1961 Levin dreadnought acoustic guitar restoration.

I started taking photos of this guitar partway through my
restoration. Sadly the damage done to this guitar was extensive.
the Maple back was cracked in 7 places. repairs had been 
carried out by a violin repairer who took a very violin
repair approach to repairing this guitar. the broken back was
prized off cold causing significant damage to back and sides,

I stripped of most of the finish from the back and sides then
then set about stabilising the cracks, cleating them as went.

I noticed that, during the removal of the back the original
binding had been sacrificed. I masked the area with
striping tape the finished the sunburst finish using shellac
as a sealer.

There were so many fractured areas to stabilise.

Mercifully the top was in near new condition.

The base coat three colour sunburst is applied.

Because I did not want to risk further structural damage
I chose to paint the rear binding in and ivory coloured lacquer

With the clear coat applied the guitar looks like a well
cared for survivor. What an incredible guitar this turned out
to be! 

The renewed integrity of this guitar has resulted in a bell
like sustain.

There was some electrical work to be carried out on the Fishman
sound-hole control. The volume gradient was more like a switch
than a gentle curve. a resistor and capacitor were added to
improve the gradient.