Classical guitar repair Kohno, concert model (1993)

It was immediately clear that this guitar was rather battered after being played long and hard. It needed a lot of work before it could be played again.
After careful inspection, we identified the following problems:

• broken saddle
• very worn frets
• varnish worn away and deep scratches reaching way in to the wood
• big holes in the sound board filled with glue from the last time it was repaired
• cracks in the sound board
• oxidized and rusty tuners with a knob that does not match from previous repairs

Once the owner had been informed about the condition of his guitar and the cost of the repairs needed to be done, the work began.

A brief history of the repair

Fortunately the saddle has broken in such a way making it possible to repair it without having to replace it with a new one.

First we plane the broken part until it becomes completely flat.

At this point the saddle has a trapezoid shape. To have th accuracy that is required, we first we make a small paper template.

Using the template we cut the wood into the correct shape to replace the missing part.

We cut the slot for the bone and sand it to almost the final shape.

Now we glue it in place...

...and give it its final shape.

We remove each fret by heating them with the soldering iron. This will break the bond of glue that lies underneath the existing frets.

This way the frets are removed without damaging the fingerboard.

After a little sanding, we clean the slots and start placing the new frets.

We nail the frets in place...

The tuners where extremely dirty and rusty. Also, one of the knobs was not authentic and did not match. In order to regain their original look, they have to be immersed overnight in a special solution overnight, then cleaned and polished. Of course we'll have to find a matching knob!