Hi Everyone,
trusting that you and your guitars are well and dealing with the extraordinary humidity. Been here for nineteen years now and this is the worst.
But finding ways to manage it, and side-track it! A few workshop modifications have worked well.
This year I'm going to post details of a lot of interesting repairs and restorations
Last year I received a '61 SG that had been refinished in white, over its original "cherry". Not a great job, and with holes drilled for a cheap Asian bridge and tailpiece. Aargh. The white-paint guy also sanded the bevels so that the edges were rounded over. Aargh. One of the nice thing about the first few years of SGs is how sharp those bevels and cutaways are. Over the years they became much less clear and defined,
The other thing (a warning sign) is that any Gibson refinished in a a solid colour (such as white) usually means that the new colour is there to cover a break, either headstock or heel. I stripped this guy back to wood and...no break!
So, after LOTS or work srtipping, sanding, plugging, patching, carving
and dressing I had the old Gibson ready for re-finishing back to the
"original" cherry-stained red. Worked nicely!
Rather pleased with that one!
This very valuable guitar is still a "re-finish", but it is now a pretty-good refinish rather than the previous horrible one. This guitar would be worth about $25,000 in perfect original condition, and would have been worth maybe 20% of that at best after the BAD re-finish.
The new refinish will add significant value. Rule-of-thumb is that a guitar that is refinished well should be worth perhaps half to two-thirds of a perfect original one
But the best thing about this job is that the guitar looks as it should! Plays and sounds great!
I'm always happy to do even the smallest jobs to keep your guitars playing. But being able to bring a guitar like this back to how it should be is very rewarding and quite a privilege.
Andrew
