Guitar renovation

[Singing in the brain]

Never posted in this side of the forum

Ive got this semi-warm instrument corpse that i got as a gift some time ago from the janitor at my first workplace. It was a saab/opel workshop (somewhere around - 99ish i guess) and i was a metal worker, played bass and was very young and he died shortly after. I forgot about it cause of reasons, and time passed. Now im older, and have expanded my skills with drums and furniture carpentry and see, i needed to clear the dinnertable/workbench, and started procrastrinating immideatly...and thaught of old isak, the coolest guy youll ever meet, one of those guys that even thoug you where surrounded by bullys, retards and anabolafreaks that you had to get along with (and sometimes had a good time with) he was one of those guys that made you feel welcome, and talked about other things than cars and mony, getting wasted on friday and projecting insecureties on everything/everyone.
When i think of it, dude... i really miss him. A subtly mindblowing guy.
So i thaught id renovate the guitar that he gave me.
If your curious about the projekt, feel like passing on some knowledge, wanna know more about isak, what to do with your old saab, or point me in the right direction, it will be most appreciated cause i have no clue. I know that theres at least one guitarnerd here
Ive got a lot of reading to do.

 

[Singing in the brain]

My plan so far is to get the electronics working and do psychotic precisionwork on parts of the body and neck, I need to get a new switch, phonojack and find a replacement or 6 new tuning-thingys. The mics have oxide on them and i guess ill open them and see they are doing. Other than having common sense, i know jack about guitar electronics so thats a journey in itself.

 

[Singing in the brain]

Hmm... On a closer look, the frets looks wierd, but uniformly so. More reading to do.

First step would be to make it playable and just keep the hippieness/dings/soul of the guitar. Im gonna try to do as invisible repair work as possible, like glueing craks, taking care of the electronics and maybe touch up the facade. It could be nice to have it in tip-top shape, but that would mean (to my knowledge):
Taking it apart
Stripping body and neck
Precision Woodworking
Try to have a look inside
Redo the sunburst
Have the electronics working
Cover it in something tone friendly, dont know what matters here
Make a whats it called in english... The boioioioing-arm... that look appropriate, plus find or make its spring mechanism


Time, Woodworking and metalworking is not a problem, id have to practice on doing the sunburst but that would not be that big of a problem i think. Laquer/shellac is no problem.
Thats how i think.

 

[Whisky]

I’d do the bare minimum to get it working 1st and see how it sounds. You can really screw up a guitar’s sound by messing with the body and sometimes even the finish. If it sounds great leave it as original as possible if it sounds ok do what you want with the body.

I had a similar situation with an old acoustic guitar that I thought I lost in a move 20ish years ago. It recently came back to me after I reconnected with an old roommate. That guitar had some interesting times while we were parted and was played in many Jam sessions with quite a few well known musicians in the Texas/Red Dirt music scene. When I got it back some of the frets were loose, the neck was cracked, and a couple of the tuning pegs would no longer hold tension. Despite all this the guitar sounds awesome, so rather than mess with it myself I found a good guitar repairman in my area and had it repaired, not restored. It still sounds awesome and should continue that way for another 20yrs.

 

[ylekot]

I am following this, thanks for trying to save an old guitar. If I may inquire, where are you located? There may be helpful folks nearby.

 

[BudgetShaverGuy]

Cool project!

Interesting pickups….it may be a challenge to find replacements as they look nothing like anything else available. If you have the original bridge pickup somewhere you could send the both of them to Seymour Duncan for a rewind (if they’re open or shorted and need it).

Pots caps jacks and switches are easy peasy. Good luck!

 

[Singing in the brain]

I am following this, thanks for trying to save an old guitar. If I may inquire, where are you located? There may be helpful folks nearby.

Im in the southern part of stockholm.

 

[Singing in the brain]

I’d do the bare minimum to get it working 1st and see how it sounds. You can really screw up a guitar’s sound by messing with the body and sometimes even the finish. If it sounds great leave it as original as possible if it sounds ok do what you want with the body.

I had a similar situation with an old acoustic guitar that I thought I lost in a move 20ish years ago. It recently came back to me after I reconnected with an old roommate. That guitar had some interesting times while we were parted and was played in many Jam sessions with quite a few well known musicians in the Texas/Red Dirt music scene. When I got it back some of the frets were loose, the neck was cracked, and a couple of the tuning pegs would no longer hold tension. Despite all this the guitar sounds awesome, so rather than mess with it myself I found a good guitar repairman in my area and had it repaired, not restored. It still sounds awesome and should continue that way for another 20yrs.

I agree. This was baked in in the keeping of the hippieness statement in earlier post. If it ant broken, dont fix it.
If its too challenging, and i believe getting it in a ready to jam condition is not, id just pay a guy to do it.

 

[Singing in the brain]

Cool project!

Interesting pickups….it may be a challenge to find replacements as they look nothing like anything else available. If you have the original bridge pickup somewhere you could send the both of them to Seymour Duncan for a rewind (if they’re open or shorted and need it).

Pots caps jacks and switches are easy peasy. Good luck!

Thanks man.
Yeah i thaught that if there was a bad mike, it was bad fue to oxidation or something, snd learning to rewire a coil correctly might be nice and therapeutic to learn. It seems that they - might - be able to disassemble.

 

[Singing in the brain]

Ok so my guess is, that its not coated in some cheapo laquer. Ive seen alot of shellac coated furniture and worked with the material so i have some insight of its properties, and thats why i leaned towards it in the initial posting. It becomes quite hard and can crack as the wood it is covering moves around. But after talking to a more
experienced woodworker, he suggested cellulose laquer wich makes sense at the moment because:
Tendency to crack
Gutarheads seems to promote it when i google it.

Ways of knowing this is, to my knowledge: doing tests on the guitar(like, on the surface between the neck and body).
get a second oppinion from a pro.
Detectivework concerning bartolini building methods.

 

[ylekot]

Bartolini makes pickups....didn't know they ever made guitars. Stockholm like Sweden? I am no help to you at all.

 

[BradWorld]

Very cool looking guitar. A few interesting guitar designs came out of Italy in the 60’s.

 

[dmshaver]

Cool project, following this with interest. Please keep us updated on your progress. Oh, & pictures, we love pictures!!!

 

[Saxonbowman]

I'd leave the finish alone. I've read that you lose half of a guitar's value if you refinish it. Of course repairing cracks is a good idea. frets.com has a lot of tips on instrument repair though they don't go into electronics.

From the pictures it looks like a lot of the parts are missing. Plenty of pickups out there if you need replacements though they wouldn't be original. Stewart McDonald in the US has everything you might need though they tend to be expensive.

Let us know how your project progresses!

 

[Tirvine]

I think the combination of learning new things and ending up saving an old instrument is awesome. I live in Austin, and the music scene really drives up the costs of lutherie. I had a Martin from the "bad years," the early seventies, when their jigs were off, they used those sound deadening large rosewood bridge plates, inadequately braced necks that quickly meant they needed a neck reset, the klunky Grovers, and various other flaws. Despite all those flaws, the wood and tone were superb. So I looked into getting its issues fixed. It ultimately came to a new guitar being a better choice. Too bad I lacked the skill, time, initiative, etc. to learn how to fix it myself. However, I am very happy with the new guitar.

 

[douglargent]

Very cool looking guitar!!

 

[Claudel Xerxes]

I think the combination of learning new things and ending up saving an old instrument is awesome. I live in Austin, and the music scene really drives up the costs of lutherie. I had a Martin from the "bad years," the early seventies, when their jigs were off, they used those sound deadening large rosewood bridge plates, inadequately braced necks that quickly meant they needed a neck reset, the klunky Grovers, and various other flaws. Despite all those flaws, the wood and tone were superb. So I looked into getting its issues fixed. It ultimately came to a new guitar being a better choice. Too bad I lacked the skill, time, initiative, etc. to learn how to fix it myself. However, I am very happy with the new guitar.

Did you buy the Martin new? Martin's have a lifetime guarantee for the original owner. So, Martin should have been obligated to fix any issues, free of charge.

 

[Tirvine]

Did you buy the Martin new? Martin's have a lifetime guarantee for the original owner. So, Martin should have been obligated to fix any issues, free of charge.

Yes, but major aspects of the needed work would not have been covered by the warranty: replacing the tuners with Waverlys, replacing the bridge plate with a small maple one, scalloping the bracing. I ended up with a D18 Modern Deluxe and love it. It has a few modern innovations that really are improvements. Plus I no longer feel the embarrassment of the gaudy D41. When I bought it in 1976, I probably played every dreadnaught for sale in greater Dallas. The D41 sounded the best of the lot. So I bought it despite all the abalone. The D18 looks much more normal except for abalone logo on the headstock and gold Waverlys. The neck shape is fantastic, the neck is braced without much added weight thanks to carbon fiber, the bridge plate is small maple sandwiched with carbon. The action is approaching the playability of a lot of electrics, and the sound is just gorgeous. It can be loud or soft.

 

[ylekot]

Yes, but major aspects of the needed work would not have been covered by the warranty: replacing the tuners with Waverlys, replacing the bridge plate with a small maple one, scalloping the bracing. I ended up with a D18 Modern Deluxe and love it. It has a few modern innovations that really are improvements. Plus I no longer feel the embarrassment of the gaudy D41. When I bought it in 1976, I probably played every dreadnaught for sale in greater Dallas. The D41 sounded the best of the lot. So I bought it despite all the abalone. The D18 looks much more normal except for abalone logo on the headstock and gold Waverlys. The neck shape is fantastic, the neck is braced without much added weight thanks to carbon fiber, the bridge plate is small maple sandwiched with carbon. The action is approaching the playability of a lot of electrics, and the sound is just gorgeous. It can be loud or soft.

That D-41 is worth repairing in my opinion.

 

[Claudel Xerxes]

Yes, but major aspects of the needed work would not have been covered by the warranty: replacing the tuners with Waverlys, replacing the bridge plate with a small maple one, scalloping the bracing. I ended up with a D18 Modern Deluxe and love it. It has a few modern innovations that really are improvements. Plus I no longer feel the embarrassment of the gaudy D41. When I bought it in 1976, I probably played every dreadnaught for sale in greater Dallas. The D41 sounded the best of the lot. So I bought it despite all the abalone. The D18 looks much more normal except for abalone logo on the headstock and gold Waverlys. The neck shape is fantastic, the neck is braced without much added weight thanks to carbon fiber, the bridge plate is small maple sandwiched with carbon. The action is approaching the playability of a lot of electrics, and the sound is just gorgeous. It can be loud or soft.

I see your point with the upgrades. While I can appreciate the aesthetics of the abalone embellishments, I also (usually) prefer the more classic and traditional looks of the 18, 28, and 35. I was unfamiliar with the Modern Deluxe series, but just looked it up. That sounds like one heck of a guitar. It has a very classy look to it as well. I really like the looks of the vintage style tuners. Martin sure does make some amazing instruments. My D28 still puts a smile on my face when I pick it up after not playing it for a couple of weeks.