The owner of this Regal tenor resophonic guitar is something of a tenor guitar connoisseur. He found this one listed in an online tenor guitar forum with no assurances that it would ever play. He bought it just because it looked so cool, thinking at the very least it would look good on a wall. But when it arrived in decent condition, he decided to see if it could be made playable. We installed a new resonator cone, spider bridge, and saddle and set the action to be nice and easy. It turned out great. I suspect famed tenor guitar player Neko Case would love how it sounds.

This is never how you want your Martin to look. But if your headstock does break off, you’d like to at least see a long break like this one with plenty of lateral gluing surface. Modern wood glues work their way into the pores of the wood, fusing them together again with incredible strength. Some repair shops take the approach of cutting away some of the wood and inlaying a dowel or a new piece to splice the two sides together. There are times when this is called for, but we try to avoid such measures whenever possible because it breaks and cuts even more of the wood fibers. If it ain’t broke don’t break it!

Before applying any glue, we used molding plastic to create a protective caul that fit the exact shape of the headstock. This will keep the clamps from crushing the neck while still applying enough pressure to actually heal the break. Once we have a perfect fit, we apply the glue and clamp it back up.

After the glue is dry and the clamps are off, we apply a small amount of colored finish over the break line. Then we carefully draw in dark grain lines to blend in with the rest of the neck.

The break is now completely invisible…

…and strong as nails. We guarantee this repair will hold until the next time it gets dropped and hits the ground (hopefully never again!)

Not long after posting photos of our previous Mossman neck reset, we received two more Mossman guitars that needed the same treatment, but with an extra necessary step. Since they received identical work, the photos in this post will jump between the two guitars. You’ll see them receive neck-resets, re-frets and that extra step – the addition of a brace that was missing in the original design. The guitar in that previous post was made a few years after these and by that time the design flaw had been remedied.  After years of not seeing this company’s guitars, it was interesting to see a number of them arrive so close to each other. 

In the early 1970’s, Mossman guitars experimented with an internal bracing pattern that was intended to reduce mass and increase volume. The company’s guitars from that period were built without a large spruce brace or strut that is traditionally placed above the sound hole.  In its place were two tiny braces and a pair of mahogony “feet” that protruded lengthwise from the head block (the head block is a block of wood inside the guitar where the neck is attached.) In the photo below, we’re looking through the sound hole at a mirror aimed up at the feet. Guitar repairmen before us have dubbed this Mossman condition “The Agony Of The Feet.”  The new brace will go between the two skinny ones.

Above, you can see that the two skinny spruce braces that pass underneath the feet are tapered down to almost nothing, then notched in the middle (to accommodate a truss rod wrench.) Not a whole lot of strength there. As a result, once the guitar hits 30/35 years the neck has shifted substantially – raising the action and making a neck reset necessary and long overdue. A quick check of the bass side action shows it to be more than 5/32″ – substantially higher than we’d like. The bridge saddle was too low to bring down any further, so a neck reset is in order.

Like lots of 30+ year old guitars, this one will also need a new pickguard.

First we heat the fretboard tongue, loosening the glue that holds it to the top surface. These guitars used a simple two-bolt neck joint rather than a dovetail, so we don’t need to steam off the entire neck.

With the neck off, Dan chisels a hole between those two skinny braces. Through this hole, he’s able to cut through the “feet,” creating a space big enough to accommodate a custom-made full size brace.

Here’s that new brace being glued into place. Looks stronger already!

After resetting the neck angle and re-installing the neck, it’s time to spruce up the fretboard. After 35 years of wear and tear, it’s ready for a face-lift. Yuck.

Dan removes the old and pitted frets, then levels the fretboard to create a true and even surface for the new frets.

After carefully hammering each fret into place by hand, he trims and shapes the fret ends and dresses the new fretboard.

Here’s a look at the new bone saddle – tall enough for many more years of playing.

Playing action for both guitars is now low and comfortable.

Both of these Mossman guitars sounded truly great when the work was complete. They required an extensive restoration, but the owners both agreed it was worth the trouble and expense.

Another Mossman attack averted.

We weren’t sure we believed a phone caller who said his vintage Gibson acoustic guitar had a crack in the top that was open more than a quarter inch. But when he brought it in, sure enough that crack above the sound hole had buckled and bent until it was open wide. This crack likely started out as a hairline split on a guitar that hadn’t been sufficiently humidified. It wasn’t repaired right away and over time the top wood curled up and almost completely separated from the brace underneath. It’s a tricky repair that came together quite nicely. While we were at it, we reset the neck, planed the fretboard level, replaced the frets, and replaced the dried and curling pickguard with a custom-cut new guard that fit right in with this old beauty.

See how you can properly humidify your guitar to protect it from damage like this in our recent special post on guitar case  humidifiers.

Here’s another couple of shots of that crack along the fretboard. This is a common spot for humidity cracks because it falls along the edge of rigid areas like the fretboard and head block and runs parallel to the grain of the top.  Most often, we see these cracks soon after they occur, unlike this one that went untreated for years.

Closer inspection reveals yet another crack along the edge of the pick guard – another common spot for humidity cracks. This repair requires removing the old pick guard, gluing a spruce splint into the crack, and making a new pick guard. (The old one is usually so dry, shrunken, and caked with old glue that to reuse it is rarely worth the trouble it would take to make it look right again.)

It wasn’t until this repair was complete that we realized we hadn’t taken pictures of the process. But thanks to the owner, we have the before shots above to compare with the after shots below. Looks like a new guitar!

That’s a protective film on the new tortoise shell pick guard giving it a dulled appearance here. It peels off easily to reveal  a shiny surface and a fit that perfectly matches the old pick guard’s “footprint.”

The newly leveled fretboard and new frets, reset neck, and comfortable playing action.

Thanks again for the before photos Ronald!

The Greco Super Real is one of the more sought-after copies of the Gibson Les Paul. They consistently fetch upwards of $1500 on eBay and in our opinion, outshine many of the more common varieties. It’s got great weight, feel, and sound but the appearance is a little less convincing. The owner of this guitar noticed that it had an orange-hued finish that was clearly not the traditional nitrocellulose lacquer found on Gibson guitars. He asked us to refinish it in nitrocellulose and relic the appearance so that it looks more like a genuine vintage Les Paul.

Those original goldtops got their look from clear lacquer finish applied over bronze powder. Over time, the clear finish would wear thin and ‘check,’  exposing the bronze to arm sweat and the oxygen in the air. As a result, many of these 50+ year old guitars have taken on a greenish appearance in the more heavily worn areas. The Greco’s owner knew this and specifically wanted to see this subtle effect on his guitar – which means simulating fifty years of wear and tear in a brand new finish. You’ll see we were up to the challenge.

The work begins with removing the old finish. It turned out to be two separate color layers between the outer surface and the wood. The top layer peeled off in large flakes.

Once all of the finish is off, the entire body gets sanded smooth and prepped for painting. The mahogany back and neck are coated with pore-filler which levels the surface of the wood and makes the grain really stand out under lacquer.

After a sealer coat, comes a white primer for the top surface. This gives a solid background for the gold color coat.

After gold and clear top-coats, the Greco looks beautiful and new… but not for long!  Now it’s time to scratch, chip, cut, and scrape it so that it takes on the appearance of natural wear and checking without having to wait 50 years.

Working from a photo the owner sent us, we started adding the random-looking dings, dents, and finish checking you’d expect to see on a vintage guitar. When we don’t have photos to work from, we use a 15 point checklist with each point graded for light, medium, and heavy wear to try to deliver what each customer wants. Overall, this one would probably fall into the medium/heavy range.

It’s subtle, but you’ll notice that the checking has the greenish hue we were looking for.

There you have it. Turns out you don’t need 50 actual years to get 50 years of wear!

Chicago winters kill guitars. The weather gets dry and cold, so we turn on our furnaces – drying out the air in our homes even further. Many will see their indoor relative humidity drop below 20% . That’s 25-30% lower than the factories where guitars are made and the wood just doesn’t like it. Like the skin on our fingertips and the seams on our hardwood floors, dry guitars can split open without ever being dropped or otherwise mishandled. Other symptoms we see include:

• rough fret ends that stick out past the edge of a fretboard
• loose bridges and braces
• loose neck joints
• separations along the many glue joints that hold a guitar together
• dramatic changes in playing ‘action’

So what can you do to prevent costly repairs to these problems? There’s so many choices hanging in guitar stores that it can be hard to tell which one to buy. We may kick ourselves for giving away the secrets that keep us in business – but here’s a look at the products that will best help you keep your guitar healthy and happy this winter. You’ll also find a simple formula for how to effectively use them.

We’ve heard some interesting home remedies over the years – from leaving a baggie with a wet sponge in a guitar case to putting an apple or potato inside a case (NOT recommended by these two technicians.) And we’ve seen lots of products too -from film canister size humidifiers with clay inside to rubber tubes with a sponge inside to space-age devices that  can offer protection for months. When selecting products to carry here at Chicago Fret Works, we applied the lessons we’ve learned over the years and chosen these winners:

Best Choice For Acoustic Guitars – Planet Waves Humidipak*

($30) We were thrilled when Planet Waves (D’addario) recently re-released the Humidipak for guitars.  It utilizes sophisticated modern technology for a low-maintenance, long-term solution to keeping fine acoustic guitars properly humidified. Three removable packets hang in black mesh pockets (two for the soundhole and one for behind the headstock,) releasing just enough moisture to keep the inside of your guitar case at 48% for 3-4 months. The moisture is all in those packets – no need for constant refilling with water. Read more about it at www.planetwaves.com . While you’re there, be sure to check out the video of Bob Taylor from Taylor Guitars to see what he thinks.

*Planet Waves did recall this product twice in the past few years for design flaws. They’ve spent lots of time and money eliminating those problems and are releasing it now, confident that it is finally ready for prime-time. More on that subject here.

Runner-up Choice for Acoustic Guitars – Oasis

($20) We really like these humidifiers. They hold enough distilled water to last from one to two weeks without needing to be refilled. Special crystals inside expand into a super absorbent paste that should be replaced each year (replacement kits are available at CFW for $6.) One advantage Oasis holds over every other product is that it will tell you when it’s time to refill by collapsing into a raisin-like appearance that says “Yo! Gettin’ a little dry over here!”

For the tight budget – Planet Waves Humidifier

($8) If you play your guitar every day or two and don’t mind refilling a sponge that often, Planet Waves’ original guitar humidifier is the least expensive option. It’ll work as well as the others but will need more attention.

Humidifying F-hole guitars on a budget

($8) Finally, we do keep a few of the old-style tube humidifiers for guitars and mandolins that have F-holes or for those who just like this style. Fill them up every one to two days.

The Recipe For Keeping A Guitar Properly Humidified:

• A FULL humidifer
• Inside the guitar
• Inside the case   (NOT hanging on the wall or on a stand.)
• From October through April (or as long as the heat is on in your home)

…Or let it go and come see us in the spring for the best structural repairs anywhere!

A favorite customer and friend of ours came in with his father to get a little work done on dad’s travel guitar.  Some of the tuning gears had been stripped to Bits and Pieces so we installed a new set and strung it up. Dad, as it turns out, is Leonard “Lenny” Davidson of The Dave Clark Five. He was kind enough to tell some great stories of playing alongside a 14 year old Jimmy Page, of playing The Ed Sullivan Show and Carnegie Hall, and of a ‘61 Strat he kind of wishes he hadn’t sold for 70 pounds. The DC5 were inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of Fame in 2008 and here’s some excellent video of that night.  Thanks for the visit and for snapping a picture with us.

A common problem on vintage Gretsch guitars is the decay and crumbling of the outer celluloid binding strip. Sometimes, owners will opt to leave the cracked binding alone, but in this particular guitar’s case, the owner wanted it repaired. In areas, it was loose enough to be scraped off with a fingernail and in others it needed to be scraped and even chiseled off. We ended up replacing the outer layer entirely, then touching up the nitrocellulose finish.

Here, Dan chisels away the cracked and loose old binding.

After cleaning and smoothing the binding channel, he glues the new binding into place.

Then he touches up the area with ambered lacquer to better reflect this vintage guitar’s age.

Final buffing…

Shiny, clean, and looking great.

Hold on there! Refinish a vintage Gibson? In candy apple red?? There better be a darn good reason to do something like that… and there was.

As mentioned in previous posts, the guitar repairman’s rule of thumb with vintage instruments is to leave it in as close to original condition as possible while still maintaining its playability. In the case of this 1960’s Gibson ES-355TDC, a couple of previous repairs have left it far from its original condition. When it arrived, the most obvious change was that it had been painted white years earlier and that white finish was flaking off in big chunks. A little closer look revealed a headstock repair the likes of which we’ve never seen. Throw in some long ago water damage, cracks in the body, and stains in the wood and the vintage value of the guitar is pretty well gone. You may as well paint it blue; or as the owner of this guitar decided, candy apple red.

Our original plan with this guitar was to strip off the old white paint and restore it to as close to original condition as possible – meaning refinish it in its original translucent cherry red color. But once the flaking paint was off, we saw that the headstock had been entirely rebuilt, with the new headstock made, curiously enough, out of plywood. There were also a great number of cracks in the surface layer of the laminated body. These cracks were likely the result of extensive water damage and could be the reason it was originally refinished.

The body cracks and flaws would be visible through any transparent color. We know because we tried it, even darkening the red color to try to hide the cracks. It just didn’t look very good.

So the owner called an audible and told us he’d just as soon have us paint it something flashier – candy apple red and while we were at it, could we add binding to the F holes. It was an unexpected color request, particularly since Gibsons were rarely finished in candy apple red, but one we felt was not out of line given the condition of the guitar. He loves the way this guitar plays and decided he wanted to love the way it looked too.

We began the new work by gluing white binding to the inside of the F holes. This guitar didn’t have binding , but plenty of other old Gibsons do, so it didn’t look out of place. It’s tricky and sticky work that takes time and patience.

Once the binding is in place we can sand the F hole areas level. Next we add a coat of white primer/sealer…

…and a couple coats of the sparkly candy apple red.

Before spraying clear top coats, Dan has to clean the red paint off the body binding and the black paint off the headstock and Gibson logo.

Next it’s time to top the finish with clear nitrocellulose lacquer. To get the finish smooth and glassy in appearance, Dan has to wet sand the clear top coats up to 1200 grit sandpaper before buffing out the whole guitar (hence the hazy appearance in this shot.)

Before final buffing, Steve carefully threads all the electronics back into place. On a hollow body guitar like this there is no easily accessed control cavity (like the back of  a Les Paul) or pick guard (like a Stratocaster) on which to mount the pots and jack. They have to be pulled through the pickup hole using fingers, dental floss, surgical tubing, or all of the above. It’s kind of like building a ship in a bottle.

Then, once the pieces are back in place, Dan buffs out the entire guitar.

Finally, we install  the hardware and a new pick guard to replace the crumbling and decaying original one you saw in the first picture. A fresh set of strings and this red rocket is ready to roar.

Oh, yea, and Dan refretted this guitar too. He worked so fast I couldn’t get pictures of him working! We’ll cover that subject in a future Workbench post.

A new customer brought us a remarkable and beautiful Lyon & Healy mandolin that was made here in Chicago nearly a century ago. This is a “Professional” or “A” Style instrument that was at the top of the company’s  line of mandolins in the 1920’s. It has a very delicate and ornate scroll headstock that unfortunately broke apart many years ago. It was fixed and the repair held for a long time before recently coming apart. Our challenge is to get the headstock solid enough to play again, while maintaining as much of the instrument’s original qualitity and character as possible. What’s more, we’ll need to work around a few unexpected elements of the previous repair.

The Lyon & Healy company began in 1864 as a partnership between George W. Lyon and Patrick J. Healy. Throughout the company’s history it produced a wide variety of musical instruments including brass, percussion, pianos, organs, harps, and assorted stringed instruments. George Lyon’s middle name, Washburn, was used for its  line of  guitars, mandolins, banjos and other instruments. That company obviously still exists today and has revived the Lyon name for a side line of economy guitars.  While Lyon & Healy no longer makes guitars or mandolins, the company still exists  here in Chicago, building some of the finest harps in the world.

Here’s how the mandolin arrived in our shop.

After  removing a peghead overlay, we found a break that occurs at nearly a 90 degree angle to the neck. That’s a difficult job on any kind of neck since there’s very little lateral gluing surface to give the repair strength.  But a close look shows that the previous repairman used small dowels to splice the two pieces together. The dowels and holes are easily visible, but simply gluing them back together is not going to do enough to strengthen this neck for future playing.

After a lot of deliberation and plotting, we decided that we’ll need to rout a channel and splice a larger piece of mahogany across the break to increase the amount of gluing surface and to solidify the interior of the neck. The trick is doing this without further damaging the neck or the headstock. The repair begins by fitting the dowels and the fingers of the broken pieces and simply gluing the two pieces together. The wood block and wedge (look closely- the small darker piece of wood) at the end of the headstock kept the loose piece from squirting away as the glue set.

After allowing the preliminary repair to fully cure, we rig a routing platform inside a vise and by using a Dremel, carefully clear a channel for that mahogony splice. Dan has to be careful not to go too far and rout through the back of the neck.  When he’s getting close, he stops and shapes a block to fit perfectly into the channel.

After meticulously cleaning and shaping that rout, we mix some mahogony dust and epoxy together and slide our mahogony block into the rout.

Next, Dan chisels away the block until it fits the profile of the headstock.

Often, we’ll touch-up a headstock repair to make it disappear. In the case of a mandolin, we might even refinish the entire neck. But in this case we decided against that, given the instrument’s vintage status and the time/cost it would take to properly finish all of the ornate curved surfaces that make up this neck. Nevertheless, it looks and sounds tremendous and most importantly, this repair should last for many years to come.