2010-10 Hopewell Furnace 1

Comment by Ian Bell on October 9, 2010 at 10:49am

Hey Mark - what's that great looking guitar?

Comment by Mark Ehrsam on October 9, 2010 at 12:19pm

Hello Ian - thanks for your comment. I bought that guitar years ago for $25; the neck was separated from the body and it had no bridge, nut or tuners. Someone had done a terrible job trying to add fingerboard inlays. No label or other markings, either, but it is ladder-braced so I'm guessing it's early 20th century. It also has a one-piece mahogany back.

I refinished the body as close to a vintage color as I could, filled in the butchered inlays, painted the back of the neck black, made a bone nut and installed a Stew-Mac pyramid bridge. I traded a gold humbucker out of my parts box for a set of old tuners which were a perfect fit even when I installed them upside down so the worm gear is above the post. Strung it with Nylguts and by George it had a good sound! Next step is to build a coffin case for it.

A note for the purists...normally I play fingerstyle but I broke the middle finger on my right hand in August, so plectrum style is going to have to do for a few more weeks.

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