neck pickup when she came to pick it up after the repair✌️

Taylor Kline was wanting to get a pickup installed in his guitar “Bullet”(originally his grandfather’s guitar which has a bullet hole through the top) so he could play it plugged in at some upcoming gigs he has. He purchased a K&K pickup because of the great things he’s heard about them. He asked me if I could install it for him because he knows I’ve installed many of them (including in one of my own guitars). I did an inspection when he came to drop it off and noticed the bridge plate on the inside was cracked and part of it was missing. Taylor said since he already had the pickup, to try and install it on what was remaining of the bridge plate, or possibly install it in a modified way similar to what a representative from K&K recommended I do with one of my own acoustic guitars that has no bridge plate and unusual fan bracing on the inside. Since the remainder of the bridge plate may not be well adhered anymore and compromised, I decided it was best to go with a modified install. I came up with an install method for Taylor’s guitar, got the pickup transducers placed and adhered well to the top of the guitar in a way that would give it a balanced tone and output for all the strings. Removed the original strap button and reamed out the hole to accommodate the larger K&K input jack/strap button and installed it. Cleaned the guitar, got 11-52 Ernie Ball strings back on it and sounding sweet. Cool looking guitar with I’m sure some interesting stories behind it.

Video in the comments below of Taylor trying it out plugged in when he came to pick it up after the repair with a great sounding original song👊

One of the original guitars that Matt Gerry purchased for Salina South Middle Guitar in 2004 (the first year guitar was available as part of the general music class) had some major breakage issues. How it happened is unclear, but almost always a break this severe is due to a significant impact or the guitar being dropped. Matt was hoping I could get it at least playable again if possible so his guitar class would have a full roster of guitars for classroom use and to check out for playing/practicing at home. I came up with a clamping/gluing method for the break on this guitar that would press everything back into position with one large clamp and a wood block to put pressure where I wanted it. I did a trial run (no glue) first to see if everything would line up well, then I taped around the break to make wiping the excess glue off easier with less of a mess and to protect the fretboard from excess glue running onto it when clamping. Got plenty of glue in the break, clamped it, and wiped the excess glue off and let it set for a few days just to give the glue plenty of time to dry. The glue joint turned out good, cleanup was easy, put the strap button back on, strung it up, and set it up for easy playing.

Great to have one of the original guitars Matt used to kick off Salina South Middle Schools guitar program back in action for another school year.

Video in the comments below of Matt trying it out for the first time with a classic song when he came to pick it up after the repair😎

Michael (one of my adult students) has been taking lessons from me for a few years now. He started off with acoustic guitar only at the beginning, but a little over a year ago, he bought a stratocaster because he wanted to start playing electric guitar as well. After learning some songs in standard tuning and Eb standard tuning, Mike decided it was time to get another left handed Fender electric guitar and have it set up from the stock 9-42 strings to 10-46 gauge strings so he can more easily do drop tunings and rhythm playing and still have good tone. Got a set of Elixir 10-46 strings on it, adjusted the saddle height/radius, intonated it, and fine tuned the nut height for ease of play.

Been cool seeing Mike’s progress in his guitar playing since starting lessons. Video in the comments below of Mike taking the newest edition to his guitar collection for a spin with something he’s learning and working on✌️

Before heading to Nashville recently, Tony Bowell (a guitarist and vocalist for Sunset Sinners) was really needing to get the electronics in his Japanese made 1987 Alvarez Yairi DY45 acoustic guitar back in good playing condition. It was virtually unusable plugged in because all the plastic parts that hold the electronics/preamp in place in the side of the guitar were broken. The original under saddle pickup was not working very well either, and was putting only a minimal amount of sound out on the D & G strings when played plugged in. After doing some research into repairing or replacing the electronics, I decided repairing it would be best if at all possible since Tony said he loved the sound of the electronics and that they faithfully reproduced that guitars acoustic sound with very few feedback issues. That electronics system has been out of production for at least 20 years, so replacement parts are no longer being made for it. I managed to get in touch with a representative at Alvarez Guitars in the repair department that was willing to scrounge up some old “new” (20+ years old new) parts and some old used parts they still had around from broken preamps out of guitars from the 1980s & 1990s. The plastic parts had become hard and brittle with age though and the Alvarez rep. said they would be difficult to install. Per the Alvarez reps. instructions, I heated a fl**ge (preamp frame), moulded it around the contour of the body of the guitar over the preamp hole, screwed it in, and got it successfully installed without cracking or breaking. Then I got the oversized faceplate sized for that fl**ge and reassembled the preamp with the replacement faceplate. Got the replacement pickup installed, everything wired up, and looking and sounding great. Then I lightly leveled out some pitting/wear in the frets, recrowned them, and gave them all a mirror finish polish. Strung it up with a set of Elixir 13-56 strings and fine tuned the string height at the nut for ease of playing. Awesome guitar and a fun project. Sunset Sinners have a lot of gigs coming up, including in the Salina area. Their July 2021 tour list is in the comments below and hit the tag above to check out what they’ve been playing and working on👍👍

Sam recently purchased this Fender guitar to have in his arsenal for upcoming gigs with the band Diabolical Orange Monkey, but he wanted to switch out and upgrade the stock neck pickup to an EMG H-3 for better tone. Got it all wired in and working perfectly, and then leveled some uneven frets, recrowned them, and gave them all mirror finish polish. Then got it strung with a set of Ernie Ball 11-48 strings and set it up for D standard/Drop C tuning. Really cool color that fits well with the band’s look and style of music. Check out some of their music in the tag above and for shows near you👊

Over the years, Don Wagner has had me install quite a few K&K pickups in his acoustic guitars, but this time he had something different for me, a beautiful Breedlove mandolin. Most of the K&K pickups I’ve installed for Don in his guitars are systems that include a volume control, but K&K doesn’t make a mandolin pickup system that has a volume control, but they do make a separate add-on volume control that can be plugged into existing installed systems. I decided to purchase the mandolin pickup and volume control and combine them into one unit (the same as a guitar K&K system from the factory with a built in volume control). Got the two units combined into one and working perfectly. I then drilled out the steel tailpiece and undersized strap button hole in the mandolin wider to accommodate the larger input jack/strap button that comes with the K&K system. Got everything installed, the mandolin setup, and sounding great✌️

Since opening my repair shop and lesson studio a year ago, Dale Henderson has had me go through all of his acoustic guitars doing maintenance and setup work on each of them. Most haven’t had anything done for quite some time, including this Japanese made 1996 Alvarez Yairi DY70. A beautiful guitar with flamed and spalted maple back and sides. It has never had any fret work done so the frets had 25 years worth of pitting and wear all up and down the neck. Got them leveled, recrowned, a mirror finish polish, neck adjusted, the nut height fine tuned, cleaned, and strung with a set of Elixir strings. Awesome guitar that Dale plays the most out of his acoustic collection😎

I’ve worked with Dale in the past helping him with audio installations. He has over 12 years experience working independently doing pro sound/video installation and repair for churches and other large venues. Hit him up for any needs. Contact info is below.

Dale W. Henderson

(785)577-8927
[email protected]

Caleb had a sweet trade deal in the works with a buddy to swap this Epiphone semi-hollowbody guitar for a Gibson bass guitar that his friend no longer needed. Before the trade was finalized, Caleb wanted me to get the Epiphone brought back into good playing condition. Got the frets/fretboard reconditioned, input jack ground wire soldered back on, control pots cleaned, setup for 9-42 strings and sounding great. Love the pickups in this guitar btw❤️

John Wild has had me install quite a few K&K pickups in his acoustic guitars over the years, and he had another one (a Canadian made Larrivee) that he really wanted to be able to plug in, and at the same time, bring out “tonally” the true acoustic characteristics of that guitar. K&K pickups are known for that, and John prefers the K&K Trinity System which includes a microphone as well as the standard three transducer K&K pickup. Got it all installed exactly as specified in the manual (mic directly below and between the G & B strings neck side of the sound hole) and sounding great. John’s guitar also had some issues of fret edges popping up. Got them back down, leveled, recrowned, a mirror finish fret polish, and a set of Elixir strings on it. Beautiful guitar in sound and appearance👍

Clark snagged this sweet preowned Gretsch hollow body guitar but it still had the factory 11-49 strings on it and he wanted to drop down and have it set up for 10-46 strings. Also, one of the strap button screw holes was stripped out and needed repaired. Got the strap button repaired, restrung, the action lowered at the nut and bridge, intonated, and playing like a dream. Cool guitar Clark picked up😎

Jeremy (vocalist and a guitarist in Ellyria) wanted his girlfriends original 1st guitar spruced up and brought back into good playing condition to give her as an early Christmas present so she could start learning to play again. It had been in storage at her grandmothers house for many years. Got the oversized (classical guitar) nut off and replaced with a perfectly shaped and sized bone nut I fitted for it, replaced the original saddle that was cracking in numerous places, completely dressed and mirror finish polished the frets, gave it a good cleaning, adjusted the neck, and restrung it with a set of Elixir strings. Sounding nice and spicy now, a cool gift idea Jeremy came up with✌️❤️

A video of Jeremy trying it out in the link below on my Instagram account!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJKRjMTlUFP/?igshid=1v0fvwxil8i46

Hey everyone, got a new logo. I like it a lot, hope you do too👍👍

A beautiful 1997 USA Breedlove with solid mahogany back and sides that had fret edges popping up and needing setup. John recently gifted this guitar to his daughter so she can start learning how to play. Before doing so, he wanted me to recondition it and check it over so it’d be ready and playable. Was no problem and got the fret edges back down, leveled, recrowned, mirror finish fret polish, neck adjusted, restrung with Elixirs, and fine tuned the string height at the nut and saddle to make it as easy to play as possible. Awesome sounding guitar and great first guitar to learn to play on✌️

An awesome 1995 USA G&L Legacy strat that needed fret work done after many years of playing. Amos got this guitar new as a Christmas present from his parents and has been loving it since. The past number of years though he’s been mostly playing on his telecaster because his G&L strat just wasn’t “feeling” as good as it used to. A lot of that has to do with the wear on the top of the frets and losing their crown (roundness) after years of hard playing. They were mostly flat which means more surface area for the strings to press against when bending making it harder to play and difficult to intonate (sound in tune). Got everything repaired, cleaned, setup, and sounding great. Love this guitar btw❤️

A cool Fender telecaster that Jeremy needed spruced up to make as playable as possible for his upcoming gigs. Leveled the frets, recrowned them, and gave em a mirror finish fret polish. Got it restrung with Elixir 10-46 strings, the string height/radius adjusted, intonated, and all cleaned and polished and sounding nice and spicy. Ellyria has a gig this Saturday featuring Jeremy playing this guitar. Scroll down through the pics for details :)🤘

Jim recently purchased this sweet Ibanez 5 string bass but was having a problem with the volume control and it broke when he was trying to address the issue. Rather than replacing just the volume pot, he decided to have me upgrade the electronics with a set of Bartolini active electronics/controls. All that was available at the time was a 4 pot control system, so rather than wait (for at a minimum of 3-4 weeks) for the 5 pot setup to become available, Jim asked me to do what I can to make the 4 pot control system work. Got it all in and Jim wanted to use the extra hole in the top of the guitar for another input jack so he could use right angle instrument cables as well as straight cables. Was no problem and got everything in and working perfectly including the modifications I made to get the original 3 way switch incorporated into the new system😎

Even new guitars sometimes need work to make them right. Dale recently purchased this beautiful Martin 000-28 Modern Deluxe and it had a number of issues from the factory. It had a “buzz” when playing natural harmonics on the G string, the frets were rough and made noise when bending strings, and there was a blemish in the finish at the headstock that he wanted me to try and repair. Got it all fixed including the blemish to Dale’s satisfaction. Got new Elixir strings on it and sounding great,
G string harmonics included :)👍

Some behind the scenes pics of Matt Gerry and I prepping 90 guitars for the beginning of the school year. Was no problem and had fun doing it. Like how Matt went with bulk sets of STRINGJOY strings to restring South Middle School’s fleet of guitars using proceeds from the Bill “Ray” Rowson Memorial Fund. Bill was a former student and friend of Matts and STRINGJOY was his favorite brand of string. Great way to honor the memory of a fellow musician and friend✌️👍

Photos from Salina South Middle Guitar's post

A beautiful USA Gibson Les Paul that Blake was wanting the factory setup improved to make it easier to play and also to give the frets a mirror finish polish. Was no problem. Got the nut slots lowered, adjusted the neck, lowered the bridge, and wrapped the strings over the top of the tailpiece per Blake’s request for more sustain.
Love the flamed maple top on this guitar. The appearance of the flame changes from different angles👍👍

My student Fernanda out on a photo shoot with her favorite guitar (my Epiphone Les Paul). Jean at JR Photographers. got some great shots and always does. Like his FB business page and hit him up for any inquiries:)

A cool vintage Stella Harmony guitar that Dustin was wanting to get back into action. The nut had a large chip in it that was throwing the intonation of the B string off, and the the tuning machines were close to being seized up. It also was really in need of new strings and cleaning. The nut is unusually wide and tall with wide string spacing, so instead of replacing it I decided to fill in the chip and sand it down. Turned out great. Got the tuners working, the guitar restrung, and everything cleaned and polished. Sounding good and looking sharp👊

Philip was needing quite a bit of work done on his Swedish made 1964 Goya classical guitar. The binding was separating in a number of places, frets were corroded, fret board was dirty, and was definitely needing new strings. The finish has a lot of cool natural “checking” (small cracks in the finish) which is common with vintage guitars and something you’d typically leave “as is” to keep the instrument as original as possible including the finish. Took some pics of it for you guys to check out 👍✌️

A sweet Fender Modern Player that Trae bought a few years back. Was needing some TLC and resetup after many hours of playing. Did a mirror finish fret polish, deep cleaning, new set of Elixir 10s, intonated it, and cleaned the volume and tone pots. Trae was also having a problem with the output signal from the guitar cutting out. Tracked the issue to the input jack being dirty/corroded. Cleaned it and all is well.😎👍

Shawn’s guitar was in pretty rough shape. Electronic pickup system barely worked and the sound from it was cutting in and out all the time. Tracked the issue to the volume pot being worn out/dirty. Tried cleaning it but it still wasn’t working properly and would cut out. Decided to take the preamp apart and replace the volume pot. Got the old volume pot unsoldered and the new one soldered back into circuit board. Put it all back together and works perfectly. Also gave Shawn’s guitar a deep cleaning, mirror finish fret polish, restring, and setup. All looking and sounding good now!👍🤘

A beautiful lefty Fender Mexican strat my student Mike purchased a few months back. Came stock with 9-42 strings and Mike wanted to bump up to 10-46 Elixirs. Was also having some issues with it staying in tune and the overall factory setup needed tweaking. I adjusted the bridge spring tension, the saddle height/radius, the neck, and widened the nut slots to accommodate the wider/heavier strings. Staying in tune now including when using the whammy bar. Love everything about the way this guitar looks❤️

Neck adjustment needed??? Heath was wanting his stratocaster acoustic guitar setup for Drop C# tuning. Long story short, needed a neck shim to lower the string height, fit a new saddle that matches the radius of the stratocaster neck, (more curve) and then just a general setup to make it as easy to play as possible. Gave the frets a mirror finish polish and the guitar a good cleaning as well. Heath now has a guitar to jam on that matches the setup of his ESP electric guitar without having to plug in. Just keep it by the couch, grab it and play🤘

A sweet 1997 Taylor 812c that Dale is letting Pastor Carrier borrow to help him learn to play guitar. Pastor Carrier has been wanting to learn guitar and perform music for praise and worship at Apostolic Church in Salina and on his Sunday 8 a.m. 1150 KSAL radio show “Rightly Dividing the Word”.

Dale wanted me to setup the guitar to make it as easy to play and learn on as possible. Did some neck adjustments, lowered the string height at the nut, and went with a lighter gauge set of strings. Heck of a first guitar to learn to play on.

Dales been a great supporter helping me get my shop going. I’ve worked with him a lot in the past including with his pro sound and video installations at churches and other venues. Cool guy with over 15 years experience doing pro sound installation and repair. He’s always busy but always happy to give people a consultation and help them get the most out of their existing sound system, or upgrading to the newest generation. His contact info is below😎


Dale W. Henderson

(785)577-8927
[email protected]