Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey there,

My father in law bought a guitar when he was a teen in the 70's, a Norman B20, the first commercially made guitar from Quebec. It was a rustic guitar in many ways, with a bolt-on neck and an all laminated birch construction.

So that particular guitar traveled a lot, and was played a lot, and was pretty much left dying, now 40 years later. Challenge accepted.

Here is the beast. The top actually now has an inversed dome, the strings are buzzing everywhere.


It was converted to a tailpiece some time in its history. You can see that crack which goes through and through the (plywood) top, making this virtually unrepairable.



The frets are also a wreck.


And the sides have been sanded through the first ply layer.


And from the inside the X is blown.



Let the fun begin!

Sadly, I figured that the top was beyond what was repairable and it had to go.
Rest assured that Norman guitars from the 70's are not particularly rare nor valuable, altough they certainly have a cool vibe to them.



The X was crudely cut and joined, which precipitated the brace failure.


I refreshed the fingerboard surface after truing it up.



Here I join the spruce top the same father in law had laying around in his shed for some decades now.
I decided to go with spruce insteat of birch ply as 1-It's just better and 2-He already has an all ply Norman from the same era.

Rosette installation, practice run.


After planing.


New frets are in! Tapped first.


Then glued on with this.


Brace preparation.



I braced during the fall when the RH was a steady 40% in the basement shop.



And this is the end result for the bracing.

Gluing the top on.


With judgemental dog.


Next I modified the standard bridge I got to reduce the belly a bit. Polished it up.


I had to arrange this sort of jig to adjust the neck angle in the neck pocket.


Next comes finishing.

The challenge with this finish is that I had a lot of things to hide, namely the various places where the ply was sanded through and left hideous scars. So I went with a dark burst, aimed at doing something resembling an old Gibson J45.
However I don't have any spraying equipment and don't want any. So I was left with the "hand rubbed" method, which I really like, and I thought I could pull something out resembling the Gibson Mandolins from the turn of the century.

So here I go. The whole guitar was sealed with shellac first, then the back was slathered with various amonts of transtint vintage brown and amber, with a touch of black opaque pigment here and there. Applyed with rags for the most part, but also brushed un in some places to fake up (subtle) grain lines.



My first try on the top was just horrible.


The problem is that I had the transtint diluted in alcohol, which, as I spread it on the top, softened the shellac undercoat and smeared everything around to a form a dirty colored goo. So I sanded it back and did it again with dye diluted in water this time.
Much better! On this pic I already scraped the bindings.


Similar treatment on the neck here.


I decided to coat the thing in Tru-Oil, as it is compatible over shellac and produces a tougher surface than the spirit varnish I usually do.

Reaming bridge pin holes after gluing the bridge and the pickguard.


Nut filing


And that is the end result:




















It sounds great and plays great. Overall the burst is certainly a bit blotchy but it kinda has its charm. Pretty sure this thing is gonna live on for another 40 years (or more!). Bringing a dead guitar back to life is really something isn't it?

Thanks for watching!

Well, sir that's not exactly what I'd call a restoration - it's a TRANSFORMATION - good show!

_________________
Cheers,

Frank Ford

FRETS.COM
HomeShopTech
FRETS.NET

Nicely done!

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I've never seen a Norman look so good! I have a 35 year old Lys 12 string that is mint, except for needing a neck reset.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

At first I was thinking "why bother", but you made that guitar better than it started out. Good Job!

_________________
Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Chapeau!!

_________________
"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Thanks guys!

Pretty thrilled with Mr Ford's kudos. I must have spent at least 10 complete hours on his extraordinary website.

Second and Third Frank's comments… [and you're right, if Frank gives it a thumbs up you're well on the right track!]

So how about a photo with Father in Law….Like to see that facial expression…. [Getting your favorite dinner for the next year of so????]

Mike

Wow that is absolutely fantastic. I must say at first I thought what the heck are you doing with this old junker? But then as I scrolled down it just kept getting better and better!!! The dog definitely approves and you deserve another glass of Chardonnay

That's awesome! That is great of you to do that for your Father-in-Law (and for the guitar)! I always enjoy watching someone bring an old instrument back to life. Thanks for the photo essay. Good stuff!

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds