Ancient Kawai: To restore or not to restore...?

[sinboots]

Have this aged and much abused Kawai (serial No W811) and deciding whether or not to give loads of restorative tlc (machine heads, nut, bridge, truss rod cover, bindings, refinish etc) or just clean, polish, tweak the neck and restring. Left to me, I'll restore it as a playable guitar with a new lease of life but if it's likely to be of interest to anyone as a venerable piece of acoustic guitar history I'll leave well alone...

Jeremy

[VintAxe]

sinboots, it is my opinion that this guitar is too far gone to spend the money trying to fix it. You will spend more in parts and time than the guitar will be worth when you finish. I think you are better off putting your money toward another Japanese acoustic from the same era that is in good shape.

I'm also not sure about that bridge setup. It is clearly a replacement that someone has just screwed to the top of the guitar. At the least I would fear intonation problems since it is crooked; at worst it might just pop off under string tension.

I rarely give up on an instrument, but this one should only be tackled as a labor of love.

[sinboots]

The bridge is great isn't it? I'm turning the K into a blues guitar - new nut/bridge/m'heads. Open tuned, slide - for pub sessions I'd rather keep the Martin & the Tak away from!

[VintAxe]

Sounds like a good compromise

Here is a little inspiration for your work. Check out Seasick Steve getting a lot of sound out of his 3 string Teisco. You won't need to buy the tuners if you drop yours down to 3 strings

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