Gibson Solid Body Mandolin Restoration
- Reclaiming a Gibson mandolin pickup from Hurricane Katrina.
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Surviving Hurricane Andrew in 1992 taught me that Mother Nature could be cruel at times. She doesn't cut you a break because you're poor. She won't cut you a deal because you're rich. In her eyes, we humans are all are equal. So, like everyone else I was heartbroken as I watched Hurricane Katrina batter New Orleans in the summer of 2005. It didn't take long to understand that this city that has been such an important part of the evolution of American music and culture was never going to be the same.
So when Amy Hopkins of Stringed Instrument Repair in New Freedom, PA said she was doing restorations for poor working musicians in the New Orleans area that had lost their instruments to flood damage I was moved. Many of these musicians had lost everything they owned. Without their instruments they couldn't work. I found her compassion inspiring so I asked her to send any pickups that needed work my way and I would do my very best to restore each one to original condition.
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The first New Orleans pickup to come in was a sad looking little Gibson mandolin pickup. I had never seen one of these up close before. It's essentially a 1960's Gibson P-90 but it's been chopped off. |
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Well, that and it's been sitting in a bathtub full of toxic sludge for weeks. This soap bar could use a bar of soap. I don't know if it was years of hard playing or the effects of Katrina Crud that eroded these pole screws so badly. Likely it was a lot of both. I want to reuse as many of the original part as possible but these poles are shot. |
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Time to start taking notes. First things first. Check for vitals. Wow! 8.85k ohms on the ol' meter. Great!! That means we can keep the original windings. Maybe things aren't as bad as they look. |
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Next, check the magnetic polarity so things go back together properly. |
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Now we take it all apart and see what we have. That's not always as easy as it sounds. The poles were stuck fast and one even twisted off while taking it apart. But I know a few tricks and was able to get it out anyway. |
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Yuck… There are older and fouler things than funk in the deep places of this pickup... |
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Ooohhhhh! I told you things might get ugly didn't I? Now THAT is some funk! George Clinton ain't got nothin' on this funk. Dr Funkinstine himself ain't seen funk like this! Hey Man…. Smell my pickup…The Katrina Crud has caused so much pitting on this spacer that it will have to be replaced. |
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So.... Now that we have reduced this rare vintage pickup to a useless pile of parts… What to do now? I think I'm gonna start with cleaning the cover. The cover is a type of two ply plastic that Gibson used to use for all sorts of applications. Nifty ain't it? The crud shouldn't have stained it too badly. So what do you think we should use to clean this impossible to replace bit of musical history? Alcohol? Naphtha? Buffing compound? Those are all interesting ideas but I'm going to start with the mildest detergent I know of... |
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Tongue oil! I know I know. It seems childish but saliva is actually a great detergent. It has a lot of enzymes and the right pH for cleaning resinous coatings and plastic surfaces. Fine art restorers have known this for a long time. It is always my first choice when trying to clean crud off of a surface. (Tongue oil! Hehehehe I crack me up) |
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The top of the cover and the plastic bobbin get the spit shine too. Then I buff them with some clean, dry, denim to finish it off. Nothing short of replacing the cover will make the pickup look new. That's not what I'm trying to do here anyway. I want the owner of this mandolin to get it back the way they remembered it. High mileage but well cared for. |
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Next I'll try to clean up these magnets. Although they look bad I think a little Scotch Bright will get most of the work done. |
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Next in line is the brass plate. As ugly as this is I don't expect it to be much trouble. Scotch Bright (and a little elbow grease) to the rescue again!! This should get most of the crud off. Good old Brasso should help bring the shine back to it. |
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There, that's starting to look much better. I can almost see myself. Wait… is that a good thing? |
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This before picture shows how Gibson uses tape on its coils. This tape helps protect the coil a little and helps in insolating their solder joints. You can see how nasty the tape on this pickups is. I keep this vintage style bobbin tape on hand so let's just replace the tape. |
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While it's apart we can inspect the solder joints mostly for my own curiosity than anything else. They look good. Many people get confused when trying to understand how Gibson connects that tiny coil wire to the leads. Hopefully these pictures will clear things up a bit. They just solder a wire to the coil wires then wrap the joint in tape so it doesn't short out. While somewhat cheesy to look at, this method has worked for over half a century and held up fine on this pickup. |
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Now let's put some nice new tape on here. It's important to put the tape back on it the same direction that it came off. That way, should someone have to work on this pickup in the future it will stop at the solder joint, as it should. When working with this delicate wire predictability is a nice thing. |
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Ok, It's time to tackle that nasty spacer. It's going to have to be replaced but this is an odd and rare little pickup and replacement parts aren't readily available. Hmmmm, what's a boy to do? |
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Why he makes a new spacer from an old Gibson P-90 spacer that what he does. Yes! That should do nicely! |
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Just drill one more hole… |
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Clip it off and hit it with the file and there you have it! Good as new and ready for action. |
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Ok, So we have cleaned up the bobbin, cover, frame plate and the magnets. We have some new poles screws made a new spacer. Time to pickup up the pieces. |
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The whole thing goes back together the same that way it came apart. While I'm at it I want to replace that lead with a new one. The old one looks like The Crypt Keeper's shoelace. |
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While installing the new pole screws I noticed that they are little too easy to turn for my taste. So I very carefully apply a bit of CA glue to the plastic threads to firm things up a bit and halt any further deterioration. The Krazy Glue won't stick well to the smooth, gold plated screws so once it's set up the screws will turn but will be nice and tight. |
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Next I pot the pickups to stabilize the coil. Don't try this at home on the kitchen stove. Being able to maintain a constant and proper temperature is essential to potting pickups. Overheating the pickups is dangerous to you and the plastic pickups bobbin and the wire insulation. It's not something the novice should try and heating large amounts of wax is a good way to burn your house down. Let an experienced luthier or pickup maker pot your pickups. Most of them will do it for less than it will cost you for the wax. |
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After it has cooled down it's time to put the cover back on. |
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Then tape down the edge of the cover with the same tape that Gibson used to use years ago. |
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And she's ready to head home. |
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It's a far cry from where we started. |
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I hope that these pictures help you understand that even in extreme cases some one who knows what they are doing can save your pickups. And remember, the more obscure and unpopular your instrument is the harder it will be to buy a replacement pickup. |