The first major issue with this guitar is that a humidification device had burst inside the case. The contents of the device reacted with the finish, causing serious damage, evidenced by this grayish area on the lower side of the upper bout.

We started by removing all of the electronics and hardware from the guitar, and setting them aside, Extra care is taken in removing these parts. even though the guitar is being refinished, we don't want to create any deep scratches or dents in the wood itself.

During a refret, the fret board itself is sanded to ensure a consistent playing surface. This process removes a little bit of material from the fret board and inlays. After several refrets, the inlays can get so thin that you can see through them, as shown here. Along with the refret, we will be replacing the inlays to correct this.

The finish has now been fully stripped off and the guitar is ready for the next steps. Originally the owner had wanted to leave this guitar with a natural finish. This is a great look and keeps the cost down as well due to less time and finishing materials needed. However, there were several cosmetic issues that needed to be addressed for a natural finish.

In addition to the damage that initially brought the guitar in, stripping the finish revealed that the thin veneer on the back of the guitar had been sanded through in several places the last time this guitar had been refinished (visible here by the darker, discolored patches). It is important to be careful when stripping and sanding guitars like this because these veneers are extremely thin and a little too much elbow grease can cause unwanted blemishes that are much more difficult to deal with. You can also see that the same thing had happened to the veneer on the back of the headstock - those lighter patches are the remnants of the original piece that would have been glued on. All of this has led to the decision that the guitar would have a sunburst finish again to cover these cosmetic issues.

The back of the guitar also turned out really great. We did make the choice not to put a burst on the sides of the neck. This seems to be something that varied on guitars of the time but, the bursting on just the ends looks great and also allows the beautiful flame in the neck to show through. You can also see the finish on the back of the headstock, which was unique to that era, that we were able to replicate with great results.