1967 360-12 JG Restoration

libratune · Post by **libratune** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:22 pm

Okay, here’s the story of an amazing restoration of a severely modded 1967 360-12 JG. I came by this guitar in a very sorry state. It was in such bad shape I didn’t take good “before” photos, so you’ll have to use your imagination a bit.

Photo 1 shows the restored guitar with some of the original hardware laid on top of it: 4 Gibson-style HBs, a ‘70s bridge and stop-tailpiece, and a two-piece home-made oversized metal guard with many switches and pots in no particular order. The original “R” tailpiece was glued onto its bracket and sat on the ramp as an ornament. When I took this concoction to my local luthier and asked if it could be salvaged, he looked at it long and hard before deciding to take it on. To me the valuable things on the guitar were the CPI inlays (the fretboard was in decent shape) and the checkered binding on the back. I was hoping he could save these essential vintage features and make this abused Rick whole and playable again.

: 001

This is the guitar body stripped of hardware. It had suffered a wide, deep and long routing at the neck PU area almost down to where the Rick bridge would have been and had various other cracks, routes and breaks. Fortunately the neck was intact and not been broken or cracked.

: 002

The routing ate away a lot of internal wood, including parts of the cross-bracing and neck tenon. (Silver lining: The big hole in the top meant that the neck could be reset w/out removing the back!)

: 003

The area on the top of the guitar that would have to be replaced was marked off -- about 70% of it.

: 004

More to follow . . .

libratune · Post by **libratune** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:27 pm

The top of the guitar was cut out to fit the new plywood top.

: 005

With the top cut open, excess damaged wood was cleared and a new neck pocket was formed. The neck tenon was glued and clamped. New bracing replaced the damaged bracing.

: 006

: 007

The new top was glued on (after the work shown in photos 9 and 10, below).

: 008

more to follow . . .

libratune · Post by **libratune** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:32 pm

There was a deep crack on the treble side of the back. A shallow, wide route was made inside over the cracked area and a maple billet glued and clamped to strengthen that area.

: 009

: 010

The headstock had been drilled for Schallers and the octave channels filled with Bondo. The Bondo was cleared and the channels and side-holes for the octave tuners restored. The 12 holes were dowelled and re-drilled for Klusons.

: 011

: 012

one more to follow . . .

libratune · Post by **libratune** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:39 pm

The restored guitar was completely stripped of any remaining finish and refinished in nitro. A’67 wiring loom and pots were used, ‘60s guards were added and reissue scatterwound toasters mounted. A ‘60s Rick bridge was installed and the original “R” TP was cleaned up and nickel double-line Kluson tuners were mounted. A new Rick nut and period–correct TRC were added.

: 013

: 014

: 015

: 016

The guitar has a great sound, good action and thin neck. It is very resonant and jangly. It’s a joy to behold and play! The checkered binding and CPI neck inlays remain intact.

I decided to show just the main photos here. The luthier, Joel Shinn, took many more progress photos. He has posted them on his website if you are interested: http://joelshinn.wordpress.com/projects ... -12-jetglo

collin · Post by **collin** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:40 pm

You (or more likely your luthier) is a very brave optimist, Ron!

Looks great! I love JG.

k43rover · Post by **k43rover** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:40 pm

...that's an amazing labour of love Ron...well done for bringing it back to life!

Makes my current project look like a real kindergarten effort....

jch · Post by **jch** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:48 pm

It does the heart good seeing that beautiful guitar looking as good as new again!

Ya have to wonder though what some people where smokin back in the 70's!

libratune · Post by **libratune** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 4:52 pm

collin wrote:You (or more likely your luthier) is a very brave optimist, Ron!

Looks great! I love JG.

Thanks, Collin. I think the new JG finish looks great with the aged CPI inlay fretboard.

My luthier Joel and his brother Dan work as a team. They told me towards the end of the process that this was a very challenging project for them and that they underestimated (by a lot) the amount of time and innovation it would take to pull it off. Now they know a vintage Rick from the inside out!

collin · Post by **collin** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 5:04 pm

Yep, and now their rates have doubled and none of us can ever send them a Ric again!

242_foxtrot · Post by **242_foxtrot** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:17 pm

Beautiful!

jdawe · Post by **jdawe** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:48 pm

Amazing! While there's no shortage of great restoration jobs documented on this site, I can't recall any that started out with a guitar in such rough shape. (What were they thinking? 4 HBs?!?). Kudos to you, and to Joel and Dan.

godber · Post by **godber** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 7:57 pm

Stunning job - a heart warming resto. Fantastic!

kiramdear · Post by **kiramdear** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:14 pm

It's probably best I don't see the before pic. I don't think I'm old enough.

It looks fabulous, Ron. That's the way I want to picture this nice old timer.

jimk · Post by **jimk** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 8:51 pm

kiramdear wrote:It's probably best I don't see the before pic. I don't think I'm old enough.

It looks fabulous, Ron. That's the way I want to picture this nice old timer.

If you have a delicate emotional and psychological constitution those photos of the damaged guitar might truly produce some very frightening nightmares, all right. What a very commendable job of bringing back to life such an instrument.
JimK

8mileshigher · Post by **8mileshigher** » Sun Sep 11, 2011 10:29 pm

Wow --- such a fantastic restoration !!

I can't believe how hideous that original metal pickguard looked with the array of switches.
Congratulations !

Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum