So you broke the headstock off of your nice Paul Reed Smith? No problem, just bring it in and we can reglue it for you. Just make sure you don’t try to slap it together yourself with bondo or plaster or …

…Oh no! Yikes. This is ugly. And it obviously didn’t hold.

And there’s a major body crack too. This PRS is going to take a lot of  attention if it’s ever going to play again. It’ll take grafting on a new headstock and re-gluing that big crack at the body.

The body crack is where we start- gently applying enough pressure to open it, inject glue, and clamp it shut.

Once the body is glued up, we move on to the neck.

We need to graft on an oversized piece of mahogany using a scarf joint. To make sure the string tension pulls the new joint closed rather than open, we need to remove the fretboard, cut the useless piece of the neck away at an angle opposite the break, then attach the new section.

After heating the fretboard (don’t worry the discoloring of the inlays will sand away later,) Dan uses a modified putty knife to remove the fretboard. He then pulls out the truss rod, to be re-installed in the new headstock.

Next, he carefully saws the end of the neck off, creating an angled scarf joint.

He rough cuts the new headstock from a block of mahogany…

…and glues it into place on the neck.

Once the glue is set, he hand carves the new headstock, using another PRS neck as a reference so that all the dimensions are perfect.

Then, he removes the old and worn frets, files the fretboard level and clean, and hammers home the new frets.

He drills the tuner holes, prepares the new wood for painting and over-sprays the whole neck and headstock area.

Since we had clear finish in the sprayer, we decided to go ahead and put a new coat over the body too to better mask the repairs on the top and make the whole guitar look uniform.  Here’s Dan scuffing the finish before spraying.

After applying a new logo and clear-coating the neck, it’s time to put it back together again. Some PRS Dragon pickups, new hardware, and new wiring are installed.

Finally, we give it The Works set-up and try it out. It looks great, sounds terrific, and ultimately cost the owner less than buying a new (or used!) Paul Reed Smith.

The vintage National resophonic (or resonator) guitar is undeniably one of the most striking-looking guitars ever. This Style O model that came into our shop went a step further with a Hawaiian tropical scene etched right into the back plating. But there were a few important areas that needed work so it would actually play and sound as beautiful as it looks.

With the body in nearly perfect shape, the most obvious order of business was a long crack in the fretboard.  Since the frets were worn flat, we decided to go ahead and refret the whole neck. In the process, we would be leveling the fretboard which would create enough ebony dust to fill and repair that crack.  Easy enough.

Upon even closer inspection we noticed that the fretboard was bowed upward into  a “ski jump” shape that caused most of the high notes to buzz noticibly and in some cases, not to sound at all. This was because the neck itself was loose and pulling up under the tension of the strings. What this guitar really needed was a neck reset.

The neck and supporting neck stick (which runs the length of the body inside) is held into place by just a few screws, including three that sit below the pearl fretboard inlays above.

Once the neck was off we also noticed that the resonator cone inside was dented and distorted, so a new cone from National is also in order.

Once the neck was off, we repaired the weak and cracking areas of the fretboard…

…removed the old frets and leveled the fretboard…

…and began resetting the neck to the body. We soon discovered that the top was not really strong enough to support the neck under string tension. The manufacturers tried to reinforce the top with two small strips of mahogony that run parallel to the neck post. These probably did the job early on, but after 80 years, they aren’t as stiff as they once were and they aren’t much help.

Here’s a view of the inside. On the left, you can see the neck “stick” which runs the length of the body; on the right is the underneath view of the F hole; and in the middle is the original top support piece with a screw passing through the middle.

In 1934, two years after this guitar was made, National realized this design flaw and solved it simply by rounding the edges of the F holes. It’s an old metal working trick that smooths the edges but also strengthens the metal itself. Since we weren’t going to be rounding edges of a vintage guitar (not to mention the chrome plating which we don’t do) we got a great idea from master resophonic craftsman Paul Beard.

At Paul’s suggestion, we used a thin piece of flatsawn maple (above,) shaped it just for this guitar, and fastened it inside using those mounting screws. We didn’t have to add a single extra screw hole or modify the gutar at all to fit this piece in. Here it is inside the guitar:

Once we put it to the test, we found this addition added the support we needed to keep the instrument from folding up on itself. The extra bit of rigidity made all the difference in the world. For this insight – as well as MANY others, we thank Paul Beard.  If you’re a fan of resophonic guitars, please check out his gorgeous instruments at www.beardguitars.com.

Next, we replaced the damaged original resonator cone with a new one from our friends at National and hammered in the new frets. Notice that the crack is now gone too.

Strung up to pitch, this guitar is now playing great – comfortable action, clean notes, a crack-free fretboard, and a stable and solid neck joint. It was in remarkable shape given the nearly 80 years of string tension and use it’s been subjected to, and with this repair, it should be last another 80!

Three years ago, Steve and Dan opened a one-room guitar shop. This summer we doubled the size of  the shop and welcomed two new faces to Chicago Fret Works.  Allow us to introduce Joe Swierupski and Patrick McKeever.

This winter, we found ourselves stepping over guitar cases and telling our customers that a set-up would take more than a week.  It was time to get some more space and some help. Luckily, the space adjoining ours became available and we decided that if we didn’t take it now we’d probably regret it down the road. It happened to be big enough to house an amp repair station too.

Around the same time, we received a resume from Joe Swierupski. He’s worked for Fender and Gretsch and was an acoustic guitar building instructor at Arizona’s Roberto Venn School of Lutherie before relocating to Chicago this summer. He brings a deep understanding of guitar construction and customer service and we’re pleased to have him on board.

The new space also created an opportunity to expand our services to include amplifier repairs. Patrick McKeever has been repairing and customizing guitar and bass amps at Chicago’s The Music Store since 2000 and now joins us as the lead technician at Chicago Amp Works. He has been a fixture on bass in the Chicago blues scene for years, backing up many of the city’s biggest artists. Patrick also builds beautiful all tube amps under the name Sweet Amplification. He loves helping musicians “find their tone” – the one they’ve been imagining.

So there’s some big changes.  We look a little different here, but it’s all with an eye toward better serving our customers. There’s more plans in the works so keep checking in!

The 1952 Goldtop is where it all began for the Gibson Les Paul. Guitars from this first year of production have an obvious historical importance and, as with all vintage pieces, the conscientious repairman does not make an irreversible alteration to one without just cause. This one was sold to the current owner with full disclosure of some previous repairs to the headstock. Those repairs were well done, solid, and the guitar sounded amazing (vintage P90’s really are something special.) But they simply did not look right and that’s where we come in.  It took heating, sawing, chiseling, filing, and painting to get there, but this is how we made this vintage classic look and perform the way it’s supposed to.

The beginning: It looks pretty good. There’s no arguing that. But what this guitar’s owner noticed is that this headstock just seemed a little … short. And sure enough, it was.

Here’s why. The headstock had clearly broken at some point – a common occurrence with Gibson necks.  It’s usually a relatively simple repair consisting of gluing the pieces together and touching up the paint. But this repair looks strange – with a black “stinger” painted on the back. Why was that done? A closer look revealed that for some reason, the repairman who fixed this break decided to add several steps.

First, he took the broken end piece and the remaining neck section and smoothed out both surfaces- possibly on a belt sander. This is the step that shortened the headstock, as it removed some of the wood. We can see this already by looking at the break line (below the low E tuner) which is uncommonly straight. Usually this is a naturally jagged-looking fracture line. Next, he removed some of the back of the headstock and used a piece of maple to add strength to the repair. You can see where that piece terminates at the far left of the  picture above – just below the black stinger. It’s hard to see here, but there are even drawn-in grain lines to make the brown part of the maple look like mahogany.

A line in the finish between the low and high E tuners shows where that maple piece ends.

So at this point, we’ve seen enough to make the decision. We’ll remove this very strong but unattractive repair and replace it with an entirely new headstock that will look more historically correct.

Step one, we heat the fretboard to soften the glue that joins it to the neck and gently remove the whole thing – carefully removing and preserving the original inlays beforehand.

We decided to take a closer look at what was underneath the paint on the old headstock and discovered that our theory was correct.

The above picture shows that straight cut between the low tuners.  It also shows that the logo overlay – made of holly wood – was sanded away below that cut, probably to make the two surfaces line up smoothly.

The back of the headstock reveals that maple support piece the whiter area – painted brown first and then over-sprayed with the black stinger.

Next we stared at the neck for a few hours. Drew a few deep breaths. And sawed the neck off a 1952 Les Paul. Gulp!

No turning back now. Time to make a new headstock. We begin by band-sawing a piece of mahogany to fit the angled cut. The direction of that angle is critical as we want the string tension to pull the repair closed. If we were to leave the fretboard on and saw the other direction, the string tension would be pulling the repair open – making it much less stable.

We were lucky to acquire an original Gibson holly headstock overlay complete with a period-correct inlaid logo. When it came time to cut it to size, we wanted to get all of the dimensions correct. So we went right to the source – Gibson Guitars. While the company did not keep complete records at the time with all the relevant measurements, one of the workers in the repair shop actually owns a very similar 1953 LP. He was kind enough to take the measurements himself and email us a tracing of his headstock. Huge thanks to Timothy and Phil at the Gibson repair shop for helping us get it just right!

As luck would have it, and just when we needed it, a customer of ours brought in another 1952 gold top which we used to confirm all of our measurements. Always good to have more than one source for this sort of thing!

The Gibson headstock profile begins to take shape.

Once the neck looks and feels right, Dan strips the remaining finish from the neck. As much as we would like to preserve every bit of original finish, there just isn’t a way to finish the new section and blend it in with the old without refinishing the entire neck.

First comes dark brown pore-filler to make the grain jump out and more importantly, produce a level painting surface.

Next some brown stain matches the old and new portions of the neck.

Then precise measurements are marked for tuner placement.

After drilling the holes for the tuners, we’re ready to paint the face of the headstock. Dan uses a clear adhesive to protect the inlaid Gibson logo from the black paint (hard to see, but that’s what he’s trimming here.) At this point, we’ve also re-glued the fretboard, replaced the inlays, and installed new frets.

The final touch is applying the water-slide Les Paul logo and spraying a few more light coats of clear finish.

We made a new bone nut, used the original tuners and truss rod cover, and did some light distressing of the finish to blend the appearance in with the rest of the guitar.

The new scarf joint is visible; we’re not trying to fool anyone here.  But the color and finish match makes the seam look natural and, well.. seamless.

1952 Les Pauls did not come with a stamped or inked serial number so we left that area alone.

Here we are, strung up with new frets. One non-original part that makes a big impact with this guitar is the addition of a Joe Glaser-designed tailpiece end which fits easily onto the old trapeze. It sits lower and has an intonation ridge – solving the well-know problems of poor action and bad intonation that accompany 52’s. This guitar plays beautifully and the pickups just sound incredible.

This was a lot of work for a rare and classic instrument. The end result was completely worth it however. We restored the original look while protecting as much of the original features as possible. It’s going to be making music for at least another 60 years!

This short-scale National Model 1122 Cosmopolitan has been in the owner’s family for a long time.  He remembers his dad playing it for the family when he was a kid. It had a few odd part replacements through the years and our mission was to find replacements that made it 1. playable again and 2. looking at least close to the way it used to. We should have taken some ‘before’ photos, but among the pieces we had to find were:

A Daka-Ware bakelite control knob…

…a bakelite ‘chicken head’ knob and 3 way rotary switch to replace a modern togle style switch that was installed at some point…

…a new set of Kluson no-line tuners to replace a funky replacement set…

…and finally, to repair the original non-functioning bridge pickup that uses a paper bobbin. Wow! Thanks to our friend Josh Gravelin for doing a great job rewinding a very unusual vintage pickup.

Once we put it all back together, it really sang out beautifully.  And it looks the way it did in dad’s hands years ago. This is one of those projects that demonstrates how personal musical instruments can be – they bring back memories in a way that lots of other possessions can’t. It’s always fun being part of a family reunion.

We see a lot of interesting guitars around here, but it’s pretty rare that we see something we’ve truly never seen before. But a customer recently brought in two fretless basses that stopped us in our tracks. How can we describe them? -Unusual? Rough-hewn? Quirky? The woodworking is quite good at times and, um, hurried and homemade looking at others. They seem to be made from a combination of  exotic wood species like purple heart and odd driftwood-looking domestics.   Both instruments buzzed quite badly and required heavy fretboard leveling. But once that was done, it became evident that the builder had done something right. They actually sounded great and the owner was soon using the 5 string, which he nicknamed “Big Nasty,” in a recording session.

The pricetag for both of these USA handmade instuments? Less than $500 apice! The manufacturer? A North Carolina maker called Wishbass. Take a look at more photos below and see what you think.

A singe passive pickup is wired directly to a volume pot and output jack.

Here’s a second bass, this one a four string model.

The woodworking is again, hit and miss…

The finish has a drip or two… or three…

In an era where lots of instruments look the same and most are cranked out by the thousand, these one-of-a-kind basses were kind of refreshing to see. And  for the entry-level pricetag, they’re sure to appeal to some. The owner of these two just bought his third on eBay!  What do you think?

This is one scary looking headstock break. The headstock is completely off the neck and with a close look, you can see that someone attempted to repair it with both glue and wood screws! If you do that glue-up right the first time, there’s no need for the screws (which didn’t hold anyway.) The dry glue poses a problem because it seals the broken cells of the wood, making it impossible for new glue to do that.  And that’s just the beginning…

Here’s a close look at that original “repair.”

But there’s more problems here than just the headstock break. These frets are loose, worn flat, and covered in tarnish. They’d need to go too.

Some heavy water damage at the base of the guitar tells us that this once proud Les Paul probably spent a lot of time in that basement. But the wood is still strong and repairing the finish is at the bottom of our priorities on a repair like this.

The owner gave us the go-ahead to attempt regluing the headstock.  We”ll use a heavy-duty wood epoxy and cross our fingers. If it holds with some strength, we’ll continue with the refret, touch-up to the headstock, and put it all back together.

The epoxy held fast (we tested it under string tension for a week to be sure.) So we began filling it the areas where wood had gone missing.

And got to work replacing the old and worn-out frets. We planed the fretboard to clean it up and to insure a level playing surface for the new frets.

Now we’re ready to touch-up the area of the headstock break, blending it in with the original sunburst finish.

A little clean up of the top and this is starting to look like a real guitar again.

We replaced the rusted and twisted old bridge with a new nickel bridge from TonePros (keeping the original in the case of course.)

A fresh set of strings and we were ready to try this beauty out through an amp!

The vintage mini-humbuckers sound great!

This was a fun rescue to perform. It’s always rewarding to bring a guitar back from the grave and have it turn out this nicely.

We were more than a little surprised to learn that  this 1930’s era Gibson A Style mandolin (which was built a mere 100 miles away in Kalamazoo, MI) traveled more than 8,000 miles to get here from South Africa. Unfortunately, the instrument repair options there must be pretty thin, as it had one of the strangest looking attempts at fretwork we’ve ever seen. We cleaned it up and gave it a proper refret along with a new set of tuning buttons for the original tuners. Take a look.

The previous repairman may have not had access to replacement fret wire or maybe just didn’t know what he was doing. Regardless, the fretboard was in bad shape. It appeared as though the frets had been removed, then raised up on little hills of dried glue. The entire fretboard was caked with glue and the frets themselves were badly dented and misshapen. They obviously needed to go. The other clear need was for new buttons on the vintage tuners. As often happens, the old ones had dried and crumbled until they were unusable.

We heated each fret and pulled it out, leaving a strange-looking surface like we’ve never seen. No wonder this thing didn’t play right!

Next, we straightened the neck, cleaned off the loose bits of glue and spent quite a while leveling away what was left until the fretboard was even and clean.

Here’s the fretboard after installing and dressing the new frets. It’s now perfectly level and free of every bit of the old residue.

Finally, we replaced the old crumbly buttons with new ones that the owner sent along and gave it The Works set-up.  Much better.

Once complete, this vintage beauty sounded fabulous. …Well, maybe not fabulous (since the two of us only know a few mandolin chords!) But in the right skilled hands, it certainly will for many more years.

And now for the long trip home!

I’ve got a baseball behind my workbench signed by 1970’s Cubs outfielder Jose Cardinal (my favorite player as a kid.) I don’t play ball with it because I know that autograph would disappear quickly. Baseballs are cheap, so I play ball with another one.

This Schecter Synyster Custom was played onstage and autographed by the members of Avenged Sevenfold. The owner wanted to keep those autographs safe so he had two options: hang it on the wall and never play it OR have us finish over the top of the signatures to keep them protected. He wanted to play it, so we opted to spray a few clear coats of polyurethane over the top.

For the new paint to bond properly to the original finish, we need to scuff the surface with sandpaper – taking great care not to sand away the signatures. Before we can do that, we have to remove the pickups, bridge, and controls.

Next it heads into the spray booth for several coats of clear poly, followed by wet-sanding and buffing it to a high gloss Finally, we put it all back together with the Works setup.

These signatures look exactly the way they did when the guitar arrived. But the owner won’t have to worry about playing it now that they’re sealed. Every guitar that has meaningful autographs should have this work done.

This late 60’s Les Paul Deluxe has had lots of work done to it over the years. Its original P90 or mini-humbucker pickups were removed and replaced with full size humbuckers, it has had mini toggle switches installed and removed, and its original gold top was refinished as a burgundy shaded burst. The current owner discovered that a hairline crack had appeared in the top, extending from below the tailpiece all the way into the neck pickup cavity. He asked us to repair the crack and refinish it to it’s original goldtop color.

These two small holes between the control knobs probably once housed coil tap, phase, or series/parallel switches.  They’ve been filled, but are still completely visible.

The body crack is barely visible – running through the tailpiece and bridge post holes and continuing all the way into the neck pickup cavity. To make the repair really look right, we knew we’d have to refinish the top. First, we completely strip away the old finish.

This close look at the pickup routs shows the original P90 routs, widened to fit full size humbuckers and (if you look closely) some remaining patches of the gold finish it once had. We opted to stay with the current humbucker pickup arrangement but to restore the gold finish. The one electronic alteration  we made was to wax-pot and cover the pickups.

Here’s a better look at the body crack after repair.

The refinish begins with sealer and white primer coats.

Then that distinctive Gibson gold-top. Here we peel away tape that kept the gold paint off the edge binding.

After amber top-coats and some light relic touches, it’s starting to look the part again.

Once the work is complete, there’s no evidence of the body crack or switch holes anymore. It’s just another great looking Gibson Les Paul Gold-top.