Graham Parker Luthier

Here’s an unusual guitar on the workbench.

It’s a Framus Fret Jet made in 1965.

I’ve not had the pleasure of seeing one of these before.

More Fret Jet and Framus info Here…

Generally, the guitar is in very good condition considering its age. The body work is quite good, all the pickups and electrics are in working order. However, the guitar is losing its logos and it’s in dire need of a re-fret.

Firstly the old logos are removed.

They are of a very fragile commodity made from a foil material. The logos have been laid directly onto the surface of the headstock varnish; this makes them very vulnerable to scrapes and knocks. As you can see from this photo, it appears they have fallen off at some point and have been reattached for many years with Sellotape.

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First Attempt: The logos are removed and the headstock veneer cleaned up and re-sprayed.

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Optimistically the logos are cleaned up, reattached and sprayed over. This does not work out too well as the old logos bulge-up in places and will not lay flat upon the surface; this idea is abandoned.

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The Next Attempt: New logs are made up using the decalcomania method.

The old designs are photographed and sent off to The Decal Shop who reproduce the designs as decals. These match the existing logos exactly.

The headstock is cleaned up, the decals are attached and sprayed over.

The end result is very successful as the logos are now beneath the surface of the lacquer and eliminates any future damage possibilities.

The fingerboard is re-fretted.

The Fret Jet has a bolt-on neck this makes the re-fret an easier affair.

It sets up beautifully and plays like a dream.

This is Duncan he’s owned this guitar for over 30 years and is very happy about its restoration.

A few days after this blog was published I had an email from Duncan

Hi Graham,

Thanks, this is a really nice blog – I’ll send the link to Dr Hoyer at the Framus Museum if that’s ok – he was keen to see the finished article.
I’ve nothing to add except with the cleaned up electrics the guitar sounds better than ever – not one dry joint or scratchy pot. Sonically it’s a cross between a Casino and a Gretsch but with some deep rhythm tones I haven’t heard anywhere else – wonderful.

All the best.
Duncan.

A few days later I received a further email and attachment

Hi Graham,

A very nice note back from Christian Hoyer at the Framus Museum – you’re clearly in his good books!

Regards,
Duncan.

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Dear Duncan,

I am so glad to hear back from you. More so, as the restoration went so perfectly well, and you are finally reunited with your Framus Fret Jet of 1965.

I am really happy about the restoration job and read the interesting account on it by your luthier. Congratulations to him!

There are many people out there who don´t care that much for vintage guitars and over-restore or mis-restore old beauties as we say in German, I don´t know the proper word in English, sorry!

Thanks to him also the electronics were saved! It´s really great that the pickups have been cleaned – many people just replace them. This isn´t the proper way as you also were able to find out by just cleaning them!!

Thank you so much for this update! I wish you a lot of pleasure with your Fret Jet in the years to come!

… and I hope to meet you at some point over here in the Framus Museum!

All the best,

Christian

Dr. Christian Hoyer

Framus Museum und Framus Archiv

This old Fender Jazzmaster is in the workshop for a setup.

It was made in 1964 and is in extremely good condition considering its age. I think it may have had a new paint job sometime in its life, nonetheless, it’s great to see this vintage gem in the workshop.

Interesting Jazzmaster Stats

Debuting at the top of the line circa late 1957, the Jazzmaster was another well thought out Fender, an impressively cohesive design that marked a significant turn from the Stratocaster. Though its historical significance and long-term commercial success was eclipsed by the Telecaster and Strat, it enjoyed a substantial popularity through the surf music era of the early 1960s.

Like all previous Fender designs the Jazzmaster was an all-new guitar and the first model with an offset waist. This diagonal perspective was extended to the pickguard and body, and overall the Jazzmaster design was a bold shift away from the symmetry of prevailing guitar aesthetics toward the modern art/liquid sculpture styling that remains a Fender hallmark.

Another Jazzmaster innovation was the Trem-Lock button located at the tailpiece. It locked the vibrato assembly and was intended to avoid a detuning should a string break. The bridge was mounted on twin posts, each with an adjustable Allen screw that permitted height adjustments and allowing the bridge to rock when the tremolo arm was depressed.

The Jazzmaster’s pickups had single fat coils of wire, this gives them a warmer tone without losing their single coil clarity. The circuitry was also new, incorporating two independent systems: a selector switch, volume roller knob, and tone roller knob were mounted inconspicuously on the bass side.

From American Guitars An Illustrated History by Tom Wheeler. More history Here…

The guitar is given a Workbench Assessment and all that needs to be done to bring this old beauty up to optimum playability is a light Fret Hone and Re-profile.

Here’s Ben Raine (the owner) collecting the Jazzmaster on his way to a gig

More flickr photos Here…

This Martin D 41 is in the workshop because the action needs lowering. The action is making it difficult to play above the 5^th fret. It’s a vintage guitar made in 1972 and is in very good condition, it has a few bumps and knocks that you would expect from a guitar of this age. Its finish is lacquer checked and cracked in that desirable old vintage way (hasn’t shown up too well in the photos).

During a Workbench Assessment it is concluded that there is no adjustment left in the Bridge Saddle height. It has probably been adjusted over the years until there is no more height available to removed.

To understand how the action on an acoustic guitar can become higher over time we need to go back and look at its design and manufacture.

The Design

Flat-top acoustic guitars such as this Martin D41 are designed as a straight-line in the horizontal plane. To explain that a little more clearly; it’s a straight-line from the line of the neck onto the soundboard, as seen from the player’s view of the guitar. The fingerboard and bridge are then added to the design.

Ideally with the truss-rod set correctly the string line will start at the nut and show an approximate gap of .011″ between the first fret and the underside of the string (bass E) and then gently slope upward to show an approximate gap of .075″ above the 12^th fret and then on to strike the saddle at a good height. These measurements are approximations and will differ from guitar to guitar.

In this photo of a 1977 Gibson Hummingbird, it shows a saddle that is at a good height. The string angle leaving the saddle onto the bridge-pins is steep. This gives a good string tension and good volume and should culminate to give a comfortable and buzz-free playing action. (click photo to enlarge)

However, after some time things change. Due to constant string tension, humidity and temperature changes this straight-line ideal between neck and soundboard starts to distort. This could happen 1 year or 50 years after manufacture. Over time the bridge area of the soundboard begins to rise up and the area of soundboard at the upper bout begins to sink. Our theoretical straight-line acquires a shallow indentation. The end result is a high playing action.

An Easy Solution

The quick-fix remedy is to lower the action at the saddle to allow the string action to be playable again. This adjustment has only a limited availability. After several adjustments the saddle becomes too low, as this photo of the D 41 on the right indicates.

Any further adjustment here will result in virtually no saddle height. Therefore, very little string break-angle into the pin-holes, less tension to the strings culminating in less overall volume. (click photo to enlarge)

What can be done to solve this?

On some budget acoustic guitars, the top of the bridge can be skimmed and lowered to allow for more saddle to be exposed. This will permit further adjustments to the saddle height to be made. This method is not ideal but can be the only solution.

On more valuable or vintage guitars a neck re-set is the only option.

How do I know when a neck re-set is needed?

A simple test:

• Sight down the fingerboard of the guitar from the headstock end.
• Look at the line of the fingerboard.
• Follow that line through to the bridge beyond. (click photo to enlarge)

If your sight-line strikes a point under the bridge saddle your guitar could need a neck re-set.

How is a neck re-set?

This short video clip shows the neck reset of this D 41.

Soundtrack : Mountain Spring by Jeremy Sherman

One other job

All that remains to be done on this D 41 is to replace the first 4 frets. They look a little worse for wear and would probably impede the set up of the guitar.

The guitar is strung up with 12 – 53 gauge string, it sounds and plays fantastic.

One happy owner; meet Tony Werneke the proprietor of Replay Acoustics. Tony has a multitude of hand-picked classic vintage guitars; check them out here…

Towards the end on 2010 I had a telephone call from Valencia in Spain.

It was an owner of a Gibson J 30 acoustic who explained that he was having a problem with the soundboard on the guitar. He described how the soundboard was lifting badly behind the bridge, which was causing the bridge to “ride-up”. This, in turn, was causing a high playing action.

My first question was to ask if there wasn’t anyone in or around Valencia that could repair the guitar; Spain being the land of the Classical guitar with a Luthier on every street corner. I was interested to hear that American-made steel strung guitars such as this J 30 were outside of the local Spanish Luthiers comfort zone and their ethos to such a problem is: “If in doubt replace the soundboard”. Which conveniently side-steps the issue and also would change the guitar’s identity and characteristics forever.

After exchanging a few more ideas and discussing the possible causes of the problem I agreed to take on the repair. Several days later the guitar arrived by special carrier and I was able to take an in-depth look.

The bellying problem is shown in this photo.

Research and Background

The J 30 is a delicate and finely made instrument.  Made between 1985-1997, this guitar is a dreadnought size flat top acoustic with square shoulders. More info here…

With further investigation I was able to discover that the J 30 was (possibly) an experimental model by Gibson using a parabolic soundboard. This made me sit up and listen! Was the soundboard supposed to be this shape? All soundboards have a slight curve built into them to help with strength and stiffness. It would appear Gibson flirted with the parabolic idea on the J 30. However, if this shape was built into the design it wasn’t working very well.

Investigating the problem

The neck angle is correct; therefore this is not a possible cause.

This photo is taken through the sound-hole and shows a mirror image of the bridge plate. The size of the plate certainly could contribute to the bellying problem.

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In this photo of the soundboard, you will notice a very wide growth-ring pattern. Without writing a lengthy explanation as to why this could add to the problem (perhaps another time) it must suffice to say that the tighter or closer together the growth-rings the stronger the soundboard. Therefore this very wide growth-ring pattern could contribute to the deformation in the soundboard.

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Here’s a close-up of edge of the bridge. In this photograph stress lines have formed around the bridge wings. This could be due to the rotating effect of the bridge at its extremities or a loose brace.

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To sum up,  we have deformation in the soundboard due to the following possible causes:

• A probable parabolic shape built into the soundboard
• Dubious soundboard strength due to a wide growth-ring pattern
• A bridge-plate that is not helping to stiffen that crucial area of the soundboard
• Possible loose brace

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A Possible Solution

• There is nothing that can be done with the soundboard quality apart from following the Spanish Luthiers advice. However, the soundboard could be gently eased into a flatter parabola.
• The bridge-plate could be exchanged for a larger and sturdier replacement to help flatten the soundboard
• The bridge could be removed and the underside subtlety shaped to help flatten the soundboard

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The Repair

The internal braces are checked: all in order.

The bridge and bridge-plate are gently moistened and heated. This softens the glue and ensures easy removal.

Once removed and while the area of the soundboard around the bridge and bridge-plate are in a “moist” state, the soundboard is gently eased into a flatter shape.  It is left to dry-out in a quiet part of the workshop for a few weeks.

A new bridge-plate is made up. This is designed slightly larger, slightly thicker than the original and is made from quarter-sawn Rosewood for extra sturdiness.

After several weeks of drying-out time the new Rosewood bridge-plate is glued into place. Whilst the glue is drying the soundboard is kept in its flatter shape.

After several days in clamp the bridge is refitted.  All the while the soundboard is held in its flatter shape. (no photo available)

After a few days the guitar is strung up, tuned to concert pitch and monitored. Several days later all seems well.

The Before and After Assessment

Before                                                                                     After

Improvements

The shape of the soundboard has improved considerably. Although still in is Parabolic state it has become less extreme at the soundboard edges resulting in the bridge sitting slightly lower and thus giving a better playing action, better feel and better sound quality.

The J 30 has improved considerably with the work that was carried out. It plays beautifully and now has that lush Gibson sound again. This repair was considered a success and the owner back in Spain was delighted. All that remains is to organise the shipping back to Valencia.

Contact

A few days after shipment I received this email:

Hi Graham

The guitar arrived safe and sound yesterday and plays beautifully.
Thank you once again for your excellent service, I really do
appreciate it.

Saludos

Michael

More photos on Flickr…