The
Adventures of Black Beauty part 1 'Tired old workhorse transformed into
Young Filly'
It is not very often you get the chance to work on a Star's prized guitar
plus the added bonus of such a fine instrument.
Kingsize
Taylor's famous Gibson Black Beauty was in a sorry state when he brought it
to me to fix, there where numerous problems due to wear: previous attempts
at resolving 'the issue' had been fruitless.
Ted played if
for me to explain the main problem he was having with the action. From the
12th fret upward ,the guitar, had developed what is know in the trade as a
'Ski Slope' which means the strings hit the top frets and are un playable. I
found where the fault was and showed Ted. Between the 9th and 12th fret the
neck bowed by 10/12 thousands of an inch. Not much you might think but
coupled with a duff bridge and incorrect string length setting, it magnified
the problem.
There where
several other items to sort out so I have listed them and the remedial work
that I undertook.
TRUSS
ROD> This had been tightened the wrong way up to maximum and the
adjusting nut was rusted (this is quit a common fault on guitars that are
not service regularly) I freed the nut and adjusted the rod correctly.
Loose Tailpiece Support
Image Courtesy of Ken Shalliker (c) 2004
FRET BOARD> The bottom five frets where badly pitted with the
remaining frets worn. A fret mill was carried out and the frets radiuses to
match the fretboard of 12" then the neck was the fully serviced and treated
with Lemon Oil. Included in the service are the machine heads they needed
treatment and now work fine.
Fret Mill
Image Courtesy of Ken Shalliker (c) 2004
Loose machine heads
Image Courtesy of Ken Shalliker (c) 2004
ELECTRIC'S> Ted had complained about noisy switches and sound. The
rhythm switch was removed and the contacts cleaned this appeared to solve
the problem as I don't like to replace parts on valuable old instruments as
it destroys the integrity and value. The rest of the electric's pot's, caps,
etc. where given an overhaul and tweaked (sorry that part of the report is
not for public view Web master) When completed it sounded better than new!
Dead Switch Removed
Image Courtesy of Ken Shalliker (c) 2004
BRIDGE
AND TAILPIECE> A combination of faults lead to a very unstable
bridge. The support post on the treble side of the tailpiece had been
butchered (sorry Ted!! ) and was 12mm out of the body, The bridge had been
adjusted with the fault ,resulting in a bent bridge support post. This was
the cause of the incorrect string length and intonation problems.
Remove Appendix
Image Courtesy of Ken Shalliker (c) 2004
Due to the
stress already induced into the metal stud it would not take straightening
out so the other stud was bent to match. The bridge could now be set up
correctly and the intonation problems solved.
Conclusion. The guitar was re strung with Ernie Ball Medium
10s and was ready to be reburnised but then the final little problem cropped
up. The guitar had been cleaned wit a polish that contained Silicone and as
any luthier will tell you it's the worse thing to clean a guitar with
because you can't remove it if you need to carry out any form of paint
repair the whole of the body has to be stripped which is NOT an option on
vintage instruments. As luck would have it all that had happen was the
Silicone in the polish had attracted all the fibres from the work matt and
it looked like it hadn't been dusted for years!
See Final Result
Ken Shalliker is a member of The Guild of American Luthiers.
See Ken's repair schedule...
