Basket Case 52 Goldtop .... Conversion Candidate Just For Me

[boogieongtr]

I have been looking for a thrashed early 50's Goldtop and finally picked up this 52. There are lots of issues as you will see. I plan on doing a retop with some killer old Michigan maple.

From the first 2 pics you can't see any of the damage.

Now for the issues:
The neck had a break at the heel and whoever repaired it used oak dowels to help hold the neck into the pocket and also help support the break at the heel. Look at the inside of the cutaway and you can see a break in the binding and another dowel.

From the neck pickup route you can see the neck was glued back into the pocket. The neck was set about 1/16" off.

From this pic you can see the neck was ripped out of the pocket and when it broke it took part of the maple cap and mahogany.

A better pic of the break at the heel

A better pic of the inside of the horn. From this angle you can't see the break lines in the mahogany.

The headstock has been refinished:

First I'm going to find center line of the guitar.

I need the center line mark to glue on the new top. This will assure the seam of the new top will be centered on the stop tail piece.

 

[J.D.]

I dig how you execute and document your guitar projects and will be checking back on this one often :jim

 

[boogieongtr]

First I'll drill out the dowels. I have a feeling that if I don't I'll never get the neck out.

To steam the neck out I'll first get the depth of the tenon.

I'll bore a 3/32" hole right on the glue line using every other other fret spacing.

Steaming out the neck

The neck tenon came out in pieces so I know the repair was done using hide glue.

I have decided to rebuild the tenon with some old mahogany and hide glue.

Only one small area with a void left. I'll notch and fill it.

I'll make the fill piece from the part of the tenon I removed.

 

[torger]

cool thread! thanks for posting. keep us updated

trgr:salude

 

[garywright]

I dig how you execute and document your guitar projects and will be checking back on this one often :jim

me too !!

 

[boogieongtr]

Ready to glue the tenon build up

I'll let the clamps on for 24 hrs.

I can't live with the oak dowel so I'm going to hide it with some mahogany.

I'll remove about 1/8" on the bottom of the tenon

Ready to glue the last piece of the tenon build up

Glued & clamped

Rough sanded & sized

I selected the mahogany graff so the grain lines are close to the original neck.

I thought about using a mahogany veneer over the back to hide the dowels but since it's for me I'll make new dowels from mahogany. First I'll resize the holes.

Holes resized.

 

[cjp54]

Good luck with the project Jim! I love these threads!!

 

[boogieongtr]

I'll make the mahogany dowels with a tapered plug cutter.

I use luthiers white glue for the plugs.

With a damp rag I'll remove the glue residue.

Plugs sanded. IMOP they look better than the oak dowels.

 

[Jumping@Shadows]

Wonderful stuff Jim, as ever!

 

[Dishimyuh]

Jim, you are a beautiful human being!

 

[Red Baron]

Some very interesting (and clever) stuff going on in this thread, thanks for sharing :salude

 

[cjp54]

The plugs looks great! One of them disappeared and the other is almost invisible too. Really nice work!!

 

[Wilko]

Carry on! Lookin' good.

 

[MapleFlame]

Awesome, been missing a great restoration project. Fantastic work Jim. Also very Glad you are repairing the original neck etc...

 

[moonweasel]

Is the top carve over sanded? Is that why you are retopping?

What a cool project.... Through my website, someone just offered me a 68 GT that is pretty darned rough.... tempting...

 

[Jumping@Shadows]

Hey moon I'm after a trashed '68 (love these things?) so I'm gonna mail you on it just in case- I've got a bunch of LSLP info for you too

 

[moonweasel]

Hey moon I'm after a trashed '68 (love these things?) so I'm gonna mail you on it just in case- I've got a bunch of LSLP info for you too

Thanks man! I just did the first update of the site since I uploaded last in 2008. Just a little bit of content and it looks the same as before, but it has been COMPLETELY recoded, top to bottom.

 

[boogieongtr]

Thanks everyone. For me, the most important part a burst tone is in the old mahogany. I'll take a retop any day but I wanted to keep as much of the neck tenon as possible.

Next up, working on the neck angle. I use a 4 degree neck angle the same as my 1960 Burst.

For this I use a jig I made with a 4 degree angle.

I use a pattern router bit to get close.

I'll finish up with a chisel.

A dry fit into the original neck pocket.

 

[lpjunkie]

Awesome restore Jim!

 

[mingus]

Great candidate for a conversion. I'm looking forward to seeing the progress.