JMO I"d lean toward the stewmac as it looks to be more controlable and compact. Great thread! Thanks for sharing!
Restoring a 1968 gretsch Tennessean (6119)
« » Page 1 2 3 4-
- Rated: 13 ↑
Aug 30, 2008 11:06 p.m. Rex:
-
- Rated: 10 ↑
Sep 24, 2008 7:57 p.m. tadut:
Well, coaching soccer has taken a front seat for a bit. Here's the latest. I bought a Dremel and one of those fancy dremel presses to drill the side markers. The press was not so good. Seems that freehand with the dremel making these holes is allot more precise.
Another new piece of binding is on and we will try it again without the press.
-
- Rated: 13 ↑
Sep 24, 2008 10:18 p.m. riz:
An old egg-beater style drill is even better.
-
- Rated: 10 ↑
Sep 25, 2008 8:07 p.m. tadut:
Thanks Riz,
I will try and hunt one down and try it on a test piece. I'll post a pic when I'm done.
-
- Rated: 29 ↑
Sep 26, 2008 2:01 p.m. JackDaniels:
THe stewart mac unit is far suppieor to those from HD or Dremel. I bought a pretty nice plastic based one on ebay last spring for $12. I haven't seen them since, but they are better than the little cup looking ones sold at HD. The Stew Mac one is really setup to be somewhat precision. Also there is not a lot of material in the way of seeing the bit. The plastic ones make it hard to see your work. Once money is more readily available, I will buy the SM version.
J
-
- Rated: 2 ↑
Oct 1, 2008 11:18 a.m. cc:
Hey--this is great! I just ran into this forum and this thread, and it's very timely. I have a '46 or'47(SN 9837) Synchromatic that was falling apart and nobody around here wanted to touch it, so I have started trying to do something about it myself. I can't really say I'm 'restoring' it, I figure I'll probably mess something up along the way, I would just like to be able to play it again.
Anyway, I just re glued the top and back in place and will be working on bindings next.
I'm thinking of just using StewMac's white plastic .06x.375 (even though 1/16x5/16 would be a perfect fit) because celluloid appears to be a pain.
A couple of questions: 1) Is the Duco cement doing OK? 2) Does anybody know where I could get a Chromatic tailpiece? (I really would like to 'restore' that. The original just failed, a case of metal fatigue.)
Nice thread tadut, good luck! Comments on my situation invited for sure!
CC
-
- Rated: 13 ↑
Oct 1, 2008 3:07 p.m. riz:
cc: .0625" would be 1/16", vs. stewmac's .060". That extra 25 thou isn't alot, although visible to the naked eye. Binding slots usually vary in thickness around the perimeter of the body, as it was scraped/sanded after the binding was installed. You have choices to make here. I usually clean up binding slots by hand with a chisel and files. Some folks like to re-rout them. There's usually a bit of an issue with top/back plate registration to the sides after re-attachment, old glue, etc. You could easily end up with binding channels that are a little deeper, requiring a thicker binding. Now, if your guitar really has .0625" channels that are consistent around the perimeter of the guitar, and you are very careful (it's really hard to get pressure to hold the binding flush to the side of the channel when gluing if the binding is thinner than the channel...), you could use that stewmac binding and end up with a result that would simulate the original. At the factory they sprayed color, scraped the bindings (thereby making them thinner), and topcoated clear. In addition, binding shrinks ever so slightly over time. The result is an old guitar with a slightly noticeable inset where the binding meets the sides. Are you going to respray? Can you work VERY clean? Things to ask yourself. It's probably better to use a thicker material and scrape down flush, and handle finish repairs from there. There WILL be some, but you should be able to carefully scrape flush only doing repairable damage to the surrounding finish. And by "repairable damage", I mean you could then have the option of spot repair and/or buffing out vs. respraying the binding, if unfinished binding doesn't bother you. Here's a link to real celluloid:
-
- Rated: 26 ↑
Oct 1, 2008 6:23 p.m. KCeddieB:
cc, Let's see some pix of your Synchro "before", so we can compare the "after" when you're done with the refurb!
-
- Rated: 2 ↑
Oct 1, 2008 8:23 p.m. cc:
This post has been deleted
-
- Rated: 2 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 10:11 a.m. cc:
(I deleted my 10/1 post. It was a bit too much of a 'downer'.)
Riz: I definitely do have some misregistration issues that will make the binding channel deeper in spots, so I guess I'll have to go with some thicker material and get used to the idea of scraping.
I really don't know how to handle refinishing. I have heard that it's generally better to leave the old finish, so that means spot finishing of some kind. (There are lots of dings, and I managed to rip off some of the finish with masking tape that I was using to protect the finish. Duh!)
KCeddieB: Maybe I should put up some pics with a thread of my own. Unfortunately, I've already passed up the real 'start' condition, and the step when I was trying to straighten out the upward bow to the end of the fingerboard by putting 40 pounds of weights on the inside of the top (the back was off and the guitar was face down).
-
- Rated: 13 ↑
Oct 6, 2008 2:55 p.m. riz:
I am a real big fan of burn-in stick shellac and shellac/french polish for repairs of old guitars. It's a great way to treat repaired bindings as it's easy to tint and you only put it where you want it as opposed to (over)spraying. I find the finsish repair hides better, espescially on guitars with some finish age/wear. I have the luxury of training with an old-school repairman, so it's kinda one of those things that's easy for me to say, but harder to explain. Having said that, shellac is a very friendly substance, there's plenty of info on the internet, and you can teach yourself alot through trial and error on practice pieces. If you choose such a rout and have specific questions, I will be happy to share info and technique tips.
-
- Rated: 10 ↑
Oct 17, 2008 6:31 p.m. tadut:
I never thought of using shellac. I went the spray route. I did not go with original binding. The owner and I discussed it and he went with plastic. I used a thicker binding and scraped them down. That part went fairly smooth. I did have to take off one side and start over because the side marker installation the firs time.
I'll have more pics in a bit.
cc. If you start a new thread, you should link it from here.
-
- Rated: 10 ↑
Oct 17, 2008 6:49 p.m. tadut:
Here is the new binding with side markers. (no aging yet) I might try your use of shellac on those visible spots.
I would like to get JDs opinion as well before I do.
-
- Rated: 10 ↑
Oct 24, 2008 4:34 p.m. tadut:
OK,
I'm need a little help here. I cannot seem to find a way to search the forums here. Is there a search function I'm not finding?
Thanks,
-
- Rated: 18 ↑
Oct 24, 2008 4:44 p.m. Thomas:
There's no search function I'm afraid.. You can use google's advanced search to search through this page.
Good luck with the project man
-
- Rated: 10 ↑
Oct 24, 2008 4:56 p.m. tadut:
Thanks Thomas
-
- Rated: 2 ↑
Oct 28, 2008 3:18 p.m. cc:
This post has been deleted
-
- Rated: 29 ↑
Oct 29, 2008 11:25 a.m. JackDaniels:
I use the original material for touchups. For the most part that is lacquer. I drop fill or spray. For aging binding, I mostly use amber lacquer...although a little stain will help too.
JD
-
- Rated: 2 ↑
Oct 29, 2008 4:07 p.m. cc:
Thanks riz, KCeddieB and tadut for your advice.
I just started a thread about my Synchro repair: "Reviving a 40's Synchromatic."
Comments certainly invited.
-
- Rated: 2 ↑
Oct 31, 2008 4:24 p.m. cc:
tadut, since you have clearly mastered the art of uploading images....
What's the best place to get directions as to how you do the uploading? (I have managed to get shots on photobucket, but that's as far as I have been able to take it.)
-
- Rated: 26 ↑
Oct 31, 2008 4:37 p.m. KCeddieB:
cc: In Photobucket, "copy" the Direct Link. Come back to the GDP post and paste that into the window that appears when you click the little camera icon above the emodicons (smiley faces). Click "OK" and you should see your photo in the preview section, and it should display in your post.
-
- Rated: 2 ↑
Oct 31, 2008 8:36 p.m. cc:
KCeddieB: Thanks for the info. I got at least part of my Synchro's peghead inage posted.
-
- Rated: 10 ↑
Nov 1, 2008 7:59 p.m. tadut:
that's about it. I upload the pics and then copy the direct link to my Gretsch post.
-
- Rated: 2 ↑
Nov 9, 2008 12:34 p.m. cc:
tadut:
What color binding did you use, white or ivory?
-
- Rated: 10 ↑
Nov 10, 2008 6:25 p.m. tadut:
I used white but I probably should have used ivory. I'm in the process of trying to age it with tinted lacquer and it's becoming a real pain. I get a coat on, it looks ok but could use a little more tint. I put a second coat on a few days later and the shade is uneven. I'm really having a tough time of it.
