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

[Robbie Collins]

Are you asking how to remove the Plastic Wood?

Plastic Wood is basically a mixture of calcium carbonate, nitrocellulose and acetone. Basically, it's like the resin used to make copies of statues but using bone dust as a filler. 

I'm not an expert, but I'm guessing you'll have to dig it or route it out. You could do some faux painting. I acquired a old tiger oak armoire once with a hole busted in the side. A guy refinished it, filled the hole, and duplicated the wood grain. Took me a while to fine the spot once done. Amazing.

[Steve Bettesworth]

Plastic wood is a pig to remove. Sometimes you can chisel it out or use dental picks but failing that a small bit in a Dremel. BTW is that last photograph,  before or after stripping off the paint? Either way it still looks rough. Good luck.

[George Roberts]

In the for what its worth department:  I used an eye dropper to put acetone on the plastic wood.  It softened it up, and then when it could wick between the plastic wood and the varnish, the plastic wood came up easily.  The split across the grain that it was trying to cover up was about 1/16 " wide at one end, and almost 1/8 " wide at the other.

Steve, I couldn't get the black paint off without removing the old original varnish.  That last picture had the paint off, but only part of the varnish.  It did/does look rough.

Fortunately the split in the end block has opened up, making it far easier to get the old glue out of the side splits, as well as the end block.

George

[Ned Knepp]

With the amount of touch up these repairs will need and the fact that you have not been able to get all  the paint off while keeping the original finish, you might consider stripping at least the back and sides to bare wood and refinishing. I could easily be wrong about this but it seems to me that a well done refinish could add more value to the instrument than keeping a patched up and paint speckled original finish.  Just my two cents.

[George Roberts]

Ned, thanks for your two cents.  I had been approaching that same conclusion myself.  If this had been the equivalent of a Stradivarius, I'm sure an expensive, talented conservator could have removed the paint square centimeter by square centimeter while preserving the priceless original finish.  I am already down to bare wood in multiple places. 

[Steve Bettesworth]

Looking much better George. I love it when bits of firewood start to look like an instrument again. And I speak of someone with a shed full of potential firewood! 

Steve

[George Roberts]

Thanks for the encouragement Steve.  I, too, have a terrible habit of picking up instruments that require major overhauls.  I, though, also have  delusions of  grandeur when it comes to the time available, and my level of skill.  I will try to provide some "in progress" pictures.

George

[Steve Bettesworth]

I know exactly what you mean. The other problem is that the more you do, the better you get; so those earlier repairs look poor, so do you then go back try to undo the repair and try to do it properly or do you let sleeping dogs lie. Luckily I only fix for my own entertainment, not for profit or i'd be in the poor house.

Steve. 

[Ned Knepp]

I think basket cases are best part of doing this as a hobby. I only figure "value" as the initial cost plus parts/supplies. As far as I'm concerned, my "pay" is the entertainment I get doing it. I'm certainly NOT any sort of competition for the local talent. I like to think ( or maybe fool myself into thinking) that I am doing a service to the future by returning an instrument to the  pool of "players" that was too damaged or too cheap to be repaired otherwise.

 I understand the the question  about repairing earlier repairs. I've had to bite the bullet on a couple of mine and do it over or go crazy knowing it was there. I have a mandolin that I removed and re-installed the neck several times to get the reset right and, right now, I have a parlor that I've been working on  that has had it's back and sides stripped and refinished at least 5 times to get it looking half way decent.  In a few years, I'll probably wish I had done it differently. 

[Mark Pollock]

Wow, that is some impressive reclamation! What is really nice is that the cracks in the wood should fill well, and look just like more dark grain. Very cool!!

[George Roberts]

Here are a few more pictures.  There are at least three kind of glue involved.  One of them turns rubbery with acetone, another dissolves well with the stripper, and what is probably hide glue does well with just warm water.  I have to keep working through one layer to get to the next.

The back has two small round inlays of wood where there must have been a knot.  I have seen this on 19th c. gunstocks, but this is the first time I have seen it on a guitar.  The end of the back has an irregular shape where it must have been taken down to match the side.  The top has a rosewood binding, and I may have to add one to the back to even out the irregularity.  The kerfing on the back, though, is very narrow.

The bridge has about a 1/16 inch of glue under it.  It is probably pretty close to the original shape, but looks like a replacement.

Finally, the rosewood sides measure 0.050 with a dial caliper.  Not much to work with, and no wonder they split.

George