Very impressive conservatory skills , quite remarkable transformation on that binding , and also impressive Chet style picking. I think the customer would be well pleased with the guitar. Thanks for the video Brad!
Lemon oil. I've always used it on my fretboard. I remember using it to clear the gages on my first car. They were yellow and foggy with nicotine. The frets and board turned out nice. Hope the binding rot is held at bay for a while. I love That Great Gretsch Sound!
Sweet sounding Gretsch, They are great guitars,even the Korean built guitars are excellent in fit and finish.Simple green cleans those stubborn stains pretty easy.Great vid.Brad👍✌🎸
I just SO MUCH love that mid to late 60s era of Fender reverb series combo amps. Your fingerpicking skills are gettin there! Stewmac has a vid on Gretch binding... common fail.
Ahhh.....gotta a 67 Gretch Country Gentleman (was my father's) and it's been in the case way too long. Ughhh....binding rot and coating on the hardware like you said. Gonna cost quite a bit to get that all repaired. Thanks for these videos Brad!
As someone who regularly rebinds Gretsches, I have done the research to understand just why binding rot occurs, and how to stop it. Binding rot is caused by a defect in the chemical synthesis used to manufacture the celluloid plastic binding material itself. The tendency to rot probably would not have been apparent when the material was newly manufactured, and often wasn't apparent until decades later. It has been hypothesized that this bad binding was sold by a European vendor ( probably German) to east coast guitar companies like Gretsch, NY Epi, Guild, Premier, DAngelico. So when you come to understand this, it becomes apparent that rotting bindings came from a "bad batch", as (evidenced by this Gretsch guitar actually). You will often see guitars whose fingerboard binding is bad, but the body binding is solid, or vice versa. That is because the fingerboard binding was made from a different size of binding, and that stock came from the bad stuff, and the body binding size was made from good stuff. The fingerboard binding will continue to rot, and the body bindng never will. The only cure for binding rot is removal and replacement. The only cure for binding rot is removal and replacement. Until you do that, this rotting binding will continue to disintegrate, gas out and ruin your guitar. Also, it should be noted that rotting celluloid is highly toxic and a fire hazard. If your guitar is more than, say, 20 years old and the plastics havent begun to disintegrate yet, they probably never will. This guitar needs to have it's fingerboard binding removed and replaced, period. The fingerboard binding will continue to rot until it falls off entirely, corroding everything it comes in contact with along the way. To glue the rotting binding to the guitar is just making matters worse by simply gluing these corrosive compounds to the instrument, which is just the opposite of what needs to happen here.
I am a vintage gretsch owner and have had the same problem , but not quiet as bad ,. But thank you for the tips on wot to do about it ? I am a massive fan of your youtube channel and want to thank you for all of your videos, cheers
Hi I just bought one of these but it doesn't have any binding coming loose but there are splits do you think it'd be wise to put superglue in the splits so it doesn't turn into a real problem
I use lemon oil on mine and even thin linseed oil. I used to work at Schenectady Chemicals and we made huge tubs of it in all varieties, all sorts of chemicals. I also hear people say no that lemon is acidic, then watch them use Son of a Gun, Armor All, Rain-X and even pledge and turtle wax on the Rosewood. To be honest I tested all of these things on my cheapest crap as long as it had Rosewood and none of these caused any damage to the wood or bindings. I watched other people use lemon oil on Fender Strat's with the clearcoat on maple and I can't stop myself, I have to tell them what's the point? On that you can use wax or Armor All, the oil is just going to sit on top and never soak in. Some people.
What a beautiful guitar... Don't lose that vintage low E string. A couple of questions: What do the 3 different switches do and I've always wondered what the little knob next to the Bigsby does (?) Mute control is my guess. Back in the 70's I had an old Melody Maker and after cleaning the gosh dam fretboard with food grade natural organic (to belabor a point) linseed oil the grain spread so much it just freaked me out... Needless to say I only use a grain of salt since. anyway thanx for this video and... cheers
That's possible too. My theory is between the glue gasses, the nitro lacquer, and the adhesive on the tape, there was probably a chemistry set there that jellified the finish in that area. I didn't expect it to happen UNDER the tape. Now I know.
The glue bit into the tape and ate at the lacquer, I use special tape so this don't happen. The same problem occurs when you spray a heavy coat of lacquer on enamel. You can always spray over old lacquer with enamel and get away with it.
Yep. The lacquer can be fixed. I usually build up lacquer in damaged areas like this with a small artist brush first. Prevents wide overspray. Then it can be wet sanded and polished and it'll disappear. Just didn't have as much time with this one as I would have liked. But I share this stuff so people can learn from my mistakes as well as my successes.
Yes lacquer is easy to work with as long as enamel wasn't already used, but you can dust it on with air brush without it eating up. If you experience small round spots that's due to it having some kind of oil or chemical like the glue. Hot thinner will bite in more than the cold so I would use cold for this case. We call this fisheye and you can buy fisheye additive to stop this, but too much will cause a orange peel effect so not too much. I noticed that crazy glue on plastic and lacquer and enamel finishes will cause a frosting in the finish. I started doing this repair work when a friend was heart sick over his guitar and the shop said it would cost too much so he was going to strip the parts so I told him give me 2 weeks and let me try. The frets were in bad shape and groves in the fret board, the shop said it all had to be replaced so I did the opposite, out came the files and I started from one end to the other on the bad frets then tested for fret buzz then I went the long way and leveled them out , no buzz so I crowned them. No real need to polish, the strings will take care of that, then the fret board was a mess. I used a razor and shaved it down in between frets one at a time, when I was done I used some lemon oil he had in his case, it looked and played brand new. There's no rules as long as it works. We started my first band he was great and I sucked, but he felt he owed me, I told him he didn't and we started playing out in the same year or shortly after because I only added where it was thin sounding and learned at home so you stay professional even when you suck. You're very talented and a doer, we all need people like you and I believe in your political views SPF! kudos
Stephen Holt+ Personally I would use a toothpick and flatten it out not with hammer, but a razor blade and scrape it down so the toothpick is somewhat flat and I would use clear epoxy. I get the cheap stuff at Harbor Freight for $1.99 lift the binding with a feeler gauge or similar, mix the epoxy fast with some other tool, use the flattened toothpick and get the epoxy on both sides and scape off the excess, lift the binding and put the slightest amount and clamp it down with tape. I work on computers and learned years ago how various compounds or glues spread out when you have two flush objects are pressed together with the slightest amount of glue will spread out and cover the area. The tape I would use to protect the finish on the neck would be Frog Tape. frogtape.com/
They probably would have given enough time in the closed case. My fault with this one was leaving it in the case since the time of my move. This is one that should have been out hanging on the wall instead.
sorry late on this one ...its the tape glue breaking off an reacting to the c.a. an hyde glue that they used in those days of production happenened to me on a headstock repair... i was told by reputable repair guy to oil fret board next time...the hardware is like that to told to me by my uncle with same model guitar its because the hardware is mostly nickel not steel like silver it tarnishes an lemon oil on nickel is ton acidic can cause more staining a jewler told me wd 40 as odd as it sounds cleans an proctects an fills plating finish an slows down tarnishing lemon oil is fine for fretboard an wood just not nickel alloy or plating ... nice video
The glue gas caused the nitro lacquer to jellify in that one spot. It tried to do it in other spots too, but I let it air out a overnight before trying to clean or wipe and it worked out better. Anything is fixable. Nitrocellulose lacquer is about the easiest thing on a guitar to fix as new lacquer and old lacquer seamlessly blend and can be sanded and buffed. Given another two days with this guitar and I could have made that small imperfection disappear.
I can't help but think your hand is in that area of the registers the first few frets the most, maybe the salty acidic oils from the hand helps cause this chemical reaction. maybe or maybe not.
Unless you have several smaller kids, a coupla pets, and a busy home routine, it's better to leave the guitars out on a stand than lying in a case for extended periods of time. Why would anyone own guitars and hide them anyway...
if you have 1750 guitars it isn't feasible,yes he has children as well.enjoy the video,if not go away and leave the advice in the place were you store your personal gas
Actually, super glue doesn't really like plastic very much. Even Duco Cement would be better. StewMac has a special glue for bindings as well. Those glues mildly dissolve the binding and makes them 'one with each other'... These bindings are nitrocellulose...basically, an explosive. Set fire to a nitro pick, in your sink, to see what I mean. It off gasses some strange chemicals, thus the oxidation on everything... Nyms
Good job i can see by your demo what u were saying the tone just isn't right fir your style. Like me with Rickenbackers i love the look of them but they dont sound right when i play them. So sad
Putting masking tape on VINTAGE finishes is a major NO NO in the repair business. Really unclear on why you'd reinstall 'rotting' binding. It's just going to continue to rot no matter how many times you re-attach the stuff. Also...that 'tackiness' is merely the adhesive residue from the tape. Letting it 'air out', as you call it, just means it's going to harden, making your job harder. Should have cleaned it off as soon as you removed the (ugh) tape. When you develop some more serious skills you'll toss that silly fret guard thing. Treating the board with lemon out didn't clean up the mess you made...it merely hid it. In a few months those scuffs and scratches you created with sandpaper will show through. Don't get me wrong, I think you have the potential to be a good guitar repair man ~ you're level is about where I was back around 1990.
No, low tack masking tape isn't going to hurt the finish. I'm not leaving it on there. It's low tack painter's tape. Sorry my reasoning on the binding was unclear. The guitar was already sold. The new owner knows about the issue with the binding. I didn't have time for a major binding repair, so this was done instead. It'll keep the binding together for a while and buy the new owner some time. Hope that clarifies things.
You just cant help but love that classic sound of a 6120
Very impressive conservatory skills , quite remarkable transformation on that binding , and also impressive Chet style picking. I think the customer would be well pleased with the guitar. Thanks for the video Brad!
Lemon oil. I've always used it on my fretboard.
I remember using it to clear the gages on my first car.
They were yellow and foggy with nicotine.
The frets and board turned out nice. Hope the binding rot is held at bay for a while.
I love That Great Gretsch Sound!
glad you mentioned this channel in your main channel. after doing a brief scan in this channel I like what I see. keep up the great work🍻
Sweet sounding Gretsch, They are great guitars,even the Korean built guitars are excellent in fit and finish.Simple green cleans those stubborn stains pretty easy.Great vid.Brad👍✌🎸
I just SO MUCH love that mid to late 60s era of Fender reverb series combo amps. Your fingerpicking skills are gettin there! Stewmac has a vid on Gretch binding... common fail.
Ahhh.....gotta a 67 Gretch Country Gentleman (was my father's) and it's been in the case way too long. Ughhh....binding rot and coating on the hardware like you said. Gonna cost quite a bit to get that all repaired. Thanks for these videos Brad!
So glad we got to hear it at the end. They really do have a unique voicing don't they?
As someone who regularly rebinds Gretsches, I have done the research to understand just why
binding rot occurs, and how to stop it.
Binding rot is caused by a defect in the chemical synthesis used to manufacture the celluloid plastic binding material itself. The tendency to rot probably would not have been apparent when the material was newly manufactured, and often wasn't apparent until decades later.
It has been hypothesized that this bad binding was sold by a European vendor ( probably German) to east coast guitar companies like Gretsch, NY Epi, Guild, Premier, DAngelico.
So when you come to understand this, it becomes apparent that rotting bindings came from a "bad batch", as (evidenced by this Gretsch guitar actually).
You will often see guitars whose fingerboard binding is bad, but the body binding is solid, or vice versa. That is because the fingerboard binding was made from a different size of binding, and that stock came from the bad stuff, and the body binding size was made from good stuff. The fingerboard binding will continue to rot, and the body bindng never will.
The only cure for binding rot is removal and replacement.
The only cure for binding rot is removal and replacement.
Until you do that, this rotting binding will continue to disintegrate, gas out and ruin your guitar.
Also, it should be noted that rotting celluloid is highly toxic and a fire hazard.
If your guitar is more than, say, 20 years old and the plastics havent begun to disintegrate yet, they probably never will.
This guitar needs to have it's fingerboard binding removed and replaced, period. The fingerboard binding will continue to rot until it falls off entirely, corroding everything it comes in contact with along the way.
To glue the rotting binding to the guitar is just making matters worse by simply gluing these
corrosive compounds to the instrument, which is just the opposite of what needs to happen here.
Nice jod Brad, sounds good, Cheers
great job,brad! rockn rolly!
Nice job Brad!
I think it came out good for what you had to work with,and your playing sounds fine to me on it ! :-)
That is some great work, with a great result!
That celluloid rot also happens with razors (lots of the old scales were celluloid). Brown and rusty-ish looking.
Great job Brad.
Sounds and looks fantastic!
Great post Brad.
I am a vintage gretsch owner and have had the same problem , but not quiet as bad ,. But thank you for the tips on wot to do about it ? I am a massive fan of your youtube channel and want to thank you for all of your videos, cheers
great tone love Gretsch
Hi I just bought one of these but it doesn't have any binding coming loose but there are splits do you think it'd be wise to put superglue in the splits so it doesn't turn into a real problem
what is the song your playing at 21:30? sounds sick af!
I use lemon oil on mine and even thin linseed oil. I used to work at Schenectady Chemicals and we made huge tubs of it in all varieties, all sorts of chemicals. I also hear people say no that lemon is acidic, then watch them use Son of a Gun, Armor All, Rain-X and even pledge and turtle wax on the Rosewood. To be honest I tested all of these things on my cheapest crap as long as it had Rosewood and none of these caused any damage to the wood or bindings. I watched other people use lemon oil on Fender Strat's with the clearcoat on maple and I can't stop myself, I have to tell them what's the point? On that you can use wax or Armor All, the oil is just going to sit on top and never soak in. Some people.
Yes, I should have stipulated rosewood or ebony. Ebony less so, but especially good on rosewood. Maple, no.
What a beautiful guitar... Don't lose that vintage low E string.
A couple of questions: What do the 3 different switches do and I've always wondered what the little knob next to the Bigsby does (?) Mute control is my guess. Back in the 70's I had an old Melody Maker and after cleaning the gosh dam fretboard with food grade natural organic (to belabor a point) linseed oil the grain spread so much it just freaked me out... Needless to say I only use a grain of salt since. anyway thanx for this video and...
cheers
This is one time i wish you would a played longer at the End !
This guitar was sounding pretty great through that Fender, wasn't it.
Guitologist Channel 2 Your in luck, I know a guy that works on Amps "
Yep did enjoy this guitar video bro. Was the tacky stuff just from the glue of the tape. All the best
I bet the tape adhesive had something to do with it.You can fix her for sure.👍😎✌
That's possible too. My theory is between the glue gasses, the nitro lacquer, and the adhesive on the tape, there was probably a chemistry set there that jellified the finish in that area. I didn't expect it to happen UNDER the tape. Now I know.
The glue bit into the tape and ate at the lacquer, I use special tape so this don't happen. The same problem occurs when you spray a heavy coat of lacquer on enamel. You can always spray over old lacquer with enamel and get away with it.
Yep. The lacquer can be fixed. I usually build up lacquer in damaged areas like this with a small artist brush first. Prevents wide overspray. Then it can be wet sanded and polished and it'll disappear. Just didn't have as much time with this one as I would have liked. But I share this stuff so people can learn from my mistakes as well as my successes.
Yes lacquer is easy to work with as long as enamel wasn't already used, but you can dust it on with air brush without it eating up. If you experience small round spots that's due to it having some kind of oil or chemical like the glue. Hot thinner will bite in more than the cold so I would use cold for this case. We call this fisheye and you can buy fisheye additive to stop this, but too much will cause a orange peel effect so not too much. I noticed that crazy glue on plastic and lacquer and enamel finishes will cause a frosting in the finish. I started doing this repair work when a friend was heart sick over his guitar and the shop said it would cost too much so he was going to strip the parts so I told him give me 2 weeks and let me try. The frets were in bad shape and groves in the fret board, the shop said it all had to be replaced so I did the opposite, out came the files and I started from one end to the other on the bad frets then tested for fret buzz then I went the long way and leveled them out , no buzz so I crowned them. No real need to polish, the strings will take care of that, then the fret board was a mess. I used a razor and shaved it down in between frets one at a time, when I was done I used some lemon oil he had in his case, it looked and played brand new. There's no rules as long as it works. We started my first band he was great and I sucked, but he felt he owed me, I told him he didn't and we started playing out in the same year or shortly after because I only added where it was thin sounding and learned at home so you stay professional even when you suck. You're very talented and a doer, we all need people like you and I believe in your political views SPF! kudos
Stephen Holt+ Personally I would use a toothpick and flatten it out not with hammer, but a razor blade and scrape it down so the toothpick is somewhat flat and I would use clear epoxy. I get the cheap stuff at Harbor Freight for $1.99 lift the binding with a feeler gauge or similar, mix the epoxy fast with some other tool, use the flattened toothpick and get the epoxy on both sides and scape off the excess, lift the binding and put the slightest amount and clamp it down with tape. I work on computers and learned years ago how various compounds or glues spread out when you have two flush objects are pressed together with the slightest amount of glue will spread out and cover the area. The tape I would use to protect the finish on the neck would be Frog Tape. frogtape.com/
Stephen Holt+ I used to paint cars for a living at one point and there was other kinds of tape, but this works best Frog Tape #1
Nicely done like the shirt
Funny that the strings didn't oxidize at that end of neck binding part, would have expected a line on the strings in that area.
They probably would have given enough time in the closed case. My fault with this one was leaving it in the case since the time of my move. This is one that should have been out hanging on the wall instead.
I wonder what glue they used back in the day before superglue 😑
sorry late on this one ...its the tape glue breaking off an reacting to the c.a. an hyde glue that they used in those days of production happenened to me on a headstock repair... i was told by reputable repair guy to oil fret board next time...the hardware is like that to told to me by my uncle with same model guitar its because the hardware is mostly nickel not steel like silver it tarnishes an lemon oil on nickel is ton acidic can cause more staining a jewler told me wd 40 as odd as it sounds cleans an proctects an fills plating finish an slows down tarnishing lemon oil is fine for fretboard an wood just not nickel alloy or plating ... nice video
It's a scuffed ol' Chet Atkins GRETSCH!
What about making a replica of this guitar from Aluminium and brass for the frets and wire it for sound.
DAVID GREGORY KERR brass frets ain’t gonna work the metal is much too soft I’d be afraid of chewing up a set of frets in a week
meth and youtube dont mix,see your comment for the reason
I think the chemicals used to make the plastic were off and the cheapest possible and the glues used in the case are the main issue.
what a beauty... rockabilly monsta
Excellent
Nice pants.
Its the tape.pulled off the finish
The glue gas caused the nitro lacquer to jellify in that one spot. It tried to do it in other spots too, but I let it air out a overnight before trying to clean or wipe and it worked out better. Anything is fixable. Nitrocellulose lacquer is about the easiest thing on a guitar to fix as new lacquer and old lacquer seamlessly blend and can be sanded and buffed. Given another two days with this guitar and I could have made that small imperfection disappear.
The first electric guitar I ever held! Of course at 14 years old, I couldn't afford to buy it, just drool.
Masking tape is like any other product. There are three types, good better and best.
I can't help but think your hand is in that area of the registers the first few frets the most, maybe the salty acidic oils from the hand helps cause this chemical reaction. maybe or maybe not.
Unless you have several smaller kids, a coupla pets, and a busy home routine, it's better to leave the guitars out on a stand than lying in a case for extended periods of time. Why would anyone own guitars and hide them anyway...
I like to wall hang then and have the current player on a stand...
if you have 1750 guitars it isn't feasible,yes he has children as well.enjoy the video,if not go away and leave the advice in the place were you store your personal gas
Actually, super glue doesn't really like plastic very much. Even Duco Cement would be better. StewMac has a special glue for bindings as well. Those glues mildly dissolve the binding and makes them 'one with each other'... These bindings are nitrocellulose...basically, an explosive. Set fire to a nitro pick, in your sink, to see what I mean. It off gasses some strange chemicals, thus the oxidation on everything... Nyms
More Biran Setzer type playing would have been nice.
What do you think I am some kind of guitar god??? :D
Brian Setzer is an amazing player.
Good job i can see by your demo what u were saying the tone just isn't right fir your style. Like me with Rickenbackers i love the look of them but they dont sound right when i play them. So sad
dude replace binding you would be done instead of tallking so much
1st pmsl
You should stick with electronics.
That turned out to be a pretty nasty binding.
Putting masking tape on VINTAGE finishes is a major NO NO in the repair business. Really unclear on why you'd reinstall 'rotting' binding. It's just going to continue to rot no matter how many times you re-attach the stuff. Also...that 'tackiness' is merely the adhesive residue from the tape. Letting it 'air out', as you call it, just means it's going to harden, making your job harder. Should have cleaned it off as soon as you removed the (ugh) tape. When you develop some more serious skills you'll toss that silly fret guard thing. Treating the board with lemon out didn't clean up the mess you made...it merely hid it. In a few months those scuffs and scratches you created with sandpaper will show through. Don't get me wrong, I think you have the potential to be a good guitar repair man ~ you're level is about where I was back around 1990.
No, low tack masking tape isn't going to hurt the finish. I'm not leaving it on there. It's low tack painter's tape. Sorry my reasoning on the binding was unclear. The guitar was already sold. The new owner knows about the issue with the binding. I didn't have time for a major binding repair, so this was done instead. It'll keep the binding together for a while and buy the new owner some time. Hope that clarifies things.
Personally I wouldn't loose much sleep over letting that one go (selling it), not my thing either.
The build quality of these guitars is poor. Why people want them at the price they fetch beats me.
John James McCartney the Japanese built ones are far superior to the USA made ones lol ☺
Because they sound wonderful!