Bridge Fit & Re-glue :: 1969 Guild Mark III

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Bridge Fit & Re-glue :: 1969 Guild Mark III

Finally getting back to the late 60's Guild classical in for a neck reset and a lifting bridge.  This bridge removal was slightly more involved than usual as western red cedar tops tend to be brittle and can be more difficult when removing bridges (vs spruce).  A small finish touch up was required before fitting and re-gluing.  Next up is resetting and gluing up the neck.

Note:  I picked up a jar of "InstaMorph" moldable plastic pellets and have found it extremely useful.  Here it makes perfect clamping cauls for the radiused bridge wings.

Sharp fret ends & center seam crack :: 2014 Maton EBG808C [4.3 lbs]

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Sharp fret ends & center seam crack :: 2014 Maton EBG808C "Michael Fix" [4.3 lbs]

Another victim of a long, dry New England winter.  The fret ends were sticking out from the unbound fingerboard and the top's center seam had opened up slightly just behind the bridge.  The fret ends were dressed and the top crack humidified closed, glued and cleated along with a minor finish touch up.

Setup :: 2012 Taylor 816CE [5.1 lbs]

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Setup :: 2012 Taylor 816CE [5.1 lbs]

This Taylor came in with low action.  After a few days hanging in a humidity-controlled shop, the action came up but not up enough so the saddle was shimmed up.  Popped in a fresh 9V battery and it's ready to go.

Dried-out Fret Level :: Gitane DG-455 [4.0 lbs]

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Dried-out Fret Level :: Gitane DG-455 [4.0 lbs]

This past winter took it's toll on this thinline gypsy jazz guitar.  The guitar had dried out to the point of the strings touching the frets, along with top cracks along the fingerboard extension.  The fingerboard also developed cracks where the frets were pushing out the ends of the board.  The cracks were all glued and the sharp / raised frets were leveled and dressed.

Installing a middle pickup :: 1997 Fender Jaguar [8.9 lbs]

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Installing a middle pickup :: 1997 Fender Jaguar [8.9 lbs]

A made in Japan Jag in for a middle pickup installation.  This guitar has been in the shop a few times before to remove a Buzz Stop, replace a Tuneomatic with a Mastery bridge and swapping out the pickups for Lollars.

Adding a middle pickup involved routing the pickguard, copper top shield and the body (prep photo here).  The low-cut / strangle switch was moved to a Bourns 1 meg push-pull pot that replaced the stock tone pot.  The original Lollar neck pickup was moved to the middle position and a new Curtis Novak went up front.  All pickups are selected via the three-switch plate.

This setup sounds incredible.  Wow.

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