The Guitar Gallery Forums - The Guitar Legacy of Matsumoku

Well, I finally got that eBay TA-70 finished! The bridge was too far corroded to do anything with so I used that as an excuse to get a Schaller roller bridge (same ones the old Gibson luthiers use on the Heritage gutiars). I have to admit considering the extensive rust and corrosion all over, the body was in excellent condtion and turned out pretty sweet.

I am thinking of re-doing "My Little Guitar Family" section so I won't be putting it up there just yet. Here's a temp page for anyone wanting a peek.

http://www.therathole.org/hoozinator/ta70/ta70.html

Wow! That is beautiful. I didn't see the before pictures, but from your post it sounds like a lot of work went into the restoration. Very impressive.

Can you please describe what you did?

I have a couple of Arias with corroded hardware, scratches, nicks, and finish blemishes that I would like to repair. These are guitars that have enough damage that I don't feel satisfied leaving that way.

Some questions:
Did you strip the finish? Did you do any recoloring?
What did you use to reapply a new finish and how did you do it?
Did you use a polish on the hardware - if so what?
Any other tips you can offer on restoring these guitars?

Thanks
Jeff

Well, as far as finish blemishes and that sort of thing, I don't worry too much about that. I do little to correct anything like that as I am a pretty lousy collector. Yes, I do know how to do drop-fills, feathers, worming fills, etc., but most of mine are players and it doesn't bother me too much. I got lucky with the body on the TA-70, and with only minor scuffing I used fine finish compound, then swirl remover which cured most of it.

The hardware is a different story. That usually stands out a good bit, and I don't like the feel of pitted or corroded hardware.

There are many things I use depending on the situation. I use polishing compounds ranging from lightly abrasive swirl remover to very coarse reducing compound. Sometimes I use red (medium) or white (fine) jeweler's rouge with a small cotton wheel on the dremel. Other times for very slight problems on chrome hardware I use Semichrome, Neverdull, or other products I would have also used on my scoot in it's day.

The tailpiece on the TA-70 was badly corroded and pitted across the center top, so it was necessary to remove all the chrome and copper base plating and actually polish the steel underneath. Gold hardware is a bit touchy, and I use only very light abrasive compounds on it if at all as the plating is almost always extremely thin. I have had good luck with Tarn-X and other liquids used for restoring silver.