Breathe new life into an old love… Most guitar players own a guitar that requires some tender loving care to bring it back to a playable status. This blog post will walk through a number of ways to help that old guitar of yours come back to life once again…
GUITAR RESTORATION PROJECTS:
Guitar restoration can include many general repair directions, but this topic most commonly speaks toward fixing structural damage that directly affects the performance of the guitar.
This includes areas such as; badly corroded frets, broken nuts or saddle pieces, and possibly even the removal and replacement of critical guitar parts, such as tuner machines, saddles or problematic electronics.
THE LOOK PRESERVED:
Generally, we want to maintain the instrument’s look as much as possible. This means that we would start by considering any minor scratches or dents to be nothing more than, ‘beauty marks’ or ‘laugh-lines.’ In many cases you would overlook those minor imperfections as the guitar’s history.
FIXING SERIOUS ISSUES:
Square one will be to get your guitar back to true playability by fixing the more serious component or structural deficiencies along with addressing any other noticeable playing issues that you’ve decided to focus on.
START A CHECK-LIST:
Every restoration should begins with a check-list. You’ll need to determine the best approach to move forward with the instrument, the parts you’ll need and the scope of each repair.
If the repair job seems beyond your personal repair skills, then it might be best to hire a guitar repair shop to take things up to the next level of repair if need be.
GENERAL GUITAR REPAIR CHECK-LIST:
- Re-string and clean
- Strap button install / repair / replace
- Gluing and clamping repairs
- Fret Repairs: level, crown, polish
- Fret end dressing
- New nut
- New saddle
- Pick-up install or replace
- Tuning machine replacement
- Bridge re-glue / repair
- Bridge installation
- Brace glue
- Crack repair(s)
- Headstock break glue
- Touch-ups