This is such a cool story!
In the early 1950's, Arlie hand made two matching electric guitars. It was his attempt to woo a young lady who became his wife when she was only 16. They've been married now for 58 years. While their marriage has survived the decades well, unfortunately, one of the guitars had to be sold to pay bills and the other guitar fell into serious disrepair. Because he is in poor health, something that was on Arlie's "Bucket List" was to hear and play his beloved guitar again.
When he brought me his electric guitar, it was unplayable and in pieces. The pick ups in it were ones he had HAND WOUND himself and he wanted them saved. His custom hand-made pick guard was broken and the electronics were too corroded to salvage. The frets had years of wear and the bridge was missing.
I definitely had some work to do! I made a new bridge, replaced the pots and caps, dressed the frets and board, made a new pick guard, repaired the tuners and did some nut work. The guitar came out playing beautifully despite a very thick neck - there weren't truss rods when this was built!
When Arlie and his wife came to pick up their guitar, the look on his face when he played it made all of the time and energy that went into this repair totally worth it. I am now bringing his 51 Martin D18 back into playing condition... but that's another story! It's just so great to be able to meet such an amazing couple and a privilege to do some work for them.