Guitar restoration - Part 2 - A closer look and the plan

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After getting home with my new acquisition, and after my little-girl let me do it after playing on the guitar with two strings that she really liked,
I took an in-depth look, with even more bad and even more ugly things found, but nothing earth-shattering:
* the truss rod nut was rusty, and is not a standard one, but one needing a special tool to tighten/loosen. And I didn't have such a tool. It was a standard barrel, with two cuts, where a standard flat-head screwdriver would work, but all this hidden beneath the truss rod cover, in a fairly deep pocket, so that the flat-head screwdriver didn't work. I made one from an Allen key by grinding off the edges, and widening the routed part under the truss rod cover to be able to use the tool. Of course, widening only so that the truss rod cover still covers the whole thing
* after checking that the truss rod works, no need to replace the truss rod, thus no need to remove the fretboard. That's definitely good news
* the top bracing is the simplest ladder bracing, no X-brace, no cross-braces
* no bridge plate at all (not sure how the bridge didn't pull the top up, probably the brace between the bridge and the soundhole is strong enough
* the neck is not held only by the (already very loose joint and dry glue) but with a screw going from beneath the plastic strap button on the guitar neck heel, and tightened with a nut and a washer from the inside
* I had a set of tuning keys, but they have wider posts than the ones on the guitar, so either new tuners are needed which fit, or the holes must be enlarged

So after seeing that there are no blockers, I laid out a plan for the restoration with must-have (numbered) and nice-to-have (bulleted) items:

Restoration steps:

  1. DONE - clean the body and the neck from dirt
  2. DONE - remove the neck
  3. DONE - remove the old bridge from the top, as it is worn out
  4. DONE - as the bridge is 19cm wide, and most of the replacement bridges are ~15cm wide, the old bridge location will probably visible. To fix that, sand the finish to have a uniform top
  5. DONE - * based on the sides and back status after cleaning them, decide whether to refinish them or not
  6. DONE - a bridge is required, the old one is ugly. three options here:
    • buy a new bridge - as the old bridge is top-loading, no holes are present on the top, and would like to keep it that way, so the options for buying acoustic bridges are only a few (Ovation-style bridges seem
    • DIY saddle (I have a slab of beech, it might work) - has the advantage of the possibility of going wild on the design front
    • reshape+sand+refinish the old one to make it prettier - reduces the amount of work required, the total cost and reuses more components from the original guitar
  7. fix small dents and chips on the guitar body and around the binding with nail varnish (as recommended by Crimson Guitars)
  8. DONE, DONE - glue the new bridge to the top
  9. DONE - finish the top plate - use what's available, probably meaning boiled linseed oil and shellac finish, maybe experimenting with french polish
  10. NOT REQUIRED - * add a bridge plate to the underside of the soundboard under the bridge
  11. DONE - remove the tuning keys
  12. DONE - remove the frets from the neck
  13. DONE - * reshape the fretboard to a convex fretboard (preferably 10 inch radius)
  14. DONE - * custom fretboard inlay on the 12th fret 
  15. DONE - refinish the fretboard - probably also a thin coat of boiled linseed oil and shellac - would've gone with Tru-Oil, but I can't find it in this country
  16. DONE - * reshape the headstock to an aesthetically pleasing one 
  17. DONE - * add a headstock decal/logo
  18. DONE - refret the neck
  19. DONE - replace the nut on the neck:
    • ~45.6mm wide, meaning Graphtech PQ-6135-00 Tusq slotted nut is commercially available
    • DIY from beech/reuse the original to have a functional guitar and replace later
    • custom one from a classical guitar bone nut blank
  20. DONE - reglue the shimmed neck at the correct angle, to be in-line with the top of the bridge, see some ideas
  21. DONE - mount tuning keys (although five are good, but not a standard model and color, but they'll be fine for an ukulele)
  22. DONE - level the frets
  23. DONE - put a set of strings on the guitar 
  24. DONE - set action height to 2/32inches on treble, 3/32inch on bass side
  25. DONE - * saddle compensation for better intonation

What could be done in the future, if the guitar plays well:

* add a piezo pickup and a preamp (Fishman Presys Blend, Cherub GB-1, Cherub GB-5, Joyo EQ-MP3, custom1, custom2, g-tone GT-5
* add a cutaway (I'm not the first one thinking about this, it has been done)

All in all, sounds like fun.

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