I’ve fancied getting a 12 string acoustic guitar for a while. I know it’s something I won’t use much, so I’m not going to throw money at it. Problem is that one worth having is likely to cost around £300.
Then, last month, I saw this for £55. Worth a punt? How bad can it be?
Ok. Lets have a look.
The Good
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- Straight neck.
- Decent frets.
- No obvious body damage.
- Working electrics.
- Decent make.
- Can be tuned to pitch
- It plays well.
The Bad
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- Dings and scratches
- Missing battery compartment lid.
- Cheese wire for strings
The Ugly
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- Tatty pick guard. “Stuck down with super glue”
- Bridge pins held in with tape and blu-tak
- Tuning pegs are damaged and missing bits.
From this assesment I expect to be able to sort it out without major expense.
I started off with the pick guard. The seller said he had tried to fix it down with super glue. That’s cause for concern. I could have a problem removing the tatty old guard without damaging anything. I settled in front of the TV with a tin of lighter fluid and an assortment of blades and scrapers. Patience brought the desired result. It cleaned up nicely.
I installed the self adhesive replacement straight away, while the surface was clean and grease free. Then I moved on to the headstock.
The original tuners are beyond repair. The replacements are almost drop in fit, but screw holes are in the wrong places. I filled the old holes with pieces of cocktail stick and, after the glue had dried, trimmed them flush with a sharp craft knife. After a touch up with dark brown marker pen and a dab of clear nail varnish the holes disappeared.
Now, without strings, I have access to give the guitar a good clean. The fretboard was treated to a rub down with fine wire wool and a liberal coating of lemon oil. It came up very nicely. Similarly the guitar body, neck and headstock responded well to a little attention with the touch up marker and good clean and shine with Dunlop 65 polish.
The bridge was the most difficult part of the restoration. A mix and match of bridge pins were held in place with combinations of cellotape and blu-tak.
Removing the pins and the blu-tak from the holes was a long tedious job. Dental picks, more blu-tak, lighter fluid and a mascara brush were amongst the many techniques used. New pins finished the job.
Cosmetically I decided to leave it at that. It looks good for it’s age! any remaining dents and scratches are part of the guitar’s history.
Obtaining a replacement battery box was more touble than I expected. An identical drop in version was available, but only at high cost. A generic battery box will have to do. More redundant screw holes to fill, but otherwise a straighforward job.
The last job is to fit the new machine heads. A little work with a reamer was required to open up the holes a little, where the finish had reduced the diameter. Care with alignment and careful drilling of pilot holes to acommodate the screws prevented any drama. A straightforward job. A bike spanner is a good tool for this job.
Putting on 12 string takes a while. Tuning them a while longer. Actually it wasn’t that bad. The expected repeated tweaking was not necessary. It was still in tune a week later, much to my surprise.
The Cost:
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- Guitar. Tanglewood TW1200ENAT £55
- Pick Guard £4
- Strings £12
- Tuners £20.50
- Bridge Pins £4.90
- TOTAL £96.40
So, less than £100. It was a lot of work though. Only a bargain if you can do the work yourself and enjoy the process.
It plays well and sounds good. That’s what counts. The fact that it looks good is a bonus.
Now to learn a few songs which require a 12 string. ….