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When this guitar arrived in the workshop it was in a sorry state! The neck had broken off at the heal and had been ‘repaired’ by drilling two holes through the fingerboard and securing the neck with screws. Not a great job……… Also one tuner had been replaced and the buttons of the remaining originals were all chipped or broken. The pickguard was missing and the bridge was also split and missing saddles. The neck was loose and also had a large forward bow making it completely unplayable. When strung the action at the twelfth fret was was about 2 inches! |
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The first step was to remove all the hardware and get the neck off. The holes in the fingerboard had been filled with epoxy resin making removing the screws a little tricky. |
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When the neck was off the heal block was removed from the body by introducing a little steam to soften the glue. The neck was then steamed and left clamped to a block to correct the bow. Getting the relief back to something close to normal is very important as these early Hofners aren’t fitted with a trussrod. |
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After about a month the neck was unclamped and checked before the heal was re-attached and the neck set back in the body. At this point the frets either side of the screw holes in the fingerboard were carefully removed and the damaged section of fingerboard removed leaving the original bindings in place. Then a new section of matching rosewood was planed to fit and glued in place. Next the new section of fingerboard was shaped and new fret slots cut. |
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Next the original frets were refitted. Many of the other frets were also loose so these too were all reset and then levelled. |
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Next came the tuners. Firstly an original matching vintage Committee tuner was found to replace the missing one before a set of new buttons were fitted prior to installation. All the gears were also cleaned and greased to make sure they worked properly. |
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At this point the crack in the bridge was repaired and new fret wire saddles made. The crack in the top along the centre line was cleated and filled and several areas of binding glued back in place before the finish was cleaned and touched in prior to a final polish. Also an original vintage pickguard was found and fitted. |
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James Payze Guitar Services Est1990 |
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Examples of repair work |
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The finished guitar |
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The finished guitar now looks stunning and both sounds and plays great. It now looks as if it’s always been well looked after and never been damaged. I also sourced an original Selmer case for the customer just to complete the restoration. |
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Repairs to 1957 Hofner Committee |
