Members Diende McAuk Posted April 29, 2006 Members Posted April 29, 2006 Hi guys I picked this thing up at a yard sale yesterday on my way home from work. Thought it had potential... Its an archtop on the top and back, seems quite well made. Some clod has sanded everything but the area behind the strings. The bridge is there but needs to be reglued. One small length of binding needs to be reglued as well. 3 questions... 1. Should I bother? Am I biting off to much to put it back in good condition? Is it worth doing or is it such a {censored}ty guitar there's no point? Throw it out? eBay it and let someone else look after it? 2. If its worth working on, how should I finish it? Complete the sanding and leave it? Respray? Do a Clapton or Hendrix self paint job? Install a pickup? Change the bridge? And on it goes... 3. What is it? I find no marking on it anywhere which is suprising because the quality of the construction is quite good. The neck is well crafted, the top and bottom pieces are quite heavy, etc. All I have to offer by way of ID is the shape of the headstock. Thanks in advance for any help you guys offer. I don't normally post here (moreso in amps and effects) so I really do appreciate it!!!
Members daklander Posted April 29, 2006 Members Posted April 29, 2006 I'd go ahead with the refinish and what you do is your choice. That looks like a pretty nice design so I would either leave it as is and hand rub a shellac or tung oil on it or do something like a tobacco burst. In any event I'd be careful with the paaint you use. I re-did an archtop many years ago with automotive type enamel and the tone went away.Don't sweat the bridge. Just make sure it's located in the proper position after the re-finish so the intonation is correct. The string tension will keep the bridge in position. You just won't be able to change all the strings all at once, but one at a time. Banjos are movable and my 12 string has been modified to a movable bridge and I've had no problems with it moving.Actually, that's probably the way that guitar was designed.
Members F-holes Posted April 29, 2006 Members Posted April 29, 2006 WHOOOOOOOOAH! Don't glue the bridge!
Members JasmineTea Posted April 29, 2006 Members Posted April 29, 2006 Does it have a truss? The bridge is not supposed to be glued. What I'd do: Just get it to good playing condition (if possible) and play it.
Members Hudman Posted April 29, 2006 Members Posted April 29, 2006 Do just enough to get strings on it. See what the neck looks like under tension. See if it sounds and plays good. Check the intonation. If everything seems good, go ahead and refinish it. If not, pitch it.
Members Diende McAuk Posted April 30, 2006 Author Members Posted April 30, 2006 Thanks guys! I'll chuck some strings on it and see what happens. Thanks for the tip on not gluing the bridge. Thats how dense I am about these things!
Members Gretsch Fan Posted April 30, 2006 Members Posted April 30, 2006 Looks like you will have a nice enough guitar once you fix it up a bit. I'd say $10 was a good buy. Of course, I am a biased fan of archtops.
Members guitarcapo Posted April 30, 2006 Members Posted April 30, 2006 It looks very nice. I'd do all repair work like the neck reset, truss rod adjustments, fretboard planing, neck thinning/shaping, and refret before finishing. String it up and if everything seems in order, refinish it. I'd personally strip off the remaining finish and rub on flake shellac to finish. If using a chemical stripper be careful not to hit the binding. It will melt it. If it sounded boxy and lame I'd consider adding a floating pickup pickguard
Members Catfish-Killa Posted April 30, 2006 Members Posted April 30, 2006 I would set it nice and tight, do a shellack finish and as the above poster said, add a floating pickghuard pickup. It could be your go to slide guitar.
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted April 30, 2006 Members Posted April 30, 2006 Originally posted by Diende McAuk Hi guys I picked this thing up at a yard sale yesterday on my way home from work. Thought it had potential... Its an archtop on the top and back, seems quite well made. Some clod has sanded everything but the area behind the strings. The bridge is there but needs to be reglued. One small length of binding needs to be reglued as well. 3 questions...1. Should I bother? Am I biting off to much to put it back in good condition? Is it worth doing or is it such a {censored}ty guitar there's no point? Throw it out? eBay it and let someone else look after it? 2. If its worth working on, how should I finish it? Complete the sanding and leave it? Respray? Do a Clapton or Hendrix self paint job? Install a pickup? Change the bridge? And on it goes... 3. What is it? I find no marking on it anywhere which is suprising because the quality of the construction is quite good. The neck is well crafted, the top and bottom pieces are quite heavy, etc. All I have to offer by way of ID is the shape of the headstock. Thanks in advance for any help you guys offer. I don't normally post here (moreso in amps and effects) so I really do appreciate it!!! What you've got is a European-made (German?) Hopf, probably from the late-50 to mid-60s! Well worth $10!
Members Diende McAuk Posted April 30, 2006 Author Members Posted April 30, 2006 Originally posted by Terry Allan Hall What you've got is a European-made (German?) Hopf, probably from the late-50 to mid-60s! Well worth $10! Interesting... I must admit I have no idea what a Hopf is or what its worth. (I only really know electric stuff.) But if it is in fact a good guitar, I want to make sure I don't screw it up. Any suggestions as to what you'd do with it?
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted April 30, 2006 Members Posted April 30, 2006 Originally posted by Diende McAuk Interesting... I must admit I have no idea what a Hopf is or what its worth. (I only really know electric stuff.) But if it is in fact a good guitar, I want to make sure I don't screw it up. Any suggestions as to what you'd do with it? This is, basically, Europe's answer to Kay or Harmony...sold under a lot of diferent names through department stores and that sort of thing. Well, first of all I'd string it up and see how it sounds/plays...if you like it, fix the binding. Add a floating P/U if the acoustic tone is decent, if not, a screw-on P/U won't hurt anything. If the action is terrible (neck bow), use it for slide, maybe. Worst case scenario (you hate it): Sell it and make a profit...you'll be able to get your investment out of it w/o any effort at ALL! I've seen guitars like this at guitar shows bringing from $125 (horrible condition) to $450 (excellent condition), so if I were to put it on Ebay, I think I'd start it at $100 and see how high it goes... Or, I'll give ya $20, as is, plus I'll pay shipping, if you decide you don't want to bother with it.
Members Diende McAuk Posted April 30, 2006 Author Members Posted April 30, 2006 Thank-you gents! I think I'll string her up... I'll get back to you in a few days with an update
Members tamolina Posted May 1, 2006 Members Posted May 1, 2006 I love the look and sound of a good arch top, though I never owned one. My next guitar acquisition, for sure. Your post and pics stirred me up.
Members SusanV Posted May 1, 2006 Members Posted May 1, 2006 Why can't I find cool things like that at garage sales!!!!!!!! ( but good for you )
Members Mika Posted May 1, 2006 Members Posted May 1, 2006 Nice guitar! Must control GAS oh yeah no money dont have to.
Members jazzbo Posted May 1, 2006 Members Posted May 1, 2006 Just for reference, the bridge should be positioned the same distance away from the 12th fret that the nut is. You won't be able to properly evaluate the guitar if the bridge is too far away from where it is supposed to be....You adjust it slightly to correct the intonation, but it can't sit just anywhere on the top..... good luck, you might have a winner, if it plays nice, finsh it
Members Tony Burns Posted May 2, 2006 Members Posted May 2, 2006 from past experience , the least you do to it the better, finishing the instrument will kill its sound ( if you dont know what your doing ) looks like a fun instrument ! congrats !
Members Diende McAuk Posted May 2, 2006 Author Members Posted May 2, 2006 Originally posted by jazzbo Just for reference, the bridge should be positioned the same distance away from the 12th fret that the nut is. You won't be able to properly evaluate the guitar if the bridge is too far away from where it is supposed to be....You adjust it slightly to correct the intonation, but it can't sit just anywhere on the top..... Thanks for that. I would have done it all wrong had I not read that. I'm going to get me some strings tomorrow to see what noises she'll make. Any sage advice on what I should throw on for a first go? Anyone?
Members jazzbo Posted May 2, 2006 Members Posted May 2, 2006 Originally posted by Diende McAuk Thanks for that. I would have done it all wrong had I not read that. I'm going to get me some strings tomorrow to see what noises she'll make. Any sage advice on what I should throw on for a first go? Anyone? Not really sage advice, but... for a sort of medium-light gauge set I might go with these ...just to see how it plays... I know they are "electric" strings but I put electric strings on my beater Aria acoustic and it sounds good... I just recommend not going too heavy on the lower strings at first until you find out if it has good action or not if the action is good you could go for a heavier gauge set but those might turn out to be a good gauge... also after you try them and get the guitar set up you could ask somebody at a music store Here's an acoustic set with similar gauges....
Members Diende McAuk Posted May 2, 2006 Author Members Posted May 2, 2006 Thanks! Will be back later with an update on how it sounds. I'm getting strings after work. It also needs some screws for the tuning pegs, some are missing and its loose. Probably could use a better set but will wait to see if its a keeper or not
Members Terry Allan Hall Posted May 2, 2006 Members Posted May 2, 2006 Just buy the cheapest acoustic light guage set the store has....012 through .052 (or .053, depending on brand). All you're looking to find out is whether it's neck is strong enough to stay straight, so that it plays comfortably...if it does, then find the set that bring out the sweet tones.
Members Diende McAuk Posted May 8, 2006 Author Members Posted May 8, 2006 Here it is with its new strings! Sounds great on the wound strings but the other two make it sound like a banjo So far its proven its worth the $10 I paid so I think I'll invest a little more time and cash into it. First I'm thinking of the bridge. Here's a shot of the one it has. The guy sanded it too and it does contact the top uniformly at all. Here's proof... Should I try to salvage this thing? Replace it? Leave it be? What should I do next to try and richen the tone and de-banjo this thing???
Members JasmineTea Posted May 8, 2006 Members Posted May 8, 2006 A luthier could make a bridge for you, or I beleive you can buy them and sand them your self. That bridge looks salvageable. Sand the bottem so it fits uniform against the top, adjust the thumbwheels as needed. Not much you can do to de-banjo-ify it. But it looks cool.
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