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Thread: 1981 Sobell Cittern back in business

  1. #1

    Default 1981 Sobell Cittern back in business

    Happy new year to you all. Those of you who follow me on Facebook will have seen this already - over the Christmas holidays a chap came down from the north of Australia and dropped off a rather battered and crusty 1981 Sobell 10 string big cittern.

    The tail block had separated from the ribs, and the tailpiece seemed to be holding it all together. The top stuck out beyond the sides, the binding and purfling were crushed. The top was very distorted, the top was cracked near the neck and soundhole. The neck varnish was wrecked and very unpleasant to touch. In short, it was a mess.

    The owner wanted the instrument "restored" but after a bit of a chat we could see the best thing to do was to make if sound and playable once again. These instruments are not as easy as a violin to work on or take apart, so we had to be pragmatic. The first job was to fix the tail block. If that couldn't be done, there was not point in doing the rest,

    Thankfully, the tail came apart and went back together nicely. I stripped the refinished the neck, smoothing out an old repair (a broken headstock) that was rather lumpy. And de crusted the fretboard, levelled and reprofiled the frets.

    The whole thing took a fair bit of time but the results have been excellent if I say so myself.

    The fretboard before:


    After:


    The neck before:


    After:



    The back and sides before:


    The top after fixing the tail, but prior to reinforcing it and repacing the damaged binding:


    Nigel
    https://www.nkforsterguitars.com/ins...rish-bouzouki/
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

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