1964 Epiphone Texan

[RobbieC]

A friend dropped off 4 vintage guitars at my shop including a '64 Epiphone Texan he's had since it was new. He took it to every where with him from the 8th grade onwards - every party, oyster roast, sleepover, etc. Wore some deep grooves in the fretboard and dinged it up pretty badly. He retired it 10 or more years ago to play his D-28 saying that in comparison it was weak and brittle and wouldn't stay in tune. He wanted it renewed and the sound improved, if possible. He also said that he would keep it until he croaked and would eat any loss of value due to "improvements." So, we discussed the ceramic saddle which is the weak point on these guitars.

In my evaluation, I concluded it needed a good cleaning and rub out, fret job, bridge plate repair, new tuning keys, and a bone nut. The finish was very dirty and cloudy. The intonation was off, the tone brittle and the volume low. It had the ceramic, adjustable bridge common to 60s Gibsons.

If you don't know the Texan it is a J-45 with a Fender 25.5" scale. Mahogany body, sides and neck. Rosewood fingerboard with some nice inlays. Bound body but not neck.

It had some heavy dirt and mildew so I wiped it down with vinegar, then a baking soda solution to neutralize the vinegar, finally cleaning it with naptha. The finish was cloudy so I rubbed it out and polished it. I stopped before it "too pretty" to keep the vintage vibe. He didn't have a case for it until 10 years ago so the finish had not aged gracefully. Hopefully, it can now resume its course.

The refret turned out great. The divots were mostly planed away getting the fingerboard flat. I filled the remaining divots with Brazilian rosewood dust and superglue. I used medium jumbo fretwire as came on it and cut a new bone nut. I also replaced the 3-on-a-plate Kluson Deluxe tuners with the new TonePros Kluson Deluxe repros. Nice! The old ones are now tucked safely away in the case. With the old tuners I could only get within +/- 10 cents on the strobe tuner...not enough to intonate the bridge. The new ones let me get dead on. The only difference is that the new tuners require a rear counterbore since they have a modern integral sleeve to reduce runout. New/Old compared:

Texan-TonePros Kluson Keys-1.jpg

The bridge was so loose that I could get a palette knife under 2/3rds of it and, working it gently, caused the entire bridge to fall off. I reglued it with hot hide glue. While the bridge was off, I removed the metal nuts embedded in the soundboard that held the adjustable bridge and filled the holes with spruce. I removed the adjustable saddle from the rosewood bridge and made a rosewood insert to fill the almost 1/4" slot. I then recut a 3/32" slot after calculating the location for best intonation. Turned out great. I angled the saddle's bearing edge to adjust the intonation and pitch is now pretty much dead on at the 12th fret. The 3rd string is a few cent's flat.

You can see the metal saddle nuts in the photo. Ewww!

Epiphone Texan - Bridge Removed-1.jpg

Epiphone Texan-Slotting Jig-1.jpg

This morning he picked it up and after playing it for a few minutes looked at me with an incredulous smile. "This thing sounds great...in fact, It's never sounded so good." ....Music to my ears!

I know...some of you will debate the merits of removing the adjustable bridge on a vintage guitar. I know how finicky vintage guitar buyers can be. My philosophy is that sound is everything. If the guitar isn't going to be played because it's uninspiring then maybe it needs help. I was carefull to save every piece and to make the change entirely reversible. It might take a luthier, but it's easily done.

The problem with the adjustable saddle is that the saddle doesn't contact the soundboard. It rests on two miniature stop tailpiece-type studs with a metal leaf spring underneath. Sound is conducted first to the studs, then to the metal nuts embedded in the soundboard, then to the soundboard. Volume and tone are lost and the ceramic saddle imparts brittle overtones. Now it sounds like a competitor to his D-28. The mahogany body imparts a deeper tonality than the rosewood D-28, but the sound is good.

I forgot to take a photo of it all strung up. I just emailed my friend for one...I'll post it when he replies.

[tippie53]

nice work

[RobbieC]

Thanks!
Here's a followup shot (a bit out of focus):

Texan-Finished-1.jpg

[Ben-Had]

Now that's $50 well spent:)