Complete Pricing

 

 

 

For a while now, I have kicked myself for not being diligent in taking pictures of every restoration I have performed. It's difficult to manage time and the website is yet another realm in which my time is spread so thinly. I will try to make an effort to better document my work for your to get an idea of what the shop can do. I have a number of other to add so keep watching.

 

While some instruments might obviously not be worthy of restoration (above), I will tackle many that are deemed too-far beyond repair. Bring your instrument by the shop and let me assess the possibilities?

 

 

 

1946 Harmony Cremona

 

This '46 Harmony was a cherished memento from my client's father who has now long since passed. He remembered his father buying it new and entertaining the family for many years.

 

The instrument had been unfortunately placed in an attic for the past twenty years or so. There were several cracks and water damage to the body. The instrument had been previously stripped and re-finished in a varnish, by brush, on a windy day.

 

It had been thought that the floating tongue-extension was an actual separation so, it had been clamped and glued to the body. This of course damaged the extension and the binding which had to be repaired. There were also missing inlays to replace and a full neck re-surfacing and re-fret were necessary.

 


Front

Back

Headstock

Headstock Back

Neck

Exposed Ply

I started by removing the neck then stripped the entire instrument. I next sealed and cleated the cracks. There had been some side veneer separation and and at the time it was sanded flush with the binding instead of gluing. The result from was exposed the underlying ply-level. I decided to just let it go. The body had also suffered moisture damage, causing variations to the color tones of the wood. Alternate applications of a mild bleaching solution followed by light sanding lifted these stains, yielding more-or-less, an even color tone all over.

 


Body Side

Body Front

Crack

Missing Inlay

Neck Joint

 

At this point, it was time to re-angle the neck and test the fit.

 


Ready to Re-Fit

Nice Clean Joint

Overall Fit

 

Everything looked great so, it was time to replace the missing inlay. There were three to replace. Finally, it was time level the neck, perform the re-fret and seal the wood and finish in Nitrocellulose.

 

The original Pickguard was missing so, I fabricated one from an old acoustic's back panel.

 

There were many steps that didn't document here for the sake of time however, I think you get the picture. It turned out great and my client was very happy to see the guitar fully restored.

 


Finished View 1

Finished View 2

 

 

Vintage Warwick

 

 

 

Here's another Instrument belonging to Mr.. Carl Edward aka "C-Phat" of the band Live Wyya. After a number of years of exposure in the Jamaican climate, this bass presented a few challenges. It was dried-out, rusted, cracked and warped.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It basically needed everything as you can see.

 


Project Start

Body Cracks

More Body Cracks

 


Headstock

Headstock Back

Plane of Fingerboard

 

For the body cracks, I used an instant bonding wood adhesive. It's very good for filling hairline cracks while providing a stronger than wood bond.

 

The neck took some time to complete. I prepped the neck by first using a slow-set wood glue and applied an appropriate number of clamps to keep consistent pressure over the entire headstock. Next, I let the neck rehydrate for several months to retrain the wood.

 

When the bell rang, I next had to deal with the neck's warped surface and re-fret. The body had several deep fingernail-gouges, now filled with blackened dirt, oil and debris which needed to be cleaned and blocked out.

 


Frets & Surface in Terrible Shape

Pulled Frets & Resurfaced

Body & Neck Prepped

Body Filled & Sealed

Body Filled & Sealed Back

 

I finished the body by first filling the grain with an oil-based wood filler, followed by 5 coats of a vinyl wood sealer.

 

 


Body & Neck Finished 1

Body & Neck Finished 2

 

 

 

 

Early 60's Guild M20

 

 

 

I should have taken a series of before pictures? The guitars was in pretty bad shape, the top plate was warped and the finish had been damaged by an unknown adhesive thoroughly saturated into the woods at lower end and side bout. Most of the remaining finish was chipped, worn and otherwise pretty poor.

 

 

 

 

I rehydrated the wood, clamped the top and periodically applied steam to the most deformed areas while, each time I tightened all the clamps. Six months later or so, I began the refinishing.

 

I stripped the guitar and repeatedly sanded the stain-damaged areas with 800-grit paper while alternately applying Naphtha. The adhesive was aged, hardened black resin but it quickly lifted without removing too much wood.

 


Body Warm Lighting

Body Day Lighting

Body Side

Body

 

I didn't have the luxury of removing the neck and the client wished that the neck's finish not be disturbed. I mixed a combination of cherry and red mahogany which matched rather closely the color of the neck except for the natural darkening of age. In the end it turned out rather nice.

 

 

70's Fender Music Maker Bass

 

 

 

 

 

Again, the body was fairly beat up and stripped of all original color. I decided to finish with "Olympic-White". I fabricated a new pickguard from tortoise stock and installed an early Danelectro - Lipstick for the pickup.

 

 

 

 


Body

Body Left

Body Right

Body

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

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