Coming up is the restoration of an 18th Century guitar that was found abandoned on the sidewalk of a street. Let's dive into the process of repairing and transforming a broken and disfigured guitar into its former glory!
Just for clarification, obviously the opening scene is a reenactment. This guitar was found many years before by a customer on the side of the exact street in the opening scene and has been in storage till the restoration of this video. Hope you enjoyed!
This guitar is a 20th century instrument I believe. The design is meant to evoke a different era, but based on its size and construction, it is not from the 1700's
Modern guitar is indeed a late invention, but not the word. A guitar in the 18th century would have been a cittern (a type of lute), with typically 10 strings tuned to C E GG cc ee gg.
Would be great if you changed the title to the accurate date as described below by @twoodfrd. Feels very click-baity, and as many users note, one look at the guitar makes it easy to dismiss it as an 18th-century model.
My thoughts exactly. 18th century? NO WAY... A bit of clickbait, or at least someone who doesn't know historical nomenclature works. With its metal frets, geared tuners, and oak-leaf rosette design it's early 20th century in my opinion.
Yes, it's certainly not 18th century and I think even 1900 is a bit too early. They did have guitars with slotted heads and geared tuners back then but they were quite rare. How about mid 1920s and onwards? But did you look closely at the tuners at 11:39? A prewar German guitar would almost certainly have had D.R.G.M tuners with small round buttons. They may be later replacements of course but similar guitars were made in other central European countries too, Czhechoslovakia and Austria in particular, and in the East Block countries they kept making guitars in this style well after ww ii. Thre frets at 6:07 seem also seem to be a little bit on the heavy side for a pre-war German although it's not totally out of style and again, they may be later replacements. Btw, those lute-shaped guitars were more than sentimental nostalgia. The Germans never stopped making them so they are part of an unbroken tradition going all the way back to medieval times.
Artisans like you are precious for saving and handing down artistic jewels like this to posterity. Bravo, we Italians love those who love art and music.
I thought this was going to be one of those awful restoration videos that make you cringe. This exceeded my expectations. Thank you for the care you put into this restoration
You have to cringe when he uses Bottled hide glue. Fish Glue is just as easy to use and has a shelf life of 10 years . Bottled hide glue is like chewing gum when you try to remove it .
I cringed plenty. I am a mere sax player, but I enjoy watching videos of guitar repair and restoration by luthiers. Lots of them. Well, maybe it was not worth much. 🤔
Apart from a cowbell, I can't play a musical instrument to save my soul, but to see something like this and to be able to bring back something so beautiful, visually, just as much as the sound that it gives, truly is a beautiful thing to see. Glad to see if this was able to be saved! It was the first time that I saw any of your videos, so this was quite a pleasure! Thank you!
I love the gentle way the restoration was performed. Many masters don’t understand the meaning of the word and redo the object entirely, making it look like new. But the true meaning of this procedure is to preserve history as cautiously as possible. Great job
Absolutely amazing workmanship. I am glad to see the this type of work being continued, the patience the luthier has is amazing! It warms my heart to see an instrument brought back instead of being discarded, and its awesome this art is still alive and well!
The narration takes me back to all those public information videos we were forced to watch in school, it si downright painful! Glad to see that beautiful guitar saced, though!
Yeah! So I want to see a well working restorer bring things to its best again! Thank you! Just right before I had to watch one who did it so bad! I couldn't watch it to end. I once restored an old lute guitar which was made in 1903 to 1905. I took bone glue I cooked on my own and I but a long rope to bring the pieces together. Within a month it became my favorite instrument for all the years arthrosis let me play it. Some times I do it for some 20 minutes but then pain stops me for about up to 6 weeks. So finally I bought a keyboard I now learn to play - it's music I need and I try to get different tones. I once played a recorder, an ocarina, an alt-saxophone, some drums, from an irish drum to an african voice-drum, over bagpipes and pipes without, a shawm (shalm, Schalmei in German), a ukulele, guitarlele, electric cuitar, my concert guitar as lead guitar, played by me , using notes, not just accords, was my favorite instrument ever. I couldn't sell it, hope my son will use it later on. Sometimes for some days he lents it from me to „have some notes“ as he says. I listen to his melodies: he's got a perfect pitch. Really. My lute guitar is fine now and although you can see its age you say its an old lady. I love it. It took about 6 months to read all books about restoring a guitar. Then I phoned to a restorator and talked about bone glue. He was delighted. I filmed my restoration and let him watch. I sadly delated after. I was a clown to do so! I know. But the old lady sings in my arms finally. All the best. Be blessed! Ilove music! Thanks for your video!❤
Very nice job! The brass saddle isn't doing it any favours tho. I'll share a tip for addressing cracks 7:00 Put a generous bead of glue, then use a small suction cup, like you might find on a window ornament, to push it in. Warming the glue helps. Have plenty of wet and dry rags ready to clean all the excess, and gently clamp across. Thanks for sharing the video and cheers from Vancouver.
My deceased friend Don Drews, a luthier, helped me to appreciate the skill needed to rebuild, upgrade, or set up correctly, stringed instruments. Thank you for this video. I hope the precious art is never lost.
The great care you put into this restoration of this old acoustic guitar is testament to your skill. I realise this video is a reenactment that you mentioned and pinned, but all the same it is a magnificent demonstration depicting your great care, skill and patience. Thank you so much for this from Wendi in the UK. 🌻
Yes, they did have guitars of that shape then. They were smaller and with fewer strings than today, but the guitar is this video is a fake. Also, 18th century guitars had gut frets, not metal.
I have seen countless instrument restorations on RU-vid, and they are either some luthier/repairman who decided to (unskillfully) video his (skillful) work, or some clickbaity channel erasing the history and charm of gorgeous old instruments. This video was neither; the work itself was skillful and respectful of the instrument's past, and the video was well-produced, complete with corny intro. I could go on forever about this, but I am lazy and you probably don't want to read my ramblings. Bravo, and please keep doing this. It gladdens my heart to see these old instruments brought back to life without erasing the life they had before.
Selmer Maccaferri Django model guitar is the answer to avoid the top cracks caused by the tension of the strings , i mean , if you want to avoid the tension of the strings cracks the top of the guitar , you should put a tailpiece to compensate the tension of the strings . Greetings from Mexico and sorry for my bad english!!
Wow I watch a lot of "restoration" videos and in many cases the end results are worse than the starting point! Amazing job well done! And the tone was so much better than expected too!
This guitar is from the 1700s? With metal frets, geared tuners, and an oakleaf motif in the rosette? Not a chance; it's early 20th century German Wandervogel period as far as I can tell. Still, nice restoration, especially with the cracks.
do us a favor ... it is an old guitar with new classical type strings and not the original steel strings. Just shut up with fancy words like 'timbre' that real guitarists don't use.
You will shut up someone else's mouth. Yes, it was impossible to put metal strings on such a fragile old guitar, which have a stronger tension, unlike nylon. But no one has yet canceled the timbre of a musical instrument, as well as sustain. People value timbre and spend money, often a lot of money, to purchase a guitar with an excellent sound timbre, and the external effects and unsightliness in some ways of the instrument take a back seat. The sound, that is, the timbre, is valued.@@DougHinVA
Letting aside the great work, kudos for your work on the sharpness of your tools... (I especially love the puukko, by the way)... I am a guitarist myself, and I can always appreciate an instrument being given the love and respect it deserves... Good choice on the nylon strings (Part of the tension problem that originally caused the cracks on the top IMHO) it will settle the vibration and sonority of the top in a couple of weeks. Let her take her own time. Great work, man! Cheers!
This has got to be one of the realest restorations I've seen. You did a fantastic job preserving the patina, maybe a tiny bit to good, but hey, I'm not the luthier.
Quite a very nice looking Parlor guitar might be a great choice to resurrect it back to playable guitar. Love the sound hole rosette done in wood and a beautiful bridge. I’d be proud to place it on my living room wall an play it when my hands feel easier to move my playing days are few now tried surgery with disastrous consequences.
It would have been interesting to run a snake camera down the hole to see the inside. Also, I have serious doubts that this is a guitar from the 1700s, if it is then it definitely wasn't found on a random trash pile on the street.
I clicked and for a minute waited for the dude who did a ''restoration'' on an ''old fender''. Wiping off the fake painted ''rust'' and dirt that he has previously put on it.
I'm a big fan of making things over and keeping them useable. Some years ago my brother and I refurbished our deceased father's guitar. It was just an ancient Sears Silvertone hollow body but today it has its original visual brilliance and lives in a handsome purple-felt lined case.
Glad you were able to do that with your dads old instrument. Silvertones werent great off the shelf but could be made to have pretty good action. I'm sure it means a lot to you.
Many commenters should have read the first comment by the video creator: this was a reenactment. So they had to use another sad old guitar to reenact the repair. They were not trying to deceive us. I enjoyed the video, because it reminds me of the good feeling I've gotten when doing repairs on some old folk instruments, that I've given it new life in a way. It's a work of love regardless if the instrument sounds awesome or just hangs on the wall.
Its a pretty old girl and as a few have mentioned circa 1900, sounds pretty much like a cheap kids uke, but great work just the same, always learning something from you, thank you. I personally would have put on some super-light bronze/silicone strings just to see if you'd get a bit more clean sound out of it, just a thought:) Tis a beauty wall-hanger if nothing else.
I had the privilege of playing one very similar after a gig/private party the decorative rosette was partially missing but it played and sounded so sweet. I tried to buy it from the couple who threw the party but they said it was his wifes grandfathers & wouldn't part with it.
Very interesting, the main schools of restoration are repair (consolidation) which maintain the historical aspect, age and recomposition (anastylosis) which aim at restoring the function, in this case of the instrument. Here the luthier takes a back seat.
@Cush The luthier took a back seat, I said... maybe keeping metal strings, maybe some work on the action. These guitars were not so good, I think - I mean the sound.
best guess made in Europe possibly Germany around 1910, the ornate sound hole is probably why the repairer is suggesting 18th century. Nice repair job, i think others would probably have removed the top and hide glued from the interior.
