Let’s
take a moment to spread a little hope to the guitar community. Every
week someone happens into our shop with an all to familiar story.
Do you repair guitars? - Can you salvage mine?
Before
I began repairing guitars I myself was just such a customer, thinking
that my guitar was to far gone. Knowing that nothing could be done to
save my prised yard-sale musical weapon of choice. Oh but I was wrong.
Way wrong. So now I'm telling the gospel. The good news.
This
is a forty year old Martin D-28. She sounds so sweet. Something like
twenty years ago the original tuners were replaced. Bummer. (with all
original parts this guitar would be worth more) Now these “new” tuners
have worn out and need to be replaced. No problem. All in a days work at
A&S Music.
I had a good set of Grover tuners in stock that would match the
original tuners “footprint”. At least this old flat top would look all
original. A screwdriver and a reamer were all I needed for this simple
job. But its never simple.
Here are some pictures.
Done.
ready for another twenty years of The Possum and Bocephus. I’m about to
call the customer, when he called me... I know you probably can’t do
anything about this, he says, but the pickguard is curling up around the
edges. Will you look and see if anything can be done? Oh ye of little
faith.
A
pickguard will shrink over time (like forty years) and begin to curl
like this one. sometimes even pulling the finish off of the guitar. This
one is not so bad. Just needs a little attention.
First thing for me to do is remove the pickguard - carefully - from the
guitar. For these kind of jobs i use a putty knife -that i have ground
thin- and a heat gun. The heat from the gun helps to soften the forty
year old glue. The knife I use to separate the pickguard from the body
slowly.
And
slow is the key here. If you're trying this project yourself (please
don’t practice on a classic guitar like this one!) remember that the
object is to leave all the wood on the guitar. Watch the knife as it
slides under the pickguard. Feel that the motion is smooth and that you
are not picking up any splinters. Reheat from time to time as you go.
soon enough the pickguard will be loose and you’ll be ready for phase
two.
The only skill required in this line of work is patience. You will use a lot in a job like this!
Time to clean. using scrapers and sanding blocks I remove all of the
old excess glue. With both the guitar and pickguard clean, I’m ready to
re-glue. For this I’ll need clamps and cauls. Here is a caul i made for the
job.
For
a job like this I thin wood glue with a little water. It won’t take
much to hold the pickguard down. A little glue and a clamp and a night
to set.
One reason I use wood glue is because it is water soluble, making cleanup a breeze. A damp paper towel is all i need.
A
sharp eye can see that the pickguard has shrunk and now sits within its
original borders. No longer pulling against itself, the pickguard lays
flat and snug.
Project complete. Now to string her up and play “Bye Bye Love” until a happy customer comes to pick up his baby.
