NGD - 1961 Emerald Star II

BradHK

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I received the 1961 Emerald Star II this week from Reverb. No issues beyond what I already expected. The neck is large, in a good way. Right around 1.75” at the nut and 2.16” at the 12th fret. The refret looks good and it plays really well. It does feel strange however with all of the non-Guild (Gibson inspired) parts . It just doesn’t “feel“ like a Guild. That’s something I can rectify!

This is what it looked like when it arrived. You will notice the white wax or polish residue in ALL of the cracks and paint checks
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Step 1 is complete. The body has been stripped of all non-Guild items (except the bushings for the Nashville bridge). It was then cleaned with naphtha before using a rubbing compound and then polish. I am surprised how good the finish looks now on this 1961 guitar and the binding has zero shrinkage or cracks. This green is DARK.

The previous routes to install the humbuckers were done pretty good with a router and the Nashville bridge studs are reinforced properly from the inside. Pleasant surprises. I now need to wire in the HB-1 pickups and start building it back up with the proper vintage Guild parts. I have installed one of the Guild strap buttons and it already looks more correct! Pictures:
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GGJaguar

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Looking forward to seeing the finished resto! Good luck!
 

jp

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Exciting project! Especially since it's an Emerald Star. Can't wait to see the finished result.
 

BradHK

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Slowly making progress in between work and family. I am in the process of test fitting components and making some miscellaneous items.

I know a few of you liked the “Mary Ann and Ginger” toggle switch plate but I just had to go back to more factory correct. After removing the old switch plate it was obvious the original would have been the black plate with three mounting screws. The “circle“ from the original plate was visible in the lacquer so I could measure the diameter. The original was smaller than what I could find online and from looking at photos of original switch plates from 1961 the original was also thicker with slightly rounded edges. Time to make one. I made it out of black pickguard material, matched the original location of the screw holes, then rounded the edges and polished it up. I think it turned out really good. Getting it perfectly round was interesting! I just need to replace the toggle switch nut with a fine knurled version when I perform the final wiring install.
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The other item accomplished was to fit a vintage harp tailpiece and original strap button. Starting to look like a Guild!

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The holes for the HB-1 pickup rings do not line up with any of the existing holes. I put dowels in all of the old screw holes to ensure I had nice solid locations for the new screws. The next step is putting on the bridge and the strings to align the pickup rings.

More updates to come...
 

BradHK

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Slow progress still being made. I drilled the holes for the HB-1 pickup rings. Getting them perfectly straight with the neck and each other was a pain in the rear but they are nice and aligned now. The previous humbuckers that somebody else installed...not so straight when you started measuring. The slightly larger HB-1 rings allowed me to shift them slightly and still fully cover the previous routes. The pickguard has also been routed to fit the larger HB-1 rings. I routed it around the rings rather than sitting on top of the pickup rings. Keeps it out of my way when I play. The pickguard is a new Guild replacement as I couldn’t bring myself to cut into a vintage pickguard. I had to slightly elongate the pickguard bracket holes to align with the original holes in the guitar but the heads of the screws cover the slightly elongated holes.

test fit photo:
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zizala

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Love your choices and your care and craft!

It's also very cool sometimes to do a well thought out fix up on someone else's conversion.
Since the changes were already made for better or worse, you can have a great "guitar that never was", without making major irreversible modifications on a nice old original.
 
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BradHK

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Another task completed this morning. Some previous owner had routed out the pickup cavities to fit Gibson size humbuckers. They did a better than average job with a router but I think they free handed most of it. Some areas were slightly larger than what I need for the HB-1 pickups but some areas were too small. The most obvious was the bass pickup side where there was no room to fit the double screw tab of the HB-1. I made a template to do some routing. The HB-1s now fit great and the pickup routes are much better, but not perfect as I didn’t want to enlarge the holes more than I needed just to clean them up.

Some photos:

Template screwed down (you can see where the bass side pickup tab would not clear the existing cutout)
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Picture after routing
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And the test fit
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Next job is to tackle the bridge. Hmmm, the bridge post spacing on the Nashville TOM somebody installed is 74mm. That just happens to be the same as the Hagstrom bridge Guild used in the 60’s on the Thunderbird, Polara and some Jet Stars. And I just happen to have one lying around. I could just throw back on the TOM, or I could repurpose the existing holes with a little extra work (Slightly enlarging the existing holes). Concept photo without the bushings pressed in the holes...
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BradHK

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Thanks everybody for all of the positive feedback. Trying to bring back the ”Guild-ness” and treat the guitar properly has been time consuming but it’s coming along well.

Today’s task was easy but it made a huge visual difference. I swapped out the new Kluson Supreme tuners with plastic keystone buttons for an original vintage set of Grovers. The nice surprise was no extra holes and you could still see the imprint from the original Grovers. I cleaned and polished the headstock while every thing was removed and I think these tuners look much better.

picture of everything removed and cleaned:
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picture with correct tuners:
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GGJaguar

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Just the tuner swap makes it look so "right". Keep up the great work!
 

BradHK

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The bridge is now complete. The guitar already had holes in it from a previous owner installing a Nashville TOM so I decided I would use those holes to install a vintage Guild appropriate bridge. As I mentioned earlier, the bridge spacing of the TOM was the same as the Hagstrom bridge Guild used in the 1960’s. Of course it would have been on a floating wooden base on this guitar but hey, the holes are there so I’ll use them. The bridge studs for the Hagstrom part are a slightly larger diameter than the Nashville studs so this enabled me to slightly move the bridge studs to ensure they were perfectly aligned with the neck and pickup. The TOM studs installed by a previous owner were not. I made a jig to ensure the holes were straight and the perfect distance apart, clamped the jig to the guitar (after measuring what felt like a dozen times), and then held my breath and drilled. It all worked great and one more job is done.

bridge studs installed:
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And here is the bridge installed:
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BradHK

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I still have some work to do on the front of the headstock but the body is together, I have strung it up and it is back to life. I need to do a setup including action and maybe a slight truss rod adjustment but it sounds and plays great. I will tackle the headstock in the next few weeks but in the meantime I will just play and enjoy it. It “feels” completely different with all of the non-Guild parts removed. Much better!

Before:
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After:
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Mapleman54

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What a lovely, classy piece of work you've done.. I enjoyed every bit of it! Great builder's skills, building jigs. I imagine the guitar sounds full of life and character...quintessential 'Guildness' as you so rightly put it. Congratulations!
 

BradHK

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Thanks again for all of the positive comments! I installed the wiring this morning, strung it up, tested it, and then left for work. In the back of my mind all day was just coming home and playing it. I came home and gave it a good setup. The action is around 0.04 on the bass side and just under that on the treble side. The radius of this bridge fits the fretboard perfect. No buzz anywhere and no high frets. Truss rod works as expected and neck is nice and straight. No buzz anywhere. All good news and it plays great, I was even able to get it to intonate properly with the minor placement adjustments I was able to do when I installed the replacement bridge studs

I played it for an hour or so and the sound is very different than my other two 1960’s Starfire II and III (those are mahogany and this one is maple). One of those has the white top Dearmonds and the other has the anti-hum pickups. The HB-1s are thicker, as expected, but not as chimey as the anti-hums and the Dearmonds have more focus. Comparing it to some of my other guitars with HB-1s it is much more airy than the sound of the HB-1s in my Nightbird. However, not as much growl as the same pickups in the Nightbird. Definitely different than the sound of the HB-1s in my M-80. The good news is that it sounds great but does not sound like any of my other guitars. I like the combo of the lightweight 1960’s hollow body build with the HB-1s.

i need to make a new nut. Nothing really bad but I just hate the fake “aged” look somebody did (It just looks coffee stained). I will put a new nut on when I address the cosmetic issues with the face of the headstock. Now, back to playing!
 
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