Weissenborn Style 1 Repair - Part 3

These are my reproduction pins that I had custom manufactured in Germany. They were made as a direct replacement for vintage Weissenborn's, as well as my modern reproductions. Unlike the originals however, these are individually turned, not molded, so I have been working on an antiquing process to better match the look of the original pin when used in restoration.

Scribing the pin heads:


After an acetone bath, they are have lost much their gloss, and developed a slight patina:


Because these are unslotted pins, the bridge must be slotted to fit each individual string. Before the 1970s this was just a standard detail. Nowadays you will only see this at high end acoustics. Here you can see the pin holes being reamed:


Setup complete, back to original specifications:


Inside you can see each string ball is seated how they should be, on the repaired bridge plate:


Weissenborn's bat-wing bridge is some of the highest quality bridge work performed at any guitar. Aesthetically it remained highly refined signature of his work through the production years, and is still one of the hardest and most critical details to get right today:


This is a great shot of the distressed french polish or varnish finish:


Following the repair, its hard to compare the sound of the restored instrument to how it came into the shop. I could barely tune it without fear of the previous bridge tearing off. Technically and functionally acceptable (more or less), but perhaps most obviously the previous (and no doubt well meaning) repairman missed the details that are so critical to the instruments voice musically.

I took these last few shots before the instrument was shipped back to its home in the US. A gorgeous sounding instrument.

Thanks for looking and please feel free to comment or if you have any questions.