French guitar restoration

This guitar was a recent restoration commission, which I have now finished and returned to its owner. It was made in Mirecourt in northern France in 1880 in the Cherpetal workshop. It has to be said that late 19th century guitars are not in the same league as some of those instruments from the first half of the century. This particular guitar is quite robustly built and lacks the constructional delicacy of many earlier guitars; consequently the guitar is quieter and less resonant than one would wish for. However, when I lifted this guitar from its case I was struck by the pleasing ornamentation, the plain but attractive satinwood back and sides and the astonishingly bad repair that had been carried out to the bridge! The bridge had come off at some point and had been glued back roughly into place and then screwed onto the soundboard for good measure. The bridge and the surrounding soundboard had then been painted over with a thick black paste in an attempt to disguise the damage. The rest of the guitar was in fair condition; a small section of ebony binding loose and in need of reglueing, an ugly top split and the obligatory loose soundboard brace. Oh, and the table and back and sides had been crudely overfinished.

The picture above shows the loose ebony binding on the base end of the guitar.

This picture shows the bridge before restoration. I never did quite work out what that black finish was but it certainly lacked finesse. You can just make out some of the screws that have been installed in an attempt to stop it from parting company with the soundboard. The original bridge was found to be too badly damaged to consider re-using so an ebony replacement was made in the same style.

This stamp was found on the underside of the soundboard, along with the date and signatures of some of the craftsmen of the workshop. It is always good to find this information inside a guitar.
To my delight the overfinish came off beautifully leaving a lovely flat and original  original finish. The overfinish appeared to be some sort of shellac and was painstakingly removed with alcohol soaked swabs.

  

2 pictures of the finished guitar.

Old guitar cases can be time capsules. An old paper bag from a musical instrument shop in Burton on Trent contained packets of strings including  these 'Cathedral' strings. The packet proudly boasts 'British Music and Tennis Strings'!

Making guitar parts

Last week I spent some time producing a number of components for future guitars. Normally I make in batches of 2 instruments at a time, although at the moment I am making 1 guitar and finishing off various long term projects at the same time. The picture above shows sets of ribs for future orders; the nearest ones, that look a bit blotchy at the moment, are satinwood. Most of the time these days I bend ribs in my side bender rather than on the traditional bending iron. It is quicker, more reliable on highly figured woods and releases me to work on more important parts of the guitar. I can bend ribs quickly by hand (I should be able to - I've bent enough of them!) but the bending machine takes a few minutes of of my time, and then I work on something else until it has cooled down. In the winter it helps to heat the workshop as well!
The bending machine I use is found in many guitar makers workshops these days. Designed by American guitar maker Charles Fox, it uses light bulbs as its' heat source and really is a tremendous bit of equipment.



I have also been busy preparing a bundle of fingerboards for future use. I have featured my table saw on a recent post, but I enjoy using it so much I thought I would mention it again. I have just cut the fret slots in 6 fingerboards and each board took about 3 minutes. It really saves time doing it this way and is very accurate.

I have listened to heated debates amongst makers concerning the use of machines verses traditional hand tools. There is a school of thought that believes a guitar will be better if made entirely by hand, and that any use of machinery will impair the quality of the final instrument. This is not a belief I share. Much as I love and respect fine hand tools and their usage, I am very happy to make use of machines and new manufacturing innovation and technology.

Happy New Year!

I think the fact that I have only just been able to post a Happy New Year message is pretty much indicative as to how busy the past few weeks have been, and at the moment it very much looks as though 2011 is going to proceed in a similar fashion.
Johns guitar is nearly finished and ready for polishing; pictures to follow in the coming week. Various small repairs have been taken in, completed and dispatched. Simon brought his Ramirez round on Saturday and we spent a happy half hour discussing guitars and kite surfing! I have also drawn a N. G. Ries terz guitar from the mid 19th century, and I intend to knock out a copy later this year. I am also gearing up to make a Stauffer copy with an adjustable neck, although as that is just for fun it will have to slot in between commissions. I will post more on these guitars soon.
Polishing continues: I am polishing a walnut and spruce guitar made by Max in my workshop. It's a lovely looking guitar and we are all keen to hear what it sounds like. Max takes the wonderful pictures on my main website including the one at the top of this post. This guitar has long gone from the workshop but its hard to resit showing it again! So a busy year in front of me-keep watching!