Valencia CG200 Classical Guitar

This attractive full-scale classical guitar came in for a restring and tune, saddle work; and clean/polish. According to STB Music, the guitar features a spruce top, bound rosewood back and sides, nato neck, rosewood fretboard and bridge, nickel frets; and NuBone saddle.

Ashton CG-44CEQAM Acoustic-Electric Classical Guitar

Nice classical guitar, this. I really love the deep amber hue, an indication that this instrument has seen its fair share of smoky gigs. It came in for cleanup and polish; plus restringing with a set of Ernie Ball Ernesto Palla Clear and Silver Nylon Strings. Looking around the web, MusicWorks has proven to be a reliable source of information; some of which is reproduced in the next paragraph.

Top: Spruce

Back and Sides: Catalpa

Neck: Maple

Tuners: Gold "butterfly"

Pickup: Under saddle

Preamp: Prener SPII (4-band EQ with sweepable mids), built-in tuner

Outputs: XLR and ¼” jack

Yamaha CG-110 Classical Guitar Repair

Introduction
It was an old, beat up guitar. The finish was cracked, flaky and severely discolored in several areas. The fretboard was dry and caked with hardened sweat and grime. The frets, well, they were not too worn; but definitely needed a good steel-wooling and polish.The tuners were missing, and the original nut had been replaced with one that was not only poorly-cut; but also not wide enough to cover the full width of the fretboard.

To make matters worse, the bridge had come off some time in the past, only to be re-glued to the top and fastened with wood screws for good measure. That 'repair' didn't last very long, as the bridge had popped off once again; this time taking with it slivers of wood. I looked at the original bridge, it was full of holes and had to be replaced. The body was another sad story. It was was peppered with numerous dings, divots, and deep scratches; and literally coming apart at the seams, particularly in the area around the neck heel.

Work Done
Repairs to the body were addressed by first gluing the affected areas back together with Titebond III, followed by clamping. After the glue had dried, the repaired areas were saturated with super glue until a hard protective layer formed. This layer was sanded flat before the next layer of super glue was applied. The process was repeated ad nauseam; but this was the only way to restore structural integrity to the body.

The fretboard was given a new lease of life after some serious scraping, cleaning with naphta (Zippo lighter fluid); and generous application of lemon oil. The badly-tarnished frets were abraded with 400 - 1.2K grits of sandpaper, steel-wooled with 0000 grade stuff; and given a light polish with Autosol. The nut slot was cleaned out, and a custom-fitted bone nut glued into place. Those missing tuners were also replaced.

Re-gluing the bridge was by far the most time-consuming task. The area beneath the bridge had not been taped off before lacquer was first applied at the factory. This meant that from day one, the bridge had been glued to lacquer, and not wood. It's no wonder, then, that the bridge eventually popped off. I've seen this shortcoming on quite a few acoustic guitars so far; including a rather expensive 12-string. So, after marking the correct position of the new bridge, I had no choice but to meticulously scrape off all the existing lacquer underneath, repair the tear-out; and level the area before re-gluing said bridge.

It seemed like forever, but eventually the guitar was ready for re-stringing and final setup. O happy day, I must say the bone nut and saddle were a much-needed upgrade for this grand old lady. As always, no regrets, even though the smell while filing or sanding bone invariably makes me want to puke.

The Magic Touch of Roka Dyer Maker

Once upon a time in the 20th century, an Indonesian luthier decided to craft a custom thinline classical guitar. Over the years, successive owners added various mods to the instrument, including a preamp and Fender-style output jack. It's said that the guitar spent some years at sea before finding its way into the possession of an elderly gentleman from Kuala Lumpur. Which is where local musician/sound engineer "Prof." Din discovered the poor thing, beaten and bruised beyond repair; or so we thought.

For starters, the bridge and under-saddle (presumably) pickup were missing; as were the tuners and preamp innards. The frets and fretboard were bowed inwards, so much so that the entire length of the fretboard was lower in the middle than the edges. Imagine that if you can! To make matters worse, the back of the guitar was missing a chunk of wood near the output jack, and someone had filled the gap with plywood. The top was no better, being severely discolored and  uneven with large dents and divots marring its surface.

Both Prof. and yours truly were in agreement that only a bona fide luthier could do justice to this guitar. And so it was handed over to Kuantan-based luthier extraordinaire Roka Dyer Maker for a total makeover. Roka, as some of you might already know; once studied under internationally-acclaimed luthier Jeffrey Yong.

The post-restoration transformation was mind-blowing, to say the least. The frets and fretboard were as level as it gets. A new preamp, pickguard and bridge were in place. The guitar looked and sounded fantastic, something local bluesman Shafie can attest to. Prof. was so pleased with the end result that the guitar's now sitting in a glass display case; only to be taken out when absolutely necessary. Roka Dyer Maker, you da man!

Image Credits: AA and Roka Dyer Maker

Ibanez GA5TCE-AM Classical Guitar

I hate plastic output jacks. Sure, they're perfect for tight spaces. However, they aren't as robust as metal jacks. The output jack on this guitar was broken. More accurately, the tip of the hot contact had snapped off completely. So, I trashed the plastic jack and wired in a generic stereo jack. Now, how was I to install it? I could not get my sausage fingers in through the soundhole. Just then I remembered a tip Dan Erlewine had once shared in Guitar Player. Thus inspired, I got hold of a giant chopstick, pushed it through the jack hole, stuck on the stereo jack, pulled the chopstick and jack back through the hole; and fastened the washer and nut. I knew that giant chopstick would come in handy one day. Hooray for Kedai Dua Ringgit :) Now, some mundane specs, most of which was copied off the Ibanez website: 

Birthplace: China
Body Shape: Thinline Cutaway Classical
Top: Spruce
Neck/Back/Sides: Mahogany
Fretboard/Bridge: Rosewood
Truss Rod: Dual Action
Body Binding: Black
Soundhole Rosette: Classical Mosaic Design
Tuning Machines: Gold
Number of Frets: 21
Scale Length: 650mm (25.6")
Pickup: Ibanez Under Saddle
Preamp: Ibanez AEQ303 (3-band)
Finish: Gloss

This guitar plays well. The volume, bass, middle and treble controls on the AEQ303 preamp are simple but effective. Amplified, you can tell it's a classical. Not surprisingly, the soundhole label proudly declares: La Calidad en Guitarra Clasica -- "The Quality in Classical Guitar." Thank you Uncle Google.  Last but not least, this guitar was autographed by Hujan's Noh Salleh. Kewl!