This poor thing has certainly seen better days. In keeping with most guitars I currently own, this Johnson was reasonably cheap to buy and played fairly well for over a decade considering the environments in which it was kept and played.

It all came to a weird end when an about-to-be ex-girlfriend used it on me as a club (a long and entertaining story best told over glass of whiskey).

Got the initial repairs done for free by a guy who is more of a framing houses kinda guy than he is a luthier. The repair, while structurally sound, left me somewhat dumbfounded. I mean, sure it was no longer in 2 pieces...but great googily moogily, is that HOT GLUE? (Why yes, as a matter of fact, that is hot glue).

If I had paid someone to do this, I would be posting from a penitentiary somewhere. Unfortunately, I didn't have the sort of cash needed to make a proper repair back then and I still don't have the sort of cash to pay a professional to do what needs doing after all this, so I'm tackling the repair on my own in my spare time.


Here's what I'm dealing with so far:







Current plan is to somehow undo all the glue, bore out the screws and bring everything back together without leaving too many scars.

Jeebus! I hate morons with hot glue. Good luck getting it off the raw wood.

Hate to say it, but it's time to have that one put down. A case of beer, some friends, maybe some lighter fluid, and a match. It's no longer an issue of trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear - that sow has been slaughtered, pickled, eaten, and excreted, and that's what you're left to work with.

This might sound sarcastic, but I'm being genuine here. If it were mine, I would let it go up in flames in a magnificent ceremony. These Johnson resonators are often a rattly can of worms hardly worth saving when they are brand new. In this state it's even easier to send it off to the alter.

Or some people prefer shooting over burning. That can be fun and therapeutic too...

Here's a video from my friend Mark -

Take all the hardware out ... build new box and neck reinstall hardware

There's SO much wrong with it that I can teach myself a multitude of repair techniques all in one project.

I figure surgeons don't make their first incision on a live person, so learning how to work on a live guitar is probably best practiced on a dead one first. Fortunately, this cadaver has graciously agreed to donate its organs to scientific research.

In all aspects and applications, hot glue remains useless as boobs on a bull.

Looking to get into the prelim work this weekend. I'm thinking once I have anything with a screw in it removed, I'll start figuring out the neck/heel removal.

From what I understand, localized heat and a little steam should release the glue holding the neck in place, yes? I'll be working with minimal tools at home, so this could get "creative".

I bought a Steamer off ebay for like $30.00 and have had good success in neck removal ;

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Hand-Held-1 ... 2c8e733a63

Do you use a bike pump needle with that to get into the joint cavity, Wud?

Alex