1963 Silvertone 165 Guitar Repair

Started taking the strings off
before I took the picture

Note painted on fret markers

I like these old Silvertones. Don't got me wrong, however. If you've got a 50's era Gibson  J-45, or an old vintage Martin laying around and want to send it to me, I'd happily take it in exchange for this Silvertone, swapping straight across. Or, if you want to swap me the Taylor 210e, (sunburst, of course) that I play every time I'm in Guitar Center, that'd be good.

But until that time comes, this old Silvertone is a good player. 

I think I bought this one last summer. It's a Harmony-made guitar, the H615, which is a full size folk guitar, and it was made in 1963, a year that holds a special place to me. It sounded okay, but the tuning machines were hard to turn, and the frets were rough on the sides of the neck. The neck is straight, and not quite as thick as many of the Harmonys from that era, but with the sharp frets, it was uncomfortable to play.

We have something in common

I bought some files from Harbor Freight, and an emory board from the 99 Cent Store, and figured that I'd tape it off and file the frets down. I also bought a set of tuning machines from StewMac in January, which I was going to use to replace the originals. All of these things I purchased over the last year, thinking that I'd get to the guitar in short order, but never did. I had some Martin Strings that I bought from a music store that went out of business a decade ago. The only thing I didn't have was a couple of hours to devote to this project.

Today, I had some time. No one needed to be driven anywhere, and the only important project I had planned was replacing a headlight on my car, which turned out to be incredibly easy. I had a couple of hours to spare, so while preparing and then slowly barbecuing tri-tip, I brought the guitar back into playing condition.

I took off the old strings, which came with the guitar. The guitar itself came in an old chipboard case, and appeared to be reasonably well cared for. It wasn't particularly dusty, implying that it's spent most of the last 50 years in a case. The frets were the issue. Reading up on old guitars, many articles stated that sometimes the fret board will shrink with age, causing the frets to protrude beyond the edges of the neck. This seemed to be the case, and it was enough to cause pain after about 20 minutes of playing.

The new and the old

The Finished Frets

I taped off the fret board, as all the YouTube videos advised, and used Harbor Freight files to dress my frets, and buffed out everything with the foot-shaped emory board in the picture. I spent about 20 minutes filing and shaping, until I got it all reasonably smooth. I also used some fine sandpaper for a stubborn section.

I went back and forth on changing the tuning machines. They were stiff, but they worked. Still, I had a StewMac set, and finally just decided to change them. It took just a few minutes, and the holes, for the most part, lined up, so it wasn't difficult.

After that, I used my Martin Guitar Polish and Cleaner on the body and neck, and then used some Old English Furniture polish on the fret board. I thought about painting it like I did my other Silvertone but remembered it was the painting that caused me to break the neck, so I decided not to. It still might get my initials at some point in the future, though, and it might be fun to change the color of the painted on fret markers.

I pulled out the new old stock Martin strings, and strung her up. It tuned up nicely, and held the tuning-I made the video a day later, and it only needed a touch of fine tuning.

Here you go!

June 6, 2017

I've taken the guitar out of the case a few times in the last week, and the tuning is holding up nicely, the frets work, and I'm thinking about adding an acoustic guitar pick-up so I can go electric. It really does have a nice ringing tone when I play.

DIY Slide Guitar

DIY Slide Guitar

My Board

Let's start with this. I'm not very handy. I'm not creative and I'm not particularly patient, which really is why I'll never be a good craftsman. Still, every now and then I get a bug up my butt, and try to build something. I get mixed results, (though if I remember to give myself enough time, things generally come out okay), and I do have to remember that everything takes me twice as long as it would if I were good at stuff.

That being said, I do also attempt to repair my various musical instruments, and find that when I slow down and take my time, I can do little things. So to try something like build from scratch, I'm really moving into unfamiliar territory. 

Right! Cut once

But it's the New Year, and time for some new challenges. So while looking at stuff on Youtube, I came across this, a DIY Electric Slide Guitar. I had an extra pickup, so I thought, okay, let's give it a shot. If you want to know how to make one, watch the video. It does have all the parts and measurements. Here, I'm just documenting what I did.

Wrong! Measure twice....

The first problem came on my trip to Lowe's-I didn't like any of the 2 x 4's they had, and so, I thought, what the heck, let's go with a 1 x 4. Everything else I was able to find. 

The bottom

Trying to remember to measure twice and drill once, I still made assorted mistakes on my drilling. I reminded myself that this was a practice run, and if it worked, I could do it all again. 

One String!

It seemed easy on the video, but I couldn't get anywhere close to in tune, and had to keep adding washers and nails to what I was doing, taking the strings off and putting them back on-breaking a few in the process. I opted for 5 strings instead of six, too-I broke the only high E string I had handy, so that's not going to happen for now.

Attached to tuner

After about three hours of work, the garage got too cold to work in, and I put everything down. I also think the temps were having an effect on the strings as well.

I did get the brackets attached and the E string added, creating a 'Diddley Bo,' but since I couldn't feel my hands, I couldn't feel the strings cutting my fingers as I was trying to tighten it enough to tune.

More. Note string cutting into wood

The next afternoon, I came out again. I was pretty comfortable in my string anchor placement, but as I finished installing all five, the troubles really began. I couldn't keep any of them tight enough for the tuning screws to be effective. There's a lot of tension on the strings, and the higher, lighter strings would start cutting into the wood, making them impossible to tune. I'd get it tuned to a note, then put my glass slide (an old spice bottle), put a little pressure, and it would be out of tune again.

I didn't solder the pick-up to the output jack, because I hadn't figured out where I wanted to attach the jack. And in the video, the pick-up was just balanced on a wood screw, which seemed very unstable. I was still trying to figure out how I wanted to do that, so for the sound checks, I just rested the leads from the pick-up on the jack, and plugged it into my amp. Though there was a slight feedback hum, it actually worked okay, as the video should show.

Sound Check!

Trying to tune

Bad knots

Again and again, though, I was trying to increase the tension on the strings so that I could tune it, and again and again, I kept getting foiled. I tried to think of way to create stability, and added washers, which gave me the idea of next time drilling through the wood and and then using the ball side to anchor with washers. Then I started to add some nails I had in the garage to act as a bridge. That actually worked, but I think that I needed more tension on the strings to begin with.

I've got the idea, though, so I think with a better piece of wood, and adding more tension from the start, it should work.

There's a better lumber place here in town, so I might try them, or I think I have some old lumber from when the house was remodeled. I might use that. I didn't connect the pick-up permanently so that I can use it on my next try.

Tail Stabilization with nails

Semi Complete

Tuning Screws

1/11/15

It's been a week since I 'finished', and I went back out again yesterday. I played with it a bit, and still can't get it in tune with itself. It's not anymore out of tune, though, so I think with a little more work, and the mods I mentioned above, the next one might come out as more than a curiosity.

Guitar Tech Corner, Ventura

Guitar Tech Corner

Drop Off and Pick up at Almighty Guitar Planet

1822 E. Main Street 

Ventura, CA 93001

http://www.guitartechcorner.com/

It's important to have a 'guy'. 

At least, you should have someone who can fix the things that you can't. I have a contractor that I trust, a mechanic that I trust, and a guitar repair guy that I trust. 

I came across Tracy Longo, the owner of Guitar Tech Corner, a few years ago when I had bought an Arts and Lutherie Ami guitar on eBay. A parlor size guitar that is similar to a Martin, the Ami is solid wood and made in Canada, dating from 1997 and it needed some attention when I bought it. But it only cost me $77, so with a list price of around $350, I figured that if I didn't spend too much on repairs, I'd be okay. 

I dropped the Ami at Guitar Planet, a great guitar shop that I'll give it's own post one day, where Tracy picks up and drops off his repairs. I guess his actual shop is in an industrial part of the east end of town. Tracy called me to give me an estimate-$95 which I thought was more than reasonable. I picked it up a few weeks later, and the Ami played great! 

About a year later, I bought a Sigma 12 string Japanese acoustic guitar on the Heritage Auction site for around $100, which I then brought to Tracy for repairs. On that, he did something that I didn't expect. He called me and said that though he could fix it, it wouldn't really be worth the cost when there are plenty of newer guitars that would play just as well and cost less. He suggested I sell it because there were a lot of 'kitchen luthiers' out there who would be able to fix it on their own, and even suggested the things I should point out about the guitar to get the best price. And he didn't even charge me! 

At that point, Tracy got a customer for life.

So when I came across this vintage koa wood pineapple ukulele, I figured that if I could get it for the right price, I could probably have Tracy do the repairs for me. As I've documented here, I've done some repairs on guitars and ukuleles, but the online description led me to believe that the repairs would be beyond what I was comfortable with. It had some cracks in the back, the bridge was unglued, the soundboard had some major cracks, and two of the tuning pegs were missing.

Still, it was vintage, and it was koa, so I figured if it was cheap enough, it'd be worth it. My limit was $80, including shipping, and I was able to score it for $76. When it arrived, it was pretty, but needed some tender love and care. I opted not to even try things that I thought that I'd be able to do, and shot Tracy an email and a couple of pictures, and he said that he'd be happy to take a look.

When he finally saw it, Tracy remarked how much it looked like a vintage Kamaka (My dream ukulele), and said he could get it up and running once more. I emphasized that I really wasn't in any rush (since my repair budget was a little tight), but if he thought he could get it working, to go ahead and fix it. I said that it was okay to change the tuning pegs to geared machines, but he quickly disagreed, saying the he could find wooden ones, and that it was much more in keeping with the vintage vibe, and I said if he felt it was best, that was okay with me.

It took almost three months, which I was totally okay with. I figured that Tracy's shop was at the proper humidity for wooden instruments, and that would help the koa. He described his shop (when repairing my Ami, which appeared very dried out when I bought it), as being like a spa for guitars, and spa time for what appeared to be an 80 year old instrument seems like a good idea. 

I picked it up today, and the ukulele was beautiful, much prettier than when I took it in. In my initial playing, it seems a little muffled, but I've notice that ukulele's need time to open up, and nylon strings really need time to break in, so I'll put a sound sample up in a few days. A Kamaka of similar style and vintage is much more than the approximate $250 that I put into this, so though I'm going to hold my final judgement for a month or two, so far I'm pretty happy.

Very pretty indeed.

The Silvertone Acoustic H621 Pt. 4 Does Glue Really Work?

 The Silvertone Acoustic H 621 Pt. 4


So I was able to break the neck somewhat cleanly after I cracked it, and after Googling "Gluing a broken guitar neck," I ended up on the "Instructables" website, which had a tutorial on this exact thing. As he points out, the wood glue is stronger than the actual wood, so if you get is set up correctly, it should hold. The only difference is that he used Elmer's Wood Glue for his repair and I used Titebond.

Clamps and wraps

First, I poured the Titebond all over both pieces, using a small hobby paint brush to catch all the crevices in the neck. Then, using seemingly every clamp I had in the garage, as well as a strip of nylon that had just come on a patio cover I had purchased, I clamped and wrapped as much of the glued pieces as I possibly could in order to create the seal. I was extremely careful not to clamp too tightly on any single point of the neck so that it set as cleanly as possible.

It seemed to work, so I left the whole thing for a few days, resisting the urge to come out an check first thing the following morning. I had to tell myself, either it was going to work or it wasn't, and no amount of overchecking was going to change that.

The mushy part

Two days later, I unwrapped it all, and for the most part it felt okay. There was one part, however, where it seemed as though one of the glued slivers was a bit mushy. I slid my hand up and down then neck, and it seemed like my finger would catch at the mushy point. I needed to glue that part down.

The thinnest thing that I could think of to apply glue was a razor, and I had the old one that I had just used to scrape the glue from where the bridge was. Now I was going to use the same blade to apply glue into the mushy part of the neck. I covered the blade in glue, and shoved it into the cracks on the neck that it would fit into, using a paper towel to wipe any excess, and then once again using the clamps in all sorts of unusual ways to hold it together.

24 hours later, I checked again, and the mushiness was gone! There is a very slight catch at the glue down points, but not enough to really impede my playing. I'm not going to be doing any fast finger work up and down the neck on this guitar, and everything is holding.

I pulled some strings, and started to string it up. The first problem was that the ebony bridge pins that I had purchased didn't fit. A quick inspection revealed that when I glued down the bridge, some of the glue had plugged the holes. I used one of the old pins to clear it out. The tuning machines were a bit stiff, but were working okay until I got to the one for the D string that was bent. As I tried to get the string in tune, the tuner wouldn't turn. It was broken, and it prevented me from stringing the guitar up.

Bent Machine

I had been going back and forth on changing the tuners, and had finally decided that since they were working, I was just going to leave them. I had bought new ones off eBay from a vendor in China for $10, though, and just figured that I'd use them at some point in the future. And now, here was the future.

I wanted to drill pilot holes, but my drill wasn't charged, so I took the opportunity, with the tuning machines off, to add a bit decoration to the headstock. It seemed like a good time to paint my name on the headstock and on the 15th fret, as well as paint some of the areas where the headstock was chipped. I liked the way the red had looked on the guitar, so more red it was.

Who's Guitar?

Bridge attached, pins in

When my drill was charged, I drilled the pilot holes, and put the tuners on with no problems. I then put the strings on, and here's what it all sounded like.

The Silvertone Acoustic, H621 pt. 3 Embellishments

If you read my other posts concerning the Silvertone, you know that I left off with the gluing of the bridge back together. I also wanted to customize the guitar a bit. I do think it sounds as good or better than every other acoustic I own, but it still didn't cost me very much. If it were a vintage Martin or Gibson, or a new Taylor, I wouldn't mess with it. In fact, I wouldn't have tried to do anything to it beyond change the strings.

But with an old Silvertone, why not have some fun?

So I started with my initials on the headstock, using some bright red paint I bought last summer. Next, using some stencils that I bought for rock painting, I stenciled a screaming skull in black.


After that, I turned the guitar around to try a flaming bush type stencil on the back. The stencil book suggested using blues and yellows, along with red, for the flame effect. I did that, but I'm not sure I like the result.

The gluing of the bridge seemed to work okay, so I painted the bridge black. Using the Titebond glue, I both glued and screwed the bridge back on the guitar. I jury-rigged my clamps and some wood to get equal pressure across the bridge of the guitar without squeezing so tight that I break it.

Then, tragedy struck.

With all the guitars I have, I've never had the next thing happen before.

My sleeve caught one of the clamps while the guitar was up on my workbench. It fell, and with the extra weight of the clamps, the neck cracked in a jagged fashion, around the truss rod.

I put all this work into the guitar, which I think sounds better than any other acoustic I own, and then I break the neck.


I wanted to cry.

When I cracked the neck, there was really nothing left to do but try to break it as cleanly as possible, and then attempt to glue it back together. It really hurt to do, but sometimes, as they say, you have to go through the hurt to get past the pain. So like digging out a splinter, I gritted my teeth and snapped the neck off, careful not to lose any of the pieces. 

I still wanted to cry.

I had all the pieces, though, so now it was time to get on the internet and find out what to do next.

I had hoped this would be a three part post, too. Oh well.

The Silvertone Acoustic, H621 pt. 2 Bridge Repair and Cleaning

The Silvertone Acoustic, Pt. 2

Since I have both a sweatshirt on and a beard, I'm guessing that I made the above video back in January (Actually, I checked the date when I was re-upping the video. It was December). Again, the point was how good the guitar actually sounded without me having done anything to it beyond buying a guitar case. 

So now it's time to talk about repairs. First, the bridge was in the most need of help. I actually bought another to replace it, and started to sand it down to fit. Then I read something about someone who had a Harmoney with a bridge like mine, and they just glued the bridge back together again. Since I was having trouble getting the new bridge thin enough, I decided to just go that route.

The bridge was both screwed (one of the possible reasons it was broken. The screws and the holes for the pins all line up in a row) down and lightly glued. Using a paint scraper and a razor, it came off pretty easy. Looking at and playing with the tuning machines, I decided to just leave them for the time being, even though the tuner for the D string is bent.

After popping the bridge off, I scraped it clean of all the old glue and residue. Then I gave the guitar a good cleaning, using some wood oil and Murphy's Wood Cleaner. As it says all over the internet, when you are repairing or replacing the bridge, you need to scrape all the old glue and residue off, so using a razor and very fine sandpaper, I scraped off the old glue on the guitar. There wasn't much, so that turned out to be easier than I expected. 

After the sanding I gave the guitar a good cleaning both inside and out. It cleaned up really well. Once I had it all apart, I glued the bridge back together using the same Titebond I used in some of the ukulele repairs that are here in the blog. I clamped the bridge together using a bunch of Harbor Freight clamps, and it actually held up. It needed paint though, which I'll talk about in the next post.