b'Ed Tudor Poles Guitar: Repairus Maximus:Question: When is a repair worth the effort?Answer: When the result is worth the effort.My first thoughts when Ed showed me this - well, quite a shock. He did look a little contrite, embarrassed even, and the question was obvious - was it worth even thinking of repairing it? Its an Olivia, made in 1975, and Ed bought it from a guy in a studio in about 1979. Since then, it has been through various stage invasions during the punk era, and quickly patched back together each time. I counted at least twelve life threatening injuries, plus three areas where the soundboard had been worn right through simply by aggressive playing. Its a real wonder it had held together so long, and Ed was still playing it live. After one of the early traumas, a two-year-old lad put sellotape over the latest damage to stop Ed being so upset. Ed has left that tape there ever since and told me how important it was to him. The condition of his guitar reflects Eds own extraordinary history.The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, The Sex Pistols; The Rocky Horror Show; Crystal Maze; TenPole Tudor; White Hunter, Black Heart with Clint Eastwood; Game of Thrones ; Harry Potter; Les Miserables; The life and death of Peter Sellers; etc etc. Just about one dramatic role for every hole in his guitar. Time for a little tender loving care. Or perhaps an iron hand in a velvet glove. It wasnt an option to fit new patches in all those holes because the rest of the soundboard would still have been useless. I could replace the soundboard easily enough, but what about everything else? If I replaced all the parts that were significantly damaged, there would be nothing of the original guitar left, I couldnt contemplate losing all that history, so that wasnt an option either. Primum non nocere: First, do no harm. Given an existing problem, it may be better not to do something, or even to do nothing, than to risk causing more harm than good Well, what harm could I do? Any of the possible options would involve taking off the old soundboard, so that is where I started. Then I would make decisions based on what I found. I took off the neck, gaffa tape, and patches. IAbove and tight: Eds guitar when I first saw it. didnt dare apply any force to the bridge, so I simply chiselled it off, as I didnt anticipate using the old one again. Once I start a job, I get sort of immersed, and often forget to take photographs and such, sorry. 212'