Junk shop acoustic refurbs (various)

[JohnH]

I think so, though I'm no expert. Sanding it off/giving the fretboard a new radius would make refretting easier and also make the board flatter and feel nicer. I know it's probably not the done thing in terms of keeping the instrument true to the original, but that doesn't usually bother me. I'll think on it a bit while I potter around with the other bits and pieces

[JohnH]

Last nights progress... Took a bit over an hour, but now it looks as good as new.

[JohnH]

I've been quiet on the forum but I've actually been doing a lot of instrument work since the lockdown started here in Canberra, because a few people brought me things to fix to donate to the people on the coast who lost their property and belongings in the fires.

One friend brought these two gems, and was really worried they were unusable. They were in AMAZING shape - level necks and frets, no bracing issues or finish issues (apart from one scratch on the front of one), tuners work well, etc... I polished the frets and cleaned the instruments, got some new strings on and they were ready to go in about two hours total.

One was strung for a leftie but still set up for right handed playing, so I set it back up as a right handed mandolin.

One was also missing a tailpiece, but I actually had an almost identical one in a drawer, so that was an easy fix.

[JohnH]

I can't believe I managed to forget to take pics when they were done. They looked so sharp, and sounded really nice too.

I also donated the TGS Special, without taking photos of it finished (D'oh!).

[McCreed]

Even though you forgot the "after" photos, you're doing good work purely by preventing any musical instrument going to the tip and hopefully filling a void that has been created in someone else's life. Good on ya!

[JohnH]

Yeah, it's always nice to give them new life, and the community down the coast really got hit hard so I hope they help some people out.

Next pay I'm going to try to get some tuners, fretwire and a bridge for the Wayne guitar and see if I can get it going. I've realised the neck has a compound radius, so have been reading how to do the fret crowning/dressing

[JohnH]

Keeping this here partially so I don't lose track, but I think I can fix the original bridge just by replacing the thumbwheels with these ones

These tuners seem to fit the original spacing

And the fretwire seems to be this wide/low set

[JohnH]

It's taken me forever, but I've finally ordered a new bridge, fretwire and tuners for the Wayne guitar.

I also did a bit of measuring and reading - it looks like the fretboard is a compound radius going from 9.5" to 16", so I also ordered a set of small radius blocks in various diameters to do the fret levelling. Hopefully there won't be any surprises when I'm putting it together and it should be playable pretty soon.

[DarkMark]

Jealous of the acoustic f hole guitar. I look forward to following what you do with that.

[JohnH]

Finally got that old Wayne guitar up and running!

It was going to cost $60AUD for those replacement thumbwheels, but the time you factored in exchange rates and crazy shipping rates, so I ended up pulling some from an archtop bridge I already had, and fitted them into the original bridge.

I got a fret bending tool to match the frets to the compound radius, and can honestly say that it was the least fun I've ever had working on a guitar. I did a very far from perfect job, but it's playable, which is still a 100% improvement.

So, fixed the bridge, replaced an inlay dot, replaced the tuners, re-fretted, new nut, cleaned everything up, and she works! Currently strung with some Rotosound Top Tape 12 - 52 Monel Flatwounds