[skinnybloke]

This has been a long time coming, so please excuse me if I waffle on a bit.

I'm really enjoying doing this, I hope you do too.

This thread is photo intensive....you may need to click a link to get the pic.


Maton C50 repair and refurbishment...

A bit of history.

Maton is the leading guitar manufacturer in Australia, and has been for 60 years.
This guitar was made in April 1972, cost $500 at the time (= to 10 weeks wages).

Back and sides....Brazilian Rosewood
Top...............Cedar
Neck..............Mahogany
Fingerboard.......African ebony
Bridge............Brazilian Rosewood
Finish............Nitrocellulose laquer
Number made.......703, from 1964 - 1990


On Sep 2nd 1979 I put the guitar on the roof of my car whilst I loaded up our wedding presents....and forgot to put it back in the car.
It was in a case, but that didn't save it. Broke the peghead clean off.
We continued on our honeymoon, but I was in mourning. A couple of months later I decided I could fix it, I bought a tube of Araldite and glued the peghead back together, then I hacksawed the straight bits from a metal pot plant stand and screwed them onto the peghead as reinforcement.
Looks ugly, but has held for thirty years.
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d...t/IMG_1336.jpg


Sometime in 2003 I cleaned the guitar with a product that was guaranteed to be suitable for nitrocellulose finishes, with this being the end result..

Never trust the label.

Of late the top has bulged upwards behind the bridge, and the the bridge itself has started to lift of the body. Those pics are too out of focus to use.
I have just noticed a crack in the fingerboard.


I've been putting it off for ages, but it needs fixing!

The "To do" list:

Check top bracing....Repair/replace as required
Check bridge plate...Repair/replace as required
Repair/ Replace bridge...it has a huge curve in it
Repair broken peghead
Fix cracks and dents
Remove "all" laquer and respray/finish

I'm sure this list will get bigger as I go along



First thing is to look at the bracing and bridge plate, see if anything has let go, causing the top to bulge,..

I'm a bit intrigued about those little upside down pyramids in the bridge plate?





I've tapped and rapped, theres no vibration. The photos also indicate that the bracing is sound, but has curved with the top.
The bulge is just caused by string tension over 37 years...wish I had bulged that little in the same amount of time.
This is all good, as I don't have to work inside the body....yet!
I may add a stiffening stringer or, I might use a Bridge Doctor, need to think about it longer.

[SkyNet]

Originally Posted by skinnybloke

Stuck on the "stick on" rosette, major drama here...

I hear poor Annie is still traumatized by the rosette event of 2009

[skinnybloke]

LOL Carey...We both are!
Thanks Karcey, Doug, Carol and Kid.


Carol, no the rosette didn't come from Maton (they haven't had them for years), they did send me a "router in" rosette but it was too hard to set up a router jig that followed the shape of the top.
The original was a decal under the finish and I decided to stick with that.
It's just one of those transfers that come on backing paper, cut it to size and soak the decal in water to get it off the paper.
They develop a mind of their own after being seperated from the backing paper!
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d...2/IMG_1508.jpg


I searched ebay, googled world wide and could not find rosette stickers any where!
Annie kept saying "ring the guitar shop" (we live in a very small town, there's no way he's gonna have them).
Eventually I called the local shop, guy answers..."rosette stickers? yea! I got some in the bottom drawer".
You should have seen the smug look on Annie's face
He didn't even charge me for them. C Mark music Wonthaggi

I sanded the shellac fill coats down and did some french polishing last night.


My little pad for applying it, a lump of gauze wrapped in a bit of old t shirt...



Add shellac....





A little drop of olive oil...



And a lot of elbow grease...



Repeat 120 times.


This is how it looked this morning...



That was about 2 hours work, I'll have to do that 6 or 7 more times...If nothing goes wrong!

[mattz196]

Wow Skinny in that last shot she is looking like a true beauty , you'll have in play in sunnies if you do more than six coats.
Really like the rosette you obtained nice understated not trying to hard look about it .

Keep up the good work , as I have mentioned before really enjoying this thread , keep posting those pics and we don't want to hear any complaints about sore wrists elbows ect from all that polishing.

[skinnybloke]

Thanks Matt, I won't complain unless I make a mess of it....You'll hear me in Sydney if that happens

[carol m]

I thought I picked up the Rosette Event of 2009, but maybe I was mistaken.

[starsailor]

Outstanding work on this project Skinny, guitar looks brilliant, French polishing was a great idea looks very cool

[Donahueghs]

I've read the posts right from the beginning and I think you've done an amazing job! I hope it sounds as good as it looks. =D

[shonie777]

Holy cow! very impressive! Great work!

Shonie

[skinnybloke]

Thank you very much Shonie. Donahueghs I am hanging to get strings on this thing.
Thanks again Chris, the more I researched laquer finishes the more I read about french polish. Karcey mentioned earlier about wipe on finishes....I thought "what the heck" worst comes to worst, I sand it off and start again.
I cannot tell you how wonderful a french polished guitar feels...even without strings!

During the week I've done another 8 sessions of french polishing, It's surprisingly hard work once you get a feel for it.
I've been using a bench vise to hold it in place when I'm polishing.

http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/d...t/p2/1514a.jpg



This pic doesn't do it justice, but you can see by the reflections at the bottom just how glossy it's becoming.
Tomorrow I'll sand with 1200 to take off any high spots, then a few more sessions with thinned shellac to gloss it up.
Hopefully, that'll be the end of the finishing stage. >>>>



I can see why people rave about this finish, it is absolutely stunning!
Next steps are:
Cutting the tape off, sounds easy but I am freaking about it!
Reinstalling the bridge.
Fitting the Bridge Doctor, to remove the bulge in the top.... That's if it ever arrives! (Who's great idea was it to put the US so far away from Australia?)

[carol m]

Originally Posted by skinnybloke

.
Who's great idea was it to put the US so far away from Australia?

Kevin maybe? I really hope it sounds good after all this - if it doesn't, I suppose I could give it a home if you were really desperate to get rid of it.

[shonie777]

That Maton is looking more and more beautiful every time I check out this thread. Judging from the first pictures of what it looked like before you began work on it, it looked like a basket case. Where you’re at on it now, is simply amazing! I can not believe all the hard work you have put into it. It truly shows when you look at the pictures of what you have done. A labor of love I must say! Not very many people have the patients to do something like that. I admire your dedication to your Maton project. It has become a work of art my friend.

Shonie