Repairing a beaten up guitar: help please.

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ecross

Posts: 20
Joined: Jun. 28 2011
From: British Columbia, Canada

Repairing a beaten up guitar: help p...

I have an old Terada classical guitar that I bought for $20 from my friend's parents. You can tell by looking at it that it was never taken care of, even to the point of some significant damage.

I want to try my hand at repairing some of the damage and refinishing it. It is not important enough for me to have done professionally, and I don't intend on doing an absolutely fantastic job on it either. I just want to see what I can do and I feel this is a good guitar for me to try it on. I don't really intend on returning it to how it looked before, I want to experiment with changing the colour of the wood too.

Here are some pictures: http://postimage.org/gallery/5tozjj9u0/fea6c403/

Any advice on how to fix the broken part on the back would be greatly appreciated.

I know there has been other threads about refinishing, but if you are posting here then feel free to say a few words about some basic refinishing processes or tips for me.

Thank you very much,

Elijah

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 15 2011 22:43:48

Flamingrae

Posts: 220
Joined: May 19 2009

RE: Repairing a beaten up guitar: he... (in reply to ecross)

I'm not an expert but here goes.........
Head - dont worry too much about this until you are re-finishing, then sand out any bad marks.
Heel - re-cap with wood of your choice - poss. rosewood?
Rosette - could be your hardest job. Depends on your standards - to do a prof. job you would have to fit similar grained wood to fill the broken part - then find similar bindings to re-inlay. Problem here is that it's weak structurally and you could really wreck the rest of it if your not careful. If you cant find similar bindings - just inlay a bit of black/white binding - or dont......see whats happening behind too, if it's backed or not. At the least, just fit a similar grained wood and draw a black line. (not my choice, but it's an option).
Back - get any loose crap out then re-glue and clamp to the original level. Check whats happening with the linings on the inside too. Might have to replace if any are not there. When it dry you can re-sand and finish to your own standard.
If you want to change the colour then strip everything off with paint remover (with care) - resand (gently) stain whatever colour - then refinish. There are a number of options for this.
If I was doing this.......I'd go heel - back - rosette, then sand the head and lightly finish everything with a laquer of french depending on whats there. Then leave it alone and play. Repair and restoration calls for sympathetic skill to what has to be done.
Hope this helps - maybe someone else has got another view on this - many ways to skin a cat.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 16 2011 13:57:43

ecross

Posts: 20
Joined: Jun. 28 2011
From: British Columbia, Canada

RE: Repairing a beaten up guitar: he... (in reply to ecross)

Thank you.

Anyone else?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 20 2011 18:18:09

Andy Culpepper

Posts: 3023
Joined: Mar. 30 2009
From: NY, USA

RE: Repairing a beaten up guitar: he... (in reply to ecross)

Honest opinion .. I personally don't think it's worth it. You can't really do a great repair on a ripped up piece of plywood like that. I'd say if it plays, play it and don't worry about it. It'll probably sound as good as it ever did even with all that damage. The easiest job if you wanted to do it would be to slap another heel cap on there. Just cut a piece of rosewood or whatever you have to fit and then glue it on with a clamp.

_____________________________

Andy Culpepper, luthier
http://www.andyculpepper.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 20 2011 22:13:01

Flamingrae

Posts: 220
Joined: May 19 2009

RE: Repairing a beaten up guitar: he... (in reply to Andy Culpepper)

quote:

You can't really do a great repair on a ripped up piece of plywood like that. I'd say if it plays, play it and don't worry about it.

You got in a oner - but if the mood moves you and you want to go there.....well, follow what you think is best......I've transported pretty crap chinese ( and no offence meant ) violins to greater glory by simple tweeking - how much does that box mean?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 21 2011 0:26:09

ecross

Posts: 20
Joined: Jun. 28 2011
From: British Columbia, Canada

RE: Repairing a beaten up guitar: he... (in reply to ecross)

It definitely would be some work, and the guitar doesn't mean much to me. But those are the reasons why I am thinking about doing it; it can't get any worse so will make for a no-risk first project.

I'm still on the fence though I must admit.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Jul. 21 2011 6:30:09