Vintage archtop questions, currently a restore / ruin thread!

WezV

probably for adding some kind of branding.  its not an unusual place to see a brand name

Skodadad

Well I had a few issues yesterday, I was glueing a small piece of wood to the inside of the body above the hole for the pickup as there was no bracing there. I used masking tape around the hole and when I took it off it pulled strands of wood out leaving grooves Sucks to be me!!!

So I promptly went to Halfords and bought some sanding primer, a can of Nissan gold and a can off laquer. Had its first coat of laquer this morning but it will still have more colour coats. I have always done a coat of laquer between colour coats to lock in the colour for levelling with wet and dry. There is probably a good reason why that's a bad idea but I don't know what that is and it works for me. Will be much flatter when done and I am sure I have now affected the tone but also sure I won't be able to tell.

WezV

WezV said:

Boo!!

Looks nice though

this again

Skodadad

Lol

Sarge

Oh dear oh dear oh dear, the demigod of old arch tops is crying in his slumber.

Sarge

For future reference, never ever use that cheap beige masking tape on bare wood, always go with a specialist low tack tape, blue painters tape is good

Skodadad

Haha was that the sound of a locking stable door? It's all good @sarge I Like my gold top unknown Japanese 60s / 70s /80s bodge job. I just need a pickguard now, that's proving difficult as I bought a hofner one and it looked stupid. I may have to make one which will likely look just as stupid. The new epiphone swingster pickup looks good though. It's gonna be an oddball when it's done. I'm going gold with the front of the headstock too and black neck. The rear and sides probably leaving as is for now as the gold sits quite nicely next to it. And the best thing, it smells like thinners now instead of fungus!

Sarge

Well as long as you like it, that's the only important factor.
Huge learning curve ain't it!

Skodadad

It is indeed but also most satisfying!

Skodadad

Todays progress, decided to recut and paint the scratch plate I had. I did it by deliberately spattering black and gold spray paint from a distance to give a mottled effect. Then lacquered to seal. Will give it a few more coats and may even put an epoxy over the top for durability. Also sanded and painted the headstock. Has a last coat of laquer to the body about an hour ago which makes 3 since the last gold paint was added. Easy to flatten and then use cutting compound on now, will be near factory once done. I am thinking of looking for a new Tailpiece, maybe in black. I have some vintage style fender gold and chrome knobs but it didn't seem right. May even put the originals back on (80's lookalike aiwa hi-fi knobs)

I would love to pinstripe around the f holes in black but not sure I could manage that

Sarge

Be careful with the cutting compound if the clear coat is reasonably fresh, it can move about underneath creating wrinkles, best to leave it a week or more before getting aggressive with it.
Looking good actually mate.

Skodadad

Cheers @sarge, I'm pretty good with paint. One of the few things I am OK with. I have it 2ft from a desk lamp at the moment, I'll give it a few hours a day with some breathing time. It's not going to need a lot so will probably just use t-cut. Amazing considering I did it outside in this weather then running in for a blast with the hairdryer I have some other stuff to work out while it dries. I am thinking of what to do about the neck. I would probably prefer a brush on black that can be flattened but not sure what to use. I'd like something satin for a good feel to the neck and repairable when I am brave enough to make and fit a new fretboard. I'm shaping a truss rod cover at the moment to cover the truss rod I don't have. Might try and engrave it with the dremmel.

Skodadad

I couldn't resist a quick and very careful mockup, I think I need a new Tailpiece for it and possibly some cooler knobs. Opinions welcome

Skodadad

Just a quick update today, I have stripped the neck and decided I will be keeping it in natural wood. As a consequence of this decision I will also be keeping the back and sides in oiled wood finish. I have begun tentatively stripping it by scraping the sides with Stanley blades...eeek Test fitted the hardware to the headstock, I need some better screws but the holes were so big from the last screws tele scratch plate ones worked fine. A little disappointed at the quality of the replacement tuners but at least the holes line up. I had two extra holes up top that I put screws in but will fill later. Doing this has really educated me as to what goes on in a guitar builder / restorers day. I am bodging and making it up as I go along and it is taking an absolute age. Not being able to attack things with power tools makes for slow work but it's also very rewarding. Headstock so far, it really needs something, maybe an inlay.

Mkjackary

Looks great, I preferred the look before, but still cool. Brilliant work you have done.
Mind you, better to have a playable than not playable.

For the headstock it out some kind of black pattern/graphic over it. Kind of like the Gibson thing you see on the customs but bore eccentric and bigger

Skodadad

Cheers @mkjackary, unfortunately my inexperience left it in a bit of a mess after sorting the neck out. It may have sat in its case unused for another 10 years had I not taken it on and as you say at least it's playable now. At £20 I had no value concerns so it was worth a go. It's my intention to eventually build an archtop from scratch and this has taught me a bit.

Mkjackary

Skodadad said:

Cheers @mkjackary, unfortunately my inexperience left it in a bit of a mess after sorting the neck out. It may have sat in its case unused for another 10 years had I not taken it on and as you say at least it's playable now. At £20 I had no value concerns so it was worth a go. It's my intention to eventually build an archtop from scratch and this has taught me a bit.

Similar thing happened with an old jap yamaha my dad had, it had been sitting in his wardrobe for 20+ years, the bridge had rusted so much that some of the original bridge saddles had snapped. we ordered a new bridge (tele style with cutout for a HB) and the bridge had different dril holes and ended up being lower down due to the fact you had to fit it over the HB.

Meant we had to get extra long intonation screws for the new saddles so it would be in tune. Probably could have done a better job, found a more accurate bridge (although still cant find one) but it means that I had a guitar to play that was brilliant, instead of the (crappy) stagg that I had.

What else do you have planned to do to it, if anything?

Skodadad

The back and sides are being stripped at the moment to bare wood then I am using a tung oil / polyurethane mix on them. I may inlay the headstock as my Dad is bringing me some veneer and a dremmel router fitting at the weekend. At some point I will replace the fretboard for a new slightly thicker one and refret with some advice . I may change the tailpiece though I have tried making a wooden plate to stick on the front. It looks OK but not great. I have a push pull pot on the way to split the humbucker with which will hopefully give me some tone variation. I have to reshape the bridge feet, going to tape some sandpaper to the body as I believe that's the right way . Just waiting for my blue tape to turn up and the body needs at least a few more weeks to harden first. The tuners could also do with realigning properly to follow the curve of the head. I will have to fill some holes first. Then play it as much as I can.