Damaged headstock
Guitar stories
Dennis's Yamaha SA-50
Dennis purchased his guitar new back in '74. He's gigged with it for 50 years and decided it was time to give it some well deserved love. He'd been finding that it was lacking in sparkle and he wanted it to sing again.
Reviewing the issues
Although playable, there was a lot of fret buzzing and lack of sustain on this 50 year old guitar. It really badly needed a refret. Next was the paint - an unfortunate run-in with a ceiling fan had left the headstock damaged with large chips out of the paint. The final issue that needed addressing with the rust that had developed over time. Although the guitar was stored in it's case, most of the hardware had areas of oxidation.
Restoration process
I first went to work dismantling the guitar. Almost all hardware needed to be soaked in a gentle vinegar and water solution to remove rust. Once I was satisfied the oxidation was all gone, I cleaned and polished the metal parts. They shined up great!
Next was the all imporatant fret work. I removed the 50 year old frets using heat and a fret pulling tool. They came out easily and cleanly. On a 50 year old guitar with extensive play wear, I wanted to minimise sanding on the board. I re-radiused the neck, only removing a small amount of material, just enough that I could successfully seat the new frets. I installed new medium gauge frets with care, cutting and filing the tangs to sit nicely inside the slots and clear of the aging binding. After checking the straightness of the neck and making some adjustments, I levelled, crowned and polised the frets to a jewellers shine!
The final part of the restoration was fixing the headstock and touching up some minor paint chips on the body. After I painted and filled the headstock chips I gently scraped the excess back to level, then went throught many grits of sandpaper untill the finish matched rest of the headstock. The damage was only noticable on close inspection now. A great result!
The end result
I reassembled the guitar, put on new 11 gauge strings and set it up. With the neck dead straight, it played like a dream. I was able to get the action really low for Dennis so he didn't have to work hard when playing chords. I lubed the nut and tuners, then cleaned and polished all surfaces before handing him his pride and joy. This beautiful guitar has a long history and it's caretaker deserved to be able to enjoy its full glory. I was grateful to have the opportunity to return the mojo back to the SA-50 and put a smile on Dennis's dial.