Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Replacing bridge on old Gibson






The top surface under the bridge on this guitar was not suitable to reglue the bridge back on. Stuart routed off the glue and uneven area and replaced it with some clean spruce. We epoxied this on so that future removal of the bridge would not loosen this area.

Banjo headstock veneer






This banjo's ebony veneers were very dry and crumbling and some pieces of inlay had fallen out. Stuart brought it back to life with an epoxy and ebony dust mixture that looked great and will be very durable

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Gibson A-1 Mandolin with top damage






This mandolin had been previously repaired  and the top had failed again, so we decided to take the back off and have a look inside. Stuart removed all the cleats and braces and put splines in all the cracks. Then it was reinforced with a layer of fiberglass and epoxy and a brace like the original was made and added. Next the back will be glued back on a we try it out!





This original bridge on this 90's J-45 had slipped forward a bit  mounding up the lacquer and causing bad intonation. It was also coming up at the back. After removing it, we found it was too warped to fit properly. We were able to soften the lacquer and let it relax and readhere to the top. Unable  to acquire a replacement through Gibson, we made a new one.

1929 Martin 00-45






This fine old guitar needed the neck reset, and a new bridge to replace the original which had split and then been "repaired" at some point. Also, all the back braces  were loose and needed to be reglued. We were able to clean up most of the  mystery goo around the bridge. 

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Stuart's new violin scroll


The scroll on this old violin was broken off and missing completely. Stuart made this one and attached it to the neck.  It is not uncommon to for a scroll to be spliced on a new neck, the scroll being the signature of the maker and the part that is saved. Stuart did this the other way around and added his scroll to the existing neck.