Moni SixStrings Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 Hi there, all. My name is Monica, I'm 22 and from deep south texas (15mins from the border), McAllen, Tx to be exact. Anyway, I'm a newbie to the world of guitar repair and building. But I have had a passion for acoustic guitars since I was 12yrs old. My father's only brother, and my favorite uncle, David - died from cancer when I was 12. Six months before he passed, he handed down to me his prized possesin, a beautiful acoustic Ibanez. I taught myself how to play, and have been in love with acoustic guitars ever since. When I was about 14 I found an old beat up classical guitar in my grandmother's storage garage, it was cracked down the front, nicked here and there, and covered with dust. That was the first guitar I stripped and repainted. Being 14 and knowing nothing of the process, I managed with whatever I had available to me. A bit of sandpaper, some glue, and some of my moms old acrylic craft's paint. If nothing else, it turned out to be a great piece of wall art Nonetheless, I discovered a new interest. Through high school and beginning college though, I found myself with less time to focus on my new found hobby. Fortunately, thanks to a good friend of mine, it has been rekindled. My friend bought me an old beat up guitar at a flea market and gave it to me for Christmas, so that I could get back to what I really love doing. This brings me to Projectguitar... I got online to do a little research and better educate myself. I know absolutely nothing about building a guitar from scratch, but what I am really interested in, is repairing and painting. The flea market guitar has an area over one of the "shoulders" the size of about a silver dollar that is crushed in. It's just cracked, no pieces are missing, but it is sucken in slightly. I went down to Hobby Lobby to browse a bit, and came across a "wood putty". Would that be suitable to use to patch it up? Also, what kinds of paints and laquers are best recommended for acoustic guitars? Actually, any advice would be greatly appreciated it. You can reply to this post, or email me at "fireflyskyz@Aim.com". Thank you for listening. Sincerely, Monica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southpa Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 (edited) Hi Moni SS, welcome to PG! I'm glad to see more "wimmins" getting involved in repair/building of guitars. My best advice is to browse the archives and do some sorting. Its amazing how much other stuff you pick up when doing a search for something specific. I've found myself getting side tracked numerous times. But you get answers from many different perspectives and can decide which way would be the reasonable course of action for you. In reference to your new acquisition, pictures are very welcome when it comes to a specific repair job. Its hard to prescribe the best solution from just a description. In many cases there is more than one way to skin a cat. You mention a dollar sized crushed area. You might be able to pop it out from behind, similar to fixing a dent on a car fender. That is, if the back of that spot is accessible through a soundhole. If you can get close to the original outside contour back...very carefully, you could stiffen it up with some light backing material then fill and sand as necessary then match up the finish. If you take your time and think it out you could make it look like it never happened. Edited April 28, 2006 by Southpa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 I wouldn't use wood putty persay. I've get some like 5-minute epoxy and patch with that. However on cool Idea I've always wanted to play with on a broken acoustic is this: Provided the crush is on a convex edge, not concave (like where your arm comes down and a strat would have an arm contour), then you could take a belt sander to it and sand that area like this (if you're looking at a cross section, it's the lined pictures in the bottom right) As you can see in my sketch, the effect is a comfortable arm rest area that is flat instead of a pointed corner. It's also in ebony (or some other wood) and contrasts with what is probably a spruce top and something dark sides. Therefore making it visually appealing and original As for paint... you needa strip it 100% and apply whatever you want to it. OR if you wanna apply paint OVER what's already there, you ahve to find what's on there already, cause some paints don't react well with each other. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fryovanni Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 A couple good pictures are a must. It is impossible to help or make a suggestion without something to refer to. Chris- If you did a repair in the area you drew. You would have a peice of kerfing that helps the side to top joint(kinda like a backing edge). You may be able to work that into your idea. Of course you would want to utalize as much strength from that kerfing as you could. Rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted April 29, 2006 Report Share Posted April 29, 2006 See, this is why Id on't build acoustics... too much to think about Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moni SixStrings Posted April 30, 2006 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2006 (edited) Wow, thanks so much guys I now have a better understanding of what I need to do, and what options I have available to me. I will try to get a picture up as soon as possible. I really appreciate the help and I look forward to learning more from you guys as I tackle this and future projects. Thanks again! -Monica Edited April 30, 2006 by Moni SixStrings Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Monica, much as I love this place, you really want to be over at the MIMF.com if you're interested in Acoustic guitar repair. Lots more people with a bunch of experience. Finishing stuff's good there as well, but it's good here, too, and for a good acoustic guitar-centric building forum, there's luthiersforum.com (the OLF). Oh, and I assume you are familiar with Frank Ford's excellent, excellet gutiar-repair-centric website, FRETS.com? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moni SixStrings Posted May 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 2, 2006 Monica, much as I love this place, you really want to be over at the MIMF.com if you're interested in Acoustic guitar repair. Lots more people with a bunch of experience. Finishing stuff's good there as well, but it's good here, too, and for a good acoustic guitar-centric building forum, there's luthiersforum.com (the OLF). Oh, and I assume you are familiar with Frank Ford's excellent, excellet gutiar-repair-centric website, FRETS.com? Actually, this is the first site I've come across, but thank you for informing me of the others. I'll be sure to check them out as soon as possible. I really appreciate your help, Mattia. : ) Thank you, Monica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verhoevenc Posted May 6, 2006 Report Share Posted May 6, 2006 PS: Here's that little "black bevel armrest" idea in action. this picture shows it as a "ribrest" on the top back edge... but he offers it where I showed it too. William Laskin Pic Click Here Chris PS: Check out his inlay. Most of it's too over the top for me... and inlays of actual people don't do it for me. But there's a couple cool ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crafty Posted May 9, 2006 Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 PS: Here's that little "black bevel armrest" idea in action. this picture shows it as a "ribrest" on the top back edge... but he offers it where I showed it too. William Laskin Pic Click Here Chris PS: Check out his inlay. Most of it's too over the top for me... and inlays of actual people don't do it for me. But there's a couple cool ones. Chris, you have to BUILD the guitar like that from the beginning, it's really not something you can add later on an acoustic like it's a solidbody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted May 9, 2006 Report Share Posted May 9, 2006 PS: Here's that little "black bevel armrest" idea in action. this picture shows it as a "ribrest" on the top back edge... but he offers it where I showed it too. William Laskin Pic Click Here Chris PS: Check out his inlay. Most of it's too over the top for me... and inlays of actual people don't do it for me. But there's a couple cool ones. Chris, you have to BUILD the guitar like that from the beginning, it's really not something you can add later on an acoustic like it's a solidbody. Indeed. It needs to be cut to fit, larger piece of lining, and dealing with binding, etc. is what elevates this from tricky to difficult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.