Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

Post your biggest acoustic surgery FUBAR


MorrisrownSal

Recommended Posts

Thought it might be fun to show how each of us can be penny wise pound foolish, dopey, and unworthy...

 

I thought I would be smart a few years back and drill out my own end pin. I was going to order some thingamajig from stewmac, where I could ream out the end pin hole myself. I wanted to save money too... so I got what I thought was the right size and tool from the hardware store instead... at 20% of the cost.

 

It was the wrong size. It was dull. Hilarity ensued. Well, maybe not hilarity, but rather extreme despondency. The hole is now even too big for a standard endpin jack. Or a plug.

 

 

This Martin D15 has my family's names on the fretboard - a lifer for me (still is). I record with it. And this is what I did to it! Post yours?

 

QJyHr8Ol.jpg

 

MWhjfpYl.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I bumped into the truss rod drilling the straplock / pin in my new J-15. Wasn't where I wanted it anyhow so I moved the hole.

 

I moved the hole.

 

Moved the hole.......

 

Stuffed the mistake with a piece of spruce dowel, nobody will ever see it because I'm NOT giving you a picture !

 

It's a workhorse guitar anyhow and I'll never sell it. You guys know I love you to even admit it though....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thought it might be fun to show how each of us can be penny wise pound foolish, dopey, and unworthy...

 

I thought I would be smart a few years back and drill out my own end pin. I was going to order some thingamajig from stewmac, where I could ream out the end pin hole myself. I wanted to save money too... so I got what I thought was the right size and tool from the hardware store instead... at 20% of the cost.

 

It was the wrong size. It was dull. Hilarity ensued. Well, maybe not hilarity, but rather extreme despondency. The hole is now even too big for a standard endpin jack. Or a plug.

 

 

This Martin D15 has my family's names on the fretboard - a lifer for me (still is). I record with it. And this is what I did to it! Post yours?

 

QJyHr8Ol.jpg

 

MWhjfpYl.jpg

I've had 2 D-15's. I might have to go cry a bit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I kinda worked out all my goofy ideas on flea market guitars in the '70s, which usually would run me about $10-$25 per instrument.

 

One that comes to mind was stripping the finish off of an old Supro acoustic archtop, because I wanted to take it from a sunburst to a natural finish. It was a rather well made guitar, with a pressed solid spruce top & maple back/sides.

 

After getting it down to the bare wood, I brushed on some Deft to apply a clear finish. Funny thing is, it actually ended up looking pretty good, and I still have an old Polaroid of that darn thing tucked away somewhere!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't done anything to a guitar I've purchased, but on one of the first cigar box guitar necks I was building, I was given a nice set of tuners that needed the top half of the holes bored out for the bushings. Tried to save time and do it with the hand drill instead of setting up on the drill press. Anyways - the drill bit caught in the holes and split the headstock... 30 days work undone in 0.3 seconds ;)

 

I've been given a bunch of woodworking tools as my folks downsize. One of my big lessons learned is just because you have a tool, doesn't mean you know how to use it. George W noted 'that's why some folks are called craftsman'. I agree - they've gone through the learning curves. Speaking of learning curves, I could use some practice. T - Sal, if you want me to try and fix that D15, I'm sure I could come up with something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Too many to list. Just trying to deal with binding that was popping off would make a chapter in itself. No pics as it was decades ago but in the 1960s I picked up a 1930s L-00. The guitar had a crack in the top. So I drilled two small holes at either end to keep it from spreading and then slathered Duco cement over it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have to say in all my years of owning guitars, and lets not go there, I cannot recall an acoustic FUBAR. count me lucky..

 

I can't say the same for a particular 1973 Stratocaster that I thought (as a 12th Grade Wood Shop Class Project) would be better as a natural finish than a two tone sunburst. Till I discovered what kind of wood is typically used on guitars with non translucent finishes? yea,, it wasn't an awesome idea. (I did get an A on the project, the refinish technically was great, it just looked horrendous.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel for you, Sal. If you look at it from the bright side, I'm sure once you somehow get a jack or endpin added, and a strap attached, this will be the least visible area on the whole guitar, bar the inside.

 

By the way, you owe that great guitar to be saved from yourself. Do what it takes to get it fixed, or let me rephrase that, pay someone else what it takes to get it fixed [biggrin]

 

Lars

Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of my favorites has always been the fix a lifting bridge by attaching a tailpiece. I have never actually been guilty of this one myself but have owned a couple of guitars that had those three little telltale holes at the butt end above the pin - ouch!.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Ok, mine was unintentional, and fortunately was not irreversible (but I had several moments of ‘wtf, what have I done!!!) and occurred yesterday.

 

I hadn’t touched the j45 for a week or so, and was keeping it in my office. Over the course of the past week, also in my office - I’ve been coating/finishing a maple cigar box guitar neck with tung oil... a good 6-8 ft apart, no chance of spillage. It’s a small project, put a little tung oil on a clothe and rub it in. I was doing it in my office to keep it away from the dust of the basement - and didn’t think anything of it - or the fumes!

 

I picked my guitar up yesterday, went to strum it, and the front felt all tacky like flypaper... super tacky, and all nasty, and it didn’t wipe off easily, and it’s not water based. Oooof, that’s when I had my moment. First took me awhile to figure out what happened, then many options on how to clean it cane to mind, and all of them left me in fear of doing more damage. Long story short, I sanded it down and refinished it myself (just kidding) it took a lot of soul searching, and research, but in the end it did clean up w a damp cloth followed by a dry cloth.

 

Happy ending, but man!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thought it might be fun to show how each of us can be penny wise pound foolish, dopey, and unworthy...

 

I thought I would be smart a few years back and drill out my own end pin. I was going to order some thingamajig from stewmac, where I could ream out the end pin hole myself. I wanted to save money too... so I got what I thought was the right size and tool from the hardware store instead... at 20% of the cost.

 

It was the wrong size. It was dull. Hilarity ensued. Well, maybe not hilarity, but rather extreme despondency. The hole is now even too big for a standard endpin jack. Or a plug.

 

 

This Martin D15 has my family's names on the fretboard - a lifer for me (still is). I record with it. And this is what I did to it! Post yours?

 

QJyHr8Ol.jpg

 

MWhjfpYl.jpg

What about this?

 

https://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/Endpins_and_Bridge_Pins/NoJak_Endpin.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Too many to list. Just trying to deal with binding that was popping off would make a chapter in itself. No pics as it was decades ago but in the 1960s I picked up a 1930s L-00. The guitar had a crack in the top. So I drilled two small holes at either end to keep it from spreading and then slathered Duco cement over it.

 

Do you come from a metalworking background, Zomb? The “drill a hole at each end and weld it” technique reminds me of my motor racing days when we would do exactly the same thing to kart chassis that had work hardened through cornering stresses and cracked...unfortunately that sort of thing is like chasing ghosts, once a chassis starts to crack it’s an endless parade of drilling and welding until a few race meets down the line it looks like a pile of bird poop on wheels...I’m sure the duco held the L-00 together better!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Only two Gibsons I've done real surgery on over the years. Both were just drilling end pin holes to install a pickup. I was extremely apprehensive about drilling holes into such expensive guitars, BUT, I did it very slowly and for once-in-my-life didn't take short cuts in-order to hurry-up and get it done. I did a lot of reading and watching of YouTube and perhaps most important of all----I MADE SURE I HAD THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT. Anyway, both guitars came out fine...........Beyond that, in 1981 (might have been 82) I took my first Hummingbird with me to play at The Missouri State Fair. They were stupid enough to invite me to play on one of their stages and I was stupid enough to put my Hummingbird on a folding chair while talking with some friends. Add a stupid drunk into the equation and you have the Perfect Storm......Lesson learned. [thumbup] [thumbup]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was stupid enough to put my Hummingbird on a folding chair while talking with some friends....

 

Myself as well, it's not the surgery fubars that have gotten me, but the brain farts. I'm sure you wont leave something on a folding chair again, I wont refinish anything in the same room... oooof.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Amazes me how you can’t take a pair of nail clippers on a plane , and workmen now need a second workmate to hold the bottom of a ladder

But yet you can still buy a folding chair

My wife can take knitting needles on a plane. I'll bet I can jab one in your Jugular Vein in a split second.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...