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| The horror! - General Guitar - Guitar - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
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Philj200 Approved 
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It's an old guitar. I'm at least the third owner. And I've had it since the early 60's. It's been through a lot and I have semi-retired it. But it was still perfectly playable and still sounded wonderful last week. Last night it sound like shit. Pardon my French. There was a nasty low-pitch rumble and the tone was muffled. Something bad had happened. After I applied the paddles to my chest, I did a fast stroll down memory lane. Ah...my two and four year old grandsons had used it as a drum! I remember stopping them on their second paradiddle getting across my house fast enough to set a new indoor track record and leave scorch marks on the broodloom. I put the guitar out of reach. And didn't play it until last night. (My day-to-day guitar is a roboguitar, a Martin DXM.) But Miss Gibson was ailing. I took the strings off. Being super careful with the old and very worn bridge. Strings changes on these beauty are always a tight-fitting pain. Reached in and sure enough, a brace was half unattached. Good news/bad news. Good news: I new now exactly what was wrong and where to fix it. Bad news: How could I work glue where glue had to go... and not break the old brace. And while there are long armed, shallow throated C-clamps perfect for repairs like this, I don't have any. And I didn't think StewMac could get a couple to me within the next few hours. So.... I put the guitar on the ironing board. Yes, the ironing board. Right shape, right height, and padded. And got my trusty plastic bottle of yellow glue in hand... or rather on finger and began to work the glue in place. Took an hour to coat as must of the exposed part of the brace as I could reach without exposing more and the reciprocal place in the inside of the face board. While the glue was getting tacky I measured the inner height of the guitar. 3-1/2". I found a dog-end of another project in a scrap bucket that was the right size. (Cutting a piece to size would be easy, but a chip of serendipity was appreciated) I dropped the scrap wood in the guitar and reached in, wedging the wood between the brace and the inner face. It seemed to fit. I uses a plastic-faced clamp the fit in about an inch and a half to give more support and turned off the lights. Do you know how hard it is to sleep with your fingers crossed? This morning, I removed the clamp and the wedge. The dreaded pop of a glue joint popping did not occur. I'll let the glue cure for another day which is probably not necessary. And string it up with light guage. Anyone need an appendix removed? Teeth capped?
____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
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garyblanchard Approved 
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Glad to hear the operation was a success! It would be a shame to see a good, old instrument go.
____________________ http://www.brookfieldsmusic.net Preserving the Old-Time/Good-Time Tradition http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/919/ Buy our CDs at: http://kunaki.com/msales.asp?PublisherId=111162 |
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Philj200 Approved
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Well, Miss Gibson is out of ICU. She's about to begin light-guage physio-therapy. Prognosis is good. I reset the bridge once or twice over the decades with Elmers before I learned about yellow glue. She's battered and brusied but still a tough old girl. Gary Davis and Lightning Hopkins both played on it (not at the same time.) --- Added later this evening: She is holding tune with medium guage strings. THe braces are holding. Alert the media! (I used mediums because they were the only strings I had.) Last edited on Sat Sep 30th, 2006 12:46 am by Philj200 ____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
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Mack Aroni Approved
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It amazes me to think, that something thats been around for so long, could be destroyed so quickly! Im glad you still have your beautiful guitar. Kids are the greatest arent they!?!
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gerry mcgandy Approved 
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What about letting us hear her? After suitable recuperation of course. Regarding prophylaxis, I keep a half size nylon string (Chinese $20) guitar, a glockenspiel and some tom-toms at ground level for the kids and my instruments hanging on the wall. Any of them shows an interest can have a go on the mandolin.
____________________ Gerry McGandy http://mp3mart.net http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/556/ |
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Philj200 Approved
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This is an older thread. The damaged was done several months ago. The kids didn't destroy the old Gibson. But they did loosen an internal brace. As described above, I fixed it good as old. She's is semi-retirement now. I play her for gigs where I believe she'll be safe. And when the mood strikes me at home. All I did was ask them not to be rough on the instruments. And they've never bothered them again. Not to say, they are scared off. Far from it. Boths boys take music classes. Both can keep steady beats. And amazingly...the both can sing on key and have been able to do that for a long time. THeir mother plays viola and their dad plays guitar and banjo, so no one is surprised. (Do I get the proud grandpa award of the day?)
____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
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Justaguyin_nc Approved 
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Great story and yes, Proud Grandpa of the year award. I always let the Grandbabies beat on mine.. although I have nothing over a grand used. They are more than welcomed to strum along... which usually makes other squirm if they are over and watching..  Heck, I even let the cats play them....
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Philj200 Approved
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It has been a while since I've been here much (massive coputer problems, and I'm using a different computer at the moment); My son-in-law came home with Rock Band for his Play Station. The whole family plays along with the little ones wailing away on the lyrics. I tried it but can't relate to the music. I wish they had a bluegrass version. Further, the now five-year-old is campaigning for his own guitar. That will happen soon. Just which grandpa buys it TBD.... Any recommendations?
____________________ My MP3 Section: http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/1143/ My Myspace area: http://myspace.com/philj200 |
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| Current time is 02:12 am | |
| ezFolk Forums > Guitar > General Guitar > The horror! | |
