At some stage during its storied life, someone hacked through the ladder bracing of this vintage Gibson archtop to make way for a pair of pickups.
The braces were destroyed in the process and needed to be replaced as they no longer offered the top any structural support.
The back of the guitar was removed in order to access the damaged ladder braces.
Here we see the true extent of the damage to the braces caused by the DIY pickup routs.
The pickup holes were then routed out to make them uniform, with a rebated lip added at the back to give the spruce plugs a better gluing surface.
The holes were then plugged with new spruce in order to re-establish the structure of the soundboard.
New ladder braces were carved and glued in with hide glue.
The guitar was now structurally sound once more.
Rather than trying to disguise the plugged control and pickup holes, I decided instead to wind some era-correct De-Armond-style Goldfoil pickups, and install these in figured maple surrounds to hide the patched holes.
After the top repairs and electronics were complete, I re-attached the back and back binding.
The Goldfoils are about the only pickups slim enough to fit in the neck position without having to rout all the way through the top (and braces...). The guitar was finished off with Gibson-style controls.
Watch this restoration in full on YouTube