Official Luthiers Forum!

first off I would like to Thank whoever it was that activated my account and allowed me to be part of the family, solid deal Thanks man!.. name is Dean

I am from Seattle, played guitar for about 2-3 years in my teens on and off till my last axe finally got stolen, I had an origional 335 sunburst I bought off my best friends brother for $20 when I was 13 yrs old, I earned the money working in the hulls of fishing boats in Everett Wa. the Voyager and the Wisconsin, shoveled many tons of hake for $1.50 and hour in the evenings, ate a lot of fish blood guts and juice..

anyways, yea I was living with my aunt at the time and when they moved my cuz took it with him when they moved to ballard, I saw it 3 or 4 times then it was just gone, a year or so later working at Sambos in Ballard I saw a guitar in the window at which if I remember right5 was American Music, not 100% this was like 1979 around 1st and yessler? hmm..

the guitar was a strat copy made by Lyle, sunburst, it had the typical strat setup cept it had built in phase, distortion and one other can't remember, that guitar was hard to hang onto, everyone was using it to play live shows, they preferred it over the les pauls and charvell 6's? it made the rounds anyways I had it living with my brother and his girlfriend and came home one day and my bro says he man your guitar is gone.. likely story, more like you ran out of drug money..

so that was the last of my guitar days until about 4 months ago I picked up an SG jobber that plays real well and sounds good, crappy pups and whatnot but it stays in tune and plays nice action, then for my birthday I picked up a Washburn acoustic, decent for what it is horrible finish in regards to well finish and fret job, horrible, I can shave with em.. anyways plays OK and sounds OK picked up an amp and then a $50 classical, put some bone hardware on it and it plays,

last month then picked up a decent squire on the cheap which I will be putting a little money into, not much just a loaded pickguard, I actually like the rosewood neck (I am still a novice player) reminds me of the Lyle..

I then picked up a decent Epiphone classical I am working on at the moment cleaning up and installing new nut/saddle, I am getting an Ivory nut and saddle for it and some good strings call it good, YES the legal stuff all the peperwork and so on..

my last guitar purchase is what brings me to this fine establishment, a 1944 Suzuki Violin Company 12 string acoustic, F-180, VERY rare, in fact if you can find another one just like it (this one is bone stock cept maybe the tuners) and you can verify it is the identical I'll buy you a drink, heck I'll send you a bottle..

yup i have been looking and there is one I have seen pics of but thats it, the pics are on a blog but no response from whoever posted the pics, it appears to be just like mine but in better shape..

I say this is a 1944 peice because by all indications the first 2 letter of the serial number indicate year made, I have seen other "F" series 6 strings by Suzuki and other articles that confirm this, am I 100% positive, absolutely not, the guy I bought it from said his father bought it for him when he was a kid and he's had it for 38 yrs, the store they bought it from the merchant said the guy that brought it in said he has owned to for 10 years but didn't say if he bought it new or use or where..

anyway the age is significant only to the point of construction, how the bridge was installed, the neck, the frets, hoping i can get some help here on that sort of stuff? many will prolly think its not worth the effort or the money but for me it is and I want ot do it f nothing more than have a project and learn about guitars and what makes them tick..

a few clues to the age, the genuine Ivory nut that is flaking and yellow, the tuners are at least 60's style,were they upgraded? most likely, the manufacturers sticker, just the paper itself is an indication, still not 100% positive of its age, nor that it is a complete stock guitar..

could be that the neck has been replaced? dunno why I am here to get help identifying it and help with the restore project, the frets appear to be original and filed down to next to nothing and even then grooved, and the inlay, wow you have to see this, I've seen teeth in a crack heads grill not as buckled, get this, dood took tape and taped some inlay down then taped over the top? some of it protrudes at least 1/16th if not more?

and the SMOKE damage, OMG how bizzarre, if I can post a pic I will, I cleaned it all off but have pics, it was thick like a tar build up, NOT kidding you can see it in the pics.. and the smell... ugghhh

well thats it for now I want to start a help thread or whatever but I still need to read the rules and all that stuff but here are a couple pics of the Suzuki if I can post em, the black stuff on the fret board is tar!!!





nut



smoke much?

Hello, Dean,
While I can't answer your question, I'll take a moment to say welcome to the forum and keep your thread active until one of the experienced repair people chimes in to help you. Man...sorry to read about that 335!
Patrick

Welcome and Glad to have you ....

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If, indeed, the two digits are the year of production, it's significant to note that they probably don't refer to the Christian calendar, but the the year of the emperor's reign. Thus, 44 would be the forty-fourth year of the emperor, who, in this case was Hirohito, starting in 1926. Add 44 to 1926, and you get, of course, 1970.

Rare? I dunno. Maybe hard to find one exactly like that, but as far as I know there's not much demand.

The nut, by the way, looks more like decaying plastic than ivory, but it's hard to tell anything specific in those photos.

As to replacing the neck, I suppose anything is possible, but superbly unlikely on a budget imported guitar.

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While I'm not an expert on repairing nor have I ventured on repairing a guitar I would say you want to check the neck see if there is any damage on it.
Is anything splintered or unfinished on it? Same goes for the rest of the guitar.
Second you might want to unscrew the truss rod guard check and see if its hardwood or a steel rod.
If its a steel rod see if its rustic, while I don't know how that would effect the rod if it is you might have a hard time adjusting it.
So in that case if it is rusted I don't suggest trying to do so.

If the nut is not glued down and only pinned down by the strings then just take the strings off.
and your nut can be replaced with something else.
You also would be able to see the rod most likely if they didn't add a reinforcement of some kind.

That tar stuff depending on how thick it is might just come off with a razor and patience.
If it does I would sand over the removed tar after and finish it with a lacquer or fretboard oil.
If not you may have to use a small chisel and again practice patience.
I have a nasty gash on my thumb from being too aggressive on a neck.

Rough guess too if you check underneath the soundhole under light and see the braces if they are squared its a good sign they were machined out in china or some where else.
If not and they are rounded or angled it was probably hand built.

From the pics the guitar still has some shine but if you want you can always add a few more coats of lacquer and then sand it with wet-dry.

So like I said no experience repairing and I have yet to finish a completed guitar yet!
Its just an opinion the vets will probably have better more precise advice.

One question though, why is it I see 12 machine tuners and only six strings?

Couldn't tell ya what to look for to id it maybe under the soundhole toward the neck as some manufacturers do.