NGD: 2007 F47 Brazilian with GSR appointments

GGJaguar

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Wow, that new pickguard looks perfect. You are a very skilled craftsman. Kudos!!
 

Stuball48

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Very very nice work. You are a determined craftsman who would not settle for, "it turned out OK" but took it to another level. You satisfied and surprised yourself with the skill level you reached.
 

Rich Cohen

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HeyMikey wrote: First, let me give a big “thank you” to Rich for offering up this beauty and for the Fort Knox level of packing! It is soooooo nice to not have to explain to someone how to properly pack and ship a guitar.

I have to thank Richard Peterson for teaching me how to pack a guitar. He's a master at it, and he has a masterful collection of Guilds.
 
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Rich Cohen

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Hey, Mike. My 1934 Epiphone Royal, listed at Archtop.com, has a 1 3/4" nut. It's a cannon, and comes with a DeArmond floating pup and the original case. It's in the "Epi" section of Archtop.com's website. We could switch/trade for the F-47.
 

merlin6666

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This is super cool guitar and I am surprised that anyone would let it go after scoring such a treasure. I thought that the GSRs had a pickguard included for those who wanted to add one but it seems the one that got attached initially was not the one intended. I am glad this is now fixed.
 

Rich Cohen

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Ok, so I’m the one who bought Rich’s (formerly Blake’s) F47 special. First, let me give a big “thank you” to Rich for offering up this beauty and for the Fort Knox level of packing! It is soooooo nice to not have to explain to someone how to properly pack and ship a guitar.

I’ve been wanting to try something slightly larger than my F30 size guitars but the Guild choices are very slim because of my preferred 1-3/4 nut size. So, I started looking at some with 1-11/16. I really admired this particular guitar with its unique features when it first came to market, and had to pull the trigger when Rich offered it up to raise cash for his archtop GAS.

The Brazilian is gorgeous and to me looks like it’s from the same or similar batch Tacoma used for the 2003 D-55 Anniversary models. The custom level of build quality of this guitar is top notch. The Adi spruce, RW headstock, ebony, abalone and MOP appointments and Parisian eye bridge pins add a classy amount of bling. The tuners are fantastic! Yes, that abomination of a pick guard must go, without a doubt. I’m getting very close to removing it. The rear finish scratch (not a through crack) and lower side gouge can be repaired but honestly they don’t bother me much. One thing not disclosed previously is that the neck angle, action and saddle height are excellent! To me those far outweigh the cosmetic blemishes.

I’ve been playing it a few days and it sounds pretty darn good. The neck is comfortable and who doesn’t love a good smooth ebony fretboard. The note clarity and volume from string to string is very even. The tone is clean, very well balanced from the bottom to highs, and is I guess for lack of a better word “refined”. I think Rich described it as mesmerizing. Surprisingly, I don’t find it louder than my F30 size guitars, but it does have a more polished sound.

There are two things that I don’t care for. First is the 1-11/16 nut width, which I can play but not well. It is just not enjoyable for me. Second is the overall size which is just a bit large/deep for my arthritic shoulder – but not a problem for 30 minutes or so of play.

The bottom line is that I like the guitar very much, but don’t think it’s going to be a keeper for me. Ultimately, I will probably end up selling or trading it for something with a wider nut width like an Orpheum OM-R, DD6-R or maybe F312, which are high on my want list.

Blake’s pics

2007 F47 Special -3.jpg
2007 F47 Special -2b.jpg
Mike,
Actually, the 50th Anniversary model was produced by Corona not Tacoma.
 

Rich Cohen

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Very very nice work. You are a determined craftsman who would not settle for, "it turned out OK" but took it to another level. You satisfied and surprised yourself with the skill level you reached.
Shelby,
I have also recently released my '65 F-312 braz. to Glenn Jones (WileyPickett), who has spent considerable effort in bringing that guitar to a better level, and has plans to give it to a luthier to finish the job.
 

Stuball48

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Rich
I don't ever remember holding a 12 string guitar and going to try and keep the "none holding" in tact. Because, I know I would want one.
 

gjmalcyon

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About 15-20 hours of tracing, templates, sanding, polishing, cutting, a few "Oh S#!+" moments, more polishing, fine fitting, and .... Not too shabby! I even put a nice polished bevel on to give it some dimension.
Can you give me a quick tutorial on what you did - tools, techniques, etc? I need to do this on my Tacoma DV-6. It suffered the "sliding pickguard" syndrome that a few Tacoma instruments had, and I managed to crease the original pickguard during its removal. I still have it, so I can use it as a template. I've been stuck on the "how do I finish the edges?" question.

Thanks.
 

HeyMikey

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Can you give me a quick tutorial on what you did - tools, techniques, etc? I need to do this on my Tacoma DV-6. It suffered the "sliding pickguard" syndrome that a few Tacoma instruments had, and I managed to crease the original pickguard during its removal. I still have it, so I can use it as a template. I've been stuck on the "how do I finish the edges?" question.

Thanks.

Thanks everyone for the very nice complements!

In essence, here is what I did:

Make your template, use painters/masking tape to adhere it well to your pick guard material. Make sure you have a good light source. I used a headlamp as well. Cut out the new guard with a good sharp scissors. I used my wife's cooking shears (but don't tell her). I roughed it first leaving about 1/4ish inch all around.

I sanded out face scratches using StewMac 2x2 micromesh pads dipped in water. Start with the finest grit that will take out the worst scratch. I started about at the 5th grit and progressed to the finest. Note: I only had to do all this because the old piece of celluloid I used was scratched. It you have new material you can protect the top and skip all this sanding.

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-too...s-for-sanding/micro-mesh-soft-touch-pads.html

Test place the guard and trim leaving just a tiny amount (pencil line width) for sanding the edges. To round out and smooth the edge curves I taped a 6-8 inch long strip of 300 grit sandpaper to the outside of a roll of masking tape. Go slowly, lightly and test fit often. Then I went to 600, 1000, and 1500.

When the shape of guard was as close as I could get without making myself crazy I used the same process to make the 45ish degree bevel. One of my Oh S#!+ moments was when I slipped and put a nice scratch on the already sanded and polished pick guard. I had to go all the way back and re-sand the face at every micromesh grit again. Then micromeshed the bevel. Next time I would not do the polishing until after the edge work is done, and I would protect the pick guard with some painter's tape while working the edges/bevel.

Once that is done and you've hit every surface with the micromesh its time to polish. I started doing this by hand with Novus 3/2/1 which is a series of polish for plastics. I didn't like how that was going so I switch to using StewMac 3-inch foam buffing pads on my drill that I have specifically for their Fine and Swirl Remover polishes. Much better and faster with the buffing wheels.

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-too...or-finishing/buffing/foam-polishing-pads.html

https://www.stewmac.com/luthier-too...-polishing/colortone-polishing-compounds.html

If your guard material comes with adhesive backing great. If not you can get 3M double stick sheets. LMI or eBay sells a big enough size for Guild guards (StewMac's are too small) .

https://www.lmii.com/pickguard-material/1979-pickguard-transfer-adhesive-8-x-10.html

So that the adhesive wouldn't show around the edges, from the back side of the guard I scraped the adhesive paper off the edges with the flat edge of the scissors (or use a razor) then finished using some of the micromesh to get the clingons (not Klingons) off.

When placing the guard use painter or masking on the outside to make hinges. Test drop it in place a few times to make sure it is all lined up and then peel the backing of the adhesive, spray a little water (or not) and drop it into place. Smooth it out and done.

Here is a good video.

 
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sailingshoes72

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The new pickguard looks beautiful Very nicely done! It allows the abalone inlay on the rosette to really shine. As someone who enjoys looking at telescope photos of constellations, I like your description of the "stormy nebula" in the pickguard material. 😊
 
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