The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂

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estebanana

Posts: 9357
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂

Got a side job for a neighborhood friend who found an old guitar.

It’s a Japanese guitar probably made before the war. It’s not very good, but it’s charming. I said I’d 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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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 12 2023 7:34:48

estebanana

Posts: 9357
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to estebanana)

The rest of it. I’ll post more as I do it.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 12 2023 7:36:18

Stu

Posts: 2537
Joined: Jan. 30 2007
From: London (the South of it), England

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to estebanana)

aw youre a good guy. that looks painful! and the more you scratch the more you realise there is to sort out.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 12 2023 21:20:38

Firefrets

Posts: 111
Joined: Mar. 22 2023

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (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?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 13 2023 7:47:54

estebanana

Posts: 9357
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to estebanana)

Instead of removing the back. Reglued the loose end of the top brace too. It’s got one diagonal brace. It crosses the top from treble side at the waist to the lower bout side at 45* angle. It’s tall and thick and unsanded. I might take a long chisel and carve it down a bit, it’s intuitively too tall and wide.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 14 2023 9:55:43

estebanana

Posts: 9357
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to estebanana)

You don’t 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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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 17 2023 18:27:32

Firefrets

Posts: 111
Joined: Mar. 22 2023

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (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?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 31 2023 10:04:33

estebanana

Posts: 9357
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (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 didn’t get too fancy rebuilding the bridge as it wasn’t very nice to start with. I did push it back a few mm to correct compensation position and I’ll have to touch up the light colored wood in front of the bridge, but again not a thing I’ll fuss over because it’s a free job and the object is just seeing it through to playing condition.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Aug. 31 2023 15:48:06

estebanana

Posts: 9357
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to estebanana)

Restoration completed 👍

I’m waiting overnight with the guitar at string tension to wake up. It’s been maybe 30 years since it’s been up to tension ( or more) I suspect this is a late 1940’s early 50’s 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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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 3 2023 14:56:44

Firefrets

Posts: 111
Joined: Mar. 22 2023

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to estebanana)

Looks like an old bridge, nice job.

What's she sound like?

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 3 2023 20:38:43

estebanana

Posts: 9357
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to estebanana)

Here you go:

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 4 2023 5:33:55

Firefrets

Posts: 111
Joined: Mar. 22 2023

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to estebanana)

She has a good growl to be fair to her.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 4 2023 7:17:18

estebanana

Posts: 9357
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to Firefrets)

I played some Tarrega on it and it sounded like a freaking Torres, but I won’t show myself playing any Tarrega because Ricardo finds Tarrega deeply offensive. 😂

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 4 2023 9:22:47

orsonw

Posts: 1937
Joined: Jul. 4 2009
From: London

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to estebanana)

Thanks for posting and sharing your benevolent and expert restoration skills.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 4 2023 14:20:29

Firefrets

Posts: 111
Joined: Mar. 22 2023

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (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.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 4 2023 15:26:46

estebanana

Posts: 9357
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to orsonw)

He seems happy with it.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 4 2023 15:55:39

ernandez R

Posts: 742
Joined: Mar. 25 2019
From: Alaska USA

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to estebanana)

!OLÉ!

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

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 4 2023 17:00:08

Ricardo

Posts: 14825
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (in reply to estebanana)

quote:

ORIGINAL: estebanana

I played some Tarrega on it and it sounded like a freaking Torres, but I won’t show myself playing any Tarrega because Ricardo finds Tarrega deeply offensive. 😂

Tarrega is offensive only on the orange Condes.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Sep. 5 2023 12:17:52

estebanana

Posts: 9357
Joined: Oct. 16 2009

RE: The Firefrets Challenge 😂 😂 (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 won’t show myself playing any Tarrega because Ricardo finds Tarrega deeply offensive. 😂

Tarrega is offensive only on the orange Condes.