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Got a side job for a neighborhood friend who found an old guitar.
Itโs a Japanese guitar probably made before the war. Itโs not very good, but itโs charming. I said Iโd fix it to playing condition. I started to check out the situation, the bridge is coming off, and the top binding is loose in the lower bout. Hmm..
Poked it with an awl and a long section of inside top liner fell off, it came unglued from the rib. Now an easy bridge restoration just got complicated.
I removed the binding halfway around the top and lifted the top of the rib by cutting the seam open with a violin makers top removal knife. So far doing good. Now to devise some clamps and get the liner glued back on the rib.
Many people would have removed the back, too much work.
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RE: The Firefrets Challenge ๐ ๐ (in reply to estebanana)
She's old. I doubt she was built for modern steel string tension though, so maybe consider throwing a set of Thomastik John Pearce strings on when done. Similar to the old saddleless Ibanez bridges. Ladder bracing?
RE: The Firefrets Challenge ๐ ๐ (in reply to estebanana)
Instead of removing the back. Reglued the loose end of the top brace too. Itโs got one diagonal brace. It crosses the top from treble side at the waist to the lower bout side at 45* angle. Itโs tall and thick and unsanded. I might take a long chisel and carve it down a bit, itโs intuitively too tall and wide.
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RE: The Firefrets Challenge ๐ ๐ (in reply to estebanana)
You donโt have to glue it all back together in one go. Sometimes I find it necessary to glue things back together incrementally in order to keep it all lined up.
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RE: The Firefrets Challenge ๐ ๐ (in reply to estebanana)
Gluing them back in sections is 100% the best way to go, especially on a guitar that's lost it's shape. I'll spend as long as it takes, trying to read the guitar, often jamming struts inside, squeezing with clamps etc, and make notes, with loads of dry runs. I've done a few in one go, but you really don't need that kind of stress in your life. It's absolutely not a one session job. How have you been getting on with it?
RE: The Firefrets Challenge ๐ ๐ (in reply to estebanana)
Today I glued the rebuilt bridge and binding back on. A few quick decisions to make, but a few more hours and it will be strung up. I didnโt get too fancy rebuilding the bridge as it wasnโt very nice to start with. I did push it back a few mm to correct compensation position and Iโll have to touch up the light colored wood in front of the bridge, but again not a thing Iโll fuss over because itโs a free job and the object is just seeing it through to playing condition.
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RE: The Firefrets Challenge ๐ ๐ (in reply to estebanana)
Restoration completed ๐
Iโm waiting overnight with the guitar at string tension to wake up. Itโs been maybe 30 years since itโs been up to tension ( or more) I suspect this is a late 1940โs early 50โs guitar.
It belongs to a friend who found it in his great aunts old house. The woman lived near and was always very kind. Evidently she was a teacher, I have to inquire about which subject, but I remember her in the neighborhood as a charming person. When she died her dog went to live with her niece, who is now 75. I used to visit the dog several times a week to take her for a walk in the park. The dogs name was Hana, flower. Hana died and the niece s appreciated I took her for walks. Funny a gaijin in the middle of nowhere walking a dog, this prompted kids to follow and be amused by the dog and the foreigner talking to each other in English.
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RE: The Firefrets Challenge ๐ ๐ (in reply to Firefrets)
I played some Tarrega on it and it sounded like a freaking Torres, but I wonโt show myself playing any Tarrega because Ricardo finds Tarrega deeply offensive. ๐
RE: The Firefrets Challenge ๐ ๐ (in reply to estebanana)
I like a bit of Tarrega. I wouldn't have a clue what a Torres sounds like in the flesh, but I think the old Valencian builders, with their rustic approach, probably get close.
RE: The Firefrets Challenge ๐ ๐ (in reply to estebanana)
!OLร!
There is a bit of magic taking something old and making it sing again. Often it doesn't make economical sense, waste time etc. But the reward though less tangible is often worth more then the sum of those costs.
The smile on this guys face says it's so!
HR
_____________________________
I prefer my flamenco guitar spicy, doesn't have to be fast, should have some meat on the bones, can be raw or well done, as long as it doesn't sound like it's turning green on an elevator floor.
Posts: 15412
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
RE: The Firefrets Challenge ๐ ๐ (in reply to estebanana)
quote:
ORIGINAL: estebanana
I played some Tarrega on it and it sounded like a freaking Torres, but I wonโt show myself playing any Tarrega because Ricardo finds Tarrega deeply offensive. ๐
RE: The Firefrets Challenge ๐ ๐ (in reply to Ricardo)
quote:
ORIGINAL: Ricardo
quote:
ORIGINAL: estebanana
I played some Tarrega on it and it sounded like a freaking Torres, but I wonโt show myself playing any Tarrega because Ricardo finds Tarrega deeply offensive. ๐
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