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The Ruining
By the winter of 2009, my venerable 1976 Guild F-512 12-string was in need of some serious attention. This guitar was the recipient of thirty-three years of heavy usage. It badly needed a neck reset (it had needed a neck reset for several years). The back of the neck was worn through to bare wood in places.
The finish on the soundboard was a mess, a combination of extensive travel, hauling it in and out of a variety of climates for decades and simple wear and tear. In places it was gooey from sweat and had chipped, crazed, cracked or worn off sufficiently to warrant a refinish.
I was continuously busy and, ask any who knew me back then, I never really liked working on my own guitars. I contacted a local guitar repair shop. The proprietor had worked for a well-respected local luthier.
That luthier had done some excellent setup work for me on a couple of my guitars a few years earlier, but had indicated to me at the time that he was trying to get away from the business for health reasons. I conveyed my desire(s) regarding my 12-string to this former colleague of his, who I remembered. He demonstrated a knowledge of the issues. We talked about making some corrections and I entrusted the guitar to him.
One year later, after many, many phone calls, my 12-string was returned to me.
My 1976 Guild F-512 - Ruined!
The fretboard had been reduced to little more than half of its original thickness. The entire guitar was now spray tinted a vomitous hue of mustard yellow. Apparently, in an attempt to deal with the "sticky" lacquer issues, he/they had hand-sanded various portions of the old finish and made no attempt to conceal the color change(s).
Most affected was the soundboard, which had quite obviously been sanded using fingertips instead of a sanding block. The high and low spots were glaringly apparent, indicating the varying thickness of Spruce. In some places the soundboard was now paper-thin.
The Makeover
Without going into details, after many conversations and heavy consideration, I determined there was little to no recourse option available to me. The entire scenario was screaming Caveat Emptor and I was stuck with an instrument that was in worse condition than when I started. The options before me were fairly simple:
Do nothing. I could attempt to live with the results of such a poor decision on my part.Replace the guitar. Yeah, No! Do not underestimate the power of nostalgia! Too many memories.Start over. Rebuild the guitar.
Of course I had to make it right, as I was unwilling to live with this guitar in such condition - a condition I felt entirely responsible for, having made such a bad decision in entrusting my guitar to someone else.
The soundboard had essentially been destroyed from hand sanding. The mustard yellow tinting was definitely ‘creative’, at best, the only reasonable explanation for which would be the presence of consciousness-altering chemicals during the artistic portion of the endeavor (this, of course, was never admitted to).
Lesson learned ... the hard way! From now on, no more outsourcing.
My 12-string was getting a makeover. At this point, that meant adding a new soundboard. I would take the opportunity to tastefully dress up my guitar. I added Paua inlay around both the soundhole and the perimeter of the soundboard.
With the top off, it is a perfect opportunity to clean up the inside of the box. Like many guitar shops back in the 70s, Guild used fabric tape on the sides to reinforce them against cracks. Over time the tape may shrink or curl or seven shift (due to undue heat). I left the tape, but secured it all back down, properly.
The soundboard was braced 100% 70s Guild. The tape on the sides stayed (since re-building this guitar, I prefer to brace the sides).
The old fretboard was a total loss, so that meant replacing it completely, with Guild block inlays and railroad tracks purfling.
It was necessary to re-do the neck geometry, properly this time.
The old bridge was ruined, so it also needed to be replaced.
At this point, there was no sense in trying to save any of the old binding; it was easier to just re-bind the entire guitar.
Original equipment on my F-512 include the Rosewood back and sides along with the neck, headplate and tuners. Everything else was replaced.
Renewed 1976 Guild F-512 - Front
Renewed 1976 Guild F-512 - Back
The Fret Job
A little less than 2 years after the makeover, I pulled the Nickel frets off and re-fretted the guitar with EVO Gold fretwire (a super-hard material and tough on my tools, but really pretty stuff).
Fretboard with EVO Gold Frets
I fashioned a brand new bone nut and compensated saddle to replace the TUSQ I had used earlier, and adjusted the action as low as I could get it for my style of playing.
New Bone Nut
The Tuners
I replaced the ancient and very heavy Grover Rotomatics with the Sperzel Open-Back Trim-Lok tuners. I special ordered them in a black and gold color combination. The Sperzel tuners are fraction of the weight of most other locking tuners, they perform with precision, and I find them visually stunning!
Sperzel Open-Back Trim-Lok Tuners
Guild F-512 with Sperzel Tuners
The Renewal
My 1976 Guild F-512 was successfully renewed for another several decades of enjoyment.
UPDATE 2026 : It has been 14 years since my 12-string underwent its makeover. As you might hope, this fifty (50) year-old Guild is just as pretty and sounds just as rich today as it did, then. Most importantly, this was the guitar that officially spawned my "Makeover" endeavors. It has a very special place amongst my collection.
My Renewed 1976 Guild F-512
