A Gibson RD-Artist Cracked Body Repair

Again, I started a repair job and forgot to take the "Before" pictures.  Here is a Gibson RD-Artist guitar that was purchased on ebay.com that had two splits running through the body.  One split started just below the strap button and ran through the control compartment and the hole of the 3 position switch towards the bridge.

The second one was located lower down and ran from the edge of the body through the three control holes in a straight line.

To close up the splits in the body, two pieces of wood had to be cut to the shape of the body to give the clamps a platform.  This would allow the pressure from the clamps to close up the splits in the body at the time they are to be glued closed.

The pot and the 3 position switch were installed to help line up the glued edges of the splits while the main clamp was tightened up.

Next, all the scratches and dings in the back of the body had to be addressed.  Out came the artist's brush and the can of Nitro, to spot and fill in the damaged finish.  There was one spot that had to be air brushed as the finish was worn a little too thin to leave go out of the shop that way.

Here is a closer look at how nice the finish on the back of the guitar turned out.

Some interesting reflections in a great finish job.
 

The head stock needed a little tender loving care by bringing out the beauty of the fine factory work Gibson had done producing this instrument.

Here the artist's brush was at it again filling in the scratches and dings as well as the area where the splits were.

Here is a closer look at how things turned out.  The splits are all closed up again.  New switches, knobs,  and controls were the added touch to an ebay.com adventure.  Which really paid off nicely for its owner.  It looks as good as new again!

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