Saving a "Repaired" Guitar
Tadyka Guitars
96,230 views
This Yamaha SG came into the workshop with a heavily damaged and previously repaired neck.
The old repair was full of air pockets and missing material, so instead of simply gluing it back together, I decided to reconstruct the damaged area from scratch. I removed the compromised wood, added new pieces, reinforced the neck with carbon fiber rods, and rebuilt the entire area with epoxy.
After that, the neck went through refinishing, fretwork, truss rod access repair, and a new bridge installation.
This was one of the projects I had filmed back in our Kyiv workshop before Tanya and I left Ukraine. We’re now in Portugal and slowly getting settled and rebuilding our workshop here.
Thanks so much for watching and for all your support. It really means a lot to us, especially right now.
If you want to support my work:
Patreon: Patreon: tadyka
Patreon Tanya: Patreon: Shpachuk
PayPal: tadyka.shpachuk@gmail.com
20 Comments
Amazing work, thank you for sharing this!
I'm sorry you had to leave Ukraine, but it's understandable, it's too dangerous. At least no one is talking about attacking Portugal.
That guitar turned out amazing. It looks like it was really well built to begin with, and those are very underrated guitars just because of the name on the headstock.
My best wishes to both of you and the best of luck to you in Portugal!
Saving a "Repaired" Guitar
Tadyka Guitars
96,230 views
This Yamaha SG came into the workshop with a heavily damaged and previously repaired neck.
The old repair was full of air pockets and missing material, so instead of simply gluing it back together, I decided to reconstruct the damaged area from scratch. I removed the compromised wood, added new pieces, reinforced the neck with carbon fiber rods, and rebuilt the entire area with epoxy.
After that, the neck went through refinishing, fretwork, truss rod access repair, and a new bridge installation.
This was one of the projects I had filmed back in our Kyiv workshop before Tanya and I left Ukraine. We’re now in Portugal and slowly getting settled and rebuilding our workshop here.
Thanks so much for watching and for all your support. It really means a lot to us, especially right now.
If you want to support my work:
Patreon: Patreon: tadyka
Patreon Tanya: Patreon: Shpachuk
PayPal: tadyka.shpachuk@gmail.com
After the video was published, the owner of this guitar commented that the workmanship was “sloppy” and claimed that for 32,000 UAH he basically got a poorly painted logo with dents and chips left unfinished. Since other people have also commented on the work without seeing the guitar before the restoration, I think it is fair to provide the full context.
The guitar arrived in extremely poor condition. The headstock had previously been broken and repaired, and that previous repair left the surface significantly uneven. This was not simply a cosmetic refinish - the instrument required substantial structural restoration.
The actual order included:
* Fret replacement - €96
* Nut fabrication and installation - €39
* Full setup - €16
* Headstock repair with reinforcement and masking - €293
* Dents and chips repair - €98 (heel area + neck refinish)
* Bleached bone nut blank - €6
* Jescar FW57110 fretwire - €21
* Gotoh GE103B Tune-o-matic bridge - €43
* Kerly Kues KQX 1046 - €8
Total - 31,700 UAH / approximately €619.
And this is not even the full amount of work that was done. In addition to the listed items, I also fully polished the guitar top, cleaned the electronics and did rewiring/soldering work. These tasks were not included in the quoted price and were not charged separately.
Regarding the logo specifically - it was not painted over. Part of the original decal was unfortunately worn away while the headstock surface was being levelled. This was a consequence of the condition of the headstock after the previous repair.
At that point, there was a choice between properly correcting the geometry of the headstock and preserving the already damaged decal. It was not possible to achieve both perfectly. I chose to prioritize the structural integrity and proper geometry of the repair.
The price was discussed before the work started, and the owner agreed to proceed. No complaints about the finished work were made when the guitar was collected.
We later discussed his concerns directly. I explained what happened and why certain decisions were made, but we clearly have different opinions about the result.
I am not claiming that every cosmetic detail is perfect, and criticism is fair. But I think it is important to judge the work based on the actual condition of the instrument and the full scope of the restoration, rather than reducing the entire job to one cosmetic issue.
I wanted to leave this explanation here so everyone can see the full context and make their own conclusions.