Check out my latest find . . .

[mshilarious]

Picked up this sorely abused instrument yesterday . . . it started life as a bouzouki, until someone got the great idea it would make a good banjo. So they reslotted the nut and bridge deeply, added a zero fret and best of all, put a nail at the 5th fret in lieu of a 5th tuning peg Also, the pickguard is rather rudely missing, the frets were filed flat, with file marks still quite visible, the headstock routing looks like it was done with a drill, and the scrolling on the top looks like it was done with a magic marker . . . but I'm a sucker for a bowl back, and in spite of all its abuse, it sounds pretty good, has a nice sounding top.

So I'll reroute the headstock, refret, cut a new nut and bridge, completely strip and refinish the thing, and probably drop in new tuning pegs, maybe add some dot inlays and I'd like to try purfling . . . I want to do something with the soundhole, but it's a funny shape, not sure I'm up to that

I am notorious for never finishing projects (OK I finished the RAGE!), so I promise to keep you updated with my progress

 

[mshilarious]

Some closeups . . . here's the headstock, with the bad routing, zero fret and nut

 

[mshilarious]

The neck, with red dot stickers, random nail holes, and nail in the 5th fret

 

[mshilarious]

Closeup of fretwork and scrollwork

 

[travelin travis]

is the fingerboard stained in the darker sections?

 

[mshilarious]

And finally the bridge, with deep slots, and a nail AND a screw used as string retainers!

 

[mshilarious]

is the fingerboard stained in the darker sections?

Yeah it is. I think that might be original. At some point, the fingerboard was lacquered--badly, as fingerprints are visible in the lacquer but I think the dark stain--it's actually black--is original. There is some chipping at the 3rd fret which shows unstained wood underneath.

 

[timboZ]

Did they pay you to take it away?

 

[travelin travis]

those frets look horrible! what exactly are the plans for this thing? a built in tube amp?

 

[travelin travis]

somebody call a doctor, it's got a freak nut!

 

[mshilarious]

Did they pay you to take it away?

Nah, the store owner is a nice guy, lets me play all his instruments all the time while my kids are in back taking lessons, and I don't think he gets a cut of the lessons . . . anyway, he wanted to fix it up himself but I wanted it more than he did, so I paid $50. I think it will end up a lot nicer than the Pakistani instruments of similar type, of which I have a few . . . a mandolin, a harp, a lute. My harp is OK but the woods on this are nicer than the mandolin or lute I have.

Boy, I should start a thread about the lute I have . . . also not done This was one of the $400 Paki-made 8-course jobbies that somebody decided would make a GREAT guitar, so they replaced the pegs with electric guitar machine heads (after randomly reaming out and drilling new pegholes), deeply slotted the nut, replaced the nylon tied frets with metal frets, but didn't finish . . . that project is stalled as Stew-Mac doesn't carry a big enough bone blank for a new nut, and the headstock looks like Swiss cheese I think I picked that off eBay for $125

 

[MrStitch]

OMG.... Call a doctor is right. Send that thing to the ER.

I'd like to see what you come up with when it's all done.... would be pretty amazing to see if you can breathe new life into that beauty.