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Category: Customization

Featured Guitar – A Washburn Falcon Comes Home

posted by Steve | June 24th, 2010

After more than 25 years, a favorite old friend comes home with a little help from Facebook!

Washburn Falcon Repair/Restoration

We have a love/hate relationship with Facebook around Chicago Fret Works. But one of the great things about the site is how it helps old friends reconnect. In this case, the two old friends are a 1978 Washburn Falcon and its original owner.  It’s one of those “I never should have sold that guitar” stories that actually has a happy ending. Continue »

Categories: Customization, Repairs, Uncategorized, Vintage Restoration, electronics | No Comments »

Featured Guitar – Tele “Deluxe” ?

posted by Steve | May 18th, 2010

Well obviously this is a custom refin (not done here) and obviously it looks more like a Tele Custom than a Tele Deluxe, but it’s pretty cool looking either way!

Orange Telecaster Deluxe (or Custom)

Somewhere along the line, this Tele was modded with a Bigsby and a wide-range humbucker. The current owner liked the guitar overall, but not the sound of the neck pickup. So we installed a Lollar Special T in the bridge position and a Lollar Imperial humbucker in the neck position. Because of the smaller size of the new neck pickup, we mounted it in a chrome pickup bezel and it looks great. I find it hard to look away from this orange soda/dreamsicle-looking guitar.

Continue »

Categories: Customization, Fender, Uncategorized, electronics | No Comments »

Custom Guitar Refinishing – Gibson SG and Fender Precision Bass

posted by Steve | April 24th, 2010

Sometimes we have to get a little creative with refinishing. Here’s what happens when someone wants an unusual color for their guitar.

Custom Guitar Refinishing - Fender Precision Bass

We had a couple of unusual projects recently that required some creative work with color. The owners of both this 70’s Fender Precision Bass and a modern Gibson SG knew they wanted to refinish their instruments, but wanted to do something a little more unique than just choosing a standard Fender or Gibson color.  Interestingly, both ended up with colors more reminiscent of  vehicles than other musical instruments. Continue »

Categories: Complete refinish, Customization, Refinish, Uncategorized, bass, finish, gibson, vintage | 1 Comment »

Attack of The Mossmen!

posted by Steve | January 15th, 2010

Two more vintage Mossman acoustics get the superhero treatment – a neck reset, refret, custom pick guard, and a new brace.

Mossman Acoustic Guitar Repair - Neck Reset and Refret Mossman Acoustic Guitar Repair - Neck Reset and Refret

Not long after posting photos of our previous Mossman neck reset, we received two more Mossman guitars that needed the same treatment, but with an extra necessary step. Since they received identical work, the photos in this post will jump between the two guitars. You’ll see them receive neck-resets, re-frets and that extra step – the addition of a brace that was missing in the original design. The guitar in that previous post was made a few years after these and by that time the design flaw had been remedied.  After years of not seeing this company’s guitars, it was interesting to see a number of them arrive so close to each other.  Continue »

Categories: Mossman, Pickguard, Repairs, acoustic, neck reset, refret, vintage | No Comments »

Greco Les Paul Copy – Refinish and Relic

posted by Steve | October 27th, 2009

Here’s an early 1980’s Greco Super Real Goldtop as it arrived in our shop. Take a look at how we gave it a more authentic and vintage appearance.

Les Paul Copy Refinish / Relic

The Greco Super Real is one of the more sought-after copies of the Gibson Les Paul. They consistently fetch upwards of $1500 on eBay and in our opinion, outshine many of the more common varieties. It’s got great weight, feel, and sound but the appearance is a little less convincing. The owner of this guitar noticed that it had an orange-hued finish that was clearly not the traditional nitrocellulose lacquer found on Gibson guitars. He asked us to refinish it in nitrocellulose and relic the appearance so that it looks more like a genuine vintage Les Paul.

Those original goldtops got their look from clear lacquer finish applied over bronze powder. Over time, the clear finish would wear thin and ‘check,’  exposing the bronze to arm sweat and the oxygen in the air. As a result, many of these 50+ year old guitars have taken on a greenish appearance in the more heavily worn areas. The Greco’s owner knew this and specifically wanted to see this subtle effect on his guitar – which means simulating fifty years of wear and tear in a brand new finish. You’ll see we were up to the challenge. Continue »

Categories: Complete refinish, Customization, Relic Service, finish, gibson, vintage | 8 Comments »

Vintage Gibson ES-355 Refinished, Bound and Refretted

posted by Steve | July 28th, 2009


Hold on there! Refinish a vintage Gibson? In candy apple red?? There better be a darn good reason to do something like that… and there was.

Vintage Gibson ES-355 Refinished, Bound and Refretted

As mentioned in previous posts, the guitar repairman’s rule of thumb with vintage instruments is to leave it in as close to original condition as possible while still maintaining its playability. In the case of this 1960’s Gibson ES-355TDC, a couple of previous repairs have left it far from its original condition. When it arrived, the most obvious change was that it had been painted white years earlier and that white finish was flaking off in big chunks. A little closer look revealed a headstock repair the likes of which we’ve never seen. Throw in some long ago water damage, cracks in the body, and stains in the wood and the vintage value of the guitar is pretty well gone. You may as well paint it blue; or as the owner of this guitar decided, candy apple red. Continue »

Categories: Complete refinish, Customization, electronics, finish, gibson, touch up, vintage | 16 Comments »

Replacing A Fretboard: It’s Not As Painful As Removing A Tattoo!

posted by Steve | June 23rd, 2009

Thinking of tattooing the name of that special someone on your arm? You might try inlaying a fretboard instead. At least it won’t hurt when it’s time to move on.

Fretboard replacement / inlay

The owner of this bass had the Guild custom shop inlay his wife’s name on the fretboard several years ago.  And they did a great job. The bass sounds terrific. The only problem is that they are no longer married. It seemed like time to move on, so in a relatively pain-free procedure, we replaced the fretboard and inlaid some slightly less specific fretboard markers.

Continue »

Categories: Customization, acoustic, bass, inlay, refret | 4 Comments »

52 Hot Rod Telecaster Relic

posted by Steve | February 4th, 2009

Can’t afford a real 1952 Telecaster? We made this new guitar feel like it was 55 years old. De Leon’s nightmare.

For a variety of reasons, some folks just prefer old guitars. Maybe it’s the neck, worn smooth by years of handling. Maybe it’s the checked and cracked finish that looks like granddad’s old tube radio. Maybe it’s just the charm of something that’s played some music in its time. Or maybe it’s the fact that vintage guitars’ values are reliably and steadily rising – making them a good investment. But some of us can’t find or afford our real dream guitar. So at Chicago Fret Works, we’ve developed a relic process that will simulate aging in a guitar, giving it the look and feel but not the pricetag of a genuine vintage piece.

Continue »

Categories: Customization, Fender, Relic Service, finish, vintage | 4 Comments »

Vintage Harmony Archtop – Custom Pickup Mod

posted by Steve | January 7th, 2009

This tale may ruffle the feathers of vintage purists. Would you rout a 50’s Harmony archtop for a pickup?

As a rule, we and others in our profession have an unwritten standard that says you don’t do irreversable modifications to vintage guitars unless you absolutely have to. But there are times to interpret those rules strictly and times to be a bit more loose. Refinish your ‘56 goldtop Les Paul in purple? Not here. Rout a ‘61 Strat for EMG humbuckers? No chance. Install locking tuners on your pre-war Martin? Keep shopping.

Install a humbucker in an acoustic Harmony Monterey archtop that you got for a couple hundred bucks? Hmmm… maybe…

Continue »

Categories: Archtop, Customization, electronics, vintage | 7 Comments »

A Blueshawk Bass With Custom Electronics

posted by Steve | August 11th, 2008

Okay Blueshawk fans, we know what you’re thinking; there’s no such thing as a Blueshawk bass. Well, thanks to a tag-team effort, there is now. This was truly one of the most challenging electronics customization projects we’ve ever done and it turned out great. **Beware** though, this one gets technical!

Continue »

Categories: Customization, Uncategorized, electronics, gibson | 3 Comments »
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