Classical guitar restoration

 This is a classical guitar that was in a pretty bad shape. It's over 90 years old, handmade in Greece and it suffered from weak joints. The old glue that held the guitar together all this time , has lost its strength. Therefore, the back and top of the guitar, as well as the sides started  to come off.
 In order to put everything back in place, I used a very strong epoxy glue (yaght type) that is four times stronger than the original wood bond. To achieve a tight bond, I used several wood clamps !
 When everything was glued and tight, I was ready to deal with the guitar's other issues:
The rosewood fretboard was black but that's only beacause it had layers of dirt on it. I cleaned it up using a spatula at first(very carefully) and then some stain remover on a scarf.  I then reconditioned the fretboard using lemon oil.

 The frets were in a bad shape and they came back to life after a fret-leveling procedure. It was then ready to play! Or maybe not... The tuning keys were simply not working! Should I go crazy and put some new shiny tuning keys on a 90 year all-original guitar? No way, I had to make those keys turn again. So I dipped them in some vinegar and all the rust and dirt was gone. Then, I used some oil to make them turn smoothly and I placed them back on the guitar.














As for the finish of the guitar, the back was ok but the top has lost some large bits of paint. So I refinished the top using thick and strong clear coat paint. After that, I strung up the guitar using a set of low tension stings, et voila: It's alive!

"Making of" pictures: