About the Giannini guitar I have been repairing... Done!

Boggs

The Gianninis have a strong reputation for self-destructing as has been thoroughly documented here. Materials in this guitar are really sub-standard I discovered working with it. The laminates used are of very low quality. I recommended to the owner that he not invest in a new top but instead, let me try to repair this one (no charge for labor). I also had to repair the back where it was delaminating and also separated from the side. He understood the quality issue but still wanted it repaired, so I went about getting some 1/32 and 1/64 aircraft plywood (extremely high quality stuff) from my local hobby shop and set about repairing the broken braces and patching the hole with the 1/32 stuff and repairing the broken, worn, and detached braces. I then scraped (shaved) down the really excessively worn and damaged area of the top around the patch, traced the edges of the shaved area to make a template, and made another patch with the 1/32 wood to fill the area shaved down. The edges of the patch were then filled and all was sanded smooth. The top, by the way, is only .100 inches thick.

I then designed a walnut veneer pickguard/patch cover and bonded it to the 1/64th plywood for strength. I used strong double-back tape in the body of the pickguard and glue at the edges to secure it to the top. Since this guitar is played outdoors in sometimes inclement weather, I used a spar urethane to finish it to help protect it all from the elements. I used toothpicks broken and fitted into the holes at the back where it is supposed to mate to the sides to patch the worst areas and reglued the back to the side. I roughened up the finish and hit it all with the spar urethane to help seal it all as well.

I removed the old battery holder from the top brace as it would ring whenever the top was tapped so you know it would ring when played... The owner wanted a pickup and preamp with built-in tuner for making his life easier at performances, so I got and installed the new Fishman Matrix/Prefix premium blender system into it. The install went very smoothly.

Last night, after finishing the install of the Fishman system, I tapped the body all around and found no more rattles and the various tap tones I could get depending on where I tapped it gave me encouragement that it would sound both full and articulate so I was pretty excited to string her up, which I did. What a difference from when I received her!!! I think the owner is going to be very happy!! I plugged her in and all worked perfectly...

Let me tell you, I was really nervous about taking this on, but I am really thrilled by the result! I KNOW nobody else would have taken this on due not just the condition of this guitar, but also the poor quality of materials and workmanship in it. I knew what it meant to him, and I am so delighted to revive his baby for him that I just cannot convey how excited I am to get her back to him... I will try to get pictures of the finished repair as I get access to a digital camera and maybe a sound clip at some point. I am packing to move (my wife and I bought a new house partly so I can get a bigger workshop area), so projects will have to shut down for a while. I'll post the pics in a new thread as I get them.

Message here, if you don't take the risk, you will never reap the reward. The reward is directly proportional to the risk... Take the leap of faith and START TAKING ON THOSE PROJECTS YOU HAVE BEEN TOO APPREHENSIVE TO START!!! Boggs

SAguitar · Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2004 7:59 pm Post subject:

Way to go, Boggsie! Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

Personally, I do most all my repairs on my electrics, and on some friends' guitars for free. I haven't had anyone work on any of mine for about twenty years. I don't do any work on acoustics, but I do a lot of tricks with electric solid bodies. Cool

It is a good feeling to tweak something and no it's better than it was before! Very Happy