Yamaha C-80 Classical Guitar Restoration

Remember the yard sale Yamaha C-80 that came in with the HIH acoustic for repairs? Well, this post is all about this mistreated instrument and how it was eventually restored. 

To start off, you DO NOT put steel guitar strings on a classical. If you don't know how to tie the strings to the bridge, get a set with ball ends such as Ernie Ball 2409 Ernesto Palla Black and Gold. You can find them on the web and most reputable online guitar stores, so there's no excuse for not doing the right thing.

Let's see what the steel strings did to this poor C-80. At the headstock end, the strings had "eaten" into the softer nylon tuning posts, but did not damage them severely. That's a relief. But the bridge was a different story altogether, I tell you. The tension of the steel strings had torn off the front wall of the saddle slot completely, rendering the bridge totally unusable. That's a real pity, as it was a really nice dark piece of rosewood; and now I'd have to replace it. Bummer!

While waiting for the replacement bridge to arrive, the old bridge was carefully removed with a heated spatula. The area of the soundboard in contact with the bridge was then prepped with chisels and abrasives until sufficiently level. Once the new bridge was in my hands, a few rounds of careful measuring ensued. This was to make sure that the bridge would be centered correctly, and at the required distance from the nut for accurate intonation. Yes, it was the old "measure twice, cut once" principle in action.

Once I was satisfied with the positioning of the bridge, the sanded area of the soundboard had to be enlarged slightly to accommodate its new counterpart. Titebond III was then used to glue the new bridge to the soundboard, and StewMac soundhole clamps applied for a week.

The next issue was missing binding and a deep gouge on the upper edge of the fretboard from the nut up about till the fourth fret. Fresh binding was grafted on, and a mixture of rosewood dust and super glue applied to fill out the gouge. Subsequently, the binding and super glue/rosewood dust fill were scraped and sanded level with the surrounding areas. The final step was sealing the repair with Tru-Oil; followed by a good polishing.

I won't go into all the minor details, but this was basically how the C-80 was restored to playable condition. So, what have we learned from this post, boys and girls? Yes, DO NOT ever put steel strings on a classical guitar, because you're going to totally ruin the instrument. Now, has anyone ever tried putting nylon strings on a steel-string? What an intriguing thought!