Post by sydsbluesky1 on Sept 14, 2018 22:15:33 GMT -5
I haven't been around, and for this I apologize! I have finished at Galloup, and have (for the moment) transitioned to Dan Erlewine's shop along with his other two employees.
Warning... guitar pr0n incoming. Let's go in some sort of order... More strings > fewer strings, today.
Bandura. Has what looks like water damage, with strings that have rusted through and snapped. Some of those mosaic tile pieces need to be replicated and replaced. That's something that'll be happening in the next few weeks. It came in the most impressive case I have ever seen for anything in my life. It's over six feet long and 27 inches wide. It's nice to look at, but ends up a bit muddy! Indistinct low end, no clarity whatsoever. Even with just single notes. 1952, btw.
Gibson harp guitar. 1920ish. A top crack, and some de-lamination in the harp side headstock. Nothing muddy here! It sounds clear and distinct, like a piano. One of the best looking instruments with which I've ever shared a space, and one of the best sounding as well. Unbraced back. Maple? Barely braced top. The top is in the realm of 0.200". Both arched. A heavy mother, but what a glorious beast. That sunburst is to die for. You can see the crack fix on the top if you look below the tailpiece for the harp set. That's as good as it gets without spraying lacquer.
Down to six strings. In theory. A 1900ish New York Martin. It's apart, but it's somewhat clean. I've never seen Brazilian rosewood look quite this casually good. I don't know if it's been refinished or not, and I didn't get a picture of the finished side anyway... it's lovely stuff. This is a longer term project, and may or may not slide onto my bench at some point soon. Those sides are just sitting on the top, and the endblock is totally detached. It'll be a fun restore.
Two strings! A beautiful 1960 Gretsch (that's 2 tone green. I've been calling it refrigerator) in for the... every problem known to man. Which, according to Dan, is standard for Gretsch of all years. Even original ownership mad in USA pre-baldwin etc etc etc ET CETERA. All of them. Every single one. But wow do I love this guitar! In for a neck reset and... well, just a... make it play right. And when I pulled off the neck, I see the second picture. The worst French dovetail I have ever seen in my life. But you know what they say about Mondays... (It may not be obvious from the picture, that that blue ink says MONDAY.) Don't worry. I can see why they all used screws through the heel into the headblock. Dan had me put one back in just for giggles when I was done with it. Tone screw.
No strings. Washburn issued a 120th or so anniversary model a bit back, and this is the guitar on which that was based. It's in fantastic shape, but someone did a neck reset and overset the neck. So hopefully that hits my bench soon. (There are about 70 guitars in Dan's shop and only three full time people...)
Bonus. 1941 D-45. I got to use my chisels on the tenon briefly, but Dan is mostly doing this himself. I can't wait for him to get the damn neck back on so I can play it!
There are a ton of beautiful guitars in this shop, and I forget to take pictures of most of them. My two favorite guitars in the shop aren't even in this post, but I'll try to remember to get that this weekend.
I'll also be shielding a LOVELY little pink strat in the next issue of the Stewmac magazine. Which, spoiled it, is going to be coming back! Give it a month or two. It goes to the printers in a few days or so. I fully credit the guitarnutz community with teaching me how to shield, as I didn't learn that at either Galloup or Dan's. <3
Cheers!
Jesse
