Service Guitar Repair » Vintage Guitars

Honey, I ran over my guitar!

serviceguitarrepair — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 19:01:29 +0000

I recently got an e-mail from a good customer that was very worried about saving his guitar after backing over it with the family van! OUCH!

He stated that he had forgotten about setting it down after removing it from the back. Fortunately, it was in a hardshell case when this happened.

(Photo staged for dramatic effect!)

Crunch!

The case had definitely done its job and was destroyed beyond repair. The guitar had its share of bumps and bruises, including top and side separation, missing chunks of wood from the side and binding damage.

Laminated sides can get a bit messy

Binding separated and shifted from its track

After manipulating things back into place and gluing the top and sides back together, I was able to get the binding back in place and repair its distorted state back in to form. A bit of wood filler was required where the laminated sides had lost a chunk, but I was able to match the original color and feather in the lacquer finish around the repair area, quite nicely.

This was a happy ending to a story that had a very scary start. Brad was very happy with the results and is shopping for a new hardshell case, I’m sure!

As The Years Come Flaking Off

serviceguitarrepair — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:59:49 +0000

One of my favorite things to do is the cleaning and restoring of vintage guitars. It comes from years of working at Guitar Maniacs with my dear friend: Rick King. This is where my repair business started, in 1993, and grew into what it was, when I took it home in 2000. I am forever grateful for those years of being exposed to so many amazing guitars. I was able to develop techniques that would otherwise be unknown, due to the shear amount of opportunities to develop them. So…when I received a call from another dear brother: Frank, I was elated! He set up the story by saying ” So, this older gentleman comes up to me at church and says…” (This is always a great start to a guitar story.)”I’ve really enjoyed listening to you play guitar and I’ve been thinking about getting back to playing my ol’ guitar” (“my ol’ guitar” can mean a number of things from trash to treasure) but, this time it was pure (neglected) treasure…

This 1957 Gibson ES-350TD had been in this man’s possession since about 1960 and had been sitting in this lonely (but really cool) brown case for the last couple of decades. It was dirty, out of adjustment, very corroded and downright unplayable. Frank told him about my services and soon, it was in my shop for the full treatment.

I offer a complete cleaning that includes dismantling, detailing, reassembly and full set-up package for $150.00. It also provides the owner with a document that authenticates the guitar and provides an “Opinion of Value” This is very helpful for insurance policies too.

We’re still looking for a couple of missing parts that have been misplaced over the years, but this one really came out stunning!

1957 Gibson ES-350TD

This is the first year for the famous Gibson “PATENT APPLIED FOR” or “PAF” humbucking pickups. Who can tell me what’s unique about the one’s in this model?

Unique PAF Pickups

These frets were a both green and gray from years of corrosion. They came out like new!

Shiny!

This is one beautiful guitar:

logo tailpiece

early "non-retainer" ABR-1 Tune-O-Matic bridge

Classic Gibson headstock styling

If you have any of these old amber switch tips, don’t throw ‘em out. They’re quite valuable.

original amber switch tip circa 1950's

These are the same knobs you would find on a Les Paul Standard “Burst”

late 50's style "bonnet" knobs

worn gold plating

hand written orange label

Needless to say, this guitar now sounds and plays amazingly well. Frank has been able to test drive it a few times, for his new friend, and has become quite attached. Can you blame him?!

Roll Over Beethoven!

Vintage Gibson Fix

serviceguitarrepair — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 00:41:11 +0000

Here’s a cool product I recently found very helpful for vintage Gibson acoustic guitars with the adjustable bridge. These guitars originally came with either a wooden saddle (one of Gibson’s brilliant ideas, from the 60′s) or ceramic. I much prefer the sound of the ceramic version, because it gives a brighter sound, much like a traditional bone saddle, and it doesn’t wear as easily as the wood version. Unfortunately, finding and purchasing a vintage ceramic replacement can be very difficult and quite pricey. I’ve seen people ask way too much for these. Some owners choose to completely remove the adjustable bridge system, fill in the entire original slot with rosewood and install a stable saddle in its place. I’ve never been a fan of doing this to otherwise perfectly original instruments. I’m very opinionated about being good stewards of vintage instruments.

GIBSON WOOD SADDLE circa 1960's

GIBSON CERAMIC SADDLE circa 1960's

Recently, my good friend Bruce brought in a 1968 Gibson B-45 12 String (see 1st photo) for a fret re-crown. He was excited to have newly acquired this cool old Gibson, but because this guitar also has a trapeze tailpiece, instead of bridge pins, to secure the strings, the sound was quite dull, combined with the wood saddle. Imagine the disappointment. Enter new product…

Graph Tech "TUSQ" replacement for Gibson adjustable bridge

The folks at Graph Tech; mostly famous for graphite replacement saddles for electric guitars and “TUSQ” material for acoustic guitars, have created a great alternative to the pricey, and elusive, ceramic saddle. It is made with their “TUSQ” material and costs only $12.95. We went with it and the results are quite impressive. I am now keeping them in stock, so let me know if you need one installed!

1968 Gibson B-45 12 String with "TUSQ" replacement saddle