Bill Roberts Musical Instrument and Electronic Repair

08/08/2026

1974 Martin D-35 has had a rough life. Need lots of TLC to make it playable.
The issues:
1. Previous neck repair was left looking terrible.
2. Needs neck reset
3. Needs new frets
3. Bridge is lifting
4. Bridge pad repair
5. 2 broken internal braces
6. Loose neck binding.

After addressing all issues it’s back playing and sounding great.

06/17/2026

Haven’t posted in awhile not that I haven’t been busy just neglected taking any pictures.
Here is a ‘73-75 Gibson Les Paul Custom.
Had broken headstock from a drop.
Unfortunately the owner had previously broken the neck twice before and was repaired before coming to me. The repairs while glued well the finish was left in poor condition. In this 3rd repair I tried to make the previous repairs less visible without actually refinishing or altering the original finish. While it’s not 100% I’m pretty happy how it turned out.

07/14/2025

Just finishing up carving a new bridge from a chunk of rosewood for a 1946 Gibson SJ. Thanks to a fellow luthier I was supplied this beautiful piece of Brazilian Rosewood to match what was original to the guitar.
I think I copied it pretty faithfully.
The saddle slot will be done at a later time once the guitar is back together.

05/18/2025

Headstock repair on an extremely checked lacquered finished 1969 Gibson BlueRidge acoustic.
The irregular break offered one challenge and the heavily checked finish another. The only good thing was most of the break was lateral along the grain so splines were unnecessary.

03/04/2025

Here’s a 1995 Takamine that I did awhile back that needed a refret and bridge plate repair.

10/20/2024

A couple of vintage beauties. Every wear mark and patina naturally made from decades of playing. Fender Precision, on the left 1972 and 1968 on the right. The ‘72 has undergone a refret but other than that all original. The ‘68 is 100% all original.

08/20/2024

Just finished up this 1957 Les Paul Custom “Black Beauty” reissue.

06/25/2024

Been working on restoring this 1946 Gibson Southern Jumbo.
Neck reset
Refret
New bridge
Hydration & crack repair

Neck came off with a struggle but ultimately succumbed pretty cleanly.
Notably no registration numbers on the dovetail like usually found on Martins. Hit the pocket almost dead on with the heat sticks.
Also interesting is the anchor point of the truss rod at the end of the dovetail.

05/08/2024

66/67 Yamaha SB-2 Bass. One pickup dead needed rewinding. Was a bit of a chore as I don’t think Yamaha thought about repairability but ultimately came out very close to the other one at 10.4k. Patched one PU cover with tinted friendly plastic. Refreshed shielding paint. Someone had previously done some creative rewiring of controls. Luckily found an old service manual with schematics online. Volume, Tone, Balancer(also labeled tone) and returned to original operation. Some fret dressing,setup and cleaning corroded hardware.
Now looks and plays like it should.
Pretty cool Bass from nearly 60 years ago.

03/27/2024