Cracks in the top patched from above with a fat line of white glue
cracks above soundhole and missing purfling
Overall, the guitar was in much better condition than I expected! The problems were limited to the cracks on the top and a loose brace under the end of the fingerboard. Obviously this was catastrophic, the neck was free to rotate towards the sound hole due to the cracks on either side of the fingerboard and the detached brace; but it looks like it will be pretty easy to fix by gluing and cleating. What had looked like a repaired crack in the back of the peg head was just an impression in the finish from the tuning machine. The neck is one of the wide, fast ones: 2 inches wide and 3/4 inch deep at the nut, 7/8 inches deep at the 5th fret. I also play classical guitar, so I like the wider neck. And the top gives a satisfying clear tone when tapped, even with the cracks and loose brace!
The question is, why did the brace come off and the top crack? It won't do much good to repair everything just to have it break again. This guitar is very lightly built: the instrument doesn't weigh very much and the braces are all thin and not very tall. Perhaps that's what makes the great Gibson sound of this era. Gibson discovered that these guitars couldn't be safely tuned to concert pitch, maybe the original owner didn't know this. I plan to tune it to D, this worked fine for Leo Kottke's Gibson B-45.
And the neck looks straight, and the neck set seems about right!
No comments:
Post a Comment