Boggs Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Here are pics of the guitar showing some of the problems Tim and I will be fixing... Yes, I am whacked but I will learn a lot from this and make the owner deleriously happy (I pray)... Boggs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Rosenberger Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 You're a braver man than I. There's NO WAY I'd take a 100 year old guitar as my first retop job Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maher Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Whoa, How old is it? and how are you going to fix the hole, are going to put a new top on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 I don't think it is remotely that old. I suspect it may be from the 1960s or so. Can't say for sure though. I will be among other things replacing the laminate top with a solid one. That will require a slightly thicker top (laminates are inherently stiffer) and different bracing pattern to voice the new top. I have already started to repair the fingerboard. I am pretty sure I can refurbish that to maybe 95% or so without refretting or anything. We may make a new bridge for it. Don't know yet whether we will just remove that one and transfer it over or not yet. The "D" hole surround is going to be interesting, for sure. Boggs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkey96692000 Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 i have an acustic guitar thats 50 years old and still plays better than some new ones. Its also some Mexican company thats no longer there and Sam Ash offered a whole bunch of money for it. Old acustics are awsome. Fix it well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Holy, I don't know if I could be brave enough to work on that guitar, even if I were a classical instrument repairmen... That guitar got soul, and to think that somebody still cares for it means that it's an awsome sounding instrument. What can anybody expect from a company that have been up and running since 1900... and in a place were "la guitarra clasica" is reknown from, just like the ones from Spain. Good luck, my Boggs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted July 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 Thanks... I'm gonna need it! Boggs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gobbo Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 does it say 1906 or 1900 on the headstock? id love to play that guitar as is, would be interesting to say the least! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strange Fruit Posted July 19, 2004 Report Share Posted July 19, 2004 (edited) does it say 1906 or 1900 on the headstock? wow, 1900 Man, seriously, this may seem like it could be fun,but i really urge you to get this repaired professionally. When i was given a tour around Merton college, where they do a gutiar building course (I got accepted! WOO!), they said that it would be about 6 months before they even started to tell us how to fix holes, and then they were perfectly square, and they had the bit that came out of the hole. Im worried that you may be going in far far to way in over your head. I would never try to discourage you, and im sure that if you put your head to it, and practiced on many more hole repairs first, MANY more, then i wouldnt touch a guitar that is one hundred years old, its a piece of history, i would seriously look into having it repaired professionally. Anyway, if you choose to do this yourself, i believe you are going to need all the help you can get. Good luck. Edit: Sorry, it seems like im being mean, and saying that your skills arent upto this. Im sorry if this seems offencive, but its just what i feel. I wish you the best of luck in whatever you decide to do. Matt Edited July 19, 2004 by Strange Fruit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted July 20, 2004 Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 Hell, that hole's not a problem, it's a character builder! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted July 20, 2004 Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 does it say 1906 or 1900 on the headstock? id love to play that guitar as is, would be interesting to say the least! 1900, it's the year that he begin building guitars... this is their home page check at the bottom of the page Giannini signature. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted July 20, 2004 Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 Looks like an awesome project Boggs! Definitely not a 100 year old guitar, I don't think plastic (re: tuning pegs) was even invented then. I don't suppose Willy Nelson used to play that particular guitar? with a quarter? Perhaps the purfling around the soundhole can be pulled out and reused or copied. You could use it to make a template and then rout the slots in the new top. Does it have any serial or model number so you could track down the vintage? Maybe contact the company via email and they could help you out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted July 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 I know it is not that old. The owner wants a solid top put on it. I cannot charge him for labor because the guitar was not that expensive to begin with. I am doing it because he expressed so much faith in us, it is something we can learn and I know we can accomplish, and I know you won't be able to buy the publicity for our work he could bring. Besides, he's a really nice guy who uses it to bring a lot of joy to literally hundreds of thousands besides joy to himself playing it... I already have the fingerboard leveled yet still retained some of the discoloration to retain its character. Frets are now pretty well polished as well. Bridge is cleaned up pretty much which will balance better visually with the new top. Took about 2.5 hours. I'm thinking I should remove the fingerboard before removing the top. Might make it easier overall. The neck really doesn't need to be reset. The perfling around the sound hole is pretty well chewed. It won't be usable. I would personally like to see a AAA bear claw Sitka spruce solid top on it. That would give it character. It would also be a bit cheaper than AAAA or AAAAA which the guitar, quite frankly, doesn't really deserve and would be a waste of the owners' money. Next thing I must do though is make up a bunch of clamps. We have a book on lutherie which will help us to voice the new top which must be a bit thicker if it is solid wood and also have a new bracing pattern. That's about it for now... Boggs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JPL Posted July 20, 2004 Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 From what I've seen of your work I have faith that you can pull this off Boggs. You seem to think things through and take them step by step. It will be a challenge but you're up to it. It's a great project. I love Gianninis and it will be great to see this well loved axe brought back to life. Lots of pictures please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted July 20, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 20, 2004 I was pretty scared at first especially knowing how much this guitar means to its owner, but I am becoming steadily more confident we can pull this off. Support and encouragement from folks like you (and even my wife!) have really made a difference. I cannot thank you enough! Boggs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boggs Posted August 19, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Further investigation showed that this guitar was only 8 years old! The Gianninis have a strong reputation for self-destructing. Materials in this guitar are really sub-standard I am finding out. The laminates used are of very low quality. I recommended to the owner that he not invest in a new top but instead, let me try to repair this one. I also had to repair the back where it was delaminating and also separated from the side. He understood the quality issue but still wanted it repaired, so I went about getting some 1/32 and 1/64 aircraft plywood (extremely high quality stuff) from my local hobby shop and set about repairing the broken braces and patching the hole with the 1/32 stuff. I then scraped down the really excessively worn and damaged area of the top around the patch and made another patch with the 1/32 wood to fill the area scraped down. The edges of the patch were then filled and all was sanded smooth. I then designed a walnut veneer pickguard/patch cover and bonded it to the 1/64th plywood for strength. I used strong double-back tape in the body of the pickguard and glue at the edges to secure it to the top. Since this guitar is played outdoors in sometimes inclement weather, I used a spar urethane to finish it to help protect it all from the elements. I used toothpicks broken and fitted into the holes at the back where it is supposed to mate to the sides to patch the worst areas and reglued the back to the side. I roughened up the finish and hit it all with the spar urethane to help seal it all as well. I removed the old battery holder from the top brace as it would ring whenever the top was tapped so you know it would ring when played... The owner wanted a pickup and preamp with built-in tuner for making his life easier at performances, so I got and installed the new Fishman Matrix/Prefix premium blender system into it. The install went very smoothly. Last night, after finishing the install of the Fishman system, I tapped the body all around and found no more rattles and the various tap tones I could get depending on where I tapped it gave me encouragement that it would sound both full and articulate so I was pretty excited to string her up, which I did. What a difference from when I received her!!! I think the owner is going to be very happy!! I plugged her in and all worked perfectly... Let me tell you, I was really nervous about taking this on, but I am really thrilled by the result! I KNOW nobody else would have taken this on due not just the condition of this guitar, but also the poor quality of materials and workmanship in it. I knew what it meant to him, and I am so delighted to revive his baby for him that I just cannot convey how excited I am to get her back to him... I will try to get pictures of the finished repair as I get access to a digital camera and maybe a sound clip at some point. I am packing to move (my wife and I bought a new house partly so I can get a bigger workshop area), so projects will have to shut down for a while. I'll post the pics in a new thread as I get them. Message here, if you don't take the risk, you will never reap the reward. The reward is directly proportional to the risk... Take the leap of faith and START TAKING ON THOSE PROJECTS YOU HAVE BEEN TOO APPREHENSIVE TO START!!! Boggs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simo Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Further investigation showed that this guitar was only 8 years old! 8 years! jeez that guitar has had a hard life. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wylde1919 Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 Edit: Post was due to me being lazy and skimming the post my apologies to Boggs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevan Posted August 27, 2004 Report Share Posted August 27, 2004 PROJECT COMPLETE. Please continue discussion here: http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.php?showtopic=10596 Boggs- take it easy with the multi-topic posts. One topic per project. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts