1980’s Schecter Strat
Thompson custom Walnut Strat
First Thompson guitar, circa 1988
First GR model
Alternative GR
Another GR
Fan fret acoustic bridge conversion
1930s Gibson Kalamazoo
Elderly Karina refurbishment
Old Silvertone refurbishment
Kawai Performer
1962 National Greenwood electric
1980’s Schecter Strat
I put this together for a dedicated Schecter fan who spent maybe the best part of a year tracking all these genuine parts down, from around the world. Mostly they are dated around the early to mid 80’s and what wasn’t actually old, as in hardware, he got on special order. Inevitably a 38 year old neck, even unused, needed attention and the logo had to be installed as well. The pickguard arrived fully wired.
Inevitably, the “made to fit parts” don’t but nothing to strenuous however, for a less experienced enthusiast, this could have been a stressful job.
In the end it worked out really well. It has the sound of the 80’s that the customer wanted but plays properly..
Thompson custom Walnut Strat
I rarely do full builds these days but this was for one of my oldest customers and he kind of badgered me into it. It’s an American Walnut bodied Strat with a custom neck, not as fat as Fenders and to add to his collection of five other Fenders I have heavily modified over the last 30 years.
Closer in, the timber is more apparent and the finish was specified as not to be gloss, or even lacquered. It’s sealed with Tru Oil and then around 10 coats of bees wax, smells nice as well as feeling great. Kinman pickups and while not my normal choice for a guitar of this caliber, a Wilkinson trem. The client had come across these and liked them and to be fair, they work very well.
The back showing the tremolo cut out as well as the extended neck cutaway. This guitar runs on 9s so 2 springs are all that are needed. It was to be delivered with no back cover but importantly, no holes either.
Another view of the cutaway and the carved in neck heel.
Ebony fingerboard with 22 very large frets.
I managed to scallop the front of the headstock slightly, if you look at the depth of timber at E1 and then E6, you can see the E bass is deeper and along with the “Height adjustable post” nickel Gotoh vintage locking tuners, managed to leave out the dreaded string tree. The nut on this is Tusq. The order also required the headstock to be faced in a matching wood and grain to the body.
Geriatric style 7mm MOP dot markers
Straight unintereferred with string path to the tuners. 2 way truss rod.
1988 Thompson electric
One of the first guitars I made around 88 as can be seen by the style. Mahogany body with flamed Mahogany veneer front. Maple neck with bound Rosewood fingerboard and locking trem, may have been a Kahler but I can’t recall.
First GR model
One of a pair of guitars I made for the late session ace, studio engineer, producer and good friend of mine Gavin Ralston, back around 97 for a world tour with Mike Scott. This was to become my standard shape and the 6 tuners up one side peg head was to accommodate Gavins’ 6ft plus frame. The front is wearing a 1/4″ Quilted Maple cap with an ABM HD bridge using Graph Tech saddles that are still there today after many years on the road and some hard playing. Mahogany and Walnut neck with 22 fret Rosewood fingerboard. The pickups were both Kent Armstrong custom, a 57 PAF style in the bridge splittable by a push/push switch on the lower tone control, and a KA hum cancelling single coil in the neck.
The back on this one was a couple of piece of highly figured and flamed Spanish Chestnut, IIRC, and they were hard to work with but very pretty.
Alternative GR
This was another one I made but with a Mahogany body capped in Maple and Schaller 3D bridge.
The other option was a 3+3 headstock, I did make a 4+2 at one stage but have no pictures. The different configuration lends itself to lighter tension on the plain strings.
The back of that guitar showing the Walnut and Cherry neck.
Another variation
Here’s another one of my electrics although this one wasn’t built to order. It is unique however in being the only one that received a pick guard, can’t recall why. The back of the body is Spanish Chestnut and actually came from the same source as the two I made for Gavin Ralston, further up the page. The front of the body is capped with a 6mm piece of lightly flamed Ash. Neck is American Walnut with a Rosewood fingerboard. The slightly offset pattern of the neck fixing screws is not an accident or as a result of blindness, placing them out of geometry, eg: unlike most instruments that use a square pattern, makes them a lot more stable resulting in less neck to body cavity movement, without jamming or shimming the neck in.
The electronics are a little unusual as well. The three Lace Sensor pickups are not factory made, they were a special R&D set given to me by a luthier friend who did a good amount of work with Don Lace industries in the 90’s and was involved in the ill fated Lace “twisted neck” guitar. The pickup selector is a 3 way switch giving neck, neck and bridge and bridge only. The two sensors at the bridge position are wired in series but if the tone control is rolled off passed 8, the rear most coil earths out and it becomes a single pickup (although hum cancelling as are all Lace Sensors). The tone control has virtually no effect between 10 and 8 so there is no compromise in the sound.
ABM solid milled bridge and Gotoh Tuners deal with the string which also ride over a graphite nut. The body is finished in Tru oil while the neck was sprayed with satin lacquer.
Fan fret guitar bridge conversion
This came in during 2017 for a change from pin bridge to top loader as the owner plays palm on bridge. Although it should be in the repairs section it’s so unusual I thought I would put it here. The fan fret setup presented all kinds of issues as there is no template for this so a one off had to be made….
…starting here with a 12mm block of Ebony cut roughly to the outline of the original
This is the finished product once carved and milled to allow quick release anchorage. I faced it off in Madrone (I think) as I thought the expanse of Ebony was a be too much.
I love quick release bridges.
Gibson Kalamazoo
A very old Gibson Kalamazoo came in for major work, possibly from 1939 -1942. The top was bowed up making the action high and hard to play. Amongst other things, the Rosewood saddle had been hacked up over the years and the slot was messy so I widened it and made this Ebony replacement, not technically correct but in the long term, a better setup. The extra depth of the new saddle meant compensation could be added resulting in a very in tune guitar right up the neck.
The fingerboard was bent and had a poorly executed previous refret so out they came, board leveled and new vintage style frets put in. The chap receiving this guitar was in very poor health so the action had to be set as low as practical while maintaining it’s acoustic nature.
These were not high quality instruments even in their day although many years later the model name “Kalamazoo” would be assigned to Gibsons’ top of the range archtop guitar. The original strip tuners were very poor quality by today’s standards and were trashed anyway so I installed these as I thought they looked age appropriate. They aren’t Waverlys but I think they’re nicer and better looking with the Ivoroid buttons, which match the new Ivoroid bridge pins.
From the front, they look old., a new set of Waverly’s are expensive and…… too shiny
All finished. Both the owner and the chap who was playing it were very pleased.
Karina refurbishment
This Elderly and unkempt Karina came in for some work that would cost way beyond its market value but it had a lot of sentimental value to its owner. The fingerboard had to be replaced so I used some Ebony for that part. Removing it proved difficult as some form of solvent glue was used at the factory. Typical adhesive for the era is water based of some kind which can be softened with heat facilitating removal. Solvent fixings are time and cost saving for the maker but there’s no going back if a mistake is made and it makes the job of disassembly very difficult for any repairs in the future. Unfortunately this approach is being taken by more manufacturers these days and when used on a dovetail neck joint makes removal almost impossible. The fingerboard inlays are Pink Awabi with a subtle shading of pink as the owner is a young woman and liked this idea. They are graduated in size as they go up the fingerboard starting at 8mm at position 3 and ending up with 5mm dots. The finish was too damaged to recover so it was stripped and I did my best impression of a 60’s Cherry sunburst starting here.
The base coats applied and tint sprayed in the pattern needed taking into account the slight yellowing effect of the lacquer I use.
As these were not considered quality instruments in their day the rosette was a stick on item. I managed to find the necessary replacement and installed it with some more sealer to hold it. This is what it looks like with freshly applied gloss coats. The back unfortunately was too far gone and while I am a generous fellow the budget was already exhausted by the time I had the front sprayed so the back was cleaned up and finished in a very dark plum satin lacquer.
All finished with new Rosewood bridge and Ivoroid pins. The tuners were a set of Gotohs onto which I installed pearl buttons to round the package off. The imitation “Dove” scratchplate was the most appropriate I could find plus a nice new case which fitted like a glove.
Old Silvertone
This old Silvertone came in from a friend with a poorly repaired headstock, the guitar that is, not the friend, and a bent neck. Investigation showed the peg head had broken off many years before and the repairer had taken license with the replacement. This guitar was part of an inexpensive range from the Chicago area made around 1948-1955. Materials were scarce after the war so the quality of available timber was low but as steel was also in short supply and a great deal of competition was prevalent in the new found guitar popularity where price was king, there was no truss rod or support of any kind fitted leading to even the rather thick neck eventually bowing badly. I removed the badly made fingerboard, installed an adjustable T rod and made a new fingerboard, bound to be in keeping with better instruments of the era, and set about the peg head. Some wood had to be removed and some added to create symmetry, and the resulting mashup including filling and relocating most of the tuner holes, was covered with some appropriate veneers and the the neck reinstalled. The original peghead was much smaller, hence the referred to “artistic license” and an indicator of the region and age where and when this work was done. Age appropriate open back tuners were installed. A decent adjustable Ebony bridge was added and I made a custom Rosewood scratchplate. The tail piece was also replaced with something matching the new quality of the guitar. Once again, I find that cheap old tat from more than 50 years ago has enormous potential. This archtop is part of a collection belonging to Gavin at Silverwood Studios in County Wicklow, and sees regular studio use’
Finished.
Close up.
Kawai Performer
Here’s an unusual instrument from the renowned Japanese piano maker Kawai. Although guitars were not their main point of business they did make some and of those a good few were a bit eccentric. This Performer model is mid to late 80s and it shows in the quirky design of the body, not uncommon during this era. The body is a rather heavy piece of Ash and the neck although sporting a Maple fingerboard more likely came from the factory with a Maple neck and Rosewood fretboard. The scale is classic 25.5″ and the six on one side tuners give it a familiar feel.
When it came in to me I felt the standard and condition of the fretting (not factory) was unacceptable and the radius on the fingerboard was an extremely tight 6″ or less, like the very old Fender guitars. While this makes chording easy and comfortable at the lower end of the neck it requires a high action in order for choke free bends further up. Also, the retro fitted EMG pickups were not really designed for this kind of radius so string to string balance might also have been an issue, one that many player often aren’t aware of until it’s corrected. The fretboard was defretted and skimmed out to deal with some warping and the daft radius ending up with a compound setup at 9.5″ at the first fret levelling out to 12″ at the other end. As per instructions the same size low profile fret wire was used.
I suspect this Kawai didn’t get to see much action but I’m hoping the work I’ve done will change that.
1962 National Glenwood 95
Here is another unusual one but this guitar has some historic value too. It was owned by the late John Entwistle, bass player with the Who and often affectionately referred to as the Ox. Other than historical merit this instrument is in wonderful condition with very little in the way of wear, even the chrome plating and hardware are rust and corrosion free.
In the day these were often called plastic bodied Nationals which is incorrect as the body is made of glass fibre and the lustrous red gel coat on the outside is still deep, glossy and scratch free. The guitar is almost completely original bar the fitting of a truss rod a short while ago. In the follow up of WW2 steel was in very short supply and it’s very common for many less costly guitars of the time to not have truss rods, consequently, over the years the necks bent often to the point of not being playable. Also, during this era there was huge competition in the lower priced guitar market as it became very popular, and price was king. Consequently many makers cut corners and turned out awful rubbish some of which survives today. In the previous article but one, as above, I did a similar job and more to an old Silvertone which was an inexpensive model at the time but having survived more than 50 years, became a viable candidate for restoration. The results pleased the owner no end. Fitting a truss rod into such an old instrument can be a bit nerve wracking the first time and I heard that the luthier who did it had a difficult job. The rigidity the neck now has allows for a much better playing surface but, the fellow who owns this guitar, which is a part of his very interesting and eclectic collection of vintage and not so old models, all of which go out on tour with his band, has had me work on most of his guitars so this one is not quite there yet.
Having been out on the road it will be coming in shortly for a refret, to my standard, and also to have the tuners and bridge attended too. The machine heads are the original Grovers but in a format I’ve not seen before, they are ever so slightly smaller than modern models from the same maker and use what looks like the imperial equivalent of an 8mm fastening nut on the front of the peg head, most tuners have a 10mm fitting. As they are 55 years old their abilities are not so good now. I will fit a set of modern nickel plated locking Grovers that look identical (except they’ll be clean and shiny) but are around 10% larger and will be better able to deal with the rather heavy drop tuned strings fitted, as below.
The bridge is a Rosewood height adjustable jazz type and oddly it has been made to take 3 plain and 3 wound strings, nearly all these type of bridges are designed for a wound 3rd. As it appears original but is deeply grooved I expect I shall repair the top and use some graphite inserts for the strings to run on. The owners instructions are not not change the sound and for the size of insert it won’t affect the tone however, this along with many of the players other guitars, run very heavy strings in drop tuning. A 060 will be the 6th on this one tuned down to around F# I think so the bridge will need help anyway.
Tony Thompson Guitars 