Repair of smashed Guild top

[Bill Ashton]

A buddy is having his 70's-something Martin D-41 neck reset, on Martin's tab, at a luthier authorized by Martin. Surfing through the artisan's website, I came upon this repair he did on a Guild, which remembering some of the shipping and other trouble narratives here, might be of interest.

http://www.diburro.com/wb_guild.shtml

I have no connection to this luthier, don't know if he is good or bad, but he's presently away at Taylor-school so I guess he gets points for that!

[2021 GAD Edit]: That link is no longer valid. Here is the home page: http://www.diburro.com/

 

[killdeer43]

Very impressive work by a skilled craftsman. Wow!
I'll have to admit, though, that the sight of that smashed Guild made my heart skip a beat. :shock:

Thanks for sharing this link,
Joe

 

[taabru45]

I'm impressed with him cutting the fingerboard off at the 14th fret. and Jazz, was asking in another thread about the 'hump' that can occur from where the 14 to the high end of the fretboard is. I'm gonna' look at my F112 for a new possibility....maybe taking it off and planing/sanding it from underneath and re installing it...hmmmmmm....thanks for the link..... Steffan

 

[jcwu]

I'm impressed with him cutting the fingerboard off at the 14th fret. and Jazz, was asking in another thread about the 'hump' that can occur from where the 14 to the high end of the fretboard is. I'm gonna' look at my F112 for a new possibility....maybe taking it off and planing/sanding it from underneath and re installing it...hmmmmmm....thanks for the link..... Steffan

Yes, thanks for the link!

I'm curious as well, if the original fretboard above the 14th fret was reused. One of my guitars is currently in the shop, getting a refret and planing to get rid of that hump.

 

[jcwu]

Man oh man, I went through the rest of the galleries - this guy is good!!!

Gotta wonder though - how much does this kind of repair cost? More than buying a replacement, probably!!

 

[jazzmang]

Man oh man, I went through the rest of the galleries - this guy is good!!!

Gotta wonder though - how much does this kind of repair cost? More than buying a replacement, probably!!

Yes, I have corresponded with this gentlemen via email. I asked him about a few different scenarios of different issues that I had at the time.

D-55 had a warped top: He quoted well over $1500 for the repair (he said we may have to replace the top completely) and he quoted 14-16 weeks for the repair.

Apparently, this guy has a deal with Taylor in some fashion to fix some of their very high end guitars, from what it looks like, or maybe they recommend him for non-warranty work on these high end pieces.

 

[Bill Ashton]

In his brief narrative, the luthier notes that he would have rather taken the neck off but that would have made the job cost prohibitive.

As I am unworldly in things Guild, what exactly is this guitar? It looks like the one Eric Clapton and Mark Knofler play on YouTube. What is its value?...of course, as smashed, nothing...

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

As I am unworldly in things Guild, what exactly is this guitar? It looks like the one Eric Clapton and Mark Knofler play on YouTube. What is its value?...of course, as smashed, nothing...

The guitars they play are the similar shaped, but much smaller Bluesbird size Songbirds like this;

The F4 is from when Guild got heavy into acoustic/electrics. hence the thinner body and cut-away. It's the entry level mahogany version of the F-65 which is maple like this:

F4 value would be between $500-$700.

 

[pickoid]

Some of the photos on that website are hard to look at. Brings back some painful memories. In 1999, my Taylor 510 sustained an impact to the bass side rim that put a huge ugly gash in the mahogany, pretty much from the neck heel all the way around to the top side of the guitar (maybe 6" total length). There was a lot of splintering (small pieces) and there was a pretty large offset across the gap. I had owned the guitar since it was new, and I was heartbroken. I literally sat down and sobbed. I never took any pictures of the damage to the guitar, because I didn't really want to remember it that way.

Back in those days I used to hang around the 13th Fret discussion board, when it was brand new. One of the contributors to that board was Jim Grainger, sort of a Frank Ford type who has seen and done just about everything related to stringed instruments. I sent the guitar to Jim at his shop, Custom Fretted Instruments in Sparta, TN. They were able to salvage all the splinters and massage them all back into place. The crack was glued and cleated. It was necessary to refinish the whole bass rim of the guitar, because the finish Taylor was using at the time my guitar was built (Frazee) can't be touched up. They took it down to bare wood, matched the stain, filled the pores, and shot it with nitro. The guitar came back looking great. Upon close inspection, you can tell that the finish is slightly different on the bass rim than the rest of the guitar, but it's about as good as humans could possibly do it. While it was in, I had the lower 7 frets replaced and a bone nut and saddle installed. They had to take the neck off to do the work on the crack, so in effect it got a neck reset, too. The guitar came back playing and sounding better than it ever had. If I loved the guitar before that, I loved it twice that much afterward. The work they did was exceptional. Of course, it cost almost exactly what the guitar cost new, so you might say I bought it twice, but it was so worth it. Hard to believe that it's been 10 years since that happened. The repair and finish work has held up perfectly. The guitar still has the best action of any acoustic I've ever played, but it's needing fret work again.

 

[bluesypicky]

What a job!... :shock:
I'd be curious to see what tools and technique he used to remove the top so cleanly....

 

[cjd-player]

Apparently, this guy has a deal with Taylor in some fashion to fix some of their very high end guitars, from what it looks like, or maybe they recommend him for non-warranty work on these high end pieces.

Yes, I believe that is exactly the situation. From what I have read over on the Acoustic Guitar Forum, Taylor refers some costomers to him. His work is very highly esteemed on the AGF.

 

[wileypickett]

You want to see an amazing repair, check this out:

http://www.parachodelnorte.com/RKResurrection.htm

(Click the image to see the step-by-step.)

This was John Fahey's 1939 Ray Whitley Recording King, an incredibly rare model.

(I heard another, less fabulous story of how it got smashed. John was playing the guitar in bed, got sleepy, set it on floor, woke up some hours later, forgot the guitar was there, and tromped his foot through the top climbing out of bed.)

After it was repaired, Charlie Schmidt, one of Fahey's acolytes, performed the entire *Fare Forward Voyagers* album on it at the John Fahey Tribute Concert in SF, the same guitar Fahey used on the original 1973 album.

Fred Sheppard, by the way, is an amazing luthier! I met him at Fahey's funeral in 2001. I have one of his guitars. Best sounding six string I own.

Glenn//.

 

[stclrob]

This Guild F4 arrived with a footprint where the customer's buddy had crushed it with his boot.

Man, if one of my friends did that I'm not sure picking up the bill would be enough. :shock:

 

[bluesypicky]

Impressive indeed Wiley.... But at this point, makes you wonder if that thing sounded anything like originally with so many patches inside......
Seems to me like it would have been less work to build on from scratch with old wood! :?

 

[wileypickett]

Well, understand that the point wasn't to make a new guitar from old wood (Fred does that too -- see below) but to restore to playability a guitar that is fabulously rare (less than a dozen are known to exist) and also had the distinction of having belonged to John Fahey.

It was a sort of personal tribute from Fred to John and his memory -- a labor of love.

But all that aside, everyone at that first Freight and Salvage Fahey tribute show (I played the second year, not the first) said the guitar sounded astonishing. Charlie Schmidt, who wasn't sure if Fahey had really used that guitar on *Fare Forward Voyagers* or not, told me that as soon as he played the first chord, he could tell it was the guitar Fahey recorded the album with, so distinctive was its sound.

Fred has made several exact copies of Fahey's Recording King since repairing this one -- a friend of mine in Seattle has TWO -- one in koa. (I've played both and they are superb guitars.)

Fred also just finished making exact copies of the four guitars that belonged to the legendary classical guitarist, Agustin Barrios (a contemporary of Segovia's), for the century (?) anniversary of Barrios' only appearance in Brussels.

Fred traveled around the world, X-raying the guitars, which are either privately owned, or in museums, making meticulous notes about each.

The guitars will be part of a month-long display of Barrios memorabilia and a new documentary film on him, to be held at the fabulous Musical Instrument Museum in the heart of Brussels (I'm planning to go!).

Fred's copies will also be used by guitarists who will be coming from around the world to perform Barrios' music for the event.

Glenn//.

 

[JerryR]

I just don't want to look until my D35 has made it safely to Arlington and back :shock: