As Good As New - Not the ABBA Song 😉 - My Taylor GS Mini!

In early December we had our usual Jam Session at a local pub.
It was a very busy afternoon with lots of people attending, some new faces too!
Good fun it was indeed!

I was happily chatting away standing next to my guitar, which was sitting on its stand.
To my horror did I realise that the top of the headstock had a slight gap!
Seems that there is a unexpected plastic layer stuck onto the headstock that started to detach.

I instantly thought, that this would impact on its playability, however, I carried on using it and have created many videos on Hive using it since.
To be honest, I shied away from the possible high cost of getting this repaired, and possibly not finding someone close to home, who could get it fixed for me.

In the meantime did the head seem to get worse and pretty ugly indeed with the paint seemingly peeling off between the layers.

The guitar also needed new strings. I had 10s on it for some time and went for 11s this time, which I felt straight away.. not because of the heavier gauge, but because the action was far too high.
I noticed it most when playing "Back on the Chain Gang", which starts quite high up on the fretboard. We tried to change the neck by taking off that little cover between the strings there, but the screw inside needed a special tool, that we don't have. 😕

So, finally I started looking online for a Luthier, and amazingly found one just up the road from us!
John is in early retirement from mechanical engineering - lucky him - and went to a college in London for four years to train up for this. He plays guitar himself and repairs and restores all sorts of stringed instruments.

Yesterday I picked it up and I cannot believe the quality of work he's done!
He lacquered the back of the headstock facing and stuck it back on. Some of the Taylor lettering is lost, but that's fine by me.

He also reduced the height of the bridge to lower the action at the 12s fret and told me, that changing the neck wouldn't have sorted this issue.

Apart from those two major areas, that he quoted me for, he also replaced some washers on the d- and g-tuning peg; I must say, that I noticed the g being a little stubborn to turn at times.
Two of my frets were loose too, so he secured them.. I didn't even know they could become loose.. 😃

Note: I am not very technically minded on guitar matters, I still struggle to remember, which button does what when the guitar is plugged in.. Yes, sad, I know! 😄
I do change the strings myself though.. Phew.

Anyway, here it is restored again! It plays lovely, I'm very happy, and I'll go back to my friend John anytime! 😄
Thought I'd share this with you! Thanks for looking!! 😃

_{Images property of @anna-newkey}