j45nick Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 Thanks for the update. It's an interesting and challenging project, for sure! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbo25 Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 Hi All Well, a few of you may remember that my wife bought me a junked Gibson B45 12 string as a birthay present. Finally, finished the refurb today (I was doing other things as well, by the way), so I thought I woul update you and post a final pic. I seem to have run out of pic space on this thread, so I willl start a new thread called B45 12 string refurb revisited and see if I can post pics on there. Otherwise I'll ask the administrator for help.Many thanks to members of the forum who were helpful with advice and sourcing. The guitar was retopped and bound. I used a mix of pale and garnet shellac as an undercoat to try and recreate a somewhat aged look, but the actual finish is General Finishes High Performance Top Coat, as I don't spray and try and minimise exposure to solvents for health reasons. I made no attempt to get out any of the dings or checking in the back andd sides, but just stabilsed the cracks. The bridge is made in emulation of a couple I saw on the web and the tailpiece is sourced from Roberto Brandoni in London. It is not a Gibson tailpiece. The scratchplate was made for me by Taylor Mullins, who was recommended by someone on this forum and did a great job. Originally, I was going to sell it on, but in the end I decided to make it as a lefty and keep it! Sounds pretty good, but I'm still undecided as to whether to leave it with Martin10s at standard pitch or up the string gauge and go down a tone. There is quite a bit of relief but I'm not going to do anything about that till I make a decision on string gauge. Looking back, I believe I overbuilt the top compared with the original, but I was erring on the side of caution given its histpry. Thanks once again to all who helped out. Cheers Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 Glad it worked out for you! It was a big project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 Hi All Well, a few of you may remember that my wife bought me a junked Gibson B45 12 string as a birthay present. Finally, finished the refurb today (I was doing other things as well, by the way), so I thought I woul update you and post a final pic. I seem to have run out of pic space on this thread, so I willl start a new thread called B45 12 string refurb revisited and see if I can post pics on there. Otherwise I'll ask the administrator for help.Many thanks to members of the forum who were helpful with advice and sourcing. The guitar was retopped and bound. I used a mix of pale and garnet shellac as an undercoat to try and recreate a somewhat aged look, but the actual finish is General Finishes High Performance Top Coat, as I don't spray and try and minimise exposure to solvents for health reasons. I made no attempt to get out any of the dings or checking in the back andd sides, but just stabilsed the cracks. The bridge is made in emulation of a couple I saw on the web and the tailpiece is sourced from Roberto Brandoni in London. It is not a Gibson tailpiece. The scratchplate was made for me by Taylor Mullins, who was recommended by someone on this forum and did a great job. Originally, I was going to sell it on, but in the end I decided to make it as a lefty and keep it! Sounds pretty good, but I'm still undecided as to whether to leave it with Martin10s at standard pitch or up the string gauge and go down a tone. There is quite a bit of relief but I'm not going to do anything about that till I make a decision on string gauge. Looking back, I believe I overbuilt the top compared with the original, but I was erring on the side of caution given its histpry. Thanks once again to all who helped out. Cheers Rob From what I've read, most Gibson B45 12 strings were overbraced. Can't wait to see the photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted November 19, 2018 Share Posted November 19, 2018 From what I've read, most Gibson B45 12 strings were overbraced. Can't wait to see the photos! Depends on the iteration. The round-shouldered J-based B45 12 versions were definitely not over-braced, which frequently led to their demise. Later ones were more tank-like, much like other Norlin-era square dreads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbo25 Posted November 19, 2018 Author Share Posted November 19, 2018 Depends on the iteration. The round-shouldered J-based B45 12 versions were definitely not over-braced, which frequently led to their demise. Later ones were more tank-like, much like other Norlin-era square dreads. Mine is square shouldered, but I'm told that the serial number indicates early 1963, before they changed the bracing pattern. Still waiting for a response on how to get my photos up (I'm at my limit and I can't work out how to delete ones from earlier in the thread to free up space). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Mine is square shouldered, but I'm told that the serial number indicates early 1963, before they changed the bracing pattern. Still waiting for a response on how to get my photos up (I'm at my limit and I can't work out how to delete ones from earlier in the thread to free up space). I don't understand this "at my limit" stuff. You've only had 19 posts here, how could you be over some limit? If you are talking about linking from a photoserver somewhere, where are you hosting your photos from? I use Imgur. Just upload your photos there, click on a photo and it even gives you the option to use the BBC code that you can just paste right into your message here without even using the img tags as they are built-in for you. Just "copy" button below "BBCcode" in the dialog box like the one below and then paste it into your message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted November 20, 2018 Share Posted November 20, 2018 Whoa, one of those back from the dead threads. First off, I used Postimage.org for photos. I know I have posted this before but here is a diagram of the bracing on a post-1964 B45-12, in this case a guitar built in 1968. You can plainly see the added sister brace running along side the lower part of the X brace. I do not think it is mere coincidence that Gibson beefed up their bracing about a year after the first Guild 12 strings showed up. Those things were built like tanks. Not that I am qualified to second guess Gibson but what they should have considered was going with the J-200 style bulkier finger style soundhole bracing rather than the popsicle bracing. Main downside is you cannot mount a soundhole pickup (which is pretty much all you had back then) unless you cut through the braces. My '61 B45-12 has a slight bit of distortion around the soundhole on the treble side. Somebody had brains enough to beef up the soundhole bracing on that side. According to my repair guy that move stabilized the top. For whatever reason there is no real value to these 1960s 12 strings, even the pre-1965 guitars, at least when compared to say a pre-War Schmidt jumbo or Holzapfel 12 string which can run you north of $10K these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbo25 Posted November 25, 2018 Author Share Posted November 25, 2018 thanks, Drathbun, I was just trying to attach a file and was told I had 'Used 475.37K of your 500K global upload quota (Max. single file size: 24.63K'. I didn't know there was a different way to post photos. I'll give it a try. ROb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robbo25 Posted November 26, 2018 Author Share Posted November 26, 2018 Hi, here are a couple of photos of the final result, along with a couple of reminders of how it came to me. Thanks to Drathbun and Zombywoof for advice on how to post photos. I probably should mention that what looks like a huge crack in the last photo is just a reflection (honestly). Also, as predicted by members of this forum, it's really loud! Cheers Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drathbun Posted November 29, 2018 Share Posted November 29, 2018 That looks awesome! I can't wait to hear it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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