1959 ES-355 Repair

DGNRepair · 01-06-2012, 09:39 AM

This is such a cool guitar I thought I would share with you all. This is an all original 1959 Gibson ES-355. Purists stop reading here.

Although the general condition of the guitar is good the frets had absolutely zero life left to them. At one point someone attempted to replace 3 frets for whatever reason and leveled the frets to the point that they couldn't be saved, yet the replacement frets were still way too high. The replacement frets also forced the binding to separate in a couple of spots. This was tough news for the customer who wanted to try and keep the guitar as original as possible. He thought it over for almost a week and then we finally decided to go ahead with the re-fret, new nut, and full setup. This guitar will absolutely scream after the fretwork is done. The neck is in terrific shape, no twists/breaks etc. and the rest of the guitar is perfect. The only real issue is at some point someone went to adjust the truss rod, realized they didn't have the correct size wrench and proceeded to chisel out much of the wood around the nut in the TR cavity In thsi process the chisel went through the back of the headstock. It was repaired at somepoint but isn't the best cosmetically. Since its stable I am going to leave it and not mess with it, mostly because the guitar has a factory stinger on the back of the headstock.

Here are some pics to get you going. Again, since I am bad about remembering to take pics, we will pick up the work right after the frets have been pulled, but before the fingerboard is prepped for the new frets.

This one is back on the bench later today to finish up the fretwork and bring it back to life.

BCRGreg · 01-06-2012, 09:53 AM

Lovely guitar.

fatdaddypreacher · 01-06-2012, 10:04 AM

those are a close second on my favorites list when it comes to guitars, with the lp being first. hope to get the kahunies to try to build one at some time or another.

great looking guitar, and looking forward to the progress. i learn a lot from you, and you are one of the many inspirational luthiers we are so blessed to have here on this forum.

thanks for sharing.

DGNRepair · 01-06-2012, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BCRGreg

Lovely guitar.

Yeah Greg, this is a cool one for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by fatdaddypreacher

those are a close second on my favorites list when it comes to guitars, with the lp being first. hope to get the kahunies to try to build one at some time or another.

great looking guitar, and looking forward to the progress. i learn a lot from you, and you are one of the many inspirational luthiers we are so blessed to have here on this forum.

thanks for sharing.

Thank you for the kind words. What I do is more than a job, its my life. I absolutely love what I do and furthermore, I really enjoy talking about what I do and sharing knowledge when I can.

w666 · 01-06-2012, 10:15 AM

Wouldn't there have been "nibs" on the factory fret job? It's hard to imagine that this is the first re-fret in ~ 53 years.

Awesome guitar.....I have envy.

DGNRepair · 01-06-2012, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by w666

Wouldn't there have been "nibs" on the factory fret job? It's hard to imagine that this is the first re-fret in ~ 53 years.

Awesome guitar.....I have envy.

Nibs do wear away. Look closely at the last 4-5 frets (18-22) the nibs are still intact. And yes these were the original frets. When I say there was nothing left, I mean it was like playing on tin foil.

mapleflame · 01-06-2012, 10:36 AM

Great looking guitar. Look forward to the progress pics. Thanks for sharing.

Ken McKay · 01-06-2012, 01:01 PM

Beauty. What a well played guitar! Get as many measurements as time allows please. Great work so far.

DGNRepair · 01-06-2012, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken McKay

Beauty. What a well played guitar! Get as many measurements as time allows please. Great work so far.

Ken is there any measurement you want for a reference? Just let me know, its no trouble at all.

***b-squared*** · 01-06-2012, 01:22 PM

Wow, COOL guitar! Thanks for posting this!

BB

Ken McKay · 01-07-2012, 05:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DGNRepair

Ken is there any measurement you want for a reference? Just let me know, its no trouble at all.

Thanks,

Body thickness =
Nut width =
Width of neck at body joint =

Also why is the peghead pearl still white while the other color over the binding has yellowed? I have seen this and it confuses me. Any guesses?

Barnaby · 01-07-2012, 06:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken McKay

Thanks,

Body thickness =
Nut width =
Width of neck at body joint =

Also why is the peghead pearl still white while the other color over the binding has yellowed? I have seen this and it confuses me. Any guesses?

Chemical/UV reaction with the binding?

w666 · 01-07-2012, 09:03 AM

I have heard that early on Gibson would hit the white colored bindings with an amber color coat to achieve a cream colored look.....check out the body and neck bindings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken McKay

Also why is the peghead pearl still white while the other color over the binding has yellowed? I have seen this and it confuses me. Any guesses?

Freddy G · 01-07-2012, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken McKay

Also why is the peghead pearl still white while the other color over the binding has yellowed? I have seen this and it confuses me. Any guesses?

I've seen that before plenty of times. Its the raw pearl exposed. The lacquer has crumbled off. Of course I'll let Dan verify that.

DGNRepair · 01-07-2012, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freddy G

I've seen that before plenty of times. Its the raw pearl exposed. The lacquer has crumbled off. Of course I'll let Dan verify that.

You are correct.

DGNRepair · 01-07-2012, 11:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by w666

I have heard that early on Gibson would hit the white colored bindings with an amber color coat to achieve a cream colored look.....check out the body and neck bindings.

This is correct to a certain degree. Yes the original binding color on this guitar was white, there is no mistaking that. I don't think they purposely shot an amber coat so to speak, but the slightly yellowish tint to the clear nitro gave it a warmer almost cream appearance. Remember, there was no such thing as aging or manipulating the color of the binding with tinted lacquer back then. They simply shot color, scraped back the binding and then shot the clear. It wasn't rocket science, just production finishing.

Ken I'll get back to you on those measurements.

Ken McKay · 01-07-2012, 01:57 PM

Thanks.
On the white pearl versus the amber binding, I have seen it enough to know something is going on.

The original binding is what I would call ivory. The pearl is of course white.

w666 · 01-07-2012, 02:05 PM

OK, sounds reasonable.....so then why is the headstock MOP not yellowed?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DGNRepair

This is correct to a certain degree. Yes the original binding color on this guitar was white, there is no mistaking that. I don't think they purposely shot an amber coat so to speak, but the slightly yellowish tint to the clear nitro gave it a warmer almost cream appearance. Remember, there was no such thing as aging or manipulating the color of the binding with tinted lacquer back then. They simply shot color, scraped back the binding and then shot the clear. It wasn't rocket science, just production finishing.

Ken I'll get back to you on those measurements.

nuance97 · 01-07-2012, 02:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by w666

OK, sounds reasonable.....so then why is the headstock MOP not yellowed?

Here's your answer.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Freddy G

I've seen that before plenty of times. Its the raw pearl exposed. The lacquer has crumbled off. Of course I'll let Dan verify that.

dougk · 01-07-2012, 03:39 PM

I don't see any reason to hesitate about doing a fret job.

Unplayable vintage guitar =/= a guitar imo.

Playable vintage guitar = awesome vintage guitar.

Its really that simple.

Dan, I'm jealous beyond words. Dream guitar right there for me.

w666 · 01-07-2012, 04:13 PM

Ooops...must have missed Freddy's post. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nuance97

Here's your answer.

DGNRepair · 01-07-2012, 05:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ken McKay

Thanks.
On the white pearl versus the amber binding, I have seen it enough to know something is going on.

The original binding is what I would call ivory. The pearl is of course white.

Yes Ken, I guess I called the binding white but really it is ever so slightly an Off White, ivory color. Definitely not Cream though, and is much lighter than the Bartlett Cream binding.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dougk

I don't see any reason to hesitate about doing a fret job.

Unplayable vintage guitar =/= a guitar imo.

Playable vintage guitar = awesome vintage guitar.

Its really that simple.

Dan, I'm jealous beyond words. Dream guitar right there for me.

Doug the neck is amazingly perfect, it is super super light, and I cannot wait to plug it in. This is one of my favorite guitars that has come through the shop lately. I agree on the fretwork, but the problem was convincing the customer. He is a great player, but still a collector and more worried about the value of the guitar. In my opinion a playable vintage guitar is worth more than an unplayable guitar. He has definitely come around and is super excited to see and play the final result.

Getting this bad boy finished up on Monday.

intrique45 · 01-08-2012, 04:24 PM

Dan is the man to do it right. Took my old Gretsch SA with a botched refinish and loose neck and turned it into a real gem This Gibson is going to be a work of art when he is done

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/memb...9-dscf8451.jpg

mdr40z · 01-08-2012, 04:41 PM

fantastic guitar Dan, you are lucky to have the opportunity.

DGNRepair · 01-09-2012, 08:58 AM

OK , not related to this repair but...........

So in thinking about the binding color on this guitar and Les Pauls for that matter, I decided to do some internet searching and ended up making a few phone calls. After a couple of sorry can't help you's, I remembered there was a local Plastics company. So I gave them a ring.

Here is what I found out. Butyrate Plastic, aka Cellulose Acetate, 15+ years ago was super popular, tons of colors etc. These days most places can't give it away. When inquiring about custom colors I found out the hard way that custom colors won't be cost effective for me. At a minimum order of 2000 pounds of material, that would be upwards of $5-$6,000, not really what I was looking to spend at this time.

Here is the fun part. Back in the 50's, production was obviously much slower than it is now. So back then any type of custom color would have been outrageously expensive and not cost effective for a company trying to produce guitars and musical instruments as cost effectively as possible. Also, butyrate can and will (as we see with old Gretsch's and Epiphones) degrade and breakdown over time. What I didn't know is that, Butyrate is suseptible to UV light and the color will essentially "Fade". In this case, white could turn to an off white/ivory color or even darker depending on exposure. So with this new found knowledge, there is a very very good chance that the binding put on these guitars in the 50's was standard off the shelf white butyrate binding. Maybe the white butyrate back then was more of an ivory. Who knows. I simply found the conversation very interesting. Also, he said there is a very good chance that there is an off the shelf color that would match the current color of 50's binding. I may have to take a ride up to the retail location.

By the way, finishing up this guitar today............

DGNRepair · 01-10-2012, 03:02 PM

Finally got this one finished up yesterday. The fretwork was a giant pain but it came out terrific!! Here is the rest of the process.

This is the fingerboard just after the frets were pulled. Almost 60 years of yuck!!

Fingerboard cleaned up with #0000 steel wool.

Frets rough cut to length.

Each one is undercut to fit right in between the binding.

Secret glue recipe. (white glue thinned with water)

Glue in slot....

Hammer in fret.....

Rinse and repeat 21x's.

After all of the fret are in, the ends are nipped off.

And it goes into clamps for a few hours until the glue dries.

DGNRepair · 01-10-2012, 03:04 PM

After the glue is dry, I then bevel the fret ends. I do this with a block first, and then finish up with a hand file to get the angle where I want it.

Then I start leveling.....

Since I didn't really want super tall new style frets in this guitar, I took a lot of material off in the leveling process.

After the frets are level and at the height I want I start crowning. On this fretjob I started crowning with a 150 grit diamond fret file because it removes a ton of material really fast.

Then I follow up with a regular standard Stew Mac crowning file. In my opinion you can't beat the surface you get with this file. Plus there is a certain feel to when the crown is cut that you simply don't get with a diamond file.

After the frets are all crowned, I turn the fingerboard from this:

To this:

The fretwork is all done and looks terrific.

DGNRepair · 01-10-2012, 03:05 PM

Next is the new nut. The nut is essential to a guitar that sets up and plays well. It needs to be cut with great accuracy, and in my opinion look good as well.

I start with a blank thickness sanded to fit the slot.

Next I rough out the basic shape, cut the slots, final shape the nut, polish it, and in this case slightly age it.

All done and ready for the final setup.

DGNRepair · 01-10-2012, 03:08 PM

Here she is all finished up. It was such a pleasure working this fine guitar.

For those interested, I decided to do what started out as a short vid of this guitar in action. It ended up being 8 minutes. Ok its musical masturbation but whatever, I don't care. All I can say is this guitar is FREAKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!

Hope you all enjoyed the small look into my shop.

DGN Custom Guitars - 1959 Gibson ES-355 - YouTube

Archer · 01-10-2012, 03:08 PM

What kind of white glue are you using to glue the frets in? Nice looking guitar and repair job you've got going here.

01-06-2012, 09:39 AM	#1 (permalink)
DGNRepair MLP Vendor Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Stuck at the bench.... Posts: 1,699 Thanks: 25 Thanked 94 Times in 26 Posts	1959 ES-355 Repair This is such a cool guitar I thought I would share with you all. This is an all original 1959 Gibson ES-355. Purists stop reading here. Although the general condition of the guitar is good the frets had absolutely zero life left to them. At one point someone attempted to replace 3 frets for whatever reason and leveled the frets to the point that they couldn't be saved, yet the replacement frets were still way too high. The replacement frets also forced the binding to separate in a couple of spots. This was tough news for the customer who wanted to try and keep the guitar as original as possible. He thought it over for almost a week and then we finally decided to go ahead with the re-fret, new nut, and full setup. This guitar will absolutely scream after the fretwork is done. The neck is in terrific shape, no twists/breaks etc. and the rest of the guitar is perfect. The only real issue is at some point someone went to adjust the truss rod, realized they didn't have the correct size wrench and proceeded to chisel out much of the wood around the nut in the TR cavity In thsi process the chisel went through the back of the headstock. It was repaired at somepoint but isn't the best cosmetically. Since its stable I am going to leave it and not mess with it, mostly because the guitar has a factory stinger on the back of the headstock. Here are some pics to get you going. Again, since I am bad about remembering to take pics, we will pick up the work right after the frets have been pulled, but before the fingerboard is prepped for the new frets. This one is back on the bench later today to finish up the fretwork and bring it back to life. b-squared, billy, 767400 and 7 others like this. __________________ DGN Custom Guitars - Handcrafted Guitars, Repair and Restoration Fan me on Facebook DGN CR-Model Double Cutaway For sale, Killer Deal!!!! - Click Here

01-06-2012, 09:53 AM	#2 (permalink)
BCRGreg MLP Vendor Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Lemoyne, PA Posts: 11,282 Thanks: 320 Thanked 1,913 Times in 257 Posts	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair Lovely guitar. __________________ Cool guitars, extreme repairs and brutal honesty. www.bcrmusic.com http://www.youtube.com/user/unkagreg

01-06-2012, 10:04 AM	#3 (permalink)
fatdaddypreacher V.I.P. Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: central louisiana Posts: 1,806 Thanks: 3 Thanked 16 Times in 5 Posts	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair those are a close second on my favorites list when it comes to guitars, with the lp being first. hope to get the kahunies to try to build one at some time or another. great looking guitar, and looking forward to the progress. i learn a lot from you, and you are one of the many inspirational luthiers we are so blessed to have here on this forum. thanks for sharing.

01-06-2012, 10:15 AM	#5 (permalink)
w666 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 1,561 Thanks: 22 Thanked 35 Times in 10 Posts	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair Wouldn't there have been "nibs" on the factory fret job? It's hard to imagine that this is the first re-fret in ~ 53 years. Awesome guitar.....I have envy. __________________ "Life is like a box of bees......"

01-06-2012, 10:36 AM	#7 (permalink)
mapleflame V.I.P. Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Burke Va. Posts: 1,978 Thanks: 0 Thanked 53 Times in 11 Posts	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair Great looking guitar. Look forward to the progress pics. Thanks for sharing. __________________ No thank you to Burst I'll Bronze instead. I just love the green left on my arm in the morning. It Looks Like Victory.

Today
Les Paul	Sponsored Links __________________ This advertising will not be shown in this way to registered members. Register your free account today and become a member on My Les Paul Forums

01-06-2012, 01:01 PM	#8 (permalink)
Ken McKay Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Michigan Posts: 280 Thanks: 0 Thanked 9 Times in 2 Posts	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair Beauty. What a well played guitar! Get as many measurements as time allows please. Great work so far. __________________ Clever signature coming as soon as I think of one.

01-06-2012, 01:22 PM	#10 (permalink)
*b-squared* 'MLP Mid-West' Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: About 15 minutes from the LOU...(STL) Posts: 19,081 Thanks: 554 Thanked 517 Times in 82 Posts	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair Wow, COOL guitar! Thanks for posting this! BB __________________ Owner of BB's Tone Solutions, LLC Official Dealer for Carol Ann amps, Sheptone Pickups, and Landry amps!! Life's too short to deal with bad tone!

01-07-2012, 01:57 PM	#17 (permalink)
Ken McKay Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Michigan Posts: 280 Thanks: 0 Thanked 9 Times in 2 Posts	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair Thanks. On the white pearl versus the amber binding, I have seen it enough to know something is going on. The original binding is what I would call ivory. The pearl is of course white. __________________ Clever signature coming as soon as I think of one.

01-08-2012, 04:24 PM	#23 (permalink)
intrique45 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: NJ Posts: 123 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair Dan is the man to do it right. Took my old Gretsch SA with a botched refinish and loose neck and turned it into a real gem This Gibson is going to be a work of art when he is done http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/memb...9-dscf8451.jpg

01-08-2012, 04:41 PM	#24 (permalink)
mdr40z Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Arkansas Posts: 531 Thanks: 3 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair fantastic guitar Dan, you are lucky to have the opportunity.

01-09-2012, 08:58 AM	#25 (permalink)
DGNRepair MLP Vendor Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Stuck at the bench.... Posts: 1,699 Thanks: 25 Thanked 94 Times in 26 Posts	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair OK , not related to this repair but........... So in thinking about the binding color on this guitar and Les Pauls for that matter, I decided to do some internet searching and ended up making a few phone calls. After a couple of sorry can't help you's, I remembered there was a local Plastics company. So I gave them a ring. Here is what I found out. Butyrate Plastic, aka Cellulose Acetate, 15+ years ago was super popular, tons of colors etc. These days most places can't give it away. When inquiring about custom colors I found out the hard way that custom colors won't be cost effective for me. At a minimum order of 2000 pounds of material, that would be upwards of $5-$6,000, not really what I was looking to spend at this time. Here is the fun part. Back in the 50's, production was obviously much slower than it is now. So back then any type of custom color would have been outrageously expensive and not cost effective for a company trying to produce guitars and musical instruments as cost effectively as possible. Also, butyrate can and will (as we see with old Gretsch's and Epiphones) degrade and breakdown over time. What I didn't know is that, Butyrate is suseptible to UV light and the color will essentially "Fade". In this case, white could turn to an off white/ivory color or even darker depending on exposure. So with this new found knowledge, there is a very very good chance that the binding put on these guitars in the 50's was standard off the shelf white butyrate binding. Maybe the white butyrate back then was more of an ivory. Who knows. I simply found the conversation very interesting. Also, he said there is a very good chance that there is an off the shelf color that would match the current color of 50's binding. I may have to take a ride up to the retail location. By the way, finishing up this guitar today............ __________________ DGN Custom Guitars - Handcrafted Guitars, Repair and Restoration Fan me on Facebook DGN CR-Model Double Cutaway For sale, Killer Deal!!!! - Click Here

01-10-2012, 03:02 PM	#26 (permalink)
DGNRepair MLP Vendor Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Stuck at the bench.... Posts: 1,699 Thanks: 25 Thanked 94 Times in 26 Posts	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair Finally got this one finished up yesterday. The fretwork was a giant pain but it came out terrific!! Here is the rest of the process. This is the fingerboard just after the frets were pulled. Almost 60 years of yuck!! Fingerboard cleaned up with #0000 steel wool. Frets rough cut to length. Each one is undercut to fit right in between the binding. Secret glue recipe. (white glue thinned with water) Glue in slot.... Hammer in fret..... Rinse and repeat 21x's. After all of the fret are in, the ends are nipped off. And it goes into clamps for a few hours until the glue dries. __________________ DGN Custom Guitars - Handcrafted Guitars, Repair and Restoration Fan me on Facebook DGN CR-Model Double Cutaway For sale, Killer Deal!!!! - Click Here

01-10-2012, 03:04 PM	#27 (permalink)
DGNRepair MLP Vendor Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Stuck at the bench.... Posts: 1,699 Thanks: 25 Thanked 94 Times in 26 Posts	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair After the glue is dry, I then bevel the fret ends. I do this with a block first, and then finish up with a hand file to get the angle where I want it. Then I start leveling..... Since I didn't really want super tall new style frets in this guitar, I took a lot of material off in the leveling process. After the frets are level and at the height I want I start crowning. On this fretjob I started crowning with a 150 grit diamond fret file because it removes a ton of material really fast. Then I follow up with a regular standard Stew Mac crowning file. In my opinion you can't beat the surface you get with this file. Plus there is a certain feel to when the crown is cut that you simply don't get with a diamond file. After the frets are all crowned, I turn the fingerboard from this: To this: The fretwork is all done and looks terrific. mapleflame, GammyBird and Sterling # Sound like this. __________________ DGN Custom Guitars - Handcrafted Guitars, Repair and Restoration Fan me on Facebook DGN CR-Model Double Cutaway For sale, Killer Deal!!!! - Click Here

01-10-2012, 03:05 PM	#28 (permalink)
DGNRepair MLP Vendor Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Stuck at the bench.... Posts: 1,699 Thanks: 25 Thanked 94 Times in 26 Posts	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair Next is the new nut. The nut is essential to a guitar that sets up and plays well. It needs to be cut with great accuracy, and in my opinion look good as well. I start with a blank thickness sanded to fit the slot. Next I rough out the basic shape, cut the slots, final shape the nut, polish it, and in this case slightly age it. All done and ready for the final setup. GammyBird likes this. __________________ DGN Custom Guitars - Handcrafted Guitars, Repair and Restoration Fan me on Facebook DGN CR-Model Double Cutaway For sale, Killer Deal!!!! - Click Here

01-10-2012, 03:08 PM	#30 (permalink)
Archer Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Ol' Virginia Posts: 314 Thanks: 1 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: 1959 ES-355 Repair What kind of white glue are you using to glue the frets in? Nice looking guitar and repair job you've got going here. __________________ Confucius say he who think by the inch and talk by the yard deserve to be kicked by the foot.

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode