NGD: restored 1985 Canora Les Paul
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2024 1:54 pm
Who?
Canora. They were a shot-lived 'brand' in the mid-80s started by a music distributor in Canada. Canora is a town in Saskatchewan.
They were made by Cortek in Korea. This exact same guitar was sold as the Hohner L59 and also the Cort GE27. If you ordered enough you could put your own logo up there, hence we have Canora.
It was in a flooded garage about 20 years ago somewhere in QLD. I got it from Melbourne where they sold it as parts. The back and top were loose, the binding had fallen off, the fingerboard was detached from around the 15th fret onwards, there were no electronics or tuners and there's obvious water ingress under the finish (which presumably caused the loosening of the adhesives holding it together).
Much Titebond and clamping later, new electronics, new hardware (the tuners were ones I had lying around), new pickups, new knobs, a fret dress, a nut I made, a general setup and it's reborn.
It's a very interesting/weird thing. The core of the body is a big chunk of maple, then there's a plywood frame bent over the top which is then veneered with that flame maple. Then on the back they used an ash veneer. Quite mad.
Water ingress which is under the finish. The wood is perfectly dry now but short of sanding off the poly and refinishing (that doesn't thrill me since the top is a veneer) there isn't a huge amount to do and it kinda grew on me. You can also see where I did my best to reattach the binding which was in about 15 pieces in a bag in the shipping box.
It's got a 14" radius, medium jumbo frets, a 41mm nut, skinny neck, PAF alikes, usual 2 vol/tone wiring.
It plays great tbh. Sustain isn't amazing but it's a very resonant and punchy guitar.
Canora. They were a shot-lived 'brand' in the mid-80s started by a music distributor in Canada. Canora is a town in Saskatchewan.
They were made by Cortek in Korea. This exact same guitar was sold as the Hohner L59 and also the Cort GE27. If you ordered enough you could put your own logo up there, hence we have Canora.
It was in a flooded garage about 20 years ago somewhere in QLD. I got it from Melbourne where they sold it as parts. The back and top were loose, the binding had fallen off, the fingerboard was detached from around the 15th fret onwards, there were no electronics or tuners and there's obvious water ingress under the finish (which presumably caused the loosening of the adhesives holding it together).
Much Titebond and clamping later, new electronics, new hardware (the tuners were ones I had lying around), new pickups, new knobs, a fret dress, a nut I made, a general setup and it's reborn.
It's a very interesting/weird thing. The core of the body is a big chunk of maple, then there's a plywood frame bent over the top which is then veneered with that flame maple. Then on the back they used an ash veneer. Quite mad.
Water ingress which is under the finish. The wood is perfectly dry now but short of sanding off the poly and refinishing (that doesn't thrill me since the top is a veneer) there isn't a huge amount to do and it kinda grew on me. You can also see where I did my best to reattach the binding which was in about 15 pieces in a bag in the shipping box.
It's got a 14" radius, medium jumbo frets, a 41mm nut, skinny neck, PAF alikes, usual 2 vol/tone wiring.
It plays great tbh. Sustain isn't amazing but it's a very resonant and punchy guitar.
