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....
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