truckjohn

The quality of your glue joint mostly depends on how tight the joint is machined and how fresh the wood is machined before gluing. The glue itself doesn't matter that much. Elmer's white glue will glue a bridge down with a stronger glue joint than you would ever imagine.... The wood will fail before the joint fails.... The prep is the key. I personally also like to degrease oily woods like Ebony and Rosewood with acetone immediately before gluing. I have a feeling that gluing a flat bridge onto a domed top is trouble... When I was trying this out myself, I noticed that it takes a large amount of clamping pressure to get the ends of a flat bridge clamped down. I kept thinking to myself... if it takes this much pressure on these large clamps to keep these ends down during gluing -- won't it be trying to rip itself back apart as soon as I unclamp? I pulled it back apart and sanded the bridge to match the soundboard... and light clamp pressure was really only necessary to keep things from shifting around. My own opinion is that sanding the bridge to match the soundboard face before gluing results in the glue joint being less predisposed to pulling itself apart from the start. Thanks John

Hand Planing guitar wood works just fine. Musical instruments were made by hand for ~10,000 years before the advent of power tools.... It just takes some work and time... Last guitar took me ~16 hours of hand planing, scraping, and sanding on the back, sides, and top to get them to finished thickness (Total, not each.) Just watch out when you start splitting out 3/16" thick x 8" wide x 2' - 3' long slats.... tricky stuff. Probably better to split out a billet, then resaw parallel to the split faces. Good luck John

Just started putting the finish on my Cherry/Lutz Ditson GC. I haven't decided what will be next, but I have several ideas. Most currently revolve around a smaller body style -- O, Ditson GC, or a L-00... but I also want to build a good Jumbo and a Dread too. I have some Sheoak lumber for resawing into back/sides that I am curious about. Back at home, we called it "Australian Pine" because the leaves resemble needles.... Its not a pine, but actually a hardwood tree. The wood looks kinda like Oak.... Around home it is generally reputed to be trash wood, not suitable for anything but fire and mulch.... but it is used successfully for lumber in many places and several folks in Australia build guitars out of it. So... I am going to build a Guitar out of it. Thanks John

If you are going the Kit route.... There is another forum out there (Kit guitar forum) that caters to the kit guitar builds. They published a couple books on the subject -- geared specifically towards completing Kit builds. Those books are also available on Amazon. Good luck John

I thought those Taks had a lifetime warranty. I have one of those GS330 Cedar topped ones -- love its sound. Does the bridge match the dome of the top? Many guitars have flat bottom bridges glued onto domed tops..... I tried clamping them down flat.... which took some big clamps. In my thinking -- those will be trying to pull apart from the second you unclamp... Some tips I was told about Rosewood or any other oily woods.... 1. Sand back to fresh wood right before glue time. This is good practice for any joint.... 2. Scrub down with Acetone to remove Rosewood oils. Mine left the rag Maroon from the oils.... 3. Allow to dry before glue up. On a recent build, I sanded the bridge to match the soundboard contour... I guess I will have to wait 5-10 years to see if it helps. Good luck John

Don't over think it too much. The Tanglewood company may have a messd up bridge gluing jig.... Carefully check the intonation on your Tanglewood with a good tuner -- it may be off. I have seen many many factory guitars (Including Martins) with messed up intonation because they didn't add the well known 0.150" to the scale length to get the saddle right. On your build coming up.... I think it is a little easier if you first make up the bridge or use a Factory bridge -- then you can mark up the exact position based on the dimensions of the bridge you have.... rather than marking up a bridge position... then ending up with the intonation 1/16" off because the bridge was cut a little differently than "Theoretical" If you already have your bridge -- it will also help get your bridge plate in the right position. I used Cumpiano's method and then measured off a Pre-made bridge -- just measured it out with a set of Calipers and a good machinists scale (Ruler) and marked a very light pencil outline on the top of the soundboard for the bridge. Bridge glue up was uneventful and the intonation was dead on. Good luck John

Hey all, On straight edges..... They are only "True" on the ground narrow edges. The big wide flat face is not assumed to be "True" It's just too flexy. Next, I would be real careful about "flattening" them on anything besides a surface plate... A piece of float glass may be very uniform, but will bend to conform to the surface under it. This is different than lightly stoning down burrs from knocking about in storage. ..... which is considered "Normal Shop Practice" On sources.... Go with a reputable Machinist supply company. MSC, McMaster Carr, Enco, J&L Industrial, and Grainger are all big Machine tool and die suppliers. On brand names.... Starret and Brown & Sharpe are top names. Mitutoyo is great Japanese quality. Fowler is economy USA.... Usually very accurate, but rough around the edges. SPI is usually Good quality Chinese stuff. Then you get into the economy Chinese Misc brand stuff..... which can be very good depending on where you get it. For example, the cheap-o Chinese ground straight edges from Enco are probably straighter than most folks can measure. On the other hand, I wouldn't trust a Harbor Freight or some "Mystery Discount" brand stuff. It is way too hit or miss. I would consider the 36" one a great size.... but a truly good one will be heavy. 24"x 2"x 1/4" is probably the "Go To" size Good luck John

Doesn't bother me. It is an easy way to get into being able to play *Something* when you don't have money. There are quite a few folks out there building top notch Cigar Box guitars. A Wiki article like that doesn't hurt their business. There is a long world tradition of people who love playing music building something to play. Often these instruments are pretty crude. They do work... So I feel like there is nothing wrong with it at all.... Those folks know it certainly isn't a perfect substitute for a "Real Guitar" -- but it is something that plays, its fun, and it works well enough. In fact, maybe we should encourage this sort of experimentation more..... you really can knock a rough CBG together in a day... and then go play. Have a good one John

Hey all, Looking for some rosette spot filling advise. Did a rosette -- concentric rings of Walnut, Cherry, and Maple These were made out of Veneer strips. There are some very small gaps between the individual strips. This isn't tearout problems -- apparently the router cuts slightly egg shaped holes because of the differences in grain direction. (The egg shape is always oriented the same direction.) These gaps aren't big enough to fit an additional veneer strip into.... (I already fixed the gap from the strip not seating into the channel.) 1 more veneer strip would physically not fit into the rosette inlay channel (I tried) What is the best way to fill these small gaps.... Colored lacquer sticks? Sanding dust + epoxy or CA? Sanding dust + white glue? Some other way? I would appreciate your input. Thanks John

You may want to step up to Mediums first..... just to verify there isn't anything weird in the guitar. Heavy strings at full tension will help you find loose braces and weak glue joints quickly. There may be some things that will change -- like Intonation..... because of the heavier strings. Generally, most Factory guitars are *way* overbuilt for Warranty concerns..... (Think about the repercussions of a "Forever" warranty on a product sold in a big "Box Store." Someone cooks it in their car... *Boing* .... and back to the Factory it goes...) It might actually sound better with the increased tension balancing out the extra stiffness. I know that most Martins sound boxy with Light strings. Hang Mediums on them and they come alive. Good luck John

Basically, the way I understand it..... The main properties you are looking for are: Abrasion resistant -- so Spruce and Cedar are out Not too heavy -- No lignum vitae or Snakewood Able to flex -- Ebony is out Preferable to have Closed grain -- so no oak either. And..... you can reliably glue it to wood...... which is why we probably don't see people using thin Stainless Steel shim stock. I think this is why folks like Maple, Rosewood, etc. I think it is also why a plethora of other woods would be adequate. I have heard of folks using the thin aircraft plywood -- and laminating up a "Graduated" brace -- starting thin at the edges and thick where the strings live. Good luck John

Sounds like a UPS story. You can probably pursue the claim because they damaged your stuff in Shipment. They just don't want to honor it. Re-topping an Ovation... 1. Its not impossible. Don't believe the Internet hype. 2. There are a couple challenges -- but it is doable. 1st thing to remember is that Kaman is a Helicopter company that started building Guitars...... The story goes that they were having a bad year of sales. Charles Kaman loved Guitarts. So he pulled his Vibrational Analysis and Structural Engineer guys -- to go study and understand what makes Guitars work. This was the birth of Ovation and the Lyrachord bowl. Now, the important part.... These were Helicopter guys -- not woodworkers or Luthiers. Helicopter guys hate wood -- Prehistoric stuff with variable properties that change depending on which way you cut it, the growth of the tree, etc..... Sometimes its heavy and stiff, sometimes its light and spongy even within the same tree..... You can never tell from 1 piece to another..... This is why the whole thing was made out of Advanced composites and Aluminum...... that is what Helicopters are made of. It has consistent properties that you can base a design around. They ended up making many with Spruce tops because people wanted spruce tops..... but their High End stuff was always made with Composite tops. ........ANYWAY................ You have a couple challenges 1. Epoxy finish -- Conventional thinners and strippers won't touch the stuff. When you use "Super Ultra Stripper" (The stuff that will dissolve a car tire) -- the finish pops off in little fish scales. 2. Epoxy glues used in construction -- No amount of heat or delicate persuasion will loosen this stuff. The neck is bolted on, fingerboard glued down to the soundboard. It is probably epoxied down, heat won't touch it..... but if you are going to ruin the top anyway...... The tough part..... The soundboard is epoxied onto the bowl with a thick hard rim of epoxy goop... It reminded me of the JB weld except Way Harder, more brittle, and it will properly bond to wood. This glue stuff is not commercially available.... Regular glue won't glue to the bowl either, but 2-part Epoxy will. Several braces are also glued down into this stuff -- and they won't pop out like if they were just tucked into Kerfing. (Ask me how I know this.....) Next thing is Bracing -- Because of the stiffness of the bowl and the super duper glues used...... Ovation went through about 2-dozen different bracing schemes. Some were more successful than others. Most of them weren't X-brace designs -- Unnecessary for structural reasons..... (They claimed....) If yours is an "Old" spruce top Ovation -- it probably has a modified Fan brace scheme. Of course, history tells us that *Sometimes*..... fan braces don't hold up against steel strings long term.... and many of these Ovations are no exception. You may find..... that with a Re-top.... since you can't get their "Unobtanium Glues" and you may not be able to exactly duplicate their "Scientific" bracing scheme.... That you may need to go with an X-brace top to keep the top from bellying real bad or Imploding after about 5-years. About 15 years ago.... when I was a young, foolish college student.... Before I read on the Internet that it was impossible, I re-topped an Ovation. I chiseled out all the JB weld-ish junk and roughed up the glue area real good. I re-epoxied Basswood strips around the inside as Kerfing..... but "Standard" kerfing would probably work fine... but it has to be Epoxied to the bowl. Now, you can just re-top as per "Standard" methods -- as Yellow glue will stick to the wood kerfing strips just fine. I made up an X-brace top, glued it on, and off I went.... happily un-aware that it was "Impossible." Had a real luthier do the Binding, bridge, and finish. Impossible, right.... It ended up sounding good.... but it did sound different than it originally did. Good luck. John

I think my #1 earliest lesson so far has been that Playability is by far #1 consideration for a Guitar. A smooth, easy, comfortable neck, properly levelled and crowned frets, and proper action make up for a whole lot of "Boxy" Cheap Chinese evil. On the string setup... Basically, the relationship between the strings heights makes a significant difference in the sound. If one string is too high, it makes the guitar sound weird and bad. If the profile of "High" to "Low" is off -- like one of the treble strings is taller than one of the bass strings -- it throws the whole sound out of whack. I got a ton of good information over at Bryan Kimsey's website. My short answer when working on a "Beater" is to spend the $6.00 and get yourself a set of Automotive feeler gages to do string height setup at the 1st and 12th frets. A ruler is just not accurate enough. http://www.bryankimsey.com/setup/index.htm This is not the only way, but it is probably the only place on the web that gives numbers for each string height rather than "Match the fingerboard radius then sand it a little lower on the Treble side" -- That way works too.... and literally millions of guitars are shipped to happy customers like that. My trouble was "How good are you at hand sanding the profile?" Good luck John

I have never seen a good quartersawn 2x12.... ever Statistically.... it is possible, I guess.... They cut a ton of spruce for 2x wood. On the other hand, it is fairly easy to find 2x4's that have nice 2' straight close grain sections that could be split off into braces. You know you have a bad case of WAS (Wood Acquisition Syndrome) when you are tapping 2x4's for tap tone.... But.... then again..... Some 2x4's do really have nice bell like rings when you whack them. I have found a couple.... Thanks John

Hey all, Musing about guitar construction..... Here we are, paying $5 - $15.00/bd-ft for "Brace Wood" Why not go down to the local Lumberyard or Home Store and select a nice straight close grained 2x4 stud? These are all made of spruce. Nice pretty White spruce, Red spruce, Englemann spruce, Lutz spruce, Sitka spruce, and whatever other kind of spruce they can find. These cost about $0.75/bd-ft and many times the wood is really good looking stuff. I have done Moment of Elasticity (MOE) tests on a couple and they compare nicely with the good stiff soundboard spruce. If you were OK with a 13 piece top... you could probably get a good soundboard out of one. Think of this -- pick out a nice looking flat sawn 2x4 Cost = $3.75 for a #1 8 foot long stud. This provides about 6 bd-ft..... Even if you only get 1 guitar worth out of an entire 2x4 it still costs *way* less than "The Good Stuff" If you are careful picking them out -- at least 2' between knots and cracks.... you can get a big pile of "Brace Wood" out of them and still have a pile left over for lighting the BBQ. Tell me what you think. John