Very thin Verithin progress

I should have posted this about two weeks ago because it’s been with me for that long, but I put off writing about the Hofner Verithin I’m restoring because it’s not complete yet. As you can see, I still don’t have pickups and volume/tone controls for it, and the tailpiece leaves something to be desired because it’s a little too big, has the wrong color, and the design is wrong – I’ll tell you more about that in a bit. But I thought I’d give you an update to give you an idea of how the project is going along.

About that tailpiece: the first one Jingo made was a little too narrow, so I had him make another one. Unfortunately he was fresh out of black rosewood, and all that was left was the light-brown part of a batch he had. Since it’s the same wood, I felt it was OK; besides, I could always stain it black and no one would be the wiser. Unfortunately Jingo didn’t think through every aspect of the design, so I ended up with a tailpiece that needs to be dismantled from the guitar before I can change strings! It’s bottom-loading, but there’s no space at the bottom for the ball end of the string to move. I discovered this when the high E string broke and to my dismay found that I couldn’t get it off the guitar.

What I’ll do is redesign the tailpiece by making it top-loading. Fortunately this tailpiece is a little too long, so I have leeway to make some adjustments.

Another problem is the zero fret, which is a little too high. But that’s easy to fix. All these adjustments, however, will have to wait until I get my volume/tone controls from my best friend Bill who bought me a set in Canada. He’s coming home to Davao City in July so that means the work will start by then. I will go ahead and buy a set of China-made humbuckers just to finish this; they’re dirt-cheap and easy to replace in case I later find Les Paul-type pickups (none are available here yet).

My dilemma is the finish: as you can see, the Verithin is still in its raw state, and I’ve been thinking of taking it to a furniture shop to give it a nice glossy polish. But many guitarists I know have advised me to leave it as it is: it’s an antique guitar and it should look that way. I’ve been leaning in that direction now, especially since the guitar plays well enough even without a glossy exterior.

So that’s about it for the Verithin for now. The progress has been, er, very thin, but I hope to finish it by July. Stay tuned!