1953 Maton Alver Archtop restoration.

A local man brought me a guitar that had been in the family since new (1953).

He asked me if I would restore it for him.

I agreed; in return he had a 1959 Maton EG240 ST Supreme Electric guitar also in rough condition that he had rescued from a rubbish skip out side his family property after the death of his Father. A helpful family member had thrown it out!

This guitar had had a previous neck reset but it had been rather roughly refitted.
The guitar had also been left in a hot car and the glue had softened resulting
in this mess.

The Maton as it came to me. The owner had removed the trapeze tailpiece
and bridge/saddle from the other Maton.

There was some nasty damage to the laminated maple top!

Here I've tried to capture a view down the neck to show the awful bow in the
neck and finger board.

I removed the rosewood fingerboard and tried to find the bottom of the
neck pocket with a couple of test drills. You can see my soldering iron
with a heat stick attachment. I injected water, acetone and vinegar into the
joint to help soften the glue.

It came apart with little effort.The two holes in the sound board were
my first guess at the neck pocket location. the two holes in the neck heel
gave me access to the bottom of the joint. I covered this later with a
fresh maple ply heel cap.

Another view of the very shallow neck joint.

Here I'm in the process of sanding the neck flat prior to refitting the
finger board.

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A clean neck pocket. All traces of old glue removed and neck refitted.

All the old finish is sanded away.

Fortunately there was enough fret material left for one more
level, crown and polish.

All the old finish removed.

Some repairs to the badly damaged sound board.

The fingerboard get re attached to the newly levelled neck.

Here the neck is being reattached to the body, being careful to check
correct alignment over the body with such a shallow neck pocket!

I used a band clamp to exert pressure on the heel to the body joint.

A fresh coat of sealer prior to the application of several coats of lacquer.

Lacquer applied.

Period appropriate hardware fitted.
Over all a nice vintage arch top.
The neck profile is rather to clumsy for my taste but it is very playable all the same.