I have a “vintage” Gretsch electric guitar that I was given when my wife’s youngest brother passed away several years ago. Unfortunately it’s in a very poor state of repair, and really could do with some specialist restoration work doing to it to bring it back to its former glory. Does anyone here know of, and could recommend, a craftsman preferably in the Yorkshire area that would be able to take a look at it and could repair it at a reasonable cost? TIA.
I'd be tempted to take it to Eagle Music very near you ET - they did some work on a vintage tenor banjo for me a couple of months ago and were really inexpensive. https://www.eaglemusicshop.com/search.asp?q=godin If they can't do it, they will know who can
I agree with this. I've been there before, but my advice is , unless you're going to play it or sell it then leave it as it is for now. It will not get any worse if it is stored correctly.
lots of muso's on 'ere - stick some pics up before you raid the pension fund If it's sentimental, then your heart may rule your head, but sometimes they're not worth restoring
If it’s worth restoring to sell then I’ll do that. If it’s not then it’ll end up as landfill. I have two other guitars plus a ukulele I can play.
Be very careful when approaching the restoration of a vintage guitar. If it is a valuable instrument you may actually harm its value by restoring it to a playable condition if a considerable amount of work has to be done to achieve that. I would suggest that you first establish a value for the instrument as it is now. Then find out what work would need doing to it to make it into a playable instrument and what affect that would have on the value and what the cost of the work would be. It would appear that you have recommendations for a local luthier which is great, but be careful. It is very easy to restore a vintage instrument incorrectly and totally ruin its value even though you create a perfectly working instrument. Correct restoration of vintage guitars requires the use of the correct techniques that were used to make the instruments in the first place. That means using period correct glues, etc. If you don’t think that your local luthier is up to the task then I would recommend sending the guitar to https://www.eternal-guitars.com They have built, renovated and set up guitars and basses for me and for many of my customers (I run a recording and rehearsal studio). Dave Walsh at Eternal knows his vintage guitars very well and has done many restorations.
When you next come down from the hills you could try Forsyths on Deansgate in Manchester. They've been around for ages and seem to know their onions.
