30's Epiphone binding replacement

[Paul Breen]

I have a friend that brought in a late 30's Epiphone Triumph archtop with severe binding shrinkage/ Celluloid degradation. It's a mess, cracks, bad re-glues, missing sections, shrunken down from the top plate and in from the sides, the guitar is in nice shape otherwise. It needs to be completely removed and replaced. This instrument has heavy binding on the front, all White, approximately 1/4" X 1/4" and a thinner binding on the back. I don't want to do the project and I would like some suggestions as to who he should get to do the work. We're in central Illinois but he will ship it if necessary.

Suggestions?

[Paul Verticchio]

Hi Paul.

I'm based in Jacksonville but binding isn't one of my strong suits.

Mark Tate at the Luthier Shoppe in Springfield would be my highest local recommendation for a top quality job. The downside is that he takes beyond forever to get the job out the door.

Here's his contact info from his website:

email: [e-mail]

Phone:
[phone]

Address:
1717 W. Wabash Ave.

Springfield, Illinois 62704

I also keep hearing about a super luthier in St. Louis named Skip Goez (pronounced 'gays').  I've never me the guy but I've inspected his work. It is absolutely TOP quality.  Here's a link to their website: http://goezinstruments.com/?page_id=19

Finding folks in this region who WILL bind a guitar is easy.  Finding folks who CAN do quality binding work are VERY difficult to find.

Which makes me think.... we (or somebody) need to develop a regional "organization" of repair folks & luthiers, if nothing else to launch a website to address questions exactly like this.

I hope our paths cross one of these days :)

Best of luck :)

[Paul Breen]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the leads, I can check with Colin Blair at Music Folk in St. Louis and see what, if anything he knows about Skip Goez.

Funny you should mention that it takes Mark Tate forever to get a project out the door. I do repair work as a part time passion and I already let this project collect dust for 3 months, unable to complete the work yet that is in line before the binding job. It will be a difficult project to do correctly and I really didn't want to take it on but thought I would be up to the challenge. I find it very easy to become over committed. I love the challenges of doing repair work and I'm a sucker for a hard luck case. For this guitar, I think it's best that the owner find a full time repair person that can turn this thing around in a more reasonable amount of time. Both suggestions are certainly worth investigating to see if they are up to it and willing to take it on.

My wife and I own Techline over in Champaign. We sell and install cabinets, stop in if your ever over our way. I'll do the same if I find myself in Jacksonville.

Thanks!

If anyone else has more suggestions please let me know, the owner is perfectly willing to ship this instrument.