Epiphone DR-100 Acoustic - Part 1

Part 2 ▶

January 5, 2025. CA Guitar Repair. Taman Impian Ku, 25200 Kuantan.

The owner of this Epiphone DR-100 Acoustic has requested a string change and tuner upgrade.

Cort MR600F Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar

Nice made-in-China guitar, this. Dreadnought with a Venetian Cutaway, solid Sitka Spruce top, Mahogany neck, back and sides; Ovangkol fretboard and bridge, body binding, Fishman preamp. What's not to like?

Now, the bad news. The Fishman preamp was dead as a dodo. The guitar was also covered in a year's worth of dust and grime. Guess it'd been hanging on a wall all this time. And don't get me started about the fretboard and frets, please. In any case, it was a guitar worth saving. Actually, the owner asked for a cheap and easy fix, and so that's the route I took.

The preamp remained dead despite my best efforts to revive it, so that was that. Then I disconnected the piezo pickup from the preamp and soldered it directly to the output jack, and there was sound! So now he'd just have to control output and tone from the amp he's plugged into. Yes, a cheap and easy fix indeed.

The guitar was cleaned up and polished with Gibson Guitar Polish, the fretboard degunked and reconditioned with lemon oil; and the frets given the Autosol treatment. After stringing her up with a fresh set of 10s, this Cort MR600F was good to go.

L. Luthier GA20W Bridge Repair | Part Two

◀ Part One

As detailed in the previous post, the bottom of the bridge and soundboard contact area have already been prepped for regluing. Naturally, the next step would be to reglue the bridge. This I've done with Titebond III Ultimate Wood Glue and StewMac Soundhole Clamps. I dispensed with the lone existing rosewood bridge locating pin and replaced it with two bridge pins; one in the 1st string hole and the other in the sixth. The clamps were removed after four days, which would have given the glue sufficient time to fully cure.

After removing any dried glue squeeze-out, the immediate area around the repair was cleaned. Following this, the perimeter of the bridge was sealed with a couple coats of Tru-Oil. I needed to do this because despite using tape and a sharp scalpel to score the thick finish around the bridge before removing it, some of the finish had chipped; exposing a thin line of raw wood. Sealing these exposed areas with Tru-Oil should prevent moisture from getting into the wood; in my humble opinion.

Meanwhile, the fretboard surely needed reconditioning. The frets and fretboard were first cleaned with 3M Scotch-Brite Pads, after which a generous amount of Dunlop Formula 65 Fretboard Ultimate Lemon Oil was applied. After leaving the lemon oil on for about 15 minutes, any excess was wiped off with a clean rag; and the job was complete. The bridge was also treated with lemon oil as I thought the rosewood looked really dry.

Next on the list was restringing the guitar with a set of Alice A306-XL (010-047) and tuning up. As the relief was just where I wanted it with the instrument in standard tuning; there was no need for any truss rod adjustment. And so, after polishing the whole guitar with carnauba wax; this L. Luthier GA20W was ready to be played once more. Here's a short YouTube Video of yours truly trying out this lovely guitar.

Taylor 150e 12-String Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar

Overview
Amongst the main features of the Taylor 150e 12-String Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar are layered Walnut back and sides, a solid Sitka Spruce top, Hard Rock Maple neck and heel, Ebony bridge and fretboard, matte-finish body, black binding and pickguard, Micarta saddle, Tusq nut; and "natural-sounding" Taylor Expression System 2 (ES2). Click HERE for the full description of features, specifications; and available options for the Taylor 150e.

The Taylor Expression System 2 (ES2)
The foundation of the ES2 is Taylor’s "patented behind-the-saddle pickup," which features three "uniquely positioned" and "individually calibrated pickup sensors" feeding a "custom-designed professional audio-grade" pre-amplifier. Three "soft-touch" center-detented knobs allow the player to adjust the overall volume, as well as boost/cut the bass and treble. The ES2 is powered by one 9V battery, conveniently located in an integrated end pin jack/battery compartment housing at the "tail end" of the guitar. Another feature worth mentioning is the Phase Switch which can help reduce "low-frequency feedback should it occur in a live situation." This switch is located on the side of the circuit board, and can be accessed through the soundhole. Click HERE to learn more about this "revolutionary pickup design."

Santa Cruz DRW42 Bridge Repair

Titebond III wood glue was used for this repair, along with a couple of StewMac soundhole clamps.

Takamine D Series Acoustic Guitar - Headstock Repair

The headstock of this Takamine D Series Acoustic Guitar "snapped right off while it was still in its gig bag," so said the distraught owner. I suspect that he'd been using way too heavy strings, and the poor guitar couldn't handle the tension. As luck would have it, the headstock had sheared off at an angle from the neck. This was good, as I had a wide surface area for gluing.

At this juncture, I regret to inform you that I clean forgot to take a picture of the broken headstock before repairs were carried out ... bummer! Anyhow, after gluing back the headstock to the neck, I used a nyatoh backstrap to reinforce the repair. Note that the backstrap blank had to be pre-softened before bending it to conform to the curve of the back of the headstock/neck.

This pre-softening was carried out using a kitchen steamer, much like what one would use for steaming dumplings (pau). Without this pre-softening, the backstrap blank would have cracked when I force-clamped it to the back of the headstock.

I'd wanted to cover the splits and cracks on the headstock face with teak veneer, but the owner was not willing to lose the "Takamine" logo. As such, I had to settle for a super glue job. Finally, the back of the headstock and neck were stained with StewMac's ColorTone Liquid Stain diluted with ethanol, and refinished with Tru-Oil.