Fan O' Zakk

I have never seen a heat gun or hair drier that was hot enough to generate enough heat to bend guitar sides. The pipe has to be so hot that if you put a drop of tap water on it, it will lightly sizzle and boil then dissolve after a second or two.

Most hair dryers to be had in stores won't hit those temperatures, you're right. But any good quality professional dryer, and certainly most any heat guns, should be able to hit the temperatures needed to insta-boil water..

Just my thoughts...

Why not use a hair dryer or heat gun? You could set it up to send heat through the pipe as you work...keeping it hot throughout.

i was thinking more taking off the octave strings, to use the wider neck as a 6 stringer

I've already got a good 6-string...I would prefer this one to be a 12! That, and the neck is waaaaay too wide for a 6'er...at least for my hands!

only way it would make sense if the previous builder wanted a 1/4 inch action!

well, it's got a wide neck, and if he wanted 1/4 inch action or so, it very well could have been the makings of a slide guitar.

A slide 12-string?? Do those exist/are they viable?

dunno what it is, but it could make a killer guitar, specially if the wood really is spruce and rosewood. a trapeze tailpiece would look pretty cool on that guitar, but it'd have to have a tune o matic on there too.

strip off the wood on the headstock, maybe there's some signs of a logo, or some other defining features. i gotta tell you though, it's a helluva project, but it could have amazing results if done well.

Additionally, the hole in the side of the guitar looks to have been legit damage...it's too irregular to be anything else.

Thanks for the link to stew-mac! I'd looked, but never found THAT on the site!! I guess when I order up the binding for my other project, I'll get this as well!

Now, to decide on what purflings to use...

it could also be that the peghead was too thin for the tuners they were about to put on, and needed a thicker piece of wood there.

Thing is, the extra wood makes it functionally impossible - the nut would have to be impossibly high, since a proper action would have the strings running BELOW the level of that extra wood...only way it would make sense if the previous builder wanted a 1/4 inch action!

Hmmm, Im no expert at identifying acoustic guitars, but perhapse after removing the finish, find out the species of wood used in the construction could help you by comparing it to known brands.

Well, the top appears to be a single piece of spruce...

Sides and back appear to be mahogany, as well...back is also a solid piece of wood.

At any rate you have a fine project on your hands and the brand is unimportant realy, I wish you luck.

welcome to the forum Kev

Thanks, lucky1!!

Well, I'm really starting to wonder 'bout this guitar...

On one hand, there's no sign of a bridge or tailpiece at all...that tells me it's new, or at least has been re-topped.

But on the other hand, there was a rather significant hole that's been patched on the side...tells me it's been repaired...

And I have NO clue why they laid a 1/4 inch piece of wood overtop of the headstock...but suffice it to say I'm removing it...

And why were the pegholes filled?

lol

More questions than answers here!

I was not joking about this looking like what I saw.....the lack of a bridge seems to indicate that it may have had a Trapeze tailpiece and floating bridge...do you see any indication of that?

No indication at all...I am almost starting to think this was an unfinished build..

I think the one I saw was a Decca from the '60s.... have you looked to see if anything is on the neck block at all...most have at least a number.

red

There isn't a single digit on the neck block...oddly, though, the truss rod seems a lot longer than the neck...it extends 2 inches into the guitar's body...dunno if that's significant or not.

At any rate, thanks for the help, Red!

not to go off topic, ,but your post count is 0

I read through the 'help' section and found nothing on that...could you point me in the direction of my answers, please?

First off, let me say that I've been lurking here for months, and I've found this place to be very, very informative, with a whole pile of GREAT people! I can't come here without being inspired to start something new!

Now, onward to my current project...

I snagged an old 12-string acoustic on Ebay for 40 or 50 bucks a few months back...it needs a LOT of work, to say the least...I threw together a quickie web page with info on the guitar here...

http://www.mts.net/~klharlow/12st/Main.html

Oh, and for those interested in amp building, click the "Metal Monster" link...the sidebar will change over to that of my other project...

Now, right now, I've removed all of the old binding (had to because the stripper would have dissolved it anyhow), and found my first problem. Rather than this binding being a solid rectangular piece that sits in a channel, it's "L" shaped, and kinda fits over the channel like a 'cap'.

Where can I possibly find replacement binding for this thing? And, am I right in thinking that cutting a regular sized channel would compromise the structure of the guitar?

Secondly, I'm trying desperately to remove all the paint/stain/whatever that someone dumped on this guitar...so far, I've used a good stripper, but it takes FOREVER to get only a minor dulling of the dark color...any tricks to really taking that junk out? I'm thinking it was an oil based stain, 'cause it seems pretty much absorbed by the wood...

Finally, can anyone begin to identify the guitar from the pictures on my site? There are no stickers or imprints of any sort on the guitar...so I'm lost. According to the seller, he thought it may have been an old Harmony...but I'm taking that with a grain of salt.

Thanks to all for your time and advice!

-Kev