Bazzar Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 Hi All, Here are some pics of my first restoration job. I bought the guitar as seen in the before pic. Not knowing what it was, I decided to pull it back from the edge anyway just to see how I would go. Some maniac had cut a large hole in the top and placed a metal plate over it, using a piece of broom handle as a bridge! Presumably this set up was only playable as a slide guitar. The pics speak for themselves but basically, what I did was take off the top, re-assemble the pieces (that's how it came off!) and made a new patch for the offending hole from Spruce archtop blank, carving it to match the contours of the top. I lined the hole with Ivoroid and also lined the "f"holes to match. After all of this, I made new tone braces from Sitka Spruce and re-kerfed the body with reverse kerfing which adds strength. The checkerboard perfling and tort binding survived intact so I was able to re-use these. Other than the top work, I reset the neck, re-fretted and re-lined the fretboard and headstock and gave the whole thing about 15 coats of hand-applied lacquer. Some new hardware, nut and bridge and she's back together, singing like an angel. The guitar has a depp, resonant voice so my "surgery" on the top did little harm apparently. Researching the only clue I had, the number FW545 stamped on the back of the headstock, I found that the guitar is a Gibson-built Kalamazoo, built in late 1939 and delivered to Ward's Chicago store on May 15th 1940. I just wish I could find more on her history as she has certainly been through the mill! I'm pretty content with my first efforts and am now looking forward to working in another patient. Anyway she now joins my Les Paul in the Gibson cupboard.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted July 15, 2011 Share Posted July 15, 2011 Pretty cool Resto/salvage job,Bazzar! Good save.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfox14 Posted July 17, 2011 Share Posted July 17, 2011 I can't believe you got a guitar from all of those pieces. You should can it the "humpty dumpty" guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazzar Posted July 19, 2011 Author Share Posted July 19, 2011 It was quite a trial but I wanted to prove to myself that it could be done. I don't trust my carving skills enough to replicate the original with new timber so I opted for the reconstruction route. I can't believe how that top rang when tapped, I assumed that there would be significant loss in resonance because of all the repair work necessary but it seems to have had little effect. I did make sure that the new tone braces were nice and tight and that the patch was also snug. The guitar is actually louder than a couple of other "high-end" guitars I have. My neck reset has given me 3/32" at the twelfth and it is all staying in tune nicely having settled down. Job done I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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