Restoring a Gibson Alrite

[tonydxn]

I'm about to start work restoring a badly knocked-about Gibson Alrite (number 592) which I bought on eBay some years ago. I'm planning to post before, after and in-progress photos. I thought it might be interesting for some folks to follow my progress, I'm also hoping for some information, guidance and/or opinion on some points as I go. This is what I'm taking on . . .

[multidon]

OMG! That headstock "repair"!

[lenf12]

OMG! That headstock "repair"!

I was ok with the first 2 pictures and then......AAAAAHHHH!! The headstock is like looking at Frankenstein for the first time. This will be an interesting thread.

Len B.
Clearwater, FL

[pops1]

I would rather they drilled and supported the headstock than used a bunch of Gorilla glue in a poor repair. I did an F4 from the teens last year where they even used gorilla glue for the bridge, and lots of it. Spent a lot of hours getting that stuff off, but it came out well and the customer was happy. Good luck on the Alrite, should be a fun project.

[MikeEdgerton]

That's some real alligator dentistry there. Keep us posted.

[michaelcj]

Photo makes it look like the "headstock repair" may have been all mechanical?? I don't see much evidence of glue in that open crack on the backside…
If that's the case…remove the bridge girders…and the almost burnt looking head plate.

Glue the cracked headstock properly
New ebony headplate
cut some mahogany plugs for the bolt holes
{and/or even a back plate as well }

??? I'd go for it
Keep us posted.

[tonydxn]

No glue at all in there, Michael, just steel. I don't know whether the owner did the repair himself or took it to his local blacksmith. It's what I would call crude but effective. He obviously loved his Alrite and was determined to keep it going. It's been played a lot.

[tonydxn]

No trouble getting the back off - only about an inch of it was still glued.

I have to say I find the design of this instrument very poor. There is nothing to spread the pressure of the bridge across the soundboard or to give it any lateral strength at all. To make it worse, the bridges fitted to Alrites stood up on two feet instead of being in contact with the soundboard all the way along. That means that the force of any blow to the bridge would be transferred straight to the struts, making them very vulnerable to breakage. Indeed, the bass side strut is broken, split nearly from end to end. Here is a photo where I've wedged the split open so you can see it.

Hardly surprising that when Gibson developed the plain-Jane Army and Navy model, they replaced those two struts with a single transverse brace.

Although I'm usually quite keen on keeping things authentic (without being religious about it) I think I will probably replace these struts with an X-brace.

Here are some dimensions, for those interested: struts are 8.5mm thick, 86mm apart at the neck end, 90mm apart at the tail end (between centres), treble strut 14.5mm high, bass strut 12mm. Soundboard 3.5mm thick, back 3.4mm

[tonydxn]

This is where I start needing help. As you can see, the main back brace is completely missing.
Attachment 151337
The place where it was glued on is discoloured at one end, which suggests that end came unglued some time before it got lost altogether. This would have happened quite easily, as the brace wasn't even recessed into the linings (more poor design). I will fix that. The two secondary braces are both split too.

Because the main brace is missing altogether, I don't know what size it's supposed to be. I do understand that it isn't critical to the sound or structural integrity of the instrument, but I would like to get it right if possible. If anyone knows the Alrite, or owns one, I'd be grateful if you would let me know how high the brace is.

[Jim Garber]

There is some discussion on transverse bracing on this old thread from 2006.

[MikeEdgerton]

Here are some pictures of the original bracing on an Alrite. There are several threads where people have rebraced them.

[MikeEdgerton]

Interestingly, the Alrite and Army-Navy apparently didn't have the same bracing. This thread shows an open Army-Navy model. Perhaps at some point they did.

[multidon]

This instrument is a great candidate for conversion to X bracing, IMHO.

[sunburst]

It may not be the same, but here's the back brace in an Army/Navy. I don't think I measured it, but this shows the size fairly well.

[tonydxn]

That's great John. Many thanks. I wouldn't have thought the Alrite would be very different - this gives me something to work to. It looks as if the same thing happened to this as happened to mine - split away at one end.

Thanks also to those who gave me links to other threads.

[Jeff Mando]

Maybe Jake Wildwood will chime in. He restored an Army-Navy with a similar headstock break using a new overlay on his website. He also did an Alrite and he mentions the difference in the top bracing patterns and how they sound.

[Timbofood]

That poor thing has had a chainsaw vasectomy to say the least! As others have said "This will be an interesting thread!"

[sunburst]

...It looks as if the same thing happened to this as happened to mine...

Partly, but the worst things with the Army-Navy that I restored were the "work" done by the owner and others trying to "fix it up". Lots of glue slopped around inside, finish mostly stripped, that sort of thing.

[tonydxn]

Cleaned up and stabilized the label today. It's always nice to have a label, and with an Alrite it's particularly important as many people are reluctant to believe it's really a Gibson. This one was crumbling away and I didn't trust myself to do the necessary work on the back without accidentally destroying it.

Most of the dirt is just loose dust. I brushed it away with a small sable artist's brush and stuck the crumbly bits down with Pritt Stick.

[multidon]

Does anyone know how the Flatirons were braced? Like the Alrite, like the Army Navy, or something different? I built one of those Stew Mac Campfire pancake kits and it was ladder braced. Top collapsed a couple of times and after multiple repair attempts I just gave up.

Would I be correct in my hypothesis that X bracing is the strongest and best option for this design? Seems like it needs actual bracing for strength, not just tone bars.

[tonydxn]

Does anyone know how the Flatirons were braced? Like the Alrite, like the Army Navy, or something different? I built one of those Stew Mac Campfire pancake kits and it was ladder braced. Top collapsed a couple of times and after multiple repair attempts I just gave up.

Would I be correct in my hypothesis that X bracing is the strongest and best option for this design? Seems like it needs actual bracing for strength, not just tone bars.

I've been doing a lot of reading up about bracing. There's something about it in this thread http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...ghlight=alrite See posts #4 and #14 particularly.

I decided not to put an X-brace in mine after all, but to add a transverse brace to what's there already. I'll post pictures in a day or two.

[tonydxn]

New back brace sitting in its slot. The next step is to glue it to the back.

[tonydxn]

New back brace glued onto the back. It's 14mm high - looks as if it may be a bit slimmer than the one in Sunburst's photo (post #14)

[mirwa]

Looks good

[MikeEdgerton]

I think Frank Ford has an article on his site www.frets.com that covers aging new wood in repairs so they look more like old wood. I have used coffee and strong tea to "age" new braces and cleats so they don't shine like beacons inside repaired instruments. It just darkens things down a bit. This is all assuming you want the repair to look old.

That looks great, keep posting your progress.