RESTORING AN ORIGINAL
jOhN BrOWN
Tidying Up a 1971 Gibson SG
On our bench was a very nice ‘ 71 Gibson
SG. At a glance, I could tell this guitar was
well taken care of and played throughout
the years. It was also pleasant to see that
the neck didn’t bear any of the classic war
wounds, such as a repaired headstock break
or neck joint fracture. This early-‘70s guitar
really just needed some major adjustments to
be ready to play its part in the next hit song.
for spacer material. It really is the perfect stick
for the job! Slowly turning clockwise on the
vise handle, putting pressure at three contact
points, you can see the chassis section of the
bridge metamorphose to its original state.
This cool-looking guitar has pointed double-cutaways and a scalloped mahogany body,
two humbucking PAF pickups, four Gibson
amp-style knobs, a five-layer black beveled
pickguard, ABR- 1 Tune-o-matic bridge with
white nylon saddles, pearloid trapezoid fingerboard inlays, Indian rosewood fingerboard,
neck-body joint at 19th fret (the heel extends
to 16th fret), crown peghead inlay, Maestro
vibrato with engraved lyre and Gibson logo on
the cover plate, chrome-plated parts, a 6-digit
serial number and “Made in USA” on the back
of the peghead, and a cherry red finish.
Saddle String Spacing
After the frets and fretboard were cleaned
and polished, the strings went on and the
string alignment was checked out. The nylon
saddles were never slotted and needed to
be for optimum tone and tight string attack.
The outer two strings were first positioned,
marked and slotted using nut files sized to
the correct string gauge. Then, the inner four
strings were evenly spaced apart using my
Luthier’s Digital Calipers, and slotted into
position as well.
Slippery Knobs
These Gibson amp knobs just wouldn’t stay
on anymore and kept slipping off the shaft
of the pot. What we did not want to do was
bend the two stems apart on these original
early-‘ 71 pots because they’d snap right
off. Using 1/4" wide black paper pickup coil
tape and daintily wrapping around the outer
diameter of the split shaft worked miracles.
As the tape conformed, the knob flowed on
perfectly and grabbed once in position.
For this month’s restoration, I used the
following tools and materials, available at
stewmac.com:
#1820 Angle Vise
#5212 Luthier’s Digital Caliper
#0821–#5313 Gauged Nut Slotting Files
#0825 File Cleaning Brush
#4894 6" Steel Rule
#5893 Guitar Nutdrivers
#6106 Pocket Truss Rod Wrench
#0353 Understring Radius Gauges
#2004 Neck Relief Gauge
#5027 DeoxIT Pot & Switch Cleaner
#5951 Pickup Coil Tape
As always, it’s a pleasure sharing another
adventure in “Restoring An Original.”
Collapsed Bridge
Upon inspection, before removing the strings,
I noticed that the ABR- 1 Tune-o-matic bridge
had a concaved look to it. This collapsing
effect usually happens over time from the
down-angle pressure of the strings coming
off the saddles to the tailpiece. This can be
avoided at times by raising the tailpiece,
which results in less down-angle pressure.
It’s possible to correct the chassis section of
the bridge to its original leveled surface. The
saddle retainer wire, white nylon saddles and
saddles screws were removed, and the chassis was now ready to go in our vise with three
small strips of wood measuring .090" in thickness—cut from a popsicle stick that we used
Neck Relief
It was time to address the curvature in the
neck. I like using my Neck Relief Gauge for
this job. There’s no more need to eyeball
your work, as it tells you exactly where you
are. With this tool, one foot rests on the
crown of the first fret and the other foot on
the 12th fret. The dial gauge then takes a
reading in thousandths of an inch over the
fifth fret. Generally, I like to see the gauge
read .008 after the frets have been freshly
dressed. When the frets are slightly worn or
at a level of stock performance, we may need
to increase the relief up to .010.
John Brown
John Brown, of Brown's Guitar Factory, is the inventor of the
Fretted/Less bass. He owns and operates a full guitar manu-
facturing and repair/restoration facility, which is staffed by
a team of talented luthiers. He is also the designer of guitar
making/repair tools and accessories that are used today by
instrument builders throughout the world.
brownsguitarfactory.com
info@brownsguitarfactory.com
