Introduction and a Rebuild Project

[Eric Knapp]

Hello,

I'm a long time woodworker and I'm starting to think about building instruments. My interest is archtop guitars as I was a semi-pro jazz guitarist for a long time. I was a professional furniture maker decades ago before becoming a computer programmer. I still have my great shop of top equipment but it has been dormant for too long.

What's driving me is this destroyed guitar:

https://flickr.com/photos/65321225@N00/ ... 7371812321

I bought this from a guy who had it in the trunk of his car and drove into a lake while drunk. The guy got out but the guitar didn't. I believe it's from around 1938 and it's an Epiphone Triumph. It is a 17" body. The fretboard and neck not repairable, I believe. I was able to retrieve all the pearl inlay and I am intending to make a new neck.

I don't think I would call this project a restoration. It seems like a rebuild to me. Almost like a kit guitar from the past. My plan is to make reassemble the body, make a new neck, and refinish it. At this point it seems worthless as a collector's item and I don't think I want to try to make it look like an original. What are your thoughts on this? I really want to have a 7-string guitar and I think I'll make this into one.

I am seeking opinions from experienced builders on the feasibility of this effort. I also would like to hear your thoughts and of this kind of project. Any and all input is welcome.

Thanks,

-Eric

[Barry Daniels]

Welcome Eric. The Epi is going to be a challenging project. However, I do not agree that it has no collectible value. I would put it back together using as many of the original parts as possible, and definitely finish the guitar with a sunburst like the original. The neck does look pretty bad but it might be salvageable.

[Greg McKnight]

I think it's a very exciting project personally. I would love to find a really old archtop like that to dig into. No worry since it's not like you'll mess up and make it worse than it is now, right?

I'm sure you know more about these things than I do, but just looking it up on Wikipedia, it says the Masterbuilt was made only from 31-34, so it may be older than you think. Here are the specs from the site:

Triumph Masterbilt
1931-1934
Body:
Walnut (1931-1933)
Maple (1934)
Carved, book-matched spruce top
Arched back
Hand-bent hard maple or walnut rims
Segmented F-holes

Neck:
Solid maple neck with triple-ply center
South American Rosewood fingerboard with celluloid double diamond inlays
Maple headstock with plastic engraved veneer
Bone nut
25.5" scale
1.70" nut width
16.375" body width

Binding:
Pearl pyralin body binding

Hardware:
Nickel hardware
Adjustable rosewood bridge with trapeze tailpiece
Raised black pickguard

Colors:
Sunburst

[Greg McKnight]

1932 Epiphone Triumph Masterbilt

[Eric Baack]

I believe Epi's were a totally different animal back then. Considered to be a much higher end guitar then Epi's are today

[Eric Knapp]

Hi, guys, thanks for the encouraging replies. I found this registry for old Epiphones.

http://wiedler.ch/nyepireg/database.html

That indicates my Triumph was made in 1938. Some of the pictures on that site are an exact match of mine. Here's one:



I have those exact inlays and tailpiece. Do you guys think I could salvage the sunburst on the top and back? The sides will need to be refinished. I am thinking it might be possible to clean the top and back and add more lacquer. Would that be possible?

Thanks,

-Eric

[Barry Daniels]

Yes, that is a good approach if the finish in those areas is basically intact. This is called an "overspray".

[Eric Knapp]

Yes, that is a good approach if the finish in those areas is basically intact. This is called an "overspray".

Thanks, I'll try that first when I get to that point. That will probably be a long time from now, I suspect. I have no idea what I'm getting myself into, do I?

-Eric

[Brian Evans]

The only thing about reusing the neck is the truss rod, which is a "pusher" style that Epiphone used to get around the Gibson patent. It pushes up on the fret board to bow the neck back rather than pulling the back of the neck the way the Gibson style does. The adjuster is under the fretboard extension. You could pull it out and replace it with a modern acoustic guitar truss rod designed to be adjusted from the body end it you thought it through. I would completely refinish it as a new guitar. I might put a 7 fret neck on it, but that would forever brand it as a "re-make" rather than "restore" and would have an effect on value. I rarely sell guitars so value would be immaterial to me. I think you have an extremely doable project there, I don't think it would be hard to put that back together at all. Most restorations are hard due to a desire to do as little as possible, and retain as much of the original finish, wood, "stuff" as possible. You don't really have that issue, do you?

Edit: the Frequensator tailpiece is designed to have the long piece for the treble strings and the short piece for the bass strings. The idea is that the added string length reduces the amount of compensation needed at the bridge saddle for the bass strings. While the theory is correct, it's a bit of a moot point because you just put the amount of compensation needed in anyway, so who cares? It is a great looking tailpiece, though, I have one on my 1946 Zephyr.

[Michael Lewis]

A few years ago I had an Epiphone Broadway from the same era in my shop in slightly better condition than this one. I tried saving the flaking finish by spraying lacquer thinner on it to melt it back onto the wood but it was not soluble in lacquer thinner. It turned out to be an oil varnish, which requires a different approach than lacquer to repair and finishing.

[Eric Knapp]

A few years ago I had an Epiphone Broadway from the same era in my shop in slightly better condition than this one. I tried saving the flaking finish by spraying lacquer thinner on it to melt it back onto the wood but it was not soluble in lacquer thinner. It turned out to be an oil varnish, which requires a different approach than lacquer to repair and finishing.

Thank you, Michael. That's a very good tip that will save me a lot of time. I love your guitars, btw. So great.

-Eric