Coffin Case Basket Case

[George Roberts]

Hi Folks,

This is a C. Bruno parlor guitar that I bought when I was younger, more ambitious, and definitely more foolish.  It came in a very nice original coffin case, and perhaps I should have taken the hint.  The neck was off, and the back was held on (I'm not kidding) with duct tape and Scotch tape.  There had been a split through the tail block that extended around the middle of both sides.  The splits had been repaired with very liberal amounts of glue, and perhaps some substance like Bondo.  The back and sides were then painted black.  The top has a thick coat of some horrible varnish, with a similar coat on the neck up to area of the nut.  Both the back and the top are in remarkably good condition other than the finish.  I hope you can see the beautiful figure of the Brazilian on the inside of the back.  Of interest are the deep plane or gouge marks on the inside of the back.  These seem to be original to the guitar.  There are smaller "tooth" marks along the edges of the back where they would have been in contact with the kerfing.  The kerfing itself appears to have been applied one segment at a time.  I have no idea what the white substance is, but it is slowly soluble in water.  Maybe wallpaper paste.  The machines are in good condition, and look like 1880 to 1890 to me.

My questions are:

1.  How should I remove the black paint and varnish?  All the paint removers I've tried in the past do

     bad things to glue joints.

2.  I posted this neck joint earlier in the "Neck Re-Set Gallery."  It is just a straight sided mortise and

     tenon, held only with glue.  If I get that far, would anybody consider converting it to a bolt on neck?

3.  Should I just put it back in the coffin case, nail the lid shut, and bury it?

George

[George Roberts]

More pictures.

[George Roberts]

Aand more

[George Roberts]

Hope I'm not overwhelming you with pictures.

[Ned Knepp]

That's a very cool guitar, George. There's a lot of work there but it could make a nice parlor.  

 I would probably take a good quality scraper to the paint on the back and the white "paint" on the inside. While I was at it I would also see about scraping off some of that glue on the cracks.  I don't think I would want to smooth away the saw marks inside but you should be able to clean it up some anyway. Just don't get into a hurry, keep it light and you should be able to scrape most of the paint without damaging the wood.

 You might even be able to clear the newer varnish from the neck and top that way but the softer top is pretty easy to damage that way and it may not be too flat by this time so you should beware of cutting into the wood in high spots. You can do a bit of experimenting with solvents to see which one melts the finish then use it applied to rags to clean off most of the  newer finish on the top. It not fast and the glue joints can still be a problem but I've done this before with good results.

 I suppose a lot of this depends on what end result you want.  

[George Roberts]

Ned,  Your advice is always well reasoned.  I am taking it slow, and seeing what works the best in different areas.  I am a strong, long-time advocate of scrapers.  Some of this glue, though, does not want to cooperate,and remains very hard and brittle.  I'm going to try some different solvents, and see if I can soften it up.

Thanks, George

[Donald A. Fortune]

hey George-- If you didn't pay very much for the guitar then this might be a good place to get some practice in repair work--

I have baught guitars from tag sales and took them all apart and fixed what was wrong with them for the experience.

don't worry about how many pics that you post because like the expression goes---

a picture is worth a thousand words==

best to you in your adventure---

Peace, Donald

[Steve Bettesworth]

I've had good results using paint stripper, Nitromors paint and varnish remover by preference, rubbed in then removed with 000 steel wool. If you don' allow the stripper to settle too long you can almost take off the paint layer by layer. I've used Nitromors on furniture toys and guitars without any effect upon glue or final finish. You need to protect eyes as it stings mightily you might like you wear gloves too.

[Robbie Collins]

My favorite paint remover is Franmar Soy-Gel. Low odor, biodegrable and fairly easy on the skin. I've had good luck with glue joints.

http://www.franmar.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1...

[George Roberts]

Robbie,  Thanks for the link about the Nitromars.  There is a Woodcraft store near me that carries it, and i'll give it a try.  I've been  using StripEaze in my shop in small 4" by 4" patches, but my eyes have been watering, and my nose running.  Wish I could preserve the original varnish, but it seems to be coming up with the  paint.

George

[George Roberts]

Hey Robbie,

Sorry for the typo, above.  I meant Franmar.  Went out and bought some this morning, and it is great. I have a small, unventilated workshop, and the other stripper was driving me nuts.  The Franmar is nearly odorless, and if anything, works better.

[Robbie Collins]

Glad you like it, George, and glad I could help. I found out about it from Old House Journal, if I recall correctly

[George Roberts]

When the side cracks were originally glued, and one side of the split was lower than the other, plastic wood was used to make up the difference and "level" the sides.

The plastic wood seems unaffected by the Franmar stripper.  Anybody dealt with this before, or should I just start in on the solvents I have on hand?