Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2011 22:53:49 GMT -6
Hey there all! Guess what I got a few months ago? Yes a 1960 Univox ES335. It came into my shop as messed up guitar.
It was in really bad shape. The neck pocket had bowed up, making the action on this guitar unplayable. It was more than a 1 1/2" off the fret board.
The client, wanted to see if I could fix it or not. I told him I could try, but there might be a chance that I could brake the neck pocket and the body.
So I took on the project not really knowing how to go about fixing it.
So here is what I did. (sorry I didn't take any pictures of the fix)
First I thought about how to fix it for about a week. Then here is what I came up with.
First I took the guitar apart. After taking it apart I found signs where this guitar had been in water. The pickups had rust all over the back of them. I was able to clean them off. I had no idea yet if the worked. But after I cleaned them up I tested them with a meter and found they indeed do work.
But back to the neck pocket. After taking the guitar apart, I then made up some wood strips to hold the body down to my counter by clamping it down.
So once I was happy that the body was not going anywhere, I then took another clamp and put it in the pocket. As I tightened the clamp I took water in a spray bottle and sprayed the pock to get it nice and wet, and little by little I put pressure on the pocket. I got it down a little then I seen I was going to have to take the top and back of the body loos so the neck pocket could be moved. So I took a sharp razor and did just that. Once the top and back was loos from the neck pocket it was easy to keep clamping down on the pocket. It took me 3 days to get it back to where it should be.
So once I got it back into place I didn't want it to move back to where it was when I started. So I made a wood block made from some poplar, I had to make it in two parts so I could get the block into the body. Once in the body I glued in and used clamps to hold them in till they dried. I let it sit for 2 days.
Once that was dry it was time to glue the top and back, back on. The bindings were the hardest part to fix, because they had been bent up for so long it was hard to get them to go back to shape. But a little heat I got them close. Not perfect but good enough.
So once all that was done drying I put the whole thing back together, Oh I had to replace the 3 way switch. I used the kind you find on Gibson LP's and other guitars.
Well anyway I put strings on it put her in to pitch and took in the house and plugged it in, and WOW!!! What a great guitar! All I had to do once I got it sounding off was to adjust the neck a little.
Well, after I did all this work to it and found out how good it sounds and plays, I just had to have it. So I cut a deal with the owner.
I am working on 3 other guitars for the guy that owned this guitar so I told him I would fix the other 3 if he would let me have this guitar. He took the deal.
I'll post a picture or two of it latter on this week. But I really like this guitar a lot!
It just felt good to fix this guitar, not just because I pulled it off, but I saved another old 60's guitar.
EB
It was in really bad shape. The neck pocket had bowed up, making the action on this guitar unplayable. It was more than a 1 1/2" off the fret board.
The client, wanted to see if I could fix it or not. I told him I could try, but there might be a chance that I could brake the neck pocket and the body.
So I took on the project not really knowing how to go about fixing it.
So here is what I did. (sorry I didn't take any pictures of the fix)
First I thought about how to fix it for about a week. Then here is what I came up with.
First I took the guitar apart. After taking it apart I found signs where this guitar had been in water. The pickups had rust all over the back of them. I was able to clean them off. I had no idea yet if the worked. But after I cleaned them up I tested them with a meter and found they indeed do work.
But back to the neck pocket. After taking the guitar apart, I then made up some wood strips to hold the body down to my counter by clamping it down.
So once I was happy that the body was not going anywhere, I then took another clamp and put it in the pocket. As I tightened the clamp I took water in a spray bottle and sprayed the pock to get it nice and wet, and little by little I put pressure on the pocket. I got it down a little then I seen I was going to have to take the top and back of the body loos so the neck pocket could be moved. So I took a sharp razor and did just that. Once the top and back was loos from the neck pocket it was easy to keep clamping down on the pocket. It took me 3 days to get it back to where it should be.
So once I got it back into place I didn't want it to move back to where it was when I started. So I made a wood block made from some poplar, I had to make it in two parts so I could get the block into the body. Once in the body I glued in and used clamps to hold them in till they dried. I let it sit for 2 days.
Once that was dry it was time to glue the top and back, back on. The bindings were the hardest part to fix, because they had been bent up for so long it was hard to get them to go back to shape. But a little heat I got them close. Not perfect but good enough.
So once all that was done drying I put the whole thing back together, Oh I had to replace the 3 way switch. I used the kind you find on Gibson LP's and other guitars.
Well anyway I put strings on it put her in to pitch and took in the house and plugged it in, and WOW!!! What a great guitar! All I had to do once I got it sounding off was to adjust the neck a little.
Well, after I did all this work to it and found out how good it sounds and plays, I just had to have it. So I cut a deal with the owner.
I am working on 3 other guitars for the guy that owned this guitar so I told him I would fix the other 3 if he would let me have this guitar. He took the deal.
I'll post a picture or two of it latter on this week. But I really like this guitar a lot!
It just felt good to fix this guitar, not just because I pulled it off, but I saved another old 60's guitar.
EB
