The GOOD, Bad and the UGLY

[RETROROD]

Hey all! As some of you know, I am an extreme vintage Gibson fanatic and caretaker and restorer of such. Not a trained luthier, but love attempting it.

I know when to turn it over to you pros.

I think of taking in these guitars as one would take in a stray pet.

I was offered this '63 Melody Maker at a price that I could not resist...

The GOOD: all original with the alligator case. All electronics function but need cleaning.

The BAD: the guitar has been neglected and needs cleaning and setup.

The UGLY: a rodent has chewed up some of the body and neck joints.

My question is how to best repair the chewed wood damage as pictured below...

My estimation is that up to 1/8" of wood is chewed in the deepest areas on the contours.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated....really!

Rod

 

[Andrew]

I might consider removing the chewed areas of wood neatly so as to be able to splice/inlay new wood with grain that will match closely. Fortunately much of the chewed stuff is in the area of the darker lacquer of the burst, so it should be nicely hidden anyway. Then of course youll need to experiment with matching the finish.

Have fun, looks like you have quite the cleaning job ahead of you. Nice to see that shine come back though.

[Russell Vance]

Coyote ugly is right - looks like somebody woke up with this guitar lying on their arm and tried to chew their way out.

Jus kiddin...sorta.

Rusty.

[Ian Barker]

Or in the words of the song:

'There's a rat in the kitchen, what am I gonna do?'

[William F.Eden]

If it were mine Retrorod I would just file the wood flat on the points and add a piece of wood then reshape it. The rest of the damage I would fill them with Epoxie and refiish. I fixed one something like that and just put latex over the spots then the finish. You have to add CA or laquer to the eadge were the epoxie meets the rest of the wood to get that even flow  after you sand it all down.   I realy think you will have to feed them Rats a little better thought. Good luck Bill............

[RETROROD]

Yep, that sounds like a plan! My thoughts are to make it less noticible. It will never be perfect(with me doing it)....just more tolerable to the eye!

It makes me wonder what attracted the rat to those areas?

Any thoughts on filling and shaping with epoxy wood filler and then coloring and touching up with lacquer?

[Russell Vance]

Hi R,

I'd be inclined to do a mild recontour through the whole area (take an eight of an inch off both horns with a spindle sander, re radius into clean wood and refinishing into the new radius junctions and then relic the whole area - patching up the divots will be just as intrusive and noticeable regarding vintage value (and these aren't top shelf oldies anyway) - otherwize an epoxy/wood dust mix as William suggest will work as said. Regards, Rusty.

[Mark Pollock]

Wow - I thought my Melody Maker was bad - somebody routed it out for a Floyd Rose and put in humbuckers, and somebody else put some random wood back in to the routed areas without any regard for grain orientations or flatness.

[RETROROD]

I hear ya Mark! .....I hate the "man-made" divots worse than the 'natural' ones. A dumbass rat is acting on 'instinct'...The human has 'brain-processing'....OR NOT!

This Melody Maker (although dirty) will clean-up nicely and is a 98% original 50-year old Gibson electric guitar> THAT is what excites me! We can only guess how many were "mucked-up" by man and nature.

I realize that it is a budget guitar....not worth 'matching grain' however!

[Mark Pollock]

Money wise, these things have popped in value recently.

One thing I would consider doing, no matter what, is soaking the open wood with some CA glue just to give it strength. I seem to recall that chewed up wood gets a bit - mushy. If you can stabilize it without risking the finish, that would be a good thing.

[Brian T. Williams]

Congratulations on your "find"; I too am a Gibson lover............ olde or new!!

Silly thing is, some people pay extortionate prices to buy a "relic" guitar that looks like that, or try and beat up a new instrument to make it look similarly "road worn".

Personally, I think you should just give it a clean up, set up and if the electrics are okay, leave it as it is................that's rock 'n roll !!

Whatever you do, good luck with the project.

[Thomas James]

I like Brian's outlook. How many people have a real Rat Fink chewed guitar?

[RETROROD]

Bwah-Ha-Ha...I do!

Whats funny IS....I remeber those days...Ha Ha!.....