Taylor 214 CE Grand Auditorium neck rebuild.

The owner of this badly damaged guitar sought to replace the neck with a new one. The cost was prohibitive. I offered to repair it for him but in the end he chose to sell me the wreck.

The guitar was in its padded gig bag when someone stood on it by mistake.

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The neck just after glueing and clamping.

The neck after sanding. Already the repair is hard to see.I fabricated a new tube nut as the
original one had been misplaced along with the missing section of neck heel after the accident.

My newly fabricated steel tube nut.

I made a new heel from a scrap of sapele mahogany.

Another view of the neck heel concealed within is the tube nut

The ebony finger board with all the chips and divits filled with ebony dust and superglue.

Test fitting of the neck before finishing.

Another view of the neck repair.

Close up of neck repair. I was fortunate to get the neck angle the same as original as I had no
need to change the original shims for exact neck adjustment.

Here I am glueing and end cap on to the heel of the neck

A light sunburst stain to blend the two different tones of mahogany, then 2 coats of Satin Lacquer.

Final bolt on prior to the fitting of hardware.

Hardware fitted.

Another view of the finished neck repair

The completed guitar with new strings and saddle. Ideal neck relief, string height and intonation.
It looks like new again.

Gibson J50, Dreadnought acoustic 1967

I recently completed a re-fret, new saddle, set up and neck refinish on this beautiful 1967 Gibson J50.

First day on the work bench. Strip down of all fittings.

The neck was suffering from a breakdown of the lacquer finish. I decided to take the minimum
intervention route. Here I'm filling in the bare patches with multiple layers of Shellac
carefully brushed in. It took more than 20 applications to reach the same film build as the
original lacquer.

Part way through the process.

Nearly done, first a re-fret 

This was the bone saddle.

The guitar had fallen on it's ear which had bent the tuner shaft and broken the plastic button.
I was able to straighten the shaft and glue the two halves of the button back on the shaft with
Loctite 406 superglue.

Frets removed. Time to sand the rosewood fingerboard and remove those fingernail divets.

Fret slots prepped.

New fret wire on the bench bent to the correct radius.

Some of the fret ends popped up so I glued and secured them by taping and clamping.

This is my home made fret caul clamp. It works a treat.

Closeup of the home made fret caul clamp the jaws are made from scraps of purple heart.

Fret levelling and crowning complete.

Last coat of true oil on the neck.

Ready to re-string.

New saddle is of Ebony made from and old black piano key. The tone is amazing.

The old girl has a new lease on life. I hope the owner likes it as much as I do!

What a stunning guitar, such a privilege to work on a guitar of this age, quality and condition.