Episode 2 of the 1993 Gibson Dove restoration is all about the headstock — and it starts with a surprise.

First off come the old strings (the auction house hadn’t bothered with a fresh set), and then the tuners. The original tuner tips are that snot-green color, ugly but original, so they stay. The odd one out is a silver replacement tuner, fitted with gold screws and gold washers — and the case held two spares, which is where the detective work starts. The original gold Gibson Deluxe tuner is a double-line, single-ring, “Made in Germany” part, with the Gibson Deluxe lettering sitting centered; the replacement carries PW branding instead, with the lettering running right to the edges. The original had picked up some little dings — Jim’s guess is that’s why it was taken off, though what caused them is anyone’s guess — so it gets sanded down (rougher paper than expected) and polished back with Meguiar’s Ultimate Compound until it squeaks, ready to go back on so the all-gold look returns. It isn’t reinstalled in this episode — that’s for once the headstock and neck are cleaned up.

Then the truss rod cover comes off — two-ply, in good shape with just a slight crack at the top, polished back to white — and underneath is the episode’s mystery: a truss rod nut like nothing I’ve seen, tiny, possibly missing something. The neck itself looks untouched — no sign the fretboard was ever replaced, the headstock finish unchanged, no separation — and there’s plenty of adjustability left, so it’s a puzzle to solve rather than a disaster. The guitar had been tuned up to pitch once just to hear it, and it’s extremely loud and bass-heavy, almost like a 12-string. A little buzzing, and the action may come down a touch, but the bones are good.

With the tuners off, the story of this guitar starts to show. The finish underneath the tuners is a darker red, and the washers had pressed themselves into the nitro over the years. Down the neck there are tiny gold-looking micro-dings — most likely from a ring worn by whoever played this guitar a lot — and the finish is worn through on the side in places. Well loved and well played, and the polish should bring a lot of it back.

On to the body: the bridge pins come off, and underneath there’s a synthetic nut and a Headway undersaddle pickup that almost certainly didn’t come with the guitar. The cracks get mapped out — one in the top where the sides are coming out, one older repair that looks stable, the crack running down the sides. The fix is fish glue and clamps, taped off first so no glue goes where it shouldn’t, with a possible touch-up of red lacquer on the rough spots later. No lacquer work where the finish has simply worn away.

Next up is the fretwork — cleaning the fretboard and polishing the frets (Episode 3) — and then the big one, gluing the top back on (Episode 4). Every repair is a step toward the verdict on whether this Dove stays in the collection.

Episode 1 (unboxing): https://youtu.be/A2Of2qDKPtA

There’s a new guitar here — a 1993 Gibson Dove I won at Heritage Auctions. Honestly, I didn’t think I was going to win this one. I put in a bid that would’ve been good enough to resell it if I wanted to, and depending on what the camera lady thinks, I might be forced to.

Buying guitars at Heritage is always a bit of a gamble. Their descriptions aren’t always the best, so unless you do a lot more research you’re taking a chance. This one was listed in fair condition, and it definitely needs some sort of repair — the question was whether it’s extensive or mild. That’s what the unboxing was for: I genuinely didn’t know what I was getting.

The case is interesting by itself. Alligator-pattern covering, green interior, and it might be a TKL made in Canada — I’m still not sure if it’s the original case. The combo lock is broken clean off, not even a latch left. The handle does look Gibson-ish though.

Inside the case I found two tuners — turns out one of the Dove’s tuners was replaced at some point, so now I have to figure out what was wrong with the original. No paperwork came with it, which is a bummer.

As for the guitar: it’s got finish checking in various places, a top crack that was repaired (I knew about that one), and the top is lifting in one spot — but that’s a glue fix I can handle. There’s a small crack in the binding too. The big surprise: it’s an acoustic-electric. Someone had a pickup installed at some point and I had no idea until I opened the case.

The good news: flame maple back, a three-piece neck (something I don’t have on anything else yet), no structural cracks beyond what’s noted, and it’s in playable condition as-is. This is a 33-year-old Bozeman-era Dove — Gibson moved acoustic production to Bozeman, Montana in 1992, so this is from right after the move.

The plan from here: this guitar is getting fixed up on the channel. I’ll be documenting the repairs — the glue work, the tuner situation, the full once-over to make sure there’s nothing structural hiding — and at the end of it all, the verdict: keeper or sell. Stay tuned.