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During the 1950s and 1960s, Maton sold a line of guitars under the "Alver" brand (apparently the name was a conjunction of Bill May's wife's name, and that of his brother's wife). This example was my customer's grandmother's guitar, and has obviously been played and loved. The budget didn't allow for a full restoration - the brief was to make the guitar playable again. I did find some time for some finish work (shellac). The tuners are Hosco/Gotoh vintage. Here are "before

Replacing worn nickel silver frets with stainless steel:

For guitars without adjustable truss rods (many/most Classical guitars, for example), heat treating the neck is a viable way to rectify neck relief problems. In other cases, where the truss rod is no longer effective in adjusting out excessive relief, heat treatment can help in restoring function to the truss rod. Gentle heat is applied while the neck is pulled back into the desired relief. The neck is then allowed to cool naturally and remain clamped in position for 12-36