Saturday, April 13, 2019

Guild F30 Jumbo Blues Guitar 1973


This Guitar was brought to me by a musician friend. 
This Guild F30 has been flooded, dropped, burnt and stood on.
The damage was significant. The twice broken peg head had been repaired by an amateur with marine epoxy glue. Correct alignment had not been achieved and the truss rod  slot and adjuster nut were completely encased in epoxy resin. The faux tortoise shell pick guard has shrunk and stress cracked the sound board. The bridge was partially detached and there were several stress cracks around the rib and bottom of the guitar.
This is how the guitar came to me.
Note epoxy resin, blistered finish and faded logo

I begin to reattach the broken peg head.

I drilled 2 diagonal holes into the first two machine head holes right across the repaired break, in toward the nut slot in the neck

I routed a 5 mm trough in the back of the neck repair and inserted a 5 mm carbon rod I also inserted two  more 5 mm carbon rods into the diagonal holes, all bedded in neat epoxy resin.

I cut a piece of mahogany veneer to match the peg head and laminated it on to the face to conceal the damage.

Restored peg head prior to finishing. Note that all the epoxy from the previous repair has been removed with a dremel tool.

Another view of the repair.

Peg head stained to match the body of the guitar, GUILD logo hand painted on and clear finished.

A rear view of the repair.

Guitar now ready to reattach the bridge.

Re strung, neck relief adjusted, new truss rod cover, all in all a very playable guitar brought back from disaster.
I refinished the repaired body with french polish which binds well with NC lacquer and is reversible should someone want to do another restoration in the future.