New Very Old Guitar Day – I don’t usually do NGDs but this is a bit special.
I’d given up hope many years ago of ever getting my old SG Standard into any resemblance of it’s original glory. It had not been particularly well looked after when I traded my white Telecaster for it and since then has suffered a serious neck joint break ( ‘fixed’ by me with some glue and 2 bolts ), a control cavity break (amp head fell on it), bridge pickup replaced with DiMarzio, TOM replaced with a brass DiMarzio bridge, hand painted with black polyurethane paint.
Due to an impending visit by the dreaded sister-in-law at Easter, I was ordered by Mrs Tellboy to have a tidy up of my gear and in the depths of a little used cupboard found a bag with all the original SG hardware in – Patent No pickups, TOM bridge and Klusons. I thought it would be great to put all the original hardware back on. By chance I happen to stumble across this site
http://www.3rguitars.co.uk/ and was impressed by the restoration of the SG. I contacted Chris Richards and sent him several pictures of my SG showing the damage. He particularly liked SGs and was keen to carry out restoration work on the SG. Whilst he was working on the body, I sent the Pat.No pickups to Tim as one coil in the neck pickup had failed and I wanted some aged nickel covers fitted as I had (foolishly) had the originals and the Lyre cover chrome plated when the nickel faded on them. I’m delighted with the result:
Chris did an excellent job - e.g. I had lost some of the original pickguard/control cover screws, so I sent him some new ones and he aged them to match the originals – the Lyre tailpiece cover is held in place with four tiny pan head screws which I had lost and which Gibson (most unhelpfully) could not supply me with but Chris managed to get some. The finish was moderately aged (buckle rash, small dings) in keeping with the old hardware and the guitar had a complete refret as the originals were well worn.
I had always assumed the guitar was a 1964 model (as I thought all 1963s were Les Pauls) but after looking at the number on the CTS pots 1376333 (which still work perfectly after some switch cleaner) and being able to find the serial number after the black paint had been removed it turns out to be a late 1963 – so happy 47th birthday!
