Gord Miller Vintage Restorations

New! Les Paul Lifton case aging

GM Vintage is happy to announce our newest related service… Lifton case aging! Send us your brand new custom shop case with phony looking covering and shiny hardware… and we’ll send you back a piece of —- you can be proud of! Service includes treating tolex covering to achieve proper color and patina, aging of all hardware, interior aging where applicable, and wear to your specifications… a little or a lot.

Cost for aging your case is $400.00
or, we can supply aged Montreux Lifton cases for $750.00 each

Route Repair

A lot of beautiful old Fenders fell prey to chisel-wielding maniacs back in the 70’s and 80’s….your guitar doesn’t have to suffer this indignity any longer!!! Check out our work…

1) 1959 Telecaster (pictures above) – We fixed the humbucking route in this guitar, but I wasn’t happy with the look of the new wood compared to the original. The first picture shows how I fogged in some paint to simulate the color of the ash in the body, then I used a small brush to paint in the grain lines..The second picture shows how it looked after the guitar was repainted in Fender blonde. (Note – the final buffing has not yet been done in these pics). I’ll let the picture speak for itself…

2) 1956 Telecaster (pictures above) – This guitar had more extensive routing, as the first picture shows. In addition to a humbucking route, a channel was routed for a coil splitting switch. The second picture shows the same guitar with the routes refilled in ash. The third picture shows the guitar painted and drying along with other tele bodies. The repaired guitar is second from front. Notice how all the bodies are lighter under the pickguard, bridge and control plate areas to simulate the look of an original finish.

3) 1963 Stratocaster (pictures above) – This one was a real mess . Two humbucking routes with a curved route for a coil splitting switch. The first picture shows the body in all it’s glory, with the damaged areas outlined in pencil and ready to be squared up. The second picture shows the same guitar, repaired, and painted.

Case Restoration

Old cases have kept up with guitars as far as appreciating in value, and often they are in far worse shape!

1) This first case (pics above) is the original case for my 1955 ES 295. It had been in a flood in England. In addition to the top and bottom being delaminated, the original brown felt interior was very musty and had started to fall apart. After removing the interior, the inside of the case was reinforced with fiberglass to make it stronger than when it was manufactured. I much prefer the brown cases with pink lining, so I decided to do that upgrade. I think it turned out pretty good.

2) This 1956 tweed Fender case (pics above) was in horrible shape when I bought it at the Seattle vintage show. It had no covering whatsoever, broken spine, the top was completely seperated from the bottom, and the interior was loose and very dirty. I removed all the hardware from the case, fiberglassed it and recovered the case with new tweed. I didn’t like the look of the new tweed, so I sprayed it with amber lacquer and fogged in some darker areas to simulate water stains and diet. The next step was to reattach all the original hardware with blind rivets identical to the original ones. The interior was steam cleaned and reinstalled, along with a new parts compartment I built. The Mary Kaye strat looks right at home…don’t you think?

3) When this white strat case showed up (pics above) it was very dirty, the handle was damaged, the interior was loose and the leather ends were missing. I think it looks better now.

Road Cases

I’ve actually been building roadcases for longer than I’ve been painting guitars.

1) This first case is for my Mesa Boogie bass amp. I wanted one case where everything was already wired up and I could just show up at the gig and play. The head and tuner aremounted in a shock mounted inner case. In the third picture, you’ll notice I’ve built in a sliding drawer for pedals and cords. When you show up at the gig with an amp this heavy, you find out who you real friends are!!!

2) The older I get, the more I value convenience. The bottom part of this case is a normal sleeve for my Deluxe Reverb amp, the top part of the case opens up and is divided for storage of guitar stands, cords , and accessories. The optional talking Dr.Evil doll is in charge of world domination and crowd control at our gigs!

Amplifier Covering

1) This is my custom amp built by my good friend Shannon Coberly at Trimmed and Burnin’ amps in Bellingham, Washington. (Check out Shannon’s website in my links section). The amp is basically a handwired tweed deluxe, but I wanted it built into a bluesbreaker style cabinet with 2-10″ speakers. Shannon sent up the bare box, I covered it in the Marshall white levant vinyl and salt and pepper grill cloth. A trick feature of this amp is the light up logo…cool on a dark stage.

2) Here is another bluesbreaker style cab finished in red Marshall levant (pics above) – The amp is actually a Traynor Guitar-Mate Reverb….Traynor made great copies of blackfaced Fender amps right here in Canada in the late 60’s and 70’s. This amp is now owned by my good buddy Greg Johnson of Tacoma. Rock on, dude!

3) Here is a 1964 Vox AC-30 top boost head (pics above) – I made a solid pine AC-30 combo cab for it and decided to go for the early look with the fawn vinyl and brown diamond grillecloth. A great sounding amp which sounds even better if you wear the Beatles wig!

Parts Finding Service