Quote:
Originally Posted by Hot Vibrato
Interesting... This seems to be an epidemic among NY Epiphones from that era. I think the pickguards literally melt over time, leaving a nasty mess on the guitar top. The Triumph is beautiful anyway! I recently bought this "fixer-upper" from a guy on Craigslist. It's a '53 Zenith:
I tried sanding through the mess, but it has badly stained the top, so I stopped sanding. I'll do my best to perform an artistic touchup, using qualisole and fresco powder, an airbrush, and a graining brush, It's either that or it becomes a black guitar. Since vintage value is lost and it was just an entry-level archtop with plywood back and sides to begin with, I'm considering adding a florentine cutaway when I do the restoration.
I also have a '53 Zephyr Regent. When I bought it about 15 years ago, the pickguard was kind of warped. I stuck it in a drawer, but last time I looked it was really curled up, and coated with an oily film. I'll try to dig it out and post a pic of it if I can find it. It might just be a puddle at the bottom of the drawer by now.
P.S. What work did you have to do on the Triumph?
|
Yeah, the culprit was the pickguard. I also have what is left of it stashed in a drawer. If I remember I will snap a pic of it. I would also add shrunken binding as a chronic ailment of 1950s Epiphones. I have a 1956 FT-79 which was suffering from that one. I am probably just going to leave the body as is rather than try and sand and touch up the finish. Eventually I wll replace the pickguard.
I did not have to do a lot of work to do on the Triumph. Mostly some gluing and dealing with the binding which flew off the guitar after I snipped where it had popped up. The guitar had been stripped of all its parts when I found it. I was initially planning to slap whatever parts I could gather up on it but then went and made an offer on the original tuners, tailpiece, bridge, and case. I got them all at a nice price but still ended up paying more for the parts than the body.