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1942(?) Gibson L-50 archtop project
The player who brought this guitar into the shop tells me, “I bought it from a guy who said he bought it second hand back in the 1940’s. I’m told a lady sat on it at some time in the past.” And from there, the mystery unfolds. Measuring the box tells us it’s most likely the model L-50 made after 1934, models before that time had an oval sound hole, where ours features f-holes. Gibson wasn’t using serial numbers consistently at this time, but they did use a system called Factory Order Numbers, which were stamped on the back plate visible through the treble-side f-hole. Our FON is likely 2138.…
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1981 Gibson ES-Artist
From Google: The 1981 Gibson ES-Artist was a high-end, technologically advanced hollow-body guitar featuring active electronics designed by Robert Moog. Produced around 1979–1981, it blended classic ES-335 styling with modern innovations, sometimes featuring unique finishes like Fireburst. These models were designed for active artists, often featuring advanced tone controls. Key Details of the 1981 Gibson ES-Artist: Electronics: The guitar was known for its active electronics, which were designed by Bob Moog to offer a wide range of tones. Design & Build: It maintained the classic Gibson ES (Electric Spanish) thinline, double-cutaway design. Era Specifics: While some 1981 models featured standard humbuckers, others in the ES line during this time, such…
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Project: Hannah
For your viewing pleasure we have perhaps our most ambitious modification project from 2025. We started with a lawsuit-era Masada Telecaster clone and turned it into “Project: Hannah.” This player is a devotee of Prog Rock, and he likes to have lots of sonic options at his disposal. The look of this project was inspired by one of Steve Howe’s guitars, of Yes fame. We put in a pair of Fishman Fluence Classic Humbuckers through push-push volume and tone pots, allowing three distinct voices. The humbuckers surround a passive single coil pickup salvaged from the original set of pickups from the 1970s. All three pickups are wired through a 6…
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Fender Stratocaster in for a spa treatment
I had the pleasure of working on this 50-year old Strat this week. My client recently bought it from the original owner’s family, and he wanted to take care of some deferred maintenance issues, and to spice it up a bit and make it his own. We started by making a custom pickguard and back plate out of matte black .08 triple laminated plastic. The pickguard was loaded with three period-correct Seymour Duncan single coil pickups and brand new CTS pots and a Fender 5-way blade switch. I then refretted the neck with Stewmac 0155 nickel silver wire and added a hand-carved bone nut, after which she got the legendary…
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Black Strat with a crook in its neck
Today’s patient is a Fender Stratocaster, circa 2002. The initial complaint from the player was a “stripped truss rod nut, and it’s just not playable.” I made some quick measurements and found the neck to be quite bowed. This model of Strat is equipped with Fender’s BiFlex Truss Rod, which works differently than a typical dual action truss rod. A dual action setup utilizes a matched pair of rods anchored at the nut and at the heel of the neck, allowing for quite a bit of movement in either direction, as well as a good amount of man handling. The BiFlex setup utilizes a single rod, anchored in the center,…
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1942 Martin Tiple
Today’s show-and-tell is a 1942 Martin T 17. The “Tiple” as it is known to aficionados. After much demand from distributors, especially in South America, Martin began producing tiples in 1925, with the T 15. It was based upon a 1/4 scale guitar body. The tiple in one form or the other was produced by Martin until 2000. This one came in with a broken bridge, but otherwise, in pretty decent form for its age. All of the bracing is performing as intended. I must admit, I had to seek guidance on how to string one of these things! It sure is a cool sounding instrument!
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The UproariousRBG
Here’s a Re-imagination project we just finished. We took a 1972 Stella and turned it into a Rubber Bridge Guitar. We pulled the original tiny frets, then added a 12″ radius to the fingerboard. (Show of hands who knew that these catalog guitars had maple fingerboards hiding under the brown paint?) Then we fit it with larger nickel frets that modern players prefer. We added a K&K Pure Mini pickup attached to the soundboard under the rubber bridge saddle, and put in a split rail humbucker at the neck position. A set of Stringjoy Signature 11’s make her “Uproarious!” She’s finished in shellac. She’s likely to hit the market…
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1965 Gibson LG-0
Here’s a 1965 Gibson LG-0 that came in for its bridge replacement. It happens to all of them, eventually. Read the page from the great textbook “Gibson’s Fabulous Flat-top Guitars” for further information. We were able to remove the “Edsel,” strengthen the bridge plate by adding a 3mm thick slab of maple and affix an adjustable aftermarket rosewood bridge. While we were at it, the player chose a new hand-carved nut and saddle to go along with the Legendary Southeast Setup. We also repaired some damage to the bass side sheet. This “$85.00 (1960’s pricing) Gibson” is ready for another half century of making music! Thanks, Ken, for letting us…
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1974 Epiphone Caballero
Here’s a circa 1974 MIJ Epiphone Caballero acoustic guitar. Someone wasn’t very nice to it in the past, but that’s why we are here! The neck block was broken, and the side sheets and soundboard were detached. We were able to repair most of the damage, then gave her the Legendary Southeast Setup, along with a new bone bridge saddle. She’s ready for another fifty years of joyous music! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joseph “Chip” Tait (@brooklynfretworks)
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Ibanez “Black Beauty” modification
Yes, we can! My client first tried to take this job to a couple well-known guitar stores that offer repair services. He was met with refusals each time, because those stores didn’t want to do the routing work necessary to complete this project. We routed and added a middle Seymour Duncan pickup, operated through a push-push switch on the volume pot. We also installed a Fishman Powerbridge TOM Piezo pickup along with a Powerchip on-board pre-amp. The stereo output jack allows the player to split the piezo and magnetic pickup signals to feed into separate amplifiers. The addition of a mini 3-way switch allows all of the pickups to be…
Brooklyn Fretworks
Baltimore Guitar REPAIR-BUILD-MODIFY
