Guitar Restoration- Guild F-30

[mahayana]

I don't know if any of you have tried this, taking a broken guitar and bringing it back to useful life, but I have a doozy to attempt. It's a little Guild acoustic (early 60s) that got backed up on by a Chevy pick-up truck.

I sent an e-mail to BobMc, one of the early members who knows something about repairs, we'll see if he responds. Anybody else have words of wisdom?

I'll start out describing the damage (it's sad), maybe post some pictures, before I tear into it.

[anders]

Got no words of wisdom really. I can only wish you good luck with your abitious project. Please let us know how it's developing.

[mahayana]

I don't know about ambitious, is trepiditious a word? I've gone so far as to get a catalog of lutier's supplies, but taking the body apart requires steaming and chiseling. I'd like to save the top, replace the back. Both are broken, I just have a preconception that the tone has a lot to do with the top and its finish.

I've done a lot of furniture repair and refinishing, built those balsa wood and paper airplanes as a child. I'll probably have to manufacture some struts and get some specialized clamps, learn how to install the trim at the edges.

So far, I'm just talking, hah! This is the letter I sent to Bob:

"Hi, Bob. Hope you're still at this address. I found it over at Jazz Guitar proboards, you said one place that you worked part-time at a guitar repair shop. Anyway, I bought a used Guild F-30 back in '66 at a guitar store in Schenectady, NY. First good guitar I ever had, sweet bell-like upper register tone. It got backed over by a pick-up truck about 20 years ago and I've been thinking of fixing it all this time.

A couple of odd details make me think it could have belonged to Richie Havens (the one that played "Here Comes The Sun" at Woodstock), the thing was strummed really hard, wood chewed below the pick-guard and on the top side of the strings, Schenectady is not far from Woodstock, I read an article that said RH played F-30s, and the timing fits.

Anyway, I was thinking of starting a discussion at Jazz Guitar about a major repair job, but I need guidance. (that's an understatement!) Would you consider helping me out? I'm a carpenter presently working as a mechanic, have done furniture before, also one restoration of an acoustic F-hole that was in pieces, but had nothing broken.

What say? Thanks, Andy (mahayana)"

[mahayana]

I watched a show on the DIY channel yesterday, which showed a custom guitar maker building a reproduction of a 1928 Martin. It was a little sketchy, showing two weeks of work in an hour program, but it did inspire me to get the Guild out of the broken case.

So far, I've removed the strings and pegs ( walnut bridge is completely split), pulled off the pickguard, taken the cover off the trussrod. The top appears to be straight-grained spruce, like the Martin on the show. I've decided now that it's totally ruined, cracked and broken, so my "repair" will be replacing it. Think I can reglue the back and sides, but (after watching the show) my original idea to repair the top was wrong. The top is the most important piece, acoustically speaking.

So now, if I follow the example backwards, I need to remove the neck, then the top binding, then the top.

At that point, purchase a "blank," cut the new soundhole, transfer the bracing, install the new top, install new binding, new bridge, reattach the neck...whew!

Has anyone ever removed a trussrod? I think that's my next step, before I steam the glue and remove the neck. My guess is I need a "jamnut" so the rod can be unscrewed from the topblock inside the guitar body.

Any thoughts or advice?

[mahayana]

I found this over at Acoustic Guitar:

"On the Web: Great Lutherie Sites
Acoustic Guitar magazine's On the Web department offers
great information about hot spots on the Internet. The
August issue featured some great on-line resources for
luthiers. Want to learn more about how your guitar was made?
Ever wonder how a neck reset is done? Dying to try your
hand at instrument repair? Try a few of the links below."

www.dave.weimer.com
www.ehhs.cmich.edu/~dhavlena
www.frets.com
www.mimf.com
www.stewmac.com

----

Frets.com is an interesting place. I wrote to Frank Ford (it's his site) and described the project. Should be interesting to see what he says. Frank is the moderator at Luthier's Corner at Acoustic Guitars' discussion forums.

[mahayana]

Frank wrote:

"The truss rod adjustment has no particular bearing on neck removal.

Takes a lot of steam to get those old Guild necks off!"

Hmmm...guess I was wrong in thinking that the truss rod screwed into the topblock inside the body. Time to re-read the "neck reset" article, can't remember which fret to remove to drill the holes down to the dovetail joint. Probably the one even with the body.

[mahayana]

Nope, wrong again. It's the 15th fret.

Here's the link for the "neck reset" article:

www.acousticguitar.com/gear/advice/neckresets.shtml

Now, when you get the urge to pull the neck off one of your guirars, you'll know how!