Do the Twist...repair advice.

[Jim Pritchard]

Jennings, you have a PM

[Jennings]

By way of thanks for the encouragement and advice so far, here's an update on the woodwork. I've sanded the guitar back to wood, soaked in warm water, and clamped between two suitably large shaped boards. Here it will sit in the back room while it dries and settles by itself for a few weeks.

[Jennings]

While the body does its thing, I've been trying to work out what to do about the gaping hole cut in my control panel, where a previous owner mounted the Hofner blade pickup...I cant be too judgemental, as I'd guess at the time it was done this was just prior to the advent of mass-availability of after market pickups or rewinding services. Luckily a saviour was at hand...thanks to Jim Pritchard kindly agreeing a price for some parts, I now had suitable period-original pickups, bridges and some incomplete sections of original control plate. One of these plate sections was just big enough to cover the Hofner cut-out, so I marked it, cut and filed it. I wanted to echo the curves of my original plate so it didn't look out of place. I drilled suitable mounting holes to be able to bolt it to the Hofner mounting holes cut in my control plate and polished it up a little. After bolting it on I was able to fit one of the original pickup and bridge combos, and pop on a couple of Bulgin-style chicken head knobs to show the look. I shall wire up a couple of CTS pots and dig out a paper-in-oil cap shortly.

[Jennings]

My guitar did not appear to ever a wooden fretboard added...there are no previous evidence marks suggesting it did, and the body didn't look sanded/refinished to suggest one had been removed previously. A very thin 3-ply laminate synthetic one was glued on the guitar when I got it. I'd like to add a board that looks a bit more like the standard types on other examples of this model, and less ugly than the laminate board...maybe a wooden, or perhaps a thicker metal screw-on board. Not least because these might give a little more strength to the neck when I'm done and minimise future twisting issues. Anyone know any suitable sources? Most fretboard blanks I've come across are too thick...I'd need something 5mm or less ideally, otherwise I start getting too close to the strings. I don't have a means for adequately thicknessing wood myself, though I can of course trim etc to size. From my initial measurements the scale length looked to be about the 24 3/4" mark? Is this right, does anyone know?

[Jennings]

Thought I'd post a progress update in case anyone was curious how I was getting on with the project.

Well, after about 3-4 week left in the clamp I removed the body...and found we'd done a great job of making the old girl straighter!

In those week's I'd searched for a fretboard that matched the originals I'd seen in photos. Only to find nothing! I needed it to be 24 & 3/4 " scale length, and about 2.5" wide. I considered making one myself, but since I'd not made a fretboard I figured the job I'd do might not be up to par. Then I happened across a guy called Frank who helped me out...he makes wonderful instruments and parts from reclaimed and antique wood. Well worth checking out his website at https://stryreinstruments.com/ to see his craftsmanship. The antique mahogany board arrived, and I set about gluing it on. I also pegged the holes in the body top that I'd need to re-drill or mask over when refitting the control panel and nut later on.

Now, sadly the board moved ever so slightly whilst the glue set. I possibly could have got away with it, but it annoyed me. So I thought I'd try my hand at removing the board and starting again...I'd not done this before, so it was another ideal skill to try my hand at. Using an iron, a thin flat plaster blade and some crossed fingers, I set to work. As luck would have it the two came apart well, with no damage to speak of.

Today I cleaned the two parts up and then set about regluing the board to the body with much more care and precision. Looks successful this time, and the warmer weather has helped get a cure going faster which helped from a movement point of view. We're back in business! Once this dries I'll do the smooth sanding and consider what finish to give it. I've seen both tobacco sunburst and natural pictures on the net. I've also followed the kind suggestion and Rob at Guitar Decals http://www.guitardecals.co.uk/ has made me a new Selmer logo to apply. So here's the guitar as it currently is today:

[Danny Mitchell]

Looking good, Jennings, thanks for keeping us posted. Very interesting.

[Mcneilwaeasteel]

Great work, how do you intend to finish the wood, as its down to bare wood you could try a method I was told about 40 years ago by an old shipyard joiner and used on a mahogany guitar I was building at the time.
Use Goldsize and dilute it by adding 75% methylated spirits, apply it to the bare wood liberally and let it soak in, let it dry and keep adding it until the wood is well sealed probably about 4 - 6 coats. Then you can use a good wax polish preferably with cabuna wax build up several coats and polish it, I did this and have the best finish I've ever had on wood, and the guitar still looks as good today as when it was sealed and polished in 1977! If ever any damage is done to the wood you just seal it and polish it up again and you don't have the problem of getting the colour or stain to match.
Hope this helps but it's just a suggestion and if you dampen the wood or wipe it with white spirit you will get an idea how it's going to look before you do anything.
Keep up the good work as it looks great!

[Jennings]

Thanks for the compliments folks! I was thinking of trying to emulate the original tobacco sunburst in stain, with a nitrocellulose lacquer on top. However the goldsize and wax idea sounds great! I’ll mull over the final choice while filling and final sanding takes place over the next week or so. I do have another guitar project I might also try the goldsize method on...nice ash body Strat!

[Jennings]

Quick project update!

Fretboard was successfully glued on

So I decided to have a go at a similar dark tobacco sunburst like a lot of the Selmer Pro Electric Hawaiian photos I saw on the net. I was fairly pleased with the results, but it's always hard to imagine what it'll look like with the gloss over the top.

After that I built up coats of nitrocellulose lacquer, using some amber tinted layers and a couple of clear. I liked the way the sunburst settled in, managed to be fairly neat, and I think the result is fairly ballpark where I was hoping it would be looks wise.

Next step is to get the headstock ready for the new logo and apply it. Then I'll gradually build about 20 dusting coats over that before a final full coat of gloss over the whole instrument. I'll then leave that to harden for a week or three. After that it's the final assembly and fitting all the various bits of hardware and electrics.

[Jennings]

And I also took some shots of the "original" pots...I'm trying to work out whether they're original to the lap steel, and if so date it. They look and test to be Dubilier 1K linear taper pots (tested on my meter), though one jumps to massive 500k+ resistance just at the end of its rotation so is a bit hooky. Does the four digit code suggest the 38th week of 1951 maybe?