Saying goodbye to an Old Nightmare...
Time for some Spring cleaning in the shop and I decided to toss some old mementos that, while interesting, just gather dust and get in the way. Here's a doozy....
Approached by a fellow a couple of years ago to take a look at his elderly fathers old Gibson acoustic, and maybe "fix it up" for a Fathers Day present. The customer reported that "dad likes the feel, but it sure doesn't sound like it used-to before J.R. fixed it". Hmmm.
Seems that, about 25yrs ago, Dad dropped his favorite guitar and smashed the top to hell. So a well-meaning pal in the drywall business offered to repair it... and good ol' J.R. did the job in about 1984.
Fast-forward: the old top was cut-out & replaced with a nice plain spruce top. A new bridge was moved back a full 1/4" to correct the intonation; the top (only) was finished to match the old sides and back. The hardest part was making the new binding match the "feel" of the whole guitar... but it worked. Dad was pleased and he plays the guitar to this day.
Time to discard the old top. Thought you might get a kick out of seeing it. Yeah, it's been a fun oddity but it's time to go.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by FRANK on
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nice I am catchen up ,two weeks ago i was brought a Matrix Ovation copy . so it was built with fan bracing and all the lower face fan braces were shattered so this was a close friend at first I did not say what I would do but I pulled the top and rebuilt a new Black walnut top wish I had a photo to share came out like new or even better I wasnt to interested at the time a shooting a photo .O in Sacramento there is a luthier rebuilds practically anything from what I hear ...pulls tops and backs and I have heard that he can disassemble a Spanish heal to something I heard FF talk about once .maby we can all toss our old dusty soviners together and have a camp fire singing and Joy all night long open mic night anyone ?
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Permalink Reply by Mike Kolb on
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Usually I'll keep old tops and such around, just for the "future repair potential" of the different wood scraps, but this particular top was made of a thin plywood door skin, with no value whatsoever... other than as a somber reminder that "everybody's a repair guy"!
Oh yeah... and one more value: it made good kindling for the woodstove fire I had last night.
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Permalink Reply by Mark Pollock on
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That is breathtaking. That bridge actually look semi-decent. The way the soundhole cuts into what for lack of a more accurate term I shall call an x-brace is amazing.
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Permalink Reply by RETROROD on
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I would think that wall art would have been appropriate?! Oh well....good fire-starter also. Not where I live though. Damn near 85 today....!
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Actually, 'wall-art' was quite appropriate, and it remained as such for 2 years! But it became a sadder sight as time went on and, to be honest, I needed the wall space.
Wow... 85º there?! Must be Hawaii or Florida? Here in the NW corner of Oregon, our big high was 53º today and that's been a heat wave! Still gets down to the low 30's at night so the fire-starters are welcomed. Spring can spring any ol' time it wants.
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