Hi there,
Everything posted is exactly right. The skillset is different for repairs. But, I was given the advice to find an old guitar, dismantle it, and see how things are put together. I'm forever grateful that I did it.
I found an old Silvertone on Ebay, that had seen the ravages of an attic. The top had come loose and had 3 cracks, the bottom had come loose, with a crack. The fretboard was horribly worn with use.
I bought the guitar for $9+$15 shipping. I did not really repair it. I took off the old fretboard, and top, both of which were trashed. I bought a new, inexpensive, rosewood fretboard blank from Ebay for $6, and "special deal" type top wood, (engelmann spruce). I did repair the crack in the back. I also decided to bind the guitar (it had no binding), so I got the invaluable experience of routing the binding channel and binding a guitar.
Since the guitar had lattice bracing, I drafted a pattern of x-bracing, by looking at information on the internet and hoping for the best; I replaced the top, fretboard, and tuners, totally, as well as binding the top. This allowed me to make mistakes, which I did big time. I threw out my first attempt at the top, and spent another $18 for another matched set of engelmann. This top is currently on the guitar, and now it's one of my favorite guitars.
I replaced the fretboard; I learned how to inlay the fretboard (I chose to put Martin style diamond inlaid fret markers), as well as the precise layout of the frets, sawing the frets, then inlaying the fretwire. I bought inexpensive bone blanks, and I made a new nut and saddle, and I replaced the bridge. When I did the top, I had to inlay a rosette.
I also learned how to finish the guitar; I stripped the old nasty finish off of it and shellaced it.
The experience allowed me to learn a little and gain some confidence, before starting my OM. IMO, this was the best learning experience that I could possibly have, short of building a guitar.
Make sure you check dumpsters, and the curbside of your neighborhood, for throw aways. Tell everyone you know that you're looking for a guitar to learn from, you may be surprised that someone has one sitting somewhere.
My criteria was:
6 string acoustic, that was cheap
damaged top, that was cheaper
damaged back, but repairable, cheapest
However, I looked for what I hoped, was a guitar with a solid neck, repairable sides and back.
Here is a link to photos that I took of the 1959 Silvertone; it plays really great. Just click on the photos to see them full screen:
http://s141.photobucket.com/user/kauffm ... t=2&page=1