Granny's makeover

costafonix · 2011-10-04T20:08:30+00:00

This guitar has been in the family since before I was born, and belonged to my late father. It's a no-name brand, estimated to be in the region of 60 ~ 65 years old. My brother and me decided it would be cool to restore her into her former glory (i'll be doing the elbow grease stuff and he'll supply any parts from overseas) so that we could do something special in memory of our old man who passed away 10 years ago. We all learned to play guitar on this 3/4 size axe which was so badly used and abused it almost landed up in the dump. This restoration project is still in progress and is in no way on the level of detail/expertise of Slyds rebuild nor Neon Gecko's Tokai repair (watch this space as Neon Gecko collaborates on this project later on), I apologise up front for the poor quality of some of the pics taken from my cellphone. ok, so here goes, dusty, battered and bruised with a missing 12th fret and some wood hacked out of the fretboard, with no nut and a really really bad 'varnish' job attempted over 30 years ago....let the fun & games begin

costafonix

and just when you thought things could not get any better..........
Out comes the polishing compound and the buffing begins.....

one word - beautiful....

this is how she was meant to be

Wayne - thank you sir :applause: :yup:

Zulublues

WOW ! looks really great. Dunno why, but looking at this beauty makes me think of Robert Johnson and the type of guitar that he would have been able to buy back in the day. Maybe this is the beginning of something new!?!?

Guys, keep it coming. We will all be sad when this is finished. It reminds me of being much younger and waiting for the next installment of Dallas ! !

costafonix

thanks Zulublues,,,
True, it does have a look of Robert Johnson era about it....

still some good stuff coming up....

here are the 'forthcoming attractions'....... :-

the fitting of the retro-tuners (SLYD features here)....
final touching up of the fretboard (an 'almost' invisible repair to the chip off the wood)....
How the bone nut was made......
An 'added' feature to the wooden tailpiece.....

and before I move onto that, here's one more 'Mirror finish' image ?

camba

Looking good !

Neon-Gecko

Thanks Costa, It was a real pleasure working on the "old gal"! ?

At least now I get to see new developments, really looking forward to that...

deefstes

NO WAYS! That is absolutely gorgeous!

slyd

Wow! Nothing like a highly buffed sheen to make a guitarist weak at the knees :-[ ?
Superb ?

Norman86

Im also looking forward to the new advancements!
Come on Costa, is she done yet???
?

costafonix

ha h aha,.,,, thanks camba/deefstes/slyd/Norm,,,,
nope,,, still some really cool fun coming up,,,
patience, patience ?

rikus

We have some real artists in our midsts!

That is superb work! Well done...

Neon-Gecko

Thanks Deefstes, Slyd and Rikus. I'm really pleased with the way she came out at the end. The really great thing is when the customer is more thrilled than I am... ?

Zulublues

Come on guys, no pics of the final episode??

I am sure that I am not the only one being held in suspense...............

costafonix

Its BAAAAAACK......... ?
sorry for the break in transmission (Keira's ES175 kept me busy for a bit)... ?
Now,, where were we?? oh yes...
time for some NUT work
Shaping the bone from this

to this

checking height and angles

shaping and some polishing

you may notice a glimpse of the aged tuners.....
in the manwhile I sent the wooden tailpiece for a bit of custom 'engraving'......
but more on that ,,,,,,,,, later ?

costafonix

Time to fit those reto-tuners.....
everythings going so smoothly....
too smoothly........
and in my rush,, I miscalculate the width of the hole for the bush on the high E by 0.5mm......and now the bush is too loose.. >☹ >☹

WWSD??? (What Would Slyd Do)?????
I contact The Maestro-McGyver Slyd and he very kindly provides 2 options :-
1. Fill the hole with a hardwood dial stick and redrill the hole
2. Fill the edge with woodfiller and smooth out the inside.
With only 0.5mm to play with, Option 1 is not an option,,,, so its Option 2.

and we're back on track...

Thank you Slyd....

footnote - NEVER rush a job like this and DOUBLECHECK your measurements...........
coming up next - the handywork on the wooden tailpiece by a lady called Amanda.......

slyd

CostaFonix wrote Thank you Slyd....

Hey, ... .. anytime mate ?

Wow, those tuners are a great match for the headstock! Nice 8)

singemonkey

slyd wrote Wow, those tuners are a great match for the headstock! Nice 8)

camba

hi,
there is/was a third option -
using a strip of thick cardboard, trim for appropriate height (of headstock), roll that bit into a cylinder, and use that as a shim, remember to check for fit and trim as required, before glueing into place, use a dowel of correct diameter as a temporary 'clamp' to make sure it stays in position. NB the glue will make the cardboard cylinder a bit thicker, also remember to wax/grease the dowel so that you can remove it later. ?

The guitar's looking good, I think I'd better plan a visit

c'ya!

costafonix

thanks Slyd & Singemonkey..
The tuners are really cool, but those bushes are really not talking to me,,,,
I'm thinking I should try something different there,,,,
then I'll post more pics and put it to the vote

thanks Camba,, good idea, although i'm hoping not to make the same stupid mistake twice.
yeh pop around.

racman

Looks great - now all we need are sound clips when she's done!

costafonix

Some interesting developments, and a small about turn on the headstock coming up...
Telkom went down again so could not upload any pics,,, but all should be fixed before this weekend, so watch out for the continuation of this project... ?

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