DanvillRob Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 1 hour ago, Dave F said: That would be more of a reason to be picky about a repair for me. Dave, my Jubilee is a guitar I've had about 50 years...plays like a dream, (doesn't compare to the Dreds though), and is beginning to look a lot like "Trigger". My Dove looks nice...but not perfect. My DIF, 'Bird Koa and 'Bird 12-String are virtually flawless...and will go that way to my grandkids. The J-50 is now my 'work horse'...so nice, but not perfect. I'm a player, not a collector. If I had one of JT's Banner Guitars, I may well expect a virtually perfect repair....but on a regular 'Bird....what was done is fine (to me). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lars68 Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 I realize this is a much smaller patch, but the picture shows what can be done by grain matching. This repair was done by Willi Henkes of Antique Acoustics in Germany on my old Banner J-45, which had an old jack hole in the lower bout. We both agreed that the right approach here was to make an “honest repair” and to remove as little extra wood as possible and not necessarily try to hide the work. You can see that the circular scratch mark from the old jack outside the patch is still there. It could have been removed by making the patch bigger, but that would have been “wrong”, at least to me. Battle scars are part of the charm of old guitars. Lars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 I agree if a guitar is rough looking, it's senseless to make it look pretty. Such is the case with my vintage '42 LG1 and '42-'43 J45 But even low budget repairs can look better than the video shown. Here's an example 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt Posted April 6, 2022 Share Posted April 6, 2022 2 hours ago, Lars68 said: I realize this is a much smaller patch, but the picture shows what can be done by grain matching. This repair was done by Willi Henkes of Antique Acoustics in Germany on my old Banner J-45, which had an old jack hole in the lower bout. We both agreed that the right approach here was to make an “honest repair” and to remove as little extra wood as possible and not necessarily try to hide the work. You can see that the circular scratch mark from the old jack outside the patch is still there. It could have been removed by making the patch bigger, but that would have been “wrong”, at least to me. Battle scars are part of the charm of old guitars. Lars Thanks, Lars! This is the sort of work (and Willi the sort of luthier) to which I was alluding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 16 hours ago, Lars68 said: Battle scars are part of the charm of old guitars. I agree. And I never cared about owning "mint" guitars. But I came into this as a gigger first, so bumping guitars into things was just a natural occurrence. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E-minor7 Posted April 7, 2022 Author Share Posted April 7, 2022 18 minutes ago, Murph said: I agree. And I never cared about owning "mint" guitars. But I came into this as a gigger first, so bumping guitars into things was just a natural occurrence. Funny enough - I gigged a lot on all levels, but never had a ding in that context. Not even when the new 70s J-50 Deluxe got kicked out of my arms from behind while sitting busking on some granite street-stairs. My pal who paused smoking a zig with his Yamaha against a jewelers window simply caught it rotating in midair. Then again that was a miracle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Anyway, a friend rang me a few years ago very upset after smacking a big hole (very similar to above) in the front of his 15 series M by hitting the mic on stand. We took it to my luthier and I have to say the repair is very hard to see, and at first look, nothing.... good job, looks like a surgery scar up close. My friend has almost stop kicking himself for it....almost. The luthier obviously had done this sort of repair a lot and when I asked him how most of his guitar repairs were hurt, he said an amazing amount are left on a chair and forgotten for a minute and..kazzaaam. 😶 BluesKing777. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 23 hours ago, E-minor7 said: Funny enough - I gigged a lot on all levels, but never had a ding in that context. Me too. Although most of my years of heavy gigging were with electric guitars, I still never had one damaged that bad. We did have some p.a. power amps ripped off one night during mass confusion at the loadout. A lesson we never forgot... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Standing near the bar in a break in band gig and saw the sax player trip over the PA speaker lead and pull the speaker (JBL 15) off the stand to bounce off the keyboards then knock over the cymbal stand which hit my Strat, Tele, metal Dobro on stands and floored everything.....big dent in the side of Dobro, cymbal cut a big hole in the Tele neck! BluesKing777. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 BK7 - that would cause me to pack up my stuff and head home. Before I strangled the sax player. So, the speaker was on a tripod stand ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortyearspickn Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 Dave F - watched that 'Do It Yourself' video. Guy apparently teaches luthiers how to do stuff, but I didn't come away feeling the 'how to' was really geared to 99% of actual guitar owners so they could literally do it themselves. He didn't use wood to repair the hole - admitted it was 'the low cost option'. Bondo with wood stain painted on - artistically streaking different shades. Cosmetically it came out as good as the OP, but not better. Since the negative comments seem to center around the cosmetics of the OP repair as they would affect a vintage, collectible or mint guitar - I don't think the Bondo approach would win any of these folks over. I think it simply comes down to - how much do you want to spend on a repair? If your guitar is worth $10 thousand, the answer will be more than if your guitar is for $1000. I would spend $5 for a roll of brown Duck Tape to patch a hole on a "Hello Kitty' guitar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 (edited) Don’t really recall the stand......heart was busy trying to stop! 7 or 8 piece band and roadie totally vanished as everything crashed down, fled! They new I was particular with my stuff.....roadie was banned from taking my guitars down the stairs..... BluesKing777. Edited April 8, 2022 by BluesKing777 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave F Posted April 8, 2022 Share Posted April 8, 2022 (edited) 20 minutes ago, fortyearspickn said: Dave F - watched that 'Do It Yourself' video. Guy apparently teaches luthiers how to do stuff, but I didn't come away feeling the 'how to' was really geared to 99% of actual guitar owners so they could literally do it themselves. He didn't use wood to repair the hole - admitted it was 'the low cost option'. Bondo with wood stain painted on - artistically streaking different shades. Cosmetically it came out as good as the OP, but not better. Since the negative comments seem to center around the cosmetics of the OP repair as they would affect a vintage, collectible or mint guitar - I don't think the Bondo approach would win any of these folks over. I think it simply comes down to - how much do you want to spend on a repair? If your guitar is worth $10 thousand, the answer will be more than if your guitar is for $1000. I would spend $5 for a roll of brown Duck Tape to patch a hole on a "Hello Kitty' guitar. We’re on the same boat. If one of my old player grade vintage guitars had a hole, Willi method would do. If my mint L5 got a hole, I’d be looking for the best luthier to make an invisible repair. If an el cheapo ( I have a few) got a hole, some bondo and paint will do. I’m currently working on a repair for an el- cheapo vintage but for the experience, I’m going to a little bit of extremes. I’ll see how it turns out. I do not think the effort put into the OP video was worth the outcome. Edited April 8, 2022 by Dave F 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.