How to Repair Gibson Console Grande fingerboards????

[Stephen Bedell]

Although I am new to old steel guitars (or any steel guitar for that matter), cracks at the corners of pickguards I know pretty well from the vintage guitar world.

Amazingly, the original owner of my Console Grande kept the pieces that came off a few of the corners of my two fingerboards.

I made sure to not overtightten the screws towards the middle of the guards to allow the boards to flex, etc when I reassembled the instrument.

Would you attempt to reglue the parts that came off? If so, what type/brand of glue do people use? I imagine that the screws would have to be left very very loose on the repaired corners, but this gentleman actually kept all the screws after the guards broke, so they are ready to go back on.

Thank you for any input you have.

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Another idea instead of reinstalling the corner screws would be to take some non-original nickel screws, cut the heads off, and maybe Elmer's glue the screw heads to the fingerboards so it LOOKS like screws are there... A possibility....

[Gary Harris]

I hope you didn't buy this from the owner who lived in Hendersonville, Tn. He has since died.

[Stephen Bedell]

Gary, the gentleman who owned mine for decades passed away earlier this year here in Virginia. His name was Ira Stark.

[George Piburn]

Photos will help to describe your project.

All plastics shops have liquid chemicals that will bond acrylic back into each other.
They will actually blend the plastic into a single piece again Not Glue Them.

After -- they can buff to make the seam some what disappear.

For certain you will want them to do the repair , as you are dealing with aged brittle delicate material.

[Stephen Bedell]

George, thanks for the advice. I will have to look into a plastics shop as that is not a term I have come across before. Would be hard to trust someone I didn't know working on them... I'll probably just store the extra pieces for now, maybe I'll have time to look into getting them rebonded, as you said, someday.

[George Piburn]

Super Glue Or Epoxy would fix that in a few seconds.

[Tom Snook]

Were the fret boards off when you got it?If so,you would want to remove them again before glueing the pieces back if at all possible.But then you were going to do that anyway weren't you?Then play some Hank!

[Stephen Bedell]

Hi Tom,

I found it at an estate sale, totally stripped of parts with only its case and legs... THEN, I found another box that miraculously had every other part except for a nut and a couple tuners! $215.

I already bought the book from Amazon with Don Helms' tabs in it (and the companion CD). Just waiting on my strings and a few other things to come in.

It's all back together now, but I need to lube the pots and resolder the cut pickup leads.

I am a regular guitarist, so there will be a learning curve, but the tab doesn't look too intimidating to start with.

Yup, I'll take them off before gluing, nitro and super glue do not mix THANK YOU for the heads up though, that would have been a tragedy for this finish. Pretty nice shape, checking everywhere and lots of "oops I dropped my bar" dents.

[Steve Wilson]

I did a similar repair to a 1946 Gibson V1 Century 6. I too thought I would remove the fretboard to make the repair, but a lot of the metallic backing started to come off, so I changed my mind. Instead I put a piece of wax paper under the repair area and carefully super glued it in place. If you move the waxpaper around a little while it is drying it won't stick. If you look really close you will notice it has been repaired, but much better than it was. It seems the key to keeping it from happening again is to not tighten the screw very tight. I also now recall I put a small piece of aluminum foil (dull side up I think) under the area that began to lift, and it looks pretty good. Good luck with that cool guitar!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Steve Wilson]

It looks like the fretboard may already be off on yours. If that is the case not as much need to worry about the metallic like backing - other than not to scratch it. If it is anything like what Gibson used on the century six it is very delicate. When I began to take the fretboard off portions of the stuff came with the fretboard and some stuck to the neck. It would have looked horrible!The fretboard had been on the guitar for at least 60 years! One other thing, clean the edges you are going to repair VERY thoroughly. Any dirt or dust or anything will make the repair more visible. Don't ask how I know, but I remember the second two repairs looked better than the first

[Stephen Bedell]

STeve,

Thanks for posting!

You would be horrified to know that at the estate sale, the fingerboards (and miraculously the rest of the parts) were stuffed in a box with about 6 spare lap steel legs!!! Amazing they didn't get beat up more than they did. THe paint seems to be intact other than a couple spots where it stuck as you described, that is only near where there are screws. Maybe the Nitro wasn't fully cured when they put the boards on back in teh day, and the pressure from the screws forced the silver paint to react... Who knows!

I will make sure there is no dust etc. I used to hate working with superglue as it was so runny, but they have a new kind that is slightly thicker and more easy to control....