Official Luthiers Forum!

Apologies to those that have already seen this post in the "off topic". But I've decided to post once again here with some additional questions:
Gibson 1967 (I think) B 25 12 – Sn 105383
I've emailed a request to Gibson on pricing for a restore – haven't heard back. I have no idea what I'd be getting into.

Additional Questions:
should I restore this guitar? – I realize this is a lower end model Gibson
Does it need neck-work beyond a truss rod adjustment?
Anybody here do this type of work that may have an interest in working on it?
Any additional input regarding if I should someday consider taking this on myself – once I've built a few guitars.

I guess my thoughts are this: If I never do anything with this I should give it back. I should at the very least make it playable again as it was given to me with that in mind.

Anything else you would like to share is welcome as well. Thanks!

Michael
http://www.makingaguitar.blogspot.com

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Michael
http://www.makingaguitar.blogspot.com

How does it play?

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Evan McCartney

If you have the experience or the time (preferably both) you can restore it. What it's worth can only be decided by you. In $$$ terms, not very much.
From the pics I see the truss rod is broken, so the fretboard has to come off and the rod replaced. Probably the most difficult operation there. I see the "classic" fretboard crack on the top, and somebody glued a wood block (from a 2x4?) with the wrong grain orientation in front of the first back brace to unsuccessfully prevent the neck from slipping. That needs to come off, and the top need to be cleated and re-glued. A top crack on the lower bout that needs to be reglued, piece of cake. There are probably other issues.
You do not need to build guitars in order to repair guitars. If you haven't done so already, you should go through Frank Ford's incredibly informative (and generous) site:
http://www.frets.com/
Most probably, all the repairs needed are covered by Frank in one way or another. Of course he makes it look easy, but that's a start. The most tricky in all this would be to touch-up the finish when all is said and done.

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Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

I haven't tuned it up to see. Kind of afraid it might explode!

As for the truss-rod – I think i've seen a tool in lmi or sm that allows you to drill and re-tap at the same time... Maybe that could be an easy fix?

Michael

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Michael
http://www.makingaguitar.blogspot.com

looks like a labor of love.
you could learn a lot by fixing it.
i like laurents' idea about the f.f. book.all the repairs i do are friends for a stipend.
also, they got to be guitars on the cheap side.

1st things 1st.... Do you really want to "Restore" it or do you want to repair it back to good playing shape?

Reason I ask is that if you want to be able to play it, the Repairs cost a whole lot less than "Restoring" it.... "Restoring" means trying to make it as perfect as possible into perfect as-new original condition... so it costs a whole lot more $$$$$... Repair means fixing what's broke so you can play it again... See the difference....

Honestly -- Gibson really isn't known as a "Restoration" shop.... They do have a warranty repair department.... but it's just that -- warranty repair work...

Your best bet is usually to contact an actual professional Luthier who does repair work and go that way...

Thanks

John

I honestly don't know what I want to do – most likely restore – but can I afford to have someone else do it?
Or restore it myself – but I don't want to screw up a 40+ year old guitar (worse than it already is)

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Michael
http://www.makingaguitar.blogspot.com

Michael-
As a 'beginner repairman', I wouldn't feel comfortable working on a guitar I didn't own (outright). So that may be a consideration in this case.

Also, I've found that repair is quite a different thing than building 'from scratch' (harder, in my very limited experience), so that's something to keep in mind as well- even after a couple of builds, you may not feel happy trying this repair. My advice would be to buy a couple of 'junker' guitars and try some of the operations (removing fingerboard, etc.) on them.

On the restoration question- this isn't a terribly valuable guitar, so you need to be 'sensible' if you are thinking of hiring somebody else to do this job. If it were a 'family guitar' with a lot of memories for you it might make some sense to spend 'too much' on it.
Cheers,
John

Although this is not a "valuable" guitar, it is a vintage guitar and should not be used for someone to practice repair skills on. Get it done by a professional or give it back.

I agree with you Barry.
If I did decide to restore it myself, I would wait 'til I had a few garage sale specials restored (successfully) before I would even try this one. That said, I still have no idea what a professional might cost. Any recommendations on who does this sort of thing?

I've also been doing some soul-searching to discover whether I want to mess around with restoring (anything) or if I want to just continue to spend my time building from scratch.

Thanks for all the responses!

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Michael
http://www.makingaguitar.blogspot.com

Yeah my feelings exactly - these very cool old guitars deserve all the respect in the world. Even a real pro in restoration may take a couple years to complete a job like this thinking long and hard about each step, testing on scrap, etc. It's not a good learning mule anyway where a $35 beater from a yard sale is way better for that.

By the way I'm in Michigan too and we see lots of these old Gibsons - I worked on a 50's LG today fixing a back crack and trying not to pinch my fingers off with rare earth magnets....