Repair And Restoration
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1946 Gibson J-45
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1946 Gibson J-45
So this 46′ J-45 came to me at a very very low price as it needs extensive repair. Much that I am confident in, cracks, bridge/bridge plate issues, loose braces and the like. There are however a few points that id like the groups opinions on.
The neck angle is pretty great and theres a good amount of fret, however, at some point in its past, someone shaved down the neck to a dangerous point, and the back of the neck has toms cracks along the truss-rod slot. The neck is otherwise straight, although shoddy in its carve. I wonder if I should fill these cracks with some sort of filler, and recarve and finish the neck, or should I craft a whole new neck. As much as a new neck would yield the most stable and visually appealing result, I think that filling the cracks, sanding out the roughness and cleaning up the carve of the neck and spraying some finish would result in the most value retaining option, being able to keep that script logo would be nice. That being said, im all up for a challenge and would replace the neck if needed.
the second approach question I have is whether or not you would pull the back off the instrument? Ive fixed many a loose brace and such reaching my sausage arms into a guitar, however, with the extent of repairs, and the condition of the finish on the back, I wonder if its worth it to pull the back off to address the repairs and then strip and refin the back. The condition of the finish on the back is atrocious in my opinion. Ive never seen even the potential need to pull the back off an instrument for repair, untill now, and again, am up for the challenge to do this right, but wonder what everyones thoughts would be.
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3 Replies
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These falling apart Gibsons are super interesting. Attached are pictures of my 54 SJ that I completely disassembled with the binding remaining attached to both the top and the back.
The glue was failing so hard that I literally just slipped a knife between the kerffing and the back and the top and then just popped them off. This actually lead to some tricky business when taking the neck out, but also lead to a completely drama free reglue with very little evidence that anything had been apart and no finish work.
All that being said, if they dont come apart easy, the top is WAY easier to separate than the back for the same reason violin folks take the top off. Spruce runout is actually your friend if you’re careful. Separating a mohag to mohag joint between the back and the neck block is sketch balls.
Anywho, here are the pics. I pulled the x-brace off with with my fingertips. Everything was cleaned completely and reglued with hide glue which would have been impossible building a ship in a bottle.
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That break in the neck is probably the truss rod breaking on through to the other side. That would require something radical to become stable. Maybe pulling the board, the rod and then layering some CF in the bottom to take the load ? Does it open and close with a truss rod adjustment ?
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It does not seem to move much with adjustment of the rod, although it seems like some sort of putty of a kind has been used to close up that gap at some point in the past, which leads me to presume it may open again in the future…..just wonder if a new neck is, although certainly the most laborious route, but the most responsible for the longevity of the instrument
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