Advice from Luthiers or guitar repair enthusiasts.

[Druss_The_Legend]

I have this old guitar that I bought a couple of years ago for around £25.
It's a Hohner parlour acoustic and after doing a little bit of basic work on it such as changing nut and saddle to bone, rosewood bridge pins, regularly change strings(I love Ernie Ball earthwood strings, I have Ernie Ball on my Uke as well).
The problem I have with it there is a slight split between the bridge pins on the bridge which has been like this since I got the guitar and the fingerboard is slightly lifted Near the nut, neither cause any real problems and have been like it since I got it. The guitar is a late 70s early 80s Hohner so I expect some wear and tear but for the price I paid it sounds really nice. The bridge and fingerboard are painted a horrible black and doesn't look nice and the frets are a bit old and discoloured. I am thinking about replacing the bridge and fingerboard with rosewood and fitting a new rosewood pickguard. I have never done this before so any advice would be much appreciated or tell me to stop being ridiculous it's not something an amateur should try(the guitar isn't worth a lot and doesn't have any sentimental value so I don't want to take it to a professional as the cost would by far outway the actual value of the guitar).
My plan is eventually to get a full size acoustic and have it in standard tuning and then tuning this guitar to DADGAD.

 

[sherlock]

What uke do you have out of interest?

 

[sherlock]

Lanika Tenor Uke.

Nice. I've not tried the Ernie Ball strings on my uke. Ball end aren't they? Do you use the black or the clear?

 

[Druss_The_Legend]

Nice. I've not tried the Ernie Ball strings on my uke. Ball end aren't they? Do you use the black or the clear?

Yeah I use the black ones in Low G. Sound really good and easy to install instead of the figure 8 type knot with the ball end.

 

[Druss_The_Legend]

Nice. I've not tried the Ernie Ball strings on my uke. Ball end aren't they? Do you use the black or the clear?

I also recently fitted a ox bone nut and saddle to it which makes a big difference.

 

[sherlock]

Yeah I use the black ones in Low G. Sound really good and easy to install instead of the figure 8 type knot with the ball end.

I use high G, I don't think they do a tenor set in high G unfortunately.

 

[Druss_The_Legend]

I use high G, I don't think they do a tenor set in high G unfortunately.

The D'addario titanium are nice in high G, have a nice bright traditional Uke sound to them.

 

[sherlock]

The D'addario titanium are nice in high G, have a nice bright traditional Uke sound to them.

Thanks, I'll bear them in mind for next string change. Worth Browns currently.

 

[onenilawayfromhome]

I have this old guitar that I bought a couple of years ago for around £25.
It's a Hohner parlour acoustic and after doing a little bit of basic work on it such as changing nut and saddle to bone, rosewood bridge pins, regularly change strings(I love Ernie Ball earthwood strings, I have Ernie Ball on my Uke as well).
The problem I have with it there is a slight split between the bridge pins on the bridge which has been like this since I got the guitar and the fingerboard is slightly lifted Near the nut, neither cause any real problems and have been like it since I got it. The guitar is a late 70s early 80s Hohner so I expect some wear and tear but for the price I paid it sounds really nice. The bridge and fingerboard are painted a horrible black and doesn't look nice and the frets are a bit old and discoloured. I am thinking about replacing the bridge and fingerboard with rosewood and fitting a new rosewood pickguard. I have never done this before so any advice would be much appreciated or tell me to stop being ridiculous it's not something an amateur should try(the guitar isn't worth a lot and doesn't have any sentimental value so I don't want to take it to a professional as the cost would by far outway the actual value of the guitar).
My plan is eventually to get a full size acoustic and have it in standard tuning and then tuning this guitar to DADGAD.

Bridge - look at you tube for rosa string works, tim woodford or the house that never sleeps for tips. Great woodworkers. Using an iron and a thin scraper you should be able to shift the bridge. Putting a new one will need a lot of long span clamps. These guys use three and they cost about £75 each. You can get a wooden caul from ebay (£15) or make your own for less expense. You may need a reamer to make the bridge pins fit. Or you could put a few drops of superglue on the split and live with it.
Fretboard - you can get the fretboard off with heat and the scraper - but its a long job if its been stuck down with epoxy. Puttting a new one on needs clamps - you can make these yourself. And then - you need to do a complete refret, fret dress and set up. Jim Rosa and Randy Schartiger make a refret look easy. Oh no it ain't! Again the simpler option would be to see if you can get wood glue under the point of lift and clamp it down.
Going into DADGAD, open D or open G - use 12 or 13 - 52 and check the neck for relief. Put a capo on the first fret and hold string down at 14 and see where the string is at the seventh fret. There should be a bit of clearance otherwise it will buzz. If there is way too much clearance you have a massive high action.

Welcome to the world of guitar fixing!

 

[Druss_The_Legend]

Bridge - look at you tube for rosa string works, tim woodford or the house that never sleeps for tips. Great woodworkers. Using an iron and a thin scraper you should be able to shift the bridge. Putting a new one will need a lot of long span clamps. These guys use three and they cost about £75 each. You can get a wooden caul from ebay (£15) or make your own for less expense. You may need a reamer to make the bridge pins fit. Or you could put a few drops of superglue on the split and live with it.
Fretboard - you can get the fretboard off with heat and the scraper - but its a long job if its been stuck down with epoxy. Puttting a new one on needs clamps - you can make these yourself. And then - you need to do a complete refret, fret dress and set up. Jim Rosa and Randy Schartiger make a refret look easy. Oh no it ain't! Again the simpler option would be to see if you can get wood glue under the point of lift and clamp it down.
Going into DADGAD, open D or open G - use 12 or 13 - 52 and check the neck for relief. Put a capo on the first fret and hold string down at 14 and see where the string is at the seventh fret. There should be a bit of clearance otherwise it will buzz. If there is way too much clearance you have a massive high action.

Welcome to the world of guitar fixing!

Thank you very much for this advice, I will check out the people you said and have a look at the equipment needed. It's not something that desperately needs addressing mechanically as it still seems sound and I checked last night when I did a string change and doesn't seem to be getting any worse, it's more that it plays on my curious nature and with art being a major hobby of mine these minor defects are more noticeable to my eye that looks for minor detail and aesthetically pleasing aspects. It will be more of a mid to long term project but wanted advice as to whether it was even doable and worth it, but your comment as at least given me hope that I can look into it and see what is needed, so thank you again.