1952 Gibson Southern Jumbo - Progress

So I got a little sleep after making my magnetic clamping cauls, and after cutting a license plate off of my sister's car and putting the new one on, I got back to work.  I had shown in a previous update the mahogany strips I had cut to replace the brittle balsa strips that fell out, and glued 3/5 of them in place using my new clamps.  They ended up working pretty damn well, and even better, the color and grain of my new strips matched up really well with the mahogany back of the guitar.  Waiting until I feel comfortable taking the last clamp off, and then I'll reglue the 2 back braces, and add the last 2 strips.

Stay tuned...

1952 Gibson Southern Jumbo - Assessment and start

So I finally got off my ass during the Cubs rain delay and took the strings off and got started figuring out everything I need to do.  The first thing I did was take the fallen braces out of the body, at which point, some Balsa strips running up the back all fell out. 

I had some scrap mahogany laying around, so I used my hobby/framing table saw to cut some new strips and cut em down to size.

For some reason that pic won't post in landscape format, but I numbered the strips so I won't have to fumble around figuring out which one is which when I glue them down.

At some point, the original saddle was replaced with what appears to be some random piece of plastic, and it was glued down, so I may have to cut it out since it won't budge.

Aside from that, there's a loose piece of binding at the heel end of the fretboard.  Shouldn't be too difficult, just slow and tedious work making sure I place everything correctly.

I need to go pick up a couple things in the morning so I can mix up some hide glue for the braces, as well as some stuff to use as brace jacks, and I'll be off to the races.

1952 Gibson Southern Jumbo

Just picked this one up today.  My mom works at a dentist office and last week overheard a patient complaining about a shop wanting to charge him 3 grand for a repair, so she yelled out that I do repairs.  She had him give me a call and arranged for me to come look at it when he picked up his teeth today.  I took a look at it while he was being examined by the dentist.  3 of the braces are loose or fallen, there's a split in the top, and it could use a new saddle.  I quoted him a fair price, told him I'd need a few weeks to order a couple things and work carefully, and he excitedly handed it over.  Checked it out on ebay, and there's one in similar condition selling for twice what the shop told him its worth, so that'll probably make him even happier.  Can't wait to get started.

Regal parlor part 2.5

Did a small amount of work last night.  Lou decided on using the Bridge Doctor to stabilize the bellying behind the bridge, so I started some minor work with the bracing.  There were two braces that were loose, but still holding on for dear life, so I glued them down in place.  Also, the end of the fingerboard was loose and there was a crack through the top underneath it, so I glued down the fingerboard, and added a small strip of thin wood to keep the crack stabil.  Is that how you spell it?  Stable?  yeah, that seems better. 

Regal part III

So I decided to post this as a seperate entry.  After taking all the clamps off last night, I got to work on removing the back so I could reattach the braces.  I was worried that I'd have to build a makeshift steamer for the task, but the hide glue was pretty decomposed and it popped right off after 10 minutes of working around it with a hot steak knife.  I'm pausing at this stage for now because there are 3 routes I could go with the restoration.  A)Completely rebrace the top using modern X bracing patterns, B)Install a bridge doctor to lower the beer belly to a playable height, or C) Use the original braces, and install a trapese tailpiece to take the tension off of the belly of the guitar.  I'm waiting for Lou to decide which direction he wants me to go before I continue any futher with the top. 

As far as the back goes, I should be able to use 3 of the 4 original braces that were inside the guitar.  One was cracked, so I'm debating whether to glue it, or cut a new one.  I may just cut a new set out of some spruce boards I have laying around so I can try to reduce the amount of warping on the back, but I'll have to get my chisels sharpened before doing that.  Either way, its going smoothly and I'm 100% confident this will be playable again very soon.

Regal part II

So last night I started on Lou's Regal.  Taking the strings off proved to be a project in itself.  Several of the tuning pegs appear to be made of JB weld, and the strings themself appear to be as old as the guitar.  To make matters worse, whatever idiot strung it up before tied the strings to the tuners like a classical guitar and were rusted together.  Took me an hour to get them off, and once the last string came out, the bridge block/brace fell off.  heh.  So after I got all of those off and pulled out the braces that were loose and bouncing around inside, I started by securing the top down so the whole thing wouldn't implode while removing the back.  It went pretty well, there are 2 spots that are slightly uneven, but its sturdy as shit now.

What a mess...

I must thank my friend Lou for being addicted to guitars and keeping me in business. He brought me a Regal student model parlor he got on ebay recently. I've actually seen this one floating around for awhile, but I guess nobody was ready to tackle the project. I'm trying to figure out where to start myself. Looks like it was left out in the rain. The top and back are half off, half of the braces are missing or loose, causing the neck to pull forward. Its just a mess. On the other hand, I welcome a challenge, and he said I did a good job on his kingston that was splitting apart and is letting me try to work my magic. I'm thinking that I'm going to remove the back and rebrace it with new braces to try to reverse the warping, and if all else fails, put a new back on if I can't straighten it out enough.

Without further ado, here's the before:

pray for mojo....