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So it's that time again to change the Golpeador, this time on my 3rd most played guitar the 1973 Sobrinos de Esteso. I was concerned because I don' know what the finish is...I think it's a clear shellac FP over the old honey colored whatever to preserve what was not worn off. Anyway, a little lighter fluid did not look good in one spot, so I got the pure Naptha this time. I only have to remove bottom half as the previous owner had a two piece with a perfect seam between the B and G strings. It came off pretty easy thank god. No harm to original finish. Photos here: http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=291529&appid=&p=&mpage=1&key=&tmode=1
First photo, after removal.
Second photo shows the hardest process of taking off the gummy adhesive... Very time consuming. Naptha and cotton balls, but a bare finger works best to get it up.
Third photo shows the new plate with blue protective film. I made 3 mistakes so I know for next time. 1. While tracing the new plate design, with black marker, I was near the guitar checking dimensions and drop the stupid marker on the guitar. I quickly rubbed it out with water but it was really dumb mistake. 2. While cutting the Golpeador the scissors I used were not super sharp and cause a little imperfection on the edge. Very frustrating. 3. The worst of all, I thought it would be easier than putting a full plate on but it was actually much harder because the masking tape trick, marking your positions, is not super accurate when you dealing with a perfect seam alignment. So I was off by a fraction of a millimeter and after sticking down near the bridge, I realized it but it was already too late. So I just put it on and the seam shows the imperfection. Probably next change I will just do it again with rulers or something, or maybe change the top half too.
So the last picture shows the finished job but at least the seam is camouflaged by the strings.
ORIGINAL: Ricardo So it's that time again to change the Golpeador, this time on my 3rd most played guitar the 1973 Sobrinos de Esteso. ...... It came off pretty easy thank god. No harm to original finish.
And the winner of the biggest balls goes to...
Wow, wouldn' t even attempt that on my cheapest guitar.
Thanks for posting your experiences. It can be hard for the nerves to take of a tapplate. Lacquer and varnish is not the biggest deal, but French polished guitars can be difficult and if they have cedar tops even more.
Thanks for posting your experiences. It can be hard for the nerves to take of a tapplate. Lacquer and varnish is not the biggest deal, but French polished guitars can be difficult and if they have cedar tops even more.
It's very sad that the guitars we love to play flamenco on the most, will need the change so often. I also feel bad about guitar strings and tuners...entropy is a fact of life.
The cool thing is that a new Golpeador makes it look and feel like a brand new guitar, which for me is very inspiring. Learning how to do this thing myself has really relieved stress.
It's very sad that the guitars we love to play flamenco on the most, will need the change so often. I also feel bad about guitar strings and tuners...entropy is a fact of life.
The cool thing is that a new Golpeador makes it look and feel like a brand new guitar, which for me is very inspiring. Learning how to do this thing myself has really relieved stress.
4th installment, my prized Conde negra. This time I had the help of a student, I wanted to show him how it was done. The two of us completed the whole job in 1.5hr! We used patience but now thatI know how to do it, it went super efficiently and I must admit the cleanest most perfect one I have done yet! Naphtha, Q-tips and cotton balls.
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Sometimes it is very difficult to remove the pickguard on shellac varnished guitars, recently I have repaired a very good one that the client had mistreated with many nights of partying ..... now he was sorry and came to my workshop .......
The guitar belonged to Juan Montero Aguilera, I also knew him personally ... it is an extraordinary guitar.
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I did not sand it, I simply cleaned it and proceeded to restore it and leave it as new ......., Sometimes I don't understand people, how can you do this with a guitar of this category? Some more photographs.....
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nice job. Cedar and shellacs is a terrible combo to remove the golpeador and now it's a task I avoid. I sadly admit it happened have almost ruined an expensive guitar by removing the golpeador and I assure you I was extremely careful: it's just that some wood fibres where so well glued that they came off when peeling...
The work is already done I recorded a video ........
I can not quote because I do not have a choice ... Don't worry Echi, I'm going to upload a video for you all so you can see how you can do it without breaking the guitar. It is not easy at all when it comes to shellac and cedar, on guitar with nitro or polyurethane I would not have problems but with this guitars ... I will look for the recordings and give you the link.
Ricardo here you are a fragment of the video, it was too long and I have cut it, I simply explained to the client some things about his instrument, I had finished placing the strings and it was inside the workshop not in the store.
Does anyone know why I don't have the option to quote?
Very good job Pali. If you don't mind: can you say how did you do that? Didi you remove the golpeador just with a Googone or other turpentine based thinner? Did you steam a little the top in some areas or you west went with shellac> Spray or muneca? I am currently restoring an old Sobrinos de Esteso and I'm taking it easy: just padding with muneca in order to keep it as original as possible.
After reading through this posting I went with the Googone and no little patience to remove what I considered an ugly extra strip that extended the stock golpeador installed by the previous owner on my 2000 Conde. Results were great,can't even tell it was there now.. once again ,thanks to this great forun for excellent advice!
I'm surprised it needed to be replaced. I thought Condes were using the really thick golpeadores that would never wear out.
Sorry for any confusion.. I removed an extra strip,maybe a couple inches wide that adjoined the existing and like you say, very thick stock golpeador Conde installs.
It was put on by the previous owner to presumably guard against long nail abrasion.Not needing such a thing( my pitiful nails and nowadays restrained 'technique' is quite gentle on my guitars!) and not caring for the irregular lines and the overall appearance I wanted it gone. And got gone it was ,nicely done as described here on the forum with Googone,patience and a glass of wine!
Muy buen trabajo Pali. Si no te importa: ¿puedes decir cómo hiciste eso? ¿Quitó el golpeador solo con un Googone u otro diluyente a base de trementina? ¿Pusiste un poco de vapor en la parte superior en algunas áreas o te fuiste al oeste con goma laca> Spray o muneca? Actualmente estoy restaurando un viejo Sobrinos de Esteso y me lo estoy tomando con calma: basta con rellenar con muneca para mantenerlo lo más original posible.
Hi echi, I am sorry for the delay because I had to fix the video, you can already see the complete process, if you have any questions I will be happy to answer. Do not forget to subscribe and finger up, we are going to learn many things.
Yikes, I guess that is a hot iron? I used the hair dryer (focused heat with a foil cone) first and was warned about possibly melting the glue for the braces etc, or drying out the soundboard. Hoping other luthiers weigh in. Can’t you just use NAPTHA on FP cedar top too? Worked on the nitro guitar just fine.
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