EARLY DUOLIAN NUT QUESTION

[Deleted]

 Need a little help. This is my first post.
 I own my grandfathers early 12 fret  National Duolian, cut f holes, bakelite fret board, c10 stamped into end of the peghead. It's been painted (ouch!), probably by grandma,(she would paint anything that stayed still long enough), otherwise it's in pretty good shape. He was a lead and zinc miner in Picher Oklahoma and I remember this guitar from my toddler days (I'm 62 now). It has a funky tortiseshell looking nut on it and I'm thinking the original was probably ebony. Can you get these now or should I just put a bone one on it for sound quality. I do play so it does make a difference to me. Thanks for any input.

[snakehips]

Hi there !

Wow, that Duolian is an EARLY one !!

Can you post some pictures here of the guitar, please ??

It might be possible to remove the non-original top-coat and reveal the original frosted Duco finish (assuming it wasn't removed first).
I have a National Triolian (circa 1930/1) whose paint finish was badly worn and it was painted directly over - a horrible brown sludge of a thick layer.
I got the non-original off with some sort of paint-stripping gel, that is left on for like 5 mins, before gently wiping off.
I didn't realise the original paint finish was underneath BUT this modern paint-stripper stuff didn't do anything to the original finish underneath.
The frosted duco finish is different though - and more fragile.
The best person to ask about that (had you wanted to remove your grandma's paint-work) is a guy called Rik Besser.
He is the one guy in the whole world who can reproduce the frosted duco finish, closer by miles than any one else. HE will know what paint strippers to avoid, I am sure.
Check out some of his work here - if you use Facebook :
www.facebook.com/WhyILoveNationalGuitars/photos/a.111747318975427.20543.111743435642482/531067090376779/?type=3&theater

And, his website :
www.bfanaticguitarworks.com/

All the best !

[Deleted]

Thanks for the reply Snakehips.
I am not too concerned about the paint yet, although I have done the same thing you seemed to have done with the quick stripper treatment on the cone cover and I found several layers, the bottom one being a dark brown almost black. I'm more focused on function than form right now.
I have done a very careful and slight (.03" shim) neck reset and I'm happy with the results, lower action and no fret buzz even though there is some dip in the fretboard.I will change the nut as I indicated in my original post and I'm going to order period correct tuners from Stew Mac. I had the originals but they weren't
good and a tornado took them away while I had them off anyway, but I salvaged the guitar. If I can figure out how to do it I will try to post some pictures of it later.
P.S. Thanks for the facebook tip, I'll check it out.

[Michael Messer]

Hi plunkerdoc

Welcome to our forum.

My advice would be to do nothing until you have posted some detailed photos of the guitar. I would like to see that fretboard and nut before you do anything to it.

It will only be an all original early Duolian if it stays all original. The painted finish is probably not too much of a problem.

Shine On
Michael.