Guitar Hero

Curt Wilson Loves Guitars

And to many others who love guitars, especially classic old electric guitars, Curt Wilson is a hero. Curt combines his knowledge of epoxy and guitar anatomy with acute attention to detail and the skills of a surgeon to bring back to life guitars that should have played their last note.

This Gretsch Billy Zoom Silver Jet (above) is one good example. It had suffered a broken headstock. After meticulously cleaning and aligning fibers in the exposed end grain, he coated the ends with WEST SYSTEM 105/206 Slow Hardener®. By slowly adding clamping pressure he was careful not to squeeze all the glue out. He let it stay clamped for about twelve hours at 70° and then let it sit a couple of days over a heater duct before re-stringing the guitar. The Billy Zoom lives on.

Among other repairs to this ’67 Rickenbacker, the sheet inlay material on the neck was damaged and needed to be replaced. Curt used 105 Resin with 207 Special Clear Hardener™ mixed with natural mother of pearl shells. After cleaning out the cavities, he applied three layers of shells and epoxy followed by a clear coat. Curt covers many more repairs with lots of photos and videos on his Facebook page, Old School Guitar Repair & Lutherie.