Need Advice On Walnut Front Piece With Knot

[82cabby]

Hi all-

So I need to make a front piece for a tele thinline style project. I was out in the wood shop today kinda messing around seeing what I could come up with and spotted a piece of walnut which was destined for the lathe. It had some spalt in the sap wood and seemed like it had possibilites. It was a bit short to do a two piece book match, so I did a four piece, kalidescope style glue up. It looks cool BUT there are two big knots that will have to be dealt with. I think I can get rid of one with a well placed f-hole type opening, But the other..... Is there any way to fill these with epoxy or some such that will end up looking ok? Obviously I can't hide it, but I figured maybe stabalize it some how and still have it look cool. Or do I bag this and move on? Any help is appreciated!

Here are the photos:

Thanks!

[Prostheta]

Difficult to say. Some pieces are fine and others not. If the wood is completely stable in its seasoning then it might be good as is. Any bark in the inclusions is probably best being chipped out before it does it itself. Epoxying didn't work out well for me when I filled in some burled Maple as I got bubbles in the poured fill. Air seems very difficult to exclude. I'm still on the learning curve for that stuff.

That said, I managed to repair a crack in some Macassar Ebony by "drawing" epoxy through it using air pressure. I taped up the top and bottom leaving a small exposed gap either end of the top. I then made a circular Blu-tack "well" over one end into which I poured a tinted batch of West System epoxy and drew it through the crack using the shop vac applied to the other end. I most likely got lucky. This wasn't documented as a reliable technique anywhere, and the void was relatively small.

Looking at the fall of the design, it would maybe be possible to pop a control plate over the bottom inclusion and perhaps cut out an f-hole to take care of the top inclusion.

[82cabby]

Thanks for your reply. The wood is definitely stable moisture content wise. I like the idea of using a vacuum to draw epoxy in, I have never heard that before. These are bigger, so I don't think flow will be a problem... I might fill them for structural integrity sake and then try to hide them with an f hole or control plate though, that sound do-able.

Thanks for the feedback!

[ScottR]

I'd say back it with some veneer and fill it with some colored epoxy or an inlace type fill...ala Drak. The color or metal flake/crushed stone etc. type fill will reduce the bubble problem. Pick a color or fill to complement your color scheme or hardware.

SR

[Juntunen Guitars]

I agree with Scott, back it with a little veneer and fill it. Or like you said, you could put an f-hole on the Bass side to take out a lot of the knot and on the Treble side you could try and cover with the controls and drill around it if that makes sense. The problem with that though would be if you are going to chanber it I think that spot would be a weak point.

[82cabby]

Well, I gave filling it a try. I didn't have veneer at had to attach to the back, so I backed all the knots with tape and filled as best I could with Stew-Mac's black epoxy. If it works it's going to take a couple of layers to fill the holes all the way.

I'll keep you posted.

[Mors Phagist]

That is a crazy cut of walnut. Good luck with it, and it seems its too late for me to suggest anything until we see the results...

[NotYou]

I'm working on a custom order right now with knots for "f-holes". I asked around a lot, mostly with woodworkers who don't build guitars, and did a lot of experimenting.

I ended up using thin CA. It hardens quickly, but slow enough to soak into the cracks and the wood. I used a Ton of it to make sure it was full saturated. Then I drilled small holes into the back where the cracks are and glued dowels in there to further stabalise it and prevent the cracks from spreading.

It been holding steady for a couple months. The guitar is semi hollow, but I'm going to make it solid around most of the knots, just in case.

I'll post a photo later. I'm on my iPhone right now.

Edited April 28, 2011 by NotYou