I've got a few guitar projects on my burner, including a 70s Ensenada acoustic and a 70s electirc of unknown origin. the electric is being rebuilt from the ground up, and the ensenada is just being made playable for kicks.
today at work, this guy gave me a guitar for another project for free. he bought it in the 50s for $10, used. it's a United Elitone. anyone heard of it?????? i cant' find it anywhere
anyways, he NEVER played it. the neck is mostly straight, the frets, after some cleaning, look almost brand new. no cracks, the finish is more than decent...the pickguard basically disintegrated and there was a mouse nest inside. i cleaned out the inside and it looks structurally sound. i've removed all the hardware and chucked it.
here's the issue. it's had a set of striings on it for the past 50 years. they were BLACK and brittle and barely hanging on. the tension of the steel strings pretty much pulled the neck joint apart. the neck itself is still relatively straight though, which is odd. now, im pretty sure i can remove hte neck because it's really more than half the job's done for me.
i know i have to steam and heat the neck so i can pull it apart. anyone have any suggestions of how i can do this? i was hoping nick or david would come along and have some advice to help me out. i'm thinking this could possibly turn out as a decent player, but then again it ould end up in a trash bin.
So, It's a set neck guitar? Does it have a truss rod? If the neck is straight, why would you take it off? Just curious about your plan! So, you get to keep this guitar! That is awesome! Good luck.
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I'm sure Nick can give you some advice. The finish is almost certainly Nitro-cellulose or something similar - there was no polyeurathane in those days (as far as I know) - and nitro is far more sensitive than poly finish.
If the neck is straight and you can re-glue it, you should have a nice player.
I started with nothing - and I've still got most of it left.
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97reb - the neck is straight, but it's being pulled out of the joint, which places the neck at the wrong angle and makes the action sky-high. there's a gap between the heel and the body.
greybeard - the finish isn't heavy. even when it was new it wasn't a high-end model. it has a sunburst paint job. im not even sure it's a lacquer finish. i'm really hoping nick reads this.
ok fellas, update. i got the neck off. i got a litttttle too exuberant with the iron though, and i put a few burn marks on the fretboard. it's cleaning up ok though. i think i'm gonna be able to make that part look ok. other than that, it was a success and it looks like it's gonna fit more or less perfectly. im quite happy.
