1958 Gibson LG 1 Broken Top Sinking Neck

You're thoughtful and have a great gig my good man. 1 tip--- before any glue---or repair--- protect the instrument- wrap it - tape it up please and always dry run your glue up and set up positioning of pieces and clamps---- saves rushes and sloppiness. I love this stuff don't you.

Wow nice job it sounds really good. I hope my ‘52 comes back sounding so good.

Sweet! Nice job Kaleb!

Great job Caleb

Nice job Caleb!

A structural engineer once explained to me the strongest and most durable joints are formed when plates of similar thickness are bonded together. When you tapered the edges of the added brace you allow the stress to blend into the new structure thus avoiding stress concentration. Well done and theoretically sound!

Where do you acquire these guitars to repair?

I got to tell you . i have the same project coming up on a twelve string .your method was very easy going and you said it well great job .thank you .

Great job Caleb!

That bridge should have been re glued , it was lifting at the most crucial part ( behind the bridge pins 🤦🏽)

What are you sinking about?

How much did this repair cost , if I may ask ? It seems like guitar repair prices are all over the place !

Did you polish it? Finish looks pretty good

Great job, Jerry taught you well! I'm curious about something, I know you didn;t want to reset the bridge, but why wouldn't you spritz a little glue under the back side and clamp it down, just for bit of added safety?

Really nice job I think you did fine. W here did you learn how to do all that?

Caleb what do you call that measuring tool that you measure at the 12 fret to see how high the action is and where did you get it, l’ve been looking but can’t seem to find it, really appreciate if you could get back with me, by the way I enjoy watching your videos

Great video and great job ! :-) Im currently working on a cheap Yamaha F325 that had a headstock crack and a few other cracks from someone tossing it or kicking it looks like haha. But ive got it about 80% done. I love watching repair videos and glad i stumbled upon yours. Now i have another channel to watch and learn from ;-)

You have come a long way Caleb!! You are turning out to be a really good luthier

Seems the guitar had some stress or impact causing the brace to come loose. Of course being from Florida with high humidity played a big factor as well

Jam in G , nice guitar. Great job saving another piece of history. I was born on july 31 1958. 64.5 years old. whew, it's tough on an old piece of wood.

Great job Caleb ! 👏
She sounds really good.
I know the owner will be happy.. 👍

I enjoy watching other people work, especially when they know what they are doing.

Great job Caleb keep em coming dude 🇬🇧

Hi Caleb...love watching your videos. Using an inspection mirror can be great, but sometimes the simplest method can give you that extra hand - just lay a mirror tile in the bottom of the guitar while you work.

Great job ! Good, thoughtful approach.

Did Caleb flip the bird during the fret board oiling time laps, or am I seeing things?

Nice repair but your glue cleanup was a little sloppy on the top. It's the small details that make a good repair great,,

Nice job! What strings did you put on it?

Excellent repair on the Gibson, keep up the good work.

The 50s lg 1 a 2 are known for braces coming loose. My 50 lg2 had about 4 loose. The guitar has been in north Texas all its life.

Great repair, but I reckon it would be more impressive if you'd have cleaned it up well after. I could still see glue smears around the repair. The whole guitar looked like it needed a clean. I think the customer would be more impressed and feel like they'd received a good service from Mills Guitars.

Nice job Caleb!

Nicely done very enjoyable watch. Congratulations

Caleb the bluesman is coming thru! Nice! To make people return to your channel, your guitar playing skills are not unimportant. The better you play, the better you can show the end result of your work.

Beautiful job Caleb, I really like what you did with the added brace, that turned out great, I think that was a big improvement on the original design for sure! Loved what you played at the end too!

Another fine job there, Caleb!!

This one took me back to my childhood (beginning when I was 7 and up until I was just over 12 yrs. old).

My Mom gave my Dad an ol' Gibson, nearly identical to this one, for I believe, an anniversary present, in either July 1974 or '75.

His had no pickguard, but in all other aspects, it was identical to this one.

I never knew what year Dad's Gibson was made, but when he & I happened to talk about it, a few years ago, he said he thought that his had been a 1956 model.

I began learning how to play guitar when I was just 7 years old, which was about a year before my Mom bought that Gibson.

I first began learning to play, using my Dad's old 1953 D-18 Martin, then after the Gibson came into our household, I mostly played that, as it was a lot easier, on my young, soft fingers! LOL!!!

Anyway, in about late June or early July of 1978; we moved from PA. to MD. & lived briefly with my Great Aunt & Great Uncle, & their 2daughters on their small farmette there until my parents found a house to rent, & we moved into it.

Anyway, sometime between August & September of that year, I had been playing that ol' Gibson a bit, one afternoon, & then put it down, & propped it against one of my Aunt & Uncle's dining room walls, (facing outward).

Well I went into the kitchen to eat lunch, and on the way, I passed my eldest girl cousin, going the opposite way, & in doing so, I relayed some sort of message to her, as my Aunt, (her mother), had told me to do.

I no longer recall the message, but anyway, my cousin, (who already had BAD anger issues, & temperament problems), didn't like the message, I guess; & began cussing me because of it, then she hauled off, & punched me in my "bread basket" & though I normally would never have done so; I retaliated, by punching her back, in one of her upper arms!

My cousin, who was 4 months older than me, was a taller, bigger framed person than me, who was heavy-set, and a good part of that weight was PURE MUSCLE!!

Anyway, she & her younger sister, were both Baton Twirlers, in a Majorette Corp. who appeared in various local parades, etc; and after punching me, she ranted on a bit more, & I heard her say something about my guitar; then she spun around, grabbed her Baton off of a nearby stand, and went running past me!

It only took a second for me to realize what she intended to do! I proceeded to turn around, & try to beat her to where the guitar was setting, but I failed.

She got there first, and with both hands, lifted her Baton over her head and swung downward with pretty much all her might!

She hit that guitar pretty much dead center on its fingerboard extension and broke the top in on each side of it!!

She didn't cave it down in, quite as far as this guitar here, but it was unplayable, just the same!

That Gibson laid around in it's case, for about the next 5 or 6 years, as my Dad mistakenly thought that damage like that, on any guitar, could not be repaired.

Then one day in 1985 or 86, my folks got acquainted with a distant cousin of my Mom's, named Charlie; whom just by coincidence, had moved into the same housing development that my folks had recently moved into, at nearly the same time they did.

Anyway, Charlie happened to have a childhood buddy, who was an up & coming semi-pro Bluegrass Artist at that time, whom I'll refer to here, as "Grant."

Well, one weekend, Charlie brought Grant over to my folks' house, where he, my Dad, & "Grant" jammed together, for a few hours, & during that time, Charlie told "Grant" about that ol' long broken Gibson, and had my Dad show it to him.

"Grant" then told my Dad, that he knew a good Luthier, (who lived not far from him, in Pennsylvania), & that this fella could absolutely, repair that ol' guitar

Well long story short, (from this point on, hopefully) LOL!! My Dad told "Grant" he could have that ol' Gibson & keep it for his own!

Almost immediately, "Grant" had it repaired, & later gave it to his son who was learning to play; then about 7 to 10 years ago, "Grant" either gave it, or sold it to a lady Bluegrass/Country artist, who has a family band & who was visiting the U.S. from Ireland at that time.

So now, that ol' Gibson is over there "across the waters" in Ireland!

The name of the lady who has it is named: Janet Henry. Janet used that guitar for a CD "Cover Shoot" a few years ago, & I will try to include a photo of it here for you to see!

My continued best, to you always!!

Ron H.
Abilene, TX.

Love your videos Caleb.........Well Done!!!

Nice instrument.

Great job, Caleb!

Nice job fixing that old guitar!! I think you might be a slide guitar blues man!!

Great job! Keep the videos coming bro!

Great job I have followed your work and used your ideas since you was at RSW . thanks from Tennessee

Really excellent job bringing back a great old guitar.

Very nice work Caleb. I wouldn't have done anything different and still wouldn't have had as nice of a job as yours. I would trust my 65 Texan in your hands. Keep up the awesome work.

What a beautiful guitar fixed right again!
And what a great song you played on it!
Well done Caleb!

A little surprised you didn’t touch up some of the marks.

That guitar is one year younger than I am and you got her singing sweetly again, Caleb. Nice job, kid!

Caleb just saw a master luthier do the same project and thought you may want to check out what he did which isnt to far off from what you did, that and may give you some Ideas his Name is Mark Stutman and his channel is" Folkway Music" Im very glad I found His channel and learning alot of his processes especially in this situation ,nice repair cheers!!

I wish you would tell us how much it cost to fix it and how much it was worth when you got done.

G'day lad , that's the same year model as me .....hehe . My neck does need a reset , but I don't fret about it . Peace ✌

You did a really nice job on that guitar Caleb. I'm sure that some things didn't make it to the video, such as measuring the relief and adjusting the truss rod, and checking the other braces. The tuners must have been in good shape too, nice guitar. I use to hate the color and such on those, but it grew on me through the years, and after watching a few of my favorite artist playing them, that's all it took. Now I have my eye open for one, like an old J - 40 or 45.