This is an old beauty. The make is G. Puglisi Reale & Figli, circa 1900s. The bridge was lifting badly and it had a lot of loose braces inside. I used hide glue (made from animal hides) for this restoration, since that was the common adhesive at the time and will have the same tonal quality as the sounds of the past. Glues play a major role in stringed instruments. They allow for flexibility between wood fibers when they move under string pressure. The bridge was difficult to remove and plug the string holes up tight with hard spruce. The glue on the bottom of the swirly mustache bridge was very coarse and crystalized, which is common with animal product glues. I milled a new saddle slot in the bridge for the true saddle position for the intonation. The bridge pins are really harp pins and are made of ebony with abalone dot inlays. The frets are brass and as you may know, brass has a unique harmonic quality, since all horns and bells are made of brass due to its beautiful sound. Brass frets wear faster than conventional nickel but can last long, so long as the strings are nylon or sheep gut. The nut was the wrong spacing and made of nylon. I did some research and found out most of these instruments use an ebony nut and saddle so thats what I made them out of. This guitar sounds great and has a nice punch to it. It is at 100% and plays very well for its age. #petillo #petilloguitars #luthier #guitarmaker #guitarbuilder #antique #restoration #restored #bridge #bridgepins #harppins #martinguitars #gibsonguitars #parlorguitars #nylonstring #brass #brassfrets #ebony #hideglue #gpuglisiandrealefigli #byhand #millingmachine #craftsmanship #handmade
Posted on: Fri, 02 Jan 2015 01:31:55 +0000
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