New stuff! New Stuff!

Catching up from a week of having NO time to post.

First, I finally got some lovely banjo skins. These come from Clifford Essex Music in England. I already have an old Essex head on my British-made banjo, so I know that they were at least good in the 50's.

It's really hard to get a picture of these - but they sent me TWO skins - the fantastic correct skin, and a factory second to practice with . Even the factory second is better than what I have worked with before.

Nice.

So good - smooth, with a surface almost like index paper.

I finally got around to taking the clamp off of the Nunes uke.

I really hope that two weeks was enough drying time.

Loosen loosen loosen

Snip the wire.

The string is just hanging there.

And everything simply fell out. That wax on the block kept it from sticking.

And - it looks okay. I would have preferred for the reinforcement to butt up higher inside, but this will work. It appears that, when originally made, they sanded this side too thin.

And, finally, I picked up a new project yesterday. 

It's a Guild D35! Something is amiss, though.

Not only is the headstock busted off, but repairs have been attempted. It's a disaster.

Oh this is horrible.

Caked on glue. I'm not sure yet if it is epoxy or yellow glue. I'm scared to find out.

A nice crack in the fretboard, some circular depressions from C-clamps, and more glue.

Rust on the frets? It hasn't been played in years, but this is a bit surprising.

I have two other Guilds that are roughly the same model, and they have the same little crack next to the pickguard. As the guard shrinks, it pulls the wood away from the fingerboard extension. Unfortunately, with the pickguard cemented directly to the wood, and then covered with the finish, this is tough to repair.

Um, wow. Those circles are from the C-clamps, and - wow.

I mean, seriously. It looks like a prop from a caveman movie.

Nothing is lined up, and everything is covered with glue.

The trussrod nut won't turn, it's glued too.

A big puddle of glue between the fingerboard the the chunks of the neck.

A little chunk of damage here too.

The back is fine. There is a finish crack along the middle, this might have been in a storage unit where it got rather hot.

There is some nasty finish damage at the bottom.

Yuck. This must have sat on some vinyl of some kind for a while. It's still a bit tacky to the touch.

Sure is easy to sight the neck without that pesky headstock and nut in the way!

These labels make me happy.

An attempt to line up the headstock with the neck is a complete failure, but reveals that there is wood missing.

Wow.

So, what we have here is a guitar that, in mint condition, might go for $500 - $800. It needs at least $1,200 worth of work, either repairing or replacing the neck, setting the neck, and extensive finish repair. It is not worth it. I'm not sending this to the factory, or to a repairman.

I also paid a whopping $5 for this beauty, so I don't have to do ANYTHING. I can take my time. A couple years. I can take this neck apart and see what I can to to build it back up - some serious scarf joints and new wood seem obvious. I can also hang around in case a neck shows up with somebody.

My current plan is to clean the guitar, stabilize the gooey finish, and disassemble the neck and remove it from the body. I don't know if any of it can be saved, but I might as well have fun trying.