Ethics of repair - fix vs leave it alone
Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 1:36 pm
I recently traded for a quirky entry/mid level instrument around 55 years old. Silvertone 1445, Kay made iconic three pickup archtop thin-line. 1960's as anything could be. It's playable and fun, but has two cosmetic issues and one structural issue.
Cosmetic - the white celluloid binding is heavily faded towards brown, shrinking, cracked and fallen away in some small places. The only repair idea I have is to mix up some celluloid paste and acetone, and try to blend the cracks, scrape, and probably make a heck of a mess. The other idea is to route it off and replace it with similar celluloid or plastic binding. The other cosmetic issue is the sides are painted black over maple veneer with nitro clear finish, and the black is chipping off over around 20% of the area. If I were to do the binding, I'd probably refinish the sides, if I don't I could either scrape off the black and polish the clear nitro or respray with black. BUT - the other side of me says it's damn near as old as I am, and why change anything?
Structural. This is a laminated stressed skin guitar, probably on cut out sides (not bent sides) with zero internal bracing. The top is very slightly collapsing at the bridge. It now is at the point where the bridge has run out of adjustment, so it's down around 1/8" anyway. It's a bolt on neck so I can super easy just shim the neck, but I have this desire to install a bridge block to stabilize or even restore the top to where it originally was. It's an electric guitar so bridge block is probably an upgrade. BUT - same story, it's not dead yet so why do anything?
What do you think? Are there ways to restore old bindings that I haven't thought of? Is it "OK" to restore the old chipping finish, or is it "patina"? The top and back finish is quite acceptable, btw.
Cosmetic - the white celluloid binding is heavily faded towards brown, shrinking, cracked and fallen away in some small places. The only repair idea I have is to mix up some celluloid paste and acetone, and try to blend the cracks, scrape, and probably make a heck of a mess. The other idea is to route it off and replace it with similar celluloid or plastic binding. The other cosmetic issue is the sides are painted black over maple veneer with nitro clear finish, and the black is chipping off over around 20% of the area. If I were to do the binding, I'd probably refinish the sides, if I don't I could either scrape off the black and polish the clear nitro or respray with black. BUT - the other side of me says it's damn near as old as I am, and why change anything?
Structural. This is a laminated stressed skin guitar, probably on cut out sides (not bent sides) with zero internal bracing. The top is very slightly collapsing at the bridge. It now is at the point where the bridge has run out of adjustment, so it's down around 1/8" anyway. It's a bolt on neck so I can super easy just shim the neck, but I have this desire to install a bridge block to stabilize or even restore the top to where it originally was. It's an electric guitar so bridge block is probably an upgrade. BUT - same story, it's not dead yet so why do anything?
What do you think? Are there ways to restore old bindings that I haven't thought of? Is it "OK" to restore the old chipping finish, or is it "patina"? The top and back finish is quite acceptable, btw.