Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

04/19/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" I've seen a lot of old Gibson guitars from the '50s era over the last month or two. This old late '50s Gibson Les Paul Professional was presented to me as a pile of parts in a body bag. Actually, it's in a Moden case that was made by the Moden case company owned and operated by Bob Moden in Warren, RI back in the early '80s. I will comment on the photos as usual. Thank you for reading. Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

04/11/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" Now here's an interesting piece of guitar history! This 1953 Gibson guitar is part of the Kalifornia Karl collection and it came into the shop this week for a setup. The Gibson CF-100E was the first Gibson cutaway acoustic guitar made. It was one of only 325 produced. It is basically the same guitar as the LG-2 that I posted 2 weeks ago, with the exception of a cutaway and pickup. I will comment of the photos as usual. Thank you for reading. Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

04/11/2026

All Aboard!!!!!! Hahaha!

03/28/2026

This Week's "On The Bench. I call it this week's, but this guitar took close to a month to complete. This Gibson LG-2 acoustic guitar had 4 braces that had come off, and the bridge was pulling off. The top was buckling and caving in from the bridge to the sound hole. Someone had tried to reglue the braces with Elmer's glue. They were only glued partially, and they were very crooked to say the least! These guitars were built from 1942 thru 1962, so this one was well worth fixing up. I will comment on my photos as usual. Thank you for reading. Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

03/14/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" While cleaning up some fret edges and giving this USA made Epiphone Spirit II the Spa treatment, I found some of the most amazing features. I will explain in my comments of the photos as usual. Thank you for reading. Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

03/13/2026

03/08/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" I figured there's not a better time than on the day we all leap 1 hour into the future to share this one with you. This very rare Limited Edition "Back to the Future" Reissue guitar needed its first setup. Mostly all guitars need to be setup properly when first purchased. It's a good idea to have this done when you first receive a guitar, so it can be returned if it doesn't set up properly. This is a exact reissue of the guitar Michael J Fox played in the movie. I will comment on the photos as usual. Got to go fire up the Flux Capacitor now! Thank You for Reading. Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

03/07/2026

So I've seen many guitars lately that are dried out from the heat due to the cold weather. Tops cracked, bridges and braces lifting off and fret edges hanging out. If you own many guitars I recommend a humidifier for the room. If you just have a few guitars you can pickup a Daddario Humidity pack like this one . You can also save by purchasing the Boveda refill packs. Be sure to discontinue use of humidifiers when you turn your heat off .

02/21/2026

This Weeks "On The Bench" So you all know that were having a real cold winter this year. Problem is that when the heat cranks in our homes, it dries out the air and the humidity level drops way down. This dryness is very bad for guitars, and it causes the fingerboards to dry out and fret edges to hang out. Fingerboards start to crack and so do acoustic guitar tops! Acoustic guitar action gets too low and there's lots of fret buzz. I have seen an alarming number of guitars with these issues this year. Please humidify your guitars before this happens to them. I highly recommend that you use the D'Addario "Restore" Humidity packs, and keep your guitars in the case while your heat is on. Or if you have many guitars, humidify the room. Thanks for reading and I'm sorry to bend your ear, but this is important. Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

02/16/2026

I have a question for all you guitarists out there. When is the last time you put a drop of oil on your 2 point tremolo studs?
Oiling your tremolo's rocking point not only keeps your guitar in better tune, but it helps stop your bridge plate and studs from wearing.

02/15/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" In this post I will explain how I saved this beautiful Gibson guitar. This was a long, tedious process, but it was the only way to bring this guitar back to playing condition. Wood is extremely sensitive to temperature and humidity and dryness, so I hope you're all using your humidifiers so this doesn't happen to your guitars. Thank you for reading. Dave Ross "The Guitar Doctor"

02/07/2026

This Week's "On The Bench" I reglued the bindings that separated on this Martin D-16 guitar. This seems to be a common problem with Martin guitars. I have been studying the problem for quite a few years now, and I'll explain the things I've figured out in my comments on the photos. Thank you for reading. Dave Ross " The Guitar Doctor".