Refinishing the neck

I've glued and clamped up the next small part on the back today, so while that's clamped and setting, I thought I'd have a quick go at stripping the finish off the neck. 

As a reminder, there has been a previous repair:

I have decided that I'm going to strip the neck back, sand it very smooth and then apply Tung Oil, which is supposed to give a really nice smooth satin finish.

The initial plan was to use Nitromors paint stripper to remove the lacquer. I removed the machine heads and masked everything up really well, then applied the stripper but it didn't touch it. Maybe it's just me, but I have found that modern Nitromors just doesn't do it anymore - I assume they have had to tone down the chemicals in it compared to the stuff I used to use years ago?

Anyway, I cleaned it all up again and then started rubbing it down with medium sandpaper to remove the lacquer.

Really, I was just having a go to see how hard it would be. Before I knew it.....

It has come up really nice, even just with the medium grade paper. Once I have given it a go with the fine sandpaper, it should look beautiful!

Onto the back

The clamps are off the strut regluing now and that all feels nice and solid.

Time to move onto the back. There are 3 sections where the back has come away from the side. I'll approach each one in turn, starting with the largest. This one is about 3" long, then the others are roughly 2" and 1".

I used an old thickness gauge to scrape as much of the old glue off and then to flex the joint open a bit to help get glue deep into it. I got as much glue into the joint as possible, using a small modelling paintbrush, before clamping up again and then cleaning off the residue with a damp cloth.

You can see in this photo that there is no binding between the back and sides; just a rounded edge. I assume they did that because they were trying to make it look like a resin backed guitar (?), but it is actually nato back and sides as far as I can find out and is otherwise traditionally constructed using purfling (is that the right word for the blocks between back and sides?) Whilst I think this all makes it look a little cheap, it does help to be able to do my amateur repair without having to reinstate the binding and should be easy to touch in the black colour with a little satin black modelling paint.

Starting repairs

The loose strut is now glued up. I cleaned off the old glue as best I could with strips of sandpaper worked underneath between soundboard and strut and then got as much Titebond as I could in with my fingertip and then a small modelling brush at the ends. Clamped up now and I'll leave it for 24 hrs to go off properly.

The next bit then will be to glue up the back where it has come away from impact damage.

Bend over, this won't hurt a bit!

How is this for a cool piece of kit, courtesy of good friend and guitar maestro Kriss Strings?

Now I can have a really good look inside the depths of the body and check for any other damage.

And it's weatherproof, so I can do it outside in the rain :-)

It's really handy knowing an amateur Gastroenterologist.

Ready to go

After an EBay spending frenzy, most of the bits are now in place to start the repairs.

So I have the recommended adhesive - Titebond - almost every guitar repair site seems to recommend this.

I have bought a new bone saddle blank to replace the existing one (broken in 4 pieces).

The tung oil is to refinish the neck, after I have stripped the lacquer from it - I decided to go for an oiled finish as it gets such good write ups for the smoothness of action.

The 0000 gauge wire wool is to clean up the fretboard and also to help in the neck preparation.

And finally, I bought a piece of acrylic to make a new pickguard from. My idea was to cover up some of the damage to the soundhole with this. However, my good mate Kriss Strings (whose advice I would normally consistently ignore!) has suggested that this might not be a good idea on two counts:

1. it will stiffen up the soundboard which might adversely affect the sound quality, and
2. the distressed look is apparently uber-cool, with Gibson selling "pre-distressed" Les Pauls to hit that market, so why hide the damaged finish - it gives it kudos.

Now I am in a right pickle, because I trust him on all things guitar. But on issues of style and cool ....? ;-)  I'll have a think :-)

Strip down begins

Couldn't resist having a bit of a grub over lunchtime!

First off, I took the pickguard off with the help of a hairdryer to see what horrors lurk behind. Curiously, it had a pick embedded behind it. Initially I thought it was a crude attempt at reinforcing a crack but seems in the wrong place for that. Maybe it's an original Eric Clapton pick in a secret hiding place?

 Next I pulled the strings off, with ominous creaking from the bracing as I released the tension! But now that the tension is off, the detached brace is sitting back nice and flush against the soundboard, so should glue up okay.

With the strings off, you can see that the headstock is looking nice, but needs a good clean.

Moving in to see the damage, you can see where it's been hit. The detached brace runs across from just below the soundhole to the edge of the guitar where you can see the chip of missing lacquer. If that's the only one that needs glueing up, then I'm in luck because I won't need to buy / make any long reach clamps :-)

Shame about the damage to the rosette. Maybe I can carefully touch it in?

 Now, after cleaning all the adhesive off with white spirit, a close up of the impact damage and also damaged lacquer where they have roughed up the surface to apply the lino!

In a curious time warp across to my motorcycle renovation, I thought I'd try some auto technology to get some of that deep scratching out and pulled out the chrome cleaner! 5 minutes elbow grease and some shine is starting to come back!

Next I removed the pre-amp to gain a bit of space inside the body and work out how the battery should attach. Just a case of releasing 2 connectors for the bridge pick-up and jack cables, then undoing the rings round the volume, bass and treble knobs. The velcro was already there to attach the battery - just hadn't been used properly.

I could see inside better now - the back looks fine. Need to get hold of a mirror to assess the top properly though.

In another curious time warp, the builder finished repairing the crack in my gable this morning. My life is turning into a series of connected coincidences! Maybe he can look at the guitar next?

Moving on to the bridge, you can see in this photo where the saddle is actually in 4 pieces! Helpfully, a small piece of tape had been used to hold them all back together ....

The bridge itself looks in good shape though.

What I hadn't noticed was that the fingerboard is quite worn down (compressed?) on the first 3 fret positions. Heavy handed previous owner? 5 minutes research on the interweb suggests it's not an issue as far as playability is concerned. There's a possible fix of applying steam or laying a damp cloth on it for a day to see if the fibres spring back. Not too hung up about this though - I didn't even notice it when playing it.

So there we have it - all in all probably good news I think and certainly should be able to make a presentable, nicely playable guitar out of this I think.

In the beginning .....

A new project dictates a new web diary thingy, so here we go.

Motorbikes? Pah! Old hat! I have moved on to the next phase of my mid-life crisis :-)  (Not quite true actually as my next motorbike restoration http://xbrcafe.blogspot.co.uk/ is waiting in the wings to start, but there are no bikes "on the road" at the moment.)

Over the last year, since my sons both went to university, I have been devoting a lot more time to finally trying to improve my guitaring skills beyond the "chord thrashing" that I have constantly revisited for the past 40 odd years. And I am not doing badly; following the mantra that "I am not quite as crap this week as I was last week......". 

Part of my motivation was to buy myself a decent guitar six months or so ago - a lovely Yamaha LL6 to replace the basic Yamaha F310 I had bought off EBay a couple of years back.

Talk about chalk and cheese - I love playing this and finally am in the habit of pretty regular practice most days. It really is not rocket science - the more you practice the better you get - amazing that it took me 40 years to realise that!

Anyway, to cut to the chase, I still have the F310 and use it to practice when I'm away from home, but I wanted to start messing with some alternative tunings, so obviously NEED a new guitar :-). (As all guitarists, cyclists, motorcyclists etc know, the correct number of guitars, bicycles, motorcycles etc to own is n+1, where n = the number currently owned.)

Also, I am trying to get over my fear of playing in front of people and have started joining in sessions at folk festivals etc (where I can hide in the crowd!) I want to play something reasonable but hate the idea of my good guitar sitting in the boot of the car or in a tent for days at a time.

Anyway to cut a long story short, I started looking out for something cheap and cheerful on EBay that I wouldn't be scared to chuck in the car or have hanging around a tent. Something I'm not going to lose sleep over if it takes a knock. But something that is still nice enough to play. I'm not afraid of woodworking etc - I reglued a broken neck on an old 12 string when I was 14 or 15 and got years out of it. So it occurred to me that I might be able to find something cheap that had taken a bit of a knock and needed repairing.

After a few weeks I came across this sad lost cause!

It's a Yamaha again (getting the theme here?), an APX4 electro-acoustic. The photo makes it look better than it is..... 

Good Bits:

• it's a Yamaha (the current APX series was actually on my short list when I got the LL6.) 
• it has a nice slimline body and is very comfortable to play.
• the neck seems nice and straight and the action is OK.
• the fretboard looks nicely worn in, but not worn out.
• the electrics all work.
• it has had new machine heads fitted.
• the headstock area is all nicely finished and undamaged.
• The bridge area seems stable.

Bad Bits:

• a crack in the neck has previously been repaired, but looks to have been done reasonably well and is "stable".
• the "pickguard" appears to have been fashioned out of some old lino flooring and has been carefully designed to cover up damage below.
• when the pickguard is peeled back, there is impact damage to the bottom of the soundhole area.
• this appears to have caused some of the internal bracing between the soundhole and cutaway area to have become detached.
• that in turn appears to have caused crazing in the finish in the cutaway area.
• I think the impact damage shown to the bottom right of the guitar is superficial. It looks like it's been dropped on that corner but I don't think the bracing has broken in that area, just the finish (either thick lacquer or maybe some delamination?)
• A small area of the back / side in the same area has started to pull away - possibly linked to being dropped?
• The finish generally is pants - lacquer is blooming in parts as well as the cracking noted above. But I'm not too worried about the look of it.
• The saddle is cracked in 3 places.
• The battery for the pre-amp is hanging loose inside.

Anyway, it was missing a string, so I strung it up with an old E string I had lying around; tuned it up and it plays pretty nicely. The strings look ancient and that together with the damage means it doesn't sound great (but probably still better than the F310). What's more it stayed reasonably in tune overnight. 

Here are the photos off EBay:

And so it joins the Shearer home for lost causes.

It only cost me £30, so if my repairs go horribly wrong it won't owe me anything. Initial thoughts are that it needs the following work doing:

• re-glue the internal bracing that has come away. That should restore some rigidity in the soundhole / cutaway area.
• check all the remaining bracing and re-glue any that has come away.
• re-glue small back/side joint area.
• remove the pickguard and adhesive residue.
• repair the broken wood around the soundhole.
• try and rebond the delaminated lacquer area with superglue. (Possibly set in a small area of veneer if that doesn't work?)
• refinish the neck, possibly just the repaired area initially?
• replace the saddle.
• reattach battery correctly or find a way to relocate it.
• restring and set up.
• then I'll take a decision on whether to refinish the top, but I won't be going for anything exquisite! (Remember the brief was to have a guitar that I'm not too precious about.
• Play, play and play again......

Most of that list is time. The biggest expense will be buying some appropriate clamps etc. 

I'll post more as the story unfolds - watch this space....