Podcast 97: TJ Thompson

Luthier TJ Thompson returns to our podcast to tell us a bit about his new website, proluthiertools.com. On the site, TJ is selling some of the exacting tools and guitar parts he’s developed over the last few decades repairing vintage Martin guitars, including bar fret stock, belly and pyramid bridges and more.

TJ also tells us about a few of the projects that have crossed his workbench recently, his use of technology in fixing old guitars and more. Whether or not you have an old Martin guitar or need these tools, it’s fascinating to hear about their development from one of the world’s finest luthiers.

Some choice sound bites from TJ heard in this conversation:
“The only thing I abhor more than self-promotion is advertising.”
“[The California neck reset] is the only repair that I can’t really reverse.”
“I thought I could just solve this problem up front before people glue the wrong bridges on with the wrong footprint.”
“A lot of people think that you’re supposed to use a quarter sawn piece of wood for a bridge blank. Although it looks nice in that cut, they almost always split through the pin holes and eventually the saddle slot splits, too.”
“It looked like Breaking Bad over here. I had my Walter White outfit on: The goggles, the gloves, the smock, the whole thing...”

For more information, go to proluthiertools.com.

Special thanks to our friends at D’Addario for sponsoring this episode.