A Larrivee Restoration
by Bryan Galloup
This job came to me from Ohio. The owner told me the story of how it belonged to his favorite uncle and he'd tried several times to have it repaired. In this case money wasn't an issue, he just wanted to do this out of respect for someone he'd admired. This is a common dilemma luthiers are faced with where the cost of some restoration rivals or surpasses the value of the instrument. I carefully explain the repair cost in relationship to the “restored” instrument's value. If the customer is okay with the price and I think the guitar's worth the effort I'll take the job on.
As you look at this guitar (fig 1) you can clearly see it has been worked on before. It didn't just fall apart. The finish and fret board have been removed. You'll also notice the bindings have been removed and the original binding slot has been tampered with (fig 2). The customer requested the installation of an adjustable truss rod. With the fret board removed I noticed it had a 70's style Martin “O” beam non-adjustable truss rod (fig 3).
The current slot would accept an aluminum “U” beam adjustable truss rod without much alteration so I agreed to this modification. (fig 4). I place the new truss rod on the neck and trace it's outline (fig 5) then chisel out the excess (fig 6) clearing the way for the new truss rod (fig 7).
To reglue the fret board, I first remove the old frets, (fig 8) this will make the gluing process easier and I am going to refret it later anyway. There is residue from the old binding (fig 9), I'll clean this up at the same time I true up the edge of the board with my leveling tool (fig 10 & 11), now I glue on the new rosewood binding with a little white glue (fig 12) and tape it in place to cure (fig 13 & 14).
Once dry, I remove the tape (fig 15) and clean off the excess glue from the bindings (fig 16).
I clamp the fret board in place then drill and install two locating pins (fig 19). I apply glue to the neck (fig 20) then clamp it together using a clamping jig for the fret board and two custom cauls to protect the back of the neck (fig 21 & 22). Here is a closer look at that fret board gluing jig (fig 23).
To prep the neck for finishing I remove the locating pins (fig 24) then clean up the excess glue (fig 25). I use the same file and also a scraper to remove the remaining glue and finish (fig 26 & 27).
The peg head overlay is loose (fig 28) so I float it with a little water thin cyanoacrylate (fig 29 & 30). I use a thicker cyanoacrylate to reglue heel cap (fig 31 & 32). I finish sand up to a 320-grit finish (fig 33). Once the side markers are installed on the treble side of the new fret board binding I am ready for finishing (fig 34).
After close inspection of the body I realize it is in pretty good shape. All I have to do is rebind the back and repair a small section of the top binding. To straighten up the binding slot I use this slick little adjustable binding tool I made from a laminate trimmer (fig 35). This tool locates off the side and cuts a nice square slot (fig 36 & 37) as Sam demonstrates.
With the slot repaired I tape the new perflings in place (fig 38 & 39). The new rosewood bindings are prebent on a heated hand bender to ensure a proper fit in the binding slot (fig 40).
I start the binding at the shoulders to match the binding seam with the back's center strip (fig 41). I tape the rest into place locating the second seam at the bout (fig 42). After 12 hours dry time we remove the tape (fig 43).
Except for a small section on the shoulder that was sanded too thin during the previous attempts at restoration the top binding is in pretty good shape (fig 44). To repair this, Sam steams it loose (fig 45) and removes this section. It pretty much falls apart (fig 46).
I repair the damaged area by installing a section of new binding and perfling (fig 47 & 48).
To prep the body for finishing I file the binding flush on the top and back (fig 49) and I scrape the sides in (fig 50). Sam sands the body up to a 320-grit finish (fig 51 & 52). I still need to drill an access for the new truss rod so I used a long 3/8th drill bit, drilling slowly so not to tear or crack the shoulder brace (fig 53).
I mask off the areas of the neck I want to protect from finish using 3M painters tape (fig 54 & 55) and make 2 custom combination handle/hanger for both neck and body for the finishing process. This neck joint is a French dovetail, typical of Martin (fig 56).
I made a maple section to match the dovetail and mount a hanging rod to it (fig 57). Once inserted in the body I secure it with a screw (fig 58). On the neck I have a 10-32 thread sticking out from the truss rod I installed (fig 59). I simply install a hanger that matches the thread (fig 60).
The back, sides and neck are open celled woods and will need to be filled. With the neck already masked off, I wipe clear water based filler into the grain (fig 61). On the body I use dark water based filler but first I masked off the face to protect it from the dark filler. Once filled, I removed all masking protection from the face of the body then closely inspect and clean both body and neck in preparation for finishing.
My finish of choice for most vintage restorations and repairs is Behlens nitrocellulose Classic Instrument Lacquer. This is a good product that is very close to most original finishes. My finishing schedule is three series of coats with 6 coats in each series 45 minutes in between each coat. I allow each series to off gas for 12 hours then sand them back with 320 grit sandpaper. The final cure time is two weeks. I wet-sand the finish up to a 1000-grit sheen (fig 62) then Sam buffs it on my pedestal buffer (fig 63).
In preparation for final assembly I note that the neck pitch is pretty good, it was basically disassembled for repair. The neck joint should be tight and the pitch and centerline should also be close. The neck is a little loose, probably from the general restoration so I add a small section of paper to hold the joint together while I check the pitch and centerline (fig 64 & 65). The pitch and centerline is within the tolerances I need (fig 66 & 67)
so I glued two shims into the body neck joint (fig 68), which tightens up the joint (fig 69) then fit the dovetail properly. I place carbon paper in the body joint (fig 70)
then insert the neck and tap it with a soft hammer (fig 71). I remove a small amount of material where the bluing is located (fig 72) until the tongue is about .020 to .030 away from the face of the guitar. I press fit the final distance with a clamp to securely wedge the dovetail into position.
Instead of premasking the body, this time I chose to remove the finish from the tongue and bridge area after the finishing process to make the glue joint. I use sign makers tape (fig 73) to protect the area and place the neck on the guitar, then I trace the outline of the tongue (fig 74). I remove the neck, then scribe the finish with a sharp knife about 1/16th in from the trace line (fig 75) then remove the finish with a chisel (fig 76). With the finish removed I glue the neck into place (fig 77).
The owner did not have the original bridge so I'll have to make a new one. I can clearly see the outline of the original bridge, this will give me a footprint to work with (fig 78). I start with a nice dark piece of ebony (fig 79) next, I measure the existing footprint (fig 80), and transfer those measurements to the blank (fig 81, 82). I determine the bridges radius by choosing the same radius as the fret board (fig 83 & 84). I layout the footprint of the bridge by first measuring the distance from the center of the bridge pin holes to the front of the untanned area on the top (fig 85) then I measure the distance from the center of the two outside “E” strings (fig 86). I transfer these measurements to the blank (fig 87) and drill them out (fig 88).
The design of the old bridge is a standard back belly design (fig 89) so I rough out the bridge (fig 90 & 91) then I place the bridge on the face of the guitar (fig 92) and make any minor adjustments by hand. Once I'm happy with the basic shape I finish shape the bridge with a file (fig 93) and finish-sand it up to a 180 grit finish (fig 94). With the final shaping complete I give it a final polish and one last inspection on the guitar (fig 95).
I like to insert two 3/16th wooden dowels into the outside “E string holes as locators during the gluing process (fig 96). I always check the intonation just to be sure and in this case I'm glad I did. By my calculations, the bridge placement is back enough that the saddle would not be in a correct position to play in tune (fig 97). To keep it from playing flat it needs to be moved forward .200th but I'll only get about .150th before the untanned area of the top becomes too noticeable behind the bridge. To correct this I cover the top with some sign makers tape and lay out the centerline from the neck and the new intonation line (fig 98 & 99). Then I lay out the same lines on the bridge (fig 100) and drill through the outside “E” strings into the top (fig 101).
Once the 3/16th wooden pins are in place I trace the outline of the new bridge onto the tape and then scribe it with a sharp knife (fig 102). With the tape removed you can clearly see this scribe (fig 103), this scribe will stop the finish from chipping out onto the top as I remove the finish with a chisel (fig 104). With the finish removed I take this time to plug the old holes and I glue a thin backer over the bridge plate as a support.
In prepping to glue on the bridge, I find an inner gluing block that matches the top X bracing pattern (fig 106), if I hadn't, I would make a custom one. I apply glue on the face of the guitar then clamp the bridge into place (fig 107 & 108). Once cured, I drill out the bridge pin holes with a sharp drill bit and ream the holes with a custom 3-degree bridge pin reamer (fig 109).
For refrets I use a string tension simulation jig. I strap it onto the table and adjust the new truss rod until the neck is straight (fig 110). I cover the fret board with white pencil lines and flatten the fret board with a custom leveling beam until the white lines disappear (fig 111). Once refretted, I level the frets using the same method and dress the frets (fig 112).
I make the bridge without the saddle slot precut. I like the option of stringing the guitar up with a temp 1/8-inch aluminum saddle (fig 113) and adjust the intonation using a strobe tuner until it's correct (fig 114). Once the intonation is set I mark the temp saddles location with tape (fig 115) and cut the new saddle slot so it is in tune (fig 116 & 117).
During final assembly the finish has fully cured. Sam final-sands the finish with 1200 grit “wet” sand paper (fig 118) and gives it the final buff (fig 119).
Okay, I'm in the home stretch. I reinstall the tuners (fig 120), make the new nut & saddle (fig 121) and string it up with a new set of strings (fig 122). The final adjustment is to fit the bridge pins so each pin matches its selected hole with the string in. You can see the “A” string is higher that the other pins, (fig 123) I carefully ream the pin into place until it properly seated. I then mark each pin so it can be matched to its selected hole during future restrings. With the replacement of the strap buttons this job is done (fig 124).
