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Any guitar is any condition can be restored to playable condition
The "Luthier's Workbench" is monthly article or reprinted materials on a variety of subjects related to vintage guitar history, building, repair and restoration.
Restoring a 1930-1931 Gibson L-1 flat-top guitar - FON #2
As you will see in the pictures this 1930 Gibson L-1 was fully restored from a "topless" carcass. The original mahogany back, sides & 12-fret neck were in decent shape with one long 5” crack on the back. The finish was very worn, scratched and had to be done over. A faded, but original "The Gibson" silver silk-screened logo was still visible on the peghead & was not re-finished and left in original condition. Back, sides & neck re-finished in deep dark brown, non pore-fill 100% Nitro lacquer finish (also the way Gibson did it to allow mahogany grain show through). Back of neck finish is shaded lighter with dark brown at the heel & back of the peghead for a real vintage look. New solid dark rosewood fingerboard and bridge. Mother-of-pearl dots; bone nut & saddle. Single-bound ivoroid top & back; 3-ply rosette ivoroid-black-ivoroid. 4" sound hole. Neck is dead-flat & level. NEW Narrow-gauge .063" nickel frets; StewMac "Golden Age" 3-on-a-plate tuners with ivoroid buttons. Ivoroid bridge pins and end-pin.
Even as bad as this guitar was prior to restoration, or any vintage guitar in any consition deserves to be recued from being thrown away. We strive to preserve as many of these fine guitars as possible rather than seeing them go to waste.
Left: Full fron shot of the "topless carcass" before restoration. Above: Inside the body and before & after close-ups of the original peghead with c1930 "The Gibson" silver silk-screened logo.
The biggest challenge was fabricating a NEW Adirondack Red Spruce top with period-correct spruce X-bracing and re-creating an original-looking sunburst finish. Starting in the early 1920s, Gibson created their beautiful “Cremona” sunburst finishes using a “hand-rubbed” process. It requires special dyes and a color blending technique that is extremely delicate. Sometime after 1934, Gibson switched to a “sprayed” sunburst finish that is still the standard process used today. The results were a great sounding guitar with the volume and tone anyone would expect from an early 1930s Gibson L-style flat-top acoustic guitar.
Above: Before - during - after shots of the new Adirondack spruce top with standard 1930s era Gibson X-brace pattern.
As you will see in the pictures this 1930 Gibson L-1 was fully restored from a "topless" carcass. The original mahogany back, sides & 12-fret neck were in decent shape with one long 5” crack on the back. The finish was very worn, scratched and had to be done over. A faded, but original "The Gibson" silver silk-screened logo was still visible on the peghead & was not re-finished and left in original condition. Back, sides & neck re-finished in deep dark brown, non pore-fill 100% Nitro lacquer finish (also the way Gibson did it to allow mahogany grain show through). Back of neck finish is shaded lighter with dark brown at the heel & back of the peghead for a real vintage look. New solid dark rosewood fingerboard and bridge. Mother-of-pearl dots; bone nut & saddle. Single-bound ivoroid top & back; 3-ply rosette ivoroid-black-ivoroid. 4" sound hole. Neck is dead-flat & level. NEW Narrow-gauge .063" nickel frets; StewMac "Golden Age" 3-on-a-plate tuners with ivoroid buttons. Ivoroid bridge pins and end-pin.
Even as bad as this guitar was prior to restoration, or any vintage guitar in any consition deserves to be recued from being thrown away. We strive to preserve as many of these fine guitars as possible rather than seeing them go to waste.
Left: Full fron shot of the "topless carcass" before restoration. Above: Inside the body and before & after close-ups of the original peghead with c1930 "The Gibson" silver silk-screened logo.
The biggest challenge was fabricating a NEW Adirondack Red Spruce top with period-correct spruce X-bracing and re-creating an original-looking sunburst finish. Starting in the early 1920s, Gibson created their beautiful “Cremona” sunburst finishes using a “hand-rubbed” process. It requires special dyes and a color blending technique that is extremely delicate. Sometime after 1934, Gibson switched to a “sprayed” sunburst finish that is still the standard process used today. The results were a great sounding guitar with the volume and tone anyone would expect from an early 1930s Gibson L-style flat-top acoustic guitar.
Above: Before - during - after shots of the new Adirondack spruce top with standard 1930s era Gibson X-brace pattern.
In addition to repairing and restoring fine vintage guitars, Fox Guitars specializes in re-creating a “hand-rubbed” sunburst, both on vintage guitars and on our “New Vintage” series custom-made guitars. The end result was well worth the effort. It mainained a beautiful rich vintage tone that will only improve over time. Plenty of volume with a nice balance of bass, mid-range and treble makes it as close to the original as possible.
