Amazing resurrection

[bryantjudoman]

Ok so this luthier fella I know shows me this early 70's Gibson j-45 deluxe a couple months back. It was in many pieces some of which looked like broken pieces of kindling.

Well I go to his shop often and have seen him do some reasonably impressive work but I was highly skeptical this guitar would ever be right again. Fast forward to yesterday I go into his shop and he is happy to hand me the j-45 all strung up and ready to play. I gave it one strum and got goosebumps. It sounded like one of the finest guitars I had ever heard. You can actually see where the neck was snapped right off the body. All the pieces around the neck are jigsaw glued together. It was an amazing sight to witness. I will ask his permission to take a couple pictures and perhaps a video of sound.

[j45nick]

A good luthier can literally raise guitars from the dead.

 

Folks like that are worth their weight in gold.

 

It's interesting that he would do that job on a 1970's J-45 square, since that is not generally known as the golden age of Gibson acoustics. Maybe he was doing it as an exercise in pushing the limits to see what can be done with a whole lot of patience and skill.

[Murph]

A good luthier can literally raise guitars from the dead.

 

Folks like that are worth their weight in gold.

 

It's interesting that he would do that job on a 1970's J-45 square, since that is not generally known as the golden age of Gibson acoustics. Maybe he was doing it as an exercise in pushing the limits to see what can be done with a whole lot of patience and skill.

 

A challenge...

 

[dhanners623]

Gibson raised Bill Monroe's F-5 from the dead after someone took a fireplace poker to it, so it can be done.

 

I've heard violin players say their violins sounded better after major repairs. A friend who used to play with me slipped and fell on the ice in St. Paul and landed on her violin case, punching a big crack in her $10,000 violin, which was on loan from her mentor. She was heartbroken (and scared poopless....) but after having it repaired, she said the instrument sounded better than ever.

[Murph]

(and scared poopless....)

 

I imagine.

 

I'd never want to borrow an instrument. Too much stress...

[OldCowboy]

A good luthier can literally raise guitars from the dead.

 

Folks like that are worth their weight in gold.

 

It's interesting that he would do that job on a 1970's J-45 square, since that is not generally known as the golden age of Gibson acoustics. Maybe he was doing it as an exercise in pushing the limits to see what can be done with a whole lot of patience and skill.

My luthier raises one from the grave now and then. Amazing!

[zombywoof]

My old repair guy is the same way. The vintage Martin guys call him "Doc" for his seemingly uncanny ability to put a guitar back together from rubble.

[Tim G]

I know a guy who let someone borrow his martin hd28 and the guy was putting the guitar strap over his head and stuck the headstock into a ceiling fan and broke it off.

[j45nick]

I know a guy who let someone borrow his martin hd28 and the guy was putting the guitar strap over his head and stuck the headstock into a ceiling fan and broke it off.

 

 

I've come close to doing that twice: once with a "borrowed" D-41, and once with my original J-45. The J-45 hit the fan pretty hard, but I couldn't find a scratch on it. The D-41 was a near miss, but the owner turned a bit white.

[Tim G]

I've come close to doing that twice: once with a "borrowed" D-41, and once with my original J-45. The J-45 hit the fan pretty hard, but I couldn't find a scratch on it. The D-41 was a near miss, but the owner turned a bit white.

 

gives me the willys just thinking about it

[dhanners623]

This is why guitars should never be taken out of the house. Better yet, they should never be taken out of the case.

 

Kidding. Guitars are tools (albeit artistic ones) and tools get cuts and bruises when they are used. We do our best to take care of them, but accidents happen. God bless the men and women who devote their lives to fixing our accidents.

[kidblast]

I know a guy who let someone borrow his martin hd28 and the guy was putting the guitar strap over his head and stuck the headstock into a ceiling fan and broke it off.

 

 

!!!!!!!!!!OUCH!!!!!!!!!!

[zombywoof]

Fixing the thing up though must have been a labor of love given that the guitar is a square shoulder Norlin instrument. Even though the luthier has the tools and skills he would still have had to invest the time in it. Given the guitar and extent of damage, I might have been tempted to transform the guitar into an ultimate player's instrument by modifying the bracing and losing the bridge plate large enough to qualify as a piece of furniture. Maybe add a banjo tuner and throw on an octave G string which is something I have been thinking of doing with one of my Harmony Sovereigns when it eventually goes in for a neck reset.

[j45nick]

Fixing the thing up though must have been a labor of love given that the guitar is a square shoulder Norlin instrument. Even though the luthier has the tools and skills he would still have had to invest the time in it. Given the guitar and extent of damage, I might have been tempted to transform the guitar into an ultimate player's instrument by modifying the bracing and losing the bridge plate large enough to qualify as a piece of furniture. Maybe add a banjo tuner and throw on an octave G string which is something I have been thinking of doing with one of my Harmony Sovereigns when it eventually goes in for a neck reset.

 

Martin built McGuinn a 7-string back about 15 years ago.

 

But the master of that was Spider John Koerner, with his old L-body Gibson with the trap tailpiece and the octave G-string tuner in the middle of the headstock. You can hear that guitar here:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOsj9N48738

[OldCowboy]

Martin built McGuinn a 7-string back about 15 years ago.

 

But the master of that was Spider John Koerner, with his old L-body Gibson with the trap tailpiece and the octave G-string tuner in the middle of the headstock. You can hear that guitar here:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOsj9N48738

I have to wonder how many of us, back in the day, tried to modify an inexpensive guitar to achieve Koerner's sound.

[j45nick]

I have to wonder how many of us, back in the day, tried to modify an inexpensive guitar to achieve Koerner's sound.

 

 

Funny you should say that.

 

Several of us talked about doing it, but none had the guts to do it to our Gibsons or Martins. I had an old cheap converted slotted-headstock guitar that was a good candidate, but it probably would have folded up under the additional string tension, so I don't think I ever did it. At the end of the day, I don't know anyone who actually did. One guy had a Martin 12, and took off the doubled strings except for the G just to see how it would sound. It wasn't a terribly successful experiment, as I recall.

 

Talk is cheap. And we talked a lot.

[OldCowboy]

Funny you should say that.

 

Several of us talked about doing it, but none had the guts to do it to our Gibsons or Martins. I had an old cheap converted slotted-headstock guitar that was a good candidate, but it probably would have folded up under the additional string tension, so I don't think I ever did it. At the end of the day, I don't know anyone who actually did. One guy had a Martin 12, and took off the doubled strings except for the G just to see how it would sound. It wasn't a terribly successful experiment, as I recall.

 

Talk is cheap. And we talked a lot.

I tried the 12-string route without what I'd consider much success. Actually made the attempt with a 'Laredo' plywood specimen, but just made a functional el-cheapo less than originally functional.

[zombywoof]

Funny you should say that.

 

Several of us talked about doing it, but none had the guts to do it to our Gibsons or Martins. I had an old cheap converted slotted-headstock guitar that was a good candidate, but it probably would have folded up under the additional string tension, so I don't think I ever did it. At the end of the day, I don't know anyone who actually did. One guy had a Martin 12, and took off the doubled strings except for the G just to see how it would sound. It wasn't a terribly successful experiment, as I recall.

 

Talk is cheap. And we talked a lot.

 

I did try. I used an old Grover Champion tuner somebody gave me. What drove me crazy was getting the spacing right between the strings. Never did get it perfect and finally called it quits. Plus I kept breaking the string.

[zombywoof]

This contraption looks pretty nifty. Found this on the John Pearce site. If he still offers them I may just give 'em a try.

 

http://www.jpstrings.com/addstring.HTM