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How's this for a bench report? (Johnny Cash content)


Jeff R

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I don't normally share my shop's happenings here, many of you guys here already follow my shop's Facebook page. For those who don't, here's a recent repair job that that ranked a little more special ("once in a lifetime" and "bucket list" are appropriate adjectives) and one you don't even have to be a guitar geek to love and appreciate. Enjoy!

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Arrival ... YEEOOWWCCCHHH!!

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Danny Ferrington - yes, the one and only, THAT Danny Ferrington (!) - and yours truly at work ...

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After ...

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I will be posting more information, photos and vids LIKE THIS INITIAL POST (CLICK HERE) on the guitar, Danny Ferrington and the repair in the coming week. I'll just post links to updates here to keep bandwidth consumption to a minimum.

And yes, I am still in "wow" mode.

 

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4 hours ago, Tortious said:

That's pretty effin cool. You'll remember that one for the duration.

How did the owner let it get to that state?

Feel free to share as much as possible here. I'm allergic to facebook.

Maybe it had something to do with how Johnny was holding the guitar on the above album cover?  Looks like he was ready for some batting practice.

Very cool post, can't wait to see the progress!

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18 hours ago, Tortious said:

How did the owner let it get to that state?

The current owner is a private collector. I never got a clear answer on what happened to it this time. I say that because I found evidence that it had catastrophic bridge/soundboard separations at least twice prior to this event. Many things can cause that to occur. Most are preventable. 

This separation, however, was the worst, destroying the original bridge; the glued and reglued splintered spruce under it; plus the splitting of two bridgeplates - the original and a second reinforcing one from a previous repair - under the soundboard; and splitting the soundboard itself this time around. 

It was also compounded by previous repairs that had to be "unfixed" this time around to make a proper new fix. The two bridgeplates, for example, had to be removed with an internally-positioned iron caul heated to 325F (PITA and dangerous for both the guitar and for me, check out my kevlar glove for the task). And once removed, replaced with one soundplate that was slightly larger, slightly thicker and cross-grained, all for structural integrity's sake. 

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I'll share more as it's generated for the shop's Facebook page.

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10 hours ago, Jeff R said:

The current owner is a private collector. I never got a clear answer on what happened to it this time. I say that because I found evidence that it had catastrophic bridge/soundboard separations at least twice prior to this event. Many things can cause that to occur. Most are preventable. 

This separation, however, was the worst, destroying the original bridge; the glued and reglued splintered spruce under it; plus the splitting of two bridgeplates - the original and a second reinforcing one from a previous repair - under the soundboard; and splitting the soundboard itself this time around. 

It was also compounded by previous repairs that had to be "unfixed" this time around to make a proper new fix. The two bridgeplates, for example, had to be removed with an internally-positioned iron caul heated to 325F (PITA and dangerous for both the guitar and for me, check out my kevlar glove for the task). And once removed, replaced with one soundplate that was slightly larger, slightly thicker and cross-grained, all for structural integrity's sake. 

LVcyGmM.jpg?1

I'll share more as it's generated for the shop's Facebook page.

It looks like the guitar is in great hands!  Kids, don't try this at home.

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Here's what Danny himself says about #9 and its completion in 1978 ... "I built this guitar for Emmylou Harris, at least I wanted her to have it. Ricky Skaggs was one of her sidemen and he said if I came to the Willie Nelson Picnic in Dallas, he would get me backstage to show it to her. Maybe she would buy it. I went, Emmy liked it but liked her Gibson J200 more. She wanted me to inlay a rose on it which I did (it's now in the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville), Ricky took my guitar back to the hotel that night and picking it up the next day, he said Waylon Jennings said when I get back to Nashville, bring it to him and he would buy it. Well, I did, thrilled to sell a guitar to Waylon. About a week or so later, I was working at the Old Time Pickin' Parlour (music shop in Nashville) and I got a call from Johnny Cash's office. I had never met John so I was surprised. His assistant said she had John on the line patched in from New Jersey. He said, "Danny this is Johnny Cash and I have a guitar here that you made and it was given to me by Waylon Jennings last night at Wolf Trap and I think it's the finest guitar I've ever played and I want you to make one for my wife June, a little smaller and a little less black than this one," which I did. He played this guitar on his (prime time televised) Christmas Special in 1978 with Kris Kristofferson and Steve Martin, and on his Spring Special. He also played it on his 25th Anniversary album." 

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