This is such a cool guitar. It’s always fun to restore a family treasure like this.
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.
I remember Dad playing this guitar many a Sat. night while visiting with one of his fellow co workers that played fiddle, back in the late fifties and early sixties. Was always great to hear them play together. I didn’t realize that the all those parts were either wrong or in need of attention. I’m looking forward to hearing my brother strum out a few chords. Thanks so much for the hard work you’ve done on it. It looks great!
I’ve just bought one of these (in nowhere near as nice condition!) but I was wondering what sort of rotary switch will fit under the guard, as I cannot for the life of me find an adequate replacement.
Hi Ben,
It’s been more than 5 years since this repair but I do recall having to dig hard to find a switch small enough to fit. I’m quite sure I had to modify a switch (maybe by clipping off unused solder lugs;) I may have even had to enlarge a space on the body under the pick guard. I wish I could remember more but I’m pretty sure I had to look beyond the obvious guitar parts suppliers to find one. A more general Google search was probably what it took. Might have been something like this.
Hi Steve, thanks for the reply!
The switch you posted is the closest I can find to something that might fit, it’s a tiny space! Luckily it’s not an urgent repair (the previous owner installed mini toggle switches) and my dad’s friend is a collector of vintage electronics, he might have something suitable.
Thanks again!