A couple of years ago, I blogged about my oldest brother’s first guitar, an old Stella Harmony 12-string. Little did I know at the time, but that has been the most popular blog I have written. I have even had several offers from people wanting to buy my Stella Harmony.

Down through the years, though, it had started to show its age. The neck was slightly bowed and the finish was all caked with a thin layer of really tough grime. The frets, never very good to start with (for all the rest of the excellent quality that it was) really needed replacing; they were almost square in cross-section. It was rather difficult to move across such frets.

I had recently had some excellent work done on my two oldest mandolins by Jeff Glover, down at A. B. Stephens on Drake Avenue here in Huntsville. So I thought I would get Jeff to look at it. I have to say it turned into another success story!

Jeff looked it over and was very enthustiastic about restoring it. To me, that is an essential ingredient in instrument repair (or instrument building, or playing, or… you get the idea!)

He corrected the bow in the neck, and removed and replaced the frets; did a bit of inlay work, too. The most dramatic part, though, was in restoring the finish. Apparently, that crud that had collected on the guitar finish over the decades actually served to help preserve it. It had been stored in attics for much of it’s life, but there are no heat cracks in the finish, and I suspect that was due to the coating of crud. Jeff buffed it to a glossy finish – that must have been a joy to do.

Today, it plays and looks better than it has in many a year! I guess this sounds like a plug for Jeff Glover, and I suppose it is! Take a look at the pics.