Friday, January 1, 2016

Reviving an old Decca



I spent the Christmas Holiday having my ass kicked by a cold, after sleeping for three days I was ready to start a project. Enter the Decca...
I got this guitar from a friend who is selling my CBGs in his store, I don't know what it is about these old guitars but I think they are cool. In the 1980s when I actually played you couldn't give these away. Now they sell for hundreds of dollars.

This is what I started with,
 I ended up only using the body and neck. Nothing else was worth saving.

No electrics and the bridge is missing the saddle. 

One of the tuners is broken off and the nut is missing. 

The old inline 6 tuners above with the replacements below. 

I got lucky with the tuners, they fit like they were meant to be on there. 


The picture kind of distorts things, the replacement bridge was a drop in replacement. 

The tailpiece came with the bridge, the original was fine but would have made the new bridge look out of place. New and shiny wins this time. 


The original pick up was a surface mount and I couldn't find a replacement in my price range. I ordered a set of Soap bar pick ups and carved out a couple pockets to accept them. 



I had seen this done somewhere, an old record used as a pick guard. Since I was able to find a Decca record I thought it was a fitting replacement. 

A little carving, cursing and thinking and this is what I ended up with. 


It was a fun project. An old guitar saved from destruction.