Peter Damm Guitarmaker
Repairs, Maintanance and Newly Created Musical Instruments
Museumpiece repair
2009 - 2010
My customer bought this museumpiece in a little musicshop in Paris, France.
They are specialised in very old rarities.
And this one could have been built anywhere between 1830 and 1870
Your guess is as good as mine.
Museumpiece repair
2009 - 2010
My customer bought this museumpiece in a little musicshop in Paris, France.
They are specialised in very old rarities.
And this one could have been built anywhere between 1830 and 1870
Your guess is as good as mine.
First thing was to glue a crack tight where the top meets the sides.
The bridge had a part missing and a broken off part
Crack in the headstock was repaired earlier.
The rosette had to be glued in it's entirely.
And all the way round,....step by step, piece by piece,.....hek....you know the drill....
Those bridge pins are certainly not related to one and other. They are from different families. Yes a full DNA-test is included.
I had to open the back to repair the inside and other parts. Looks easy when it is open, but if you really want to know how long that took??? Sometimes open-heart surgery is less time-consuming.
Yes I can see some scribbling that looks like a name, but can you spot the many "tie-a-knot-in-a-string" ends? There's a whole variety of nylon, gut, metal? and nylon-silver ones in there. And even the ends of the pins are not related.
Yeah,.....I know it looks like a name, that is,....if you can read this!!!!!!!!!!! First you have to figure out what language, because it could be French, but it could be something else instead. It could be the guy who restored it before me, because who is daft enough to glue new braces over an existing name? (Because the braces don't look that old to me.) And it could even be a scrap of writing that is not related to this guitar, but just something he could use to stiffen the top-joint. The writing goes on but the paper stops. It is torn as well, and if you are a little bit proud of your work you wouldn't use a scruffy old piece of...can we actually call it paper???
Very rough inside, don't you think? My guess is that the maker had a lot of hungry kids to feed, and didn't bother to clean-up the inside.
And the brace glued over what looks like a name. And perhaps a date?
I removed the bridgepins and lots of new and old string-tie-ends. Even original gut-ones.
The endpin took a bit of the endblock with him. I think that we have better tools nowadays. I even bevel the edges of the inside when I drill such a hole.
Crack in the top.
Crack at the fingerboardside too.
Missing piece of the bridge.
Broken off part of the bridge.
Made a new piece of ebony, although the bridge was only stained black.
Fitted a piece of ebony to make up for the broken off part.
Shaped and modeled the newly fitted ebony part.
Another area where the glue was gone.
Glueing the opening between the top and side.
And at the same time glueing a hairline-crack in the top. That's what those extra clamps are for.
Topcrack glued. And the bridge complete again. Plan of attack for the back....Jack!
Glueing one side of one of the backbraces.
The other side of the backbrace.
Inside view of the backbrace being glued.
Other inside view.
Inside view of the second backbrace waiting to be glued.
Second backbrace being glued.
Third backbrace being glued.
As there was no room for normal clamping I had to come up with yet another "make-up-as-you-go-along" technique.
First step of the back being glued on.
Second step.
Painstakingly applying glue to the rim of the side.
And then showing off my collection of "Indian-made" clamps. (Except the black-orange one)
The other side being glued.
And now for the bottom part of the back (or lower bout).
Putting on the ritz?....no clamps!
And then wait till the glue dries...................
Still waiting..........................
Waiting............................
Waiting............................
I made the bridgesaddle of.........plastic......I know terrible, but hey look....
I was planning to make the saddle for the bridge out of real shell like the original one. But the thing broke, so I had to resort to something else, as it was the only straight piece I had left. And besides that it would have been a miracle if it didn't break. The thing measures 3mm x 1 mm anyway.
But how about those very expensive real bone bridgepins!!!!!
I think it gives this baby some class!
Put those strings on wrapped many times around the pegs, that will pull the pegs upwards. The string is caught in between the beginning of the string (in the peg-end) and the headstock. This way if you tighten the string the peg is being pulled up. And you have to get it just right!!! I gave this baby low tension strings from Savarez, as she is at least 140 years old.
Still hearing a loose brace, this time from the top.
You have to study this picture, but it's the inside view through a mirror. Applying glue to the underside of the brace in the corner.
This is protection.
Tackled that problem.
She has an enormous big smile this lady.
