Restoration project. I restored my 1950's Liberty Archtop Guitar

[MultiT66]

Very nice guitar and restoring job. Thanks for sharing.

[DJLodgikalNonsense]

you make the liberty guitar company jealous. Much respect on your fine work.

[bobdwilliams]

Awesome job on your restore & I Love the clip!

[luv6pup90660]

Awesome job! Thumbs up!

[bobdwilliams]

@luv6pup90660 Thanks!

[PHYCOGAMER]

Respond to this video... hey my old stella harmony acousic has wicked high action and no truss rod to adjust it with what should i do

[bobdwilliams]

@PHYCOGAMER Hey Phycogamer! Sounds like you need to reset the neck.

[LandonInFlorida]

Go ahead and sand the "Liberty" off the headstock. That guitar is now all you. Very well done.

[bobdwilliams]

@LandonInFlorida Thanks! :~)

[zanyguitar]

I have one of these exact models. Do you know where I may find more info on it? Hard to find any on the internets.

[bobdwilliams]

@zanyguitar I'm sorry but I don't have anything on these guitars. I think they are very nice guitars

[glem73]

how did you open the body because i have no idea how to do it

[bobdwilliams]

@glem73 sorry it took so long to respond, check out stewmac here on youtube. They cover everything about guitars! everything :~)

[flamenfloralis]

this lady has been literally brought to life . Great job, The pictures are very well sequenced and the sound track is enjoiable. 5 stars

[KarlheinzFey1]

Great piece and guitar playing! Congrats and best wishes Karlheinz

[benadmin]

Very cool, I wanna play it!!

[bobdwilliams]

@benadmin Thanks Ben........you could do this guitar justice AND add the missing mojo!!!

[alexthepsyco]

beautiful guitar. thanks for sharing.

[JeffMSoares]

Wow Bob, great work! , I started the restoration of one of my electric guitars and I'm really anxious to finish. I will upload the video soon.

[ugmold]

Good work. Like the music too. I have a guitar called a "Rex", "American". Very similar, red, white and blue markers. Also has an eagle decal on it, photo flame. Weird square frets...still pretty cool.

[Urankar3]

SUPER!!!5*****

[SparkyGerbil]

Wonderful video - Looks pristine:)

[SharineONeill]

WOW - "SHE" does look great now! wished I could play on it one day! A lovely Lady you got now! 5***** and Love and Light to "both of you" - Sharine

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks Sharine!

[giglesswonder]

Inspiring stuff! Got a no truss rod banana neck 50s German archtop just waiting for some of this attention!

[bobdwilliams]

do what I did with this one...not that hard to do!

[fas64jaar]

very nice 5*****

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks!

[Opoefiets]

you must be a very lucky man now

[bobdwilliams]

yea! I do feel lucky.....come on lotto!

[davey4557]

Nice job Man !!!

Check out my stuff

Cheers !!!

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks Davey....I've checked your channel as well.

*AWESOME!

[chtiguitare]

Super thanks

BRAVO

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks again chtiguitare!

[ukandoittowithkandoo]

@bobdwilliams What i need to know is how can a guitar go from playing normal to playing like crap , strings touching frets to it been a real struggle to play. I changed my strings and think maybe i scraped to much bone of the nut trying to take the glue off. Its a real enigma can a nut make your guitar that useless unplayable ?.

[bobdwilliams]

Try making a plastic nut first...get it right by feel, this will always take a lot of time to setup correctly. When it looks right and plays correct, copy that with the Bone. StewMac sells THE BEST guitar repair/build DVD's at their site! Check them out!

[jpvnk1968]

I've got a 1939 blond Gibson L5 archtop that I need to restore.

[bobdwilliams]

Hey jpvnk1968, A friend of mine just got one of those last summer! AWESOME guitar, good luck with the project. *Take pictures of the project and post them on the Tube. I would love to watch that!

Peace

[ZombiesFan95]

hey, I am trying to restore an archtop myself and need a new neck for it, do you know where I could get an archtop acoustic neck? Thanks.

[kapacon]

Try Ebay, I've had pretty good luck finding old stuff for guitars there.

[rosesredvioletsblue]

You're a craftsman! Excellent!

Thank you, for sharing

this. Very nice work!

~ Roses

[ExtraordinaryLeader]

Wonderful collection!

It really mirrors your passion to what your doing!

Good luck on your career!

Stay Connected,

Dawn Mendonca

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks Dawn :>)

[agrlfmtx]

Had to FAV this one! Love it when someone makes a leather purse from a sows ear!!! (is that the right saying)LOL

Are you playing in this song as well! Very good music! FAV!!! t:)

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks agrlmyx!

[TanteA]

Oh... this was very interesting to watch... I love these archtop guitars very much and I would buy one for me, but they are very expensive.

So good that you brought that wonderful instrument back to life.

Friendly greetings from Anette

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks TanteA, I love your voice and playing! Hope you find one of these for yourself soon....have a happy new year!

[pablodepinho]

Wonderful job, great archtop!

[jodywebcam]

Beautiful work, Bob......and thanks for the add!

Jody Worrell

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks jody B~)

[BernadetteJoolen]

What a wonderful story! You were good to that old girl! The music and the song are really cool too.=)~~bernadette...

[bobdwilliams]

Hey thanks, Bernadette!

[TheYeasteatingwalrus]

Thats amazing how do you take the woods apart without destroying the guitar, and how do you know the exact places to put the frets?

[bobdwilliams]

Hey Walrus, I used the steamer shown in this clip and a few seam separation knifes. I didnt need to setup a layout for the frets because I reused the prior layout.

~Bob

[bobdwilliams]

Hey, thanks Kristen!

[Urankar3]

EXCELLENT video,my friend!!!5*****

[bobdwilliams]

Beaucoup de Mercis, Urankar!

[The14weed]

Great job saved a great little guitar.....

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks weed!

[Maysey1]

What a nice project. I've done some minor repairs, but nothing on that scale. I've always wanted to build me an F-hole mandolin styled after the Gibson F-hole, but not sure I would be able to accomplish it. Thanks for subscribing, I'll be doing the same.  Mark

[bobdwilliams]

Hey Mark, you could do it...work slowly on it every day! Take pictures of the project and post them on your site! I would love to see it! :~)

[guitarrx3girl]

Really incredible craftsmanship...Just amazing & and the end result, wow, what a difference from the beginning...Great background music too <3

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks guitarrx3girl!

*John Hammond's music = Bliss :~)

[steamlilly]

Amasing job! Even the fretboard is original.

But if it was me I'd do a lemon french polish instead of laquer. But it still is amasing!

[bobdwilliams]

Yea I know Steam, that would have been better to handle also. I might strip this down again.

Peace

[steamlilly]

If you do, promise me you make a video! =)

If you french polish it, I'll be more than happy to see it!

Thanks for +Friend

[feverhood]

no offence but these are awesoem hands of yours. nicely done, cheers.

[bobdwilliams]

Ohla :~)

[spiralisedcat]

cool man nice resto,takes time to do all that i bet! I just got a freebie 1950's zenith model 19 acoustic with the neck and body in two pieces,it has no truss rod and is glued on,any tips what glue to use to stick it back on the body?? all the best to you :)

[bobdwilliams]

Hey spiralisedcat, I would say you need to use Hide gule for most of your project...have you looked at 'StewMac' stuff on the web? They sell EVERYTHING you would need. Great prices and shipped quickly. I also use 'allparts' for supplies

[axeshred]

Anymore restoration projects coming up bobd?

[bobdwilliams]

Not anytime soon but I plan on more. I'm repairing a guitar & a 'saz' right now......

:~)

[axeshred]

Wow great find. Excellent job too!

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks!

[LittleMikey7]

It is amazing to se such fine craftmanship! That was an astonishing job you did! Inspiring and fun to watch :D

I feel kind of embaressed now with my partscasters and lack of skill.

Ah well, I can at least brew beer and wine ^^

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks Mike I had a wonderful on this project! WOW I wish I could brew beer & wine!

*all I can do is drink the stuff ;~P

peace

[stinkylungs]

Great job. Love this kind of stuff and nice music, too.

[bobdwilliams]

thanks stinkylungs! (do you smoke?) heh heh heh

peace

[stinkylungs]

lol

[alnitemike]

well done

ps:(i don't like blues much, but this very song is a killer!)

[bobdwilliams]

thanks all nite mike!

[74LesPaul]

Thanks for posting great job and I love the song. . .

[bobdwilliams]

thanks 74LesPaul!

[brohmanski]

Real sweet! Great job, Sir... Question: i have similar guitar, i wish to install a pick-up...can it be done without ripping it apart? Is it possible to manipulate the wiring on the inside through the F holes and out the ass for the jack? Any suggestions are appreciated...thankyou.

[bobdwilliams]

yes indeed brohmanski, it can be done! I'm going to add a pickup to this guitar soon and I'll put the knobs on the pick guard, snake the wires around the f-hole.Don't cut into the top (watch out for the braces) Look at a few sites to get ideas on 'how to'

Peace

[brohmanski]

i have a 64 Airliner with f-holes, i also have a 1963 EKO that is in real bad shape (wish i could give it to you to fix) so i want to take the best of the EKO and out it on the Airliner (nice knobs and pickup) might work...?

[mattd28]

fine work there!!!

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks Matt!

[nahumthebest]

Woh, that was impressive work there. Very well done. I don't know anything about computers, but only a blind person could not see what you did. Peace :P (5 stars)

[bobdwilliams]

Merci Nahum, This was a great project for me. I had a Lot of fun working on her.

Peace

[assymcgee1]

Very nice, though I actually thought it looked much more classic before the repairs, you could have reused the other inlays to keep its look as well as the origional top, at least you managed to keep the neck, how does she play ?

[assymcgee1]

oh and I forgot to add, I just recently restored a 1962 Gretsch Tennessee that was given to me and i know nothing about these guitars, now comes the question, should I keep it or let it go ?

[bobdwilliams]

ummm I think you should give her to me :~)

[SteveBeckwith]

Keep the Gretsch (unless you need the money). I have a 1962 model that I bought around 1977 that's in great shape and is great to play!

[bobdwilliams]

no no no it would be better if he gave it to me! hah hah hah

yes that is a fine guitar!

[bobdwilliams]

the old inlays had been painted on the maple fingerboard. That is the original top, neck, back & sides of the guitar. The guitar plays fantastic. Awesome action, intonation and sound. Not much in the way of mid tones but great highs and lows. I found I need to use finger picks to bring out the mid tones. Peace

[cutevil]

Which parts of the old guitar did you keep to call it "restoration"? I mean which parts are the soul of the guitar? Because to me it look like you place a lot of new part in (I don't know about guitar making, don't blame me if I'm wrong ^^)

[bobdwilliams]

Ummm I guess if you dont build it could be kind of confusing. I restored this entire guitar. Almost all of the guitar is original. I used the Gibson Ivory tuners because they are cool-as-hell and don't take away from this project. Bone nut, position markers, truss rod?...watch it again, Cutevil.

peace

[nightwolfsden]

Wow, that was impresive.

[bobdwilliams]

thanks Rob!

[QuiltedPine]

Ah, very nice sir! I don't know why you say "the process took all the mojo out of the guitar", I think you gave it more! Is the fretboard maple? It's kind of hard to tell...

Also, your whole dissassembly process was quite justified, I never would have thought things could get that bad!

congrats

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks QuiltedPine yea the Fret board is maple as well. This project was labor of love!

[williestratton]

beautiful guitar, man

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks Williestratton!

[MikeyNL1038]

GREAT!

really good job on the restoration.

it looks very good!

nice to see an old guitar in good shape :)

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks Mike

[wowzer088]

as Plasticsoul said, great to see someone restore a cool old guitar. well done, Sir  5*

[bobdwilliams]

Domo arrigato, wowzer!

[beachidiot]

What song is this ? Who is the artist singing & playing here ? What album is this off of ? Great song ! Neat ole guitar here too. Thanks

[bobdwilliams]

thanks beachidiot the song is

'Buzz Fledderjohn'

This tune is off the 'Wicked Grin' LP by the GREAT John Hammond...(it's a Tom Waits number)

[beachidiot]

Thanks again for the info. I've seen John Hammond live.

[mackie735]

wow that is really good work i coundnt belive the results

how much did it cost you off of ebay?

cya

[bobdwilliams]

hey, thanks mackie!

ummm I don't remember what I paid for this guitar but it wasn't much. I got a good deal and turned it into a GREAT deal!

peace

[clarkjamie]

Did you use the steam zapper to sepatete the wood? Does that work better than injecting a needle in the fret slot? Great job.

[clarkjamie]

I noticed the "steam zapper" box..is that what you used to remove the neck, top and back? would you say thats' better than using the needle through the fret? Great job, by the way!

[bobdwilliams]

different thing. The fingerboard floated over the body. I removed the fingerboard first with heat/steam/knife..the neck from the body (Needle works best) then used my removal tool evenly slid the neck off the body. Stewmac sells THE cool tool (I have one now) :~)

[Plasticsoul]

I'm sure this sounds corny to some people...but it really moves me to see a beautiful old guitar get a second chance like this. great job restoring it. I would love to see a video of her in action!

thanks for posting this.

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks Plasticsoul, my logitech took a nose dive awhile ago and I haven't worked on the fix yet.

This guitar has great intonation, action, projection and tone. I'm into the archtops' sound (at this time)

[NossedEvo]

This is why I YouTube--and eBay. Tom Waits to boot? 's all good bro!

[nochartmozart]

Wow...That's an awesome result on a big undertaking. Was it a big money investment in tools?? She play well?

[bobdwilliams]

thanks nochart, the best tool I own is the 'neck jig' I picked up from StewMac.

(used for proper fret & finger board work)

Not much money invested & the guitar sounds FAB!

[Kawinj]

great slideshow, I stumbled across it because I'm about to do my first restoration. It's a 60's era Tempo archtop that was my grandfathers. Everything is missing on this guitar. I'm hoping my experience as a cabinet/furniture maker helps the project go a little easier.

[bobdwilliams]

thanks Kawinj, good luck on your project.

post the video here!

[dgh335]

I can totally relate to this....Great Restoration

[bobdwilliams]

thanks dgh335...your clip shows the BEST build I have ever seen, fantastic job on yours also

Peace

[stevenb53092]

Beautiful guitar and great job restoring it.

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks man!

[kd5txo]

nice work ...looks like ya did a good quantity of careful thinking. How did you get the old fretboard off?

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks kd5, I used the steamer in the slide show to slowly remove the fingerboard w/bridge removal knifes

[bobdwilliams]

...and heat lamps. (forgot to add this major point!)

[shadrax9]

thats awesome!!

[bobdwilliams]

Thanks Shadrax, This was a fun project

peace :)

[Ducktowners]

Rottweiler? Dobermann? A Pinkerton guard?

I ain't allowed in Buzz Fledderjohn's yard, either!