JonnyC Posted September 16, 2005 Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 Hi all. I've got an old guitar (Washburn Hawk or Falcon i believe) i've had for quite a long while now and it's in much need for some tlc. It's solid mahogany neck/body and played like no other when it was in some sort of fit state. Just wondering if you guys think it's even worth it? The guitar holds a lot of sentimental value to me so i'd love to restore it, originally the guitar was right handed and many moons ago my father and i attempted to convert it to suit me, a left hooker As you can see neither of us had much knowledge about guitar craftmenship, nor the tools for the job. I was 14 at the time though, i think my old man only stepped in cuz he had visions of me taking a finger off :s Anyhow, a lots changed in my life since then and i wanna give this a shot. First off if you look at the pictures its in a pretty bad way, you'll also notice a slight fracture to the neck. I personally don't think it's anything to drastic as its not gone right through or anything, still feels solid as a rock. Also you'll notice on the back of the body the old cavity when it was right handed was filled with a lump of mahogany. I basically need to strip everything. I really wanna do a professional job of this, smooth it right out with some sort of filler. Maybe even veneer the top? Was also thinking of putting some fancy inlays in too as the old ones are shot to **** Any suggestions would be very much appreciated. JonnyC Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeiscosRock Posted September 16, 2005 Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 Anythings restorable with enough work Just sand the body down to bare wood and fill it in with standard grain filler from Home Depot, Lowes, etc, then refinish it however you like. If you want to add a veneer to it, you'd obviously have to adjust the neck or bridge to suit the thicker body (however small the difference would be). If it were me I would use a router or something to plane down the back of the body so its all flush, and you wouldn't see that little area where you filled the control cavity, yet it still is not flush with the rest. Then you could either leave it thin like that (I probably would) or add some type of cap on the back. Your choice either way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoSo_Spencer Posted September 16, 2005 Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 Hi That guitar has some potential.....i would say that you should strip it then get a router with a flush trim bit (bearing on top of straight bit) and redo the cavities, put a binding channel put some cream binding into it... route the cavitiy that has been filled until it is all one depth with the shape of the original cavity and then refill it - professionally this time, get a nice piece of mahoghany and cut it to the exact size and fill the sides with grain filler then make the hole cavity level with the bottom of the guitar and get some filler and go around the edges, then get a sander on to it until it is flush with the body. the fret board looks like it should be removed and replaced with a nice piece of creme bound ebony with abolone dot inlays. i cannot really suggest much else as you havent displayed to many pictures... ^my opinion^ hope all goes well in the restoration Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted September 16, 2005 Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 I say get a new piece of mahogany, use the old body as your guide to build an entirely new body for the neck --you (probably) don't have fond memories of that, your memories are of the neck. Since you have the original body, you're halfway there in terms of measurements, etc. You can even use the old body as a template for making a template. Repairing the old body will be as much if not more work than making a new one from scratch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoSo_Spencer Posted September 16, 2005 Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 Repairing the old body will be as much if not more work than making a new one from scratch. ← honestly, you may as well give it a go, what are you wasting - putty, a tiny slab of mahogany and power it may take more time but will it take more resources??? and if you do end up restoring the body you will always know that this is the complete guitar my dad used to play and not just half of it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 16, 2005 Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 i am restoring my first guitar...it is a plywood body "applause" by kaman...in other words,a p.o.s. but i miss playing it so i am going to make it the best i can Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickguard Posted September 16, 2005 Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 i am restoring my first guitar...it is a plywood body "applause" by kaman...in other words,a p.o.s. but i miss playing it so i am going to make it the best i can ← I thought Applause was Ovation's subbrand? I had an Applause strat here...and yeah, POS is putting it nicely...well, the neck's pretty decent, that's the part I kept. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marksound Posted September 16, 2005 Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 Kaman owns Ovation (and subsidiaries), Hamer, Takamine, Gretsch (drums), Sabian, et al. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pr3Va1L Posted September 16, 2005 Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 applause made solid bodies?? I didn't even know that lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted September 16, 2005 Report Share Posted September 16, 2005 and yeah, POS is putting it nicely no..i think p.o.s. is pretty honest.... but it is still 100 % better in craftsmanship than those cheap rondo things everyone seems to love so much Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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