verbs4us
Mar-07-2014, 6:22pm
I have a kind of semantic question.
Years ago my dad bought a beat up Gibson H2 mandola. It was in sad shape when he bought it and it got only worse. The top sank, the tail piece had dry rot, the sides cracked and separated from the top and back, and you could see daylight through the back. About the only thing good about it was a dead-straight neck. It could not come up to concert pitch and was unplayable beyond the 4th fret.
A talented luthier friend agreed to repair it. He rebuilt the top, splicing inch wide strips where the cracks were. Ditto for the back. He replaced the tailpiece and rebuilt one side with a new piece of spruce. He put in a new top brace to prevent future sinkage. He reglued everything with hide glue, basically deconstructing and reconstructing the instrument. And he refinished with spirit varnish. Now it sings all the way up the neck, has terrific sustain and harmonics, woofing bass, clear mids, and bell-like trebles.
About half the wood is original, almost none of the joints are original. It makes me rethink the idea about “opening up.” Since all the joints are new and tight, you’d think that would make it sound like a new instrument. And because only 50% of the wood is original, you’d think the instrument would sound, well, “50% new,” not 100 years old like the rest. Yet, even despite its new smell, it has a distinctly vintage sound. Looks like you can replace half an old Gibson and still have it be “old.” Thoughts?
Years ago my dad bought a beat up Gibson H2 mandola. It was in sad shape when he bought it and it got only worse. The top sank, the tail piece had dry rot, the sides cracked and separated from the top and back, and you could see daylight through the back. About the only thing good about it was a dead-straight neck. It could not come up to concert pitch and was unplayable beyond the 4th fret.
A talented luthier friend agreed to repair it. He rebuilt the top, splicing inch wide strips where the cracks were. Ditto for the back. He replaced the tailpiece and rebuilt one side with a new piece of spruce. He put in a new top brace to prevent future sinkage. He reglued everything with hide glue, basically deconstructing and reconstructing the instrument. And he refinished with spirit varnish. Now it sings all the way up the neck, has terrific sustain and harmonics, woofing bass, clear mids, and bell-like trebles.
About half the wood is original, almost none of the joints are original. It makes me rethink the idea about “opening up.” Since all the joints are new and tight, you’d think that would make it sound like a new instrument. And because only 50% of the wood is original, you’d think the instrument would sound, well, “50% new,” not 100 years old like the rest. Yet, even despite its new smell, it has a distinctly vintage sound. Looks like you can replace half an old Gibson and still have it be “old.” Thoughts?