RonMay

This is a beautiful guitar. Excellent job. Ron

Yeah, that's what I got too.... trees. I would like to keep the old guard. I don't remember it bothering me before, but then I wasn't looking for flaws to fix.

@Bizman62, I think you're right about the location. The lighter shadow would certainly drive me nuts. And it was bought like that, played like that so your 2 for 2 on reasons to keep it were it is. I'm sure I can find some with an online search. That shouldn't be a problem. Thanks for your suggestions and advise. Ron

Today I polished the sides and sound board a little and my hands and arms are kinda tired. I also sanded the place where the pick guard was so now it's ready to receive the guard. I'm going to look online for some of that sticky peel off tape stuff to apply the guard. I don't want to CA glue it. The ones you buy have that peel off sticky stuff and that's what I'm looking for. They didn't locate the guard very centered to the sound hole from the factory so now I have a dilemma. Do I locate it where the old one was or center it where its supposed to be and leave a ghost shadow of where it used to be showing. ??? I'm kinda funny about stuff like that. Ron

Thank you @Andyjr1515. :).

Thank you for the link @Andyjr1515. This looks exactly like the one RSW had to replace because the strings broke off the whole top of the part directly above where the strings push through in the back and pull out in the front of the string location. It was on an Ovation guitar. He said it was a totally terrible design to have such thinness on the top of the part of the bridge that has the most stress. But if worse comes to worse it might be a viable option. He blamed it on the large relief openings where the strings emerge right before the saddle.

You are absolutely right about that @Bizman62. And that is the case with this one as well. The edge all around the bridge was at least blued to about 1/8" of lacquer. I believe that if can clean it like he does and make sure Titebond is covering the entire footprint top and bottom, it should not come off again. Thanks for the links. Ron

While I was waiting word on a possible bridge replacement, I decided to work on the back of the guitar to help make it look better. I used 400 grit sandpaper and a tiny bit of water, to help the sandpaper from loading up with sanding dust, and went over the whole back, then I applied some chrome polish to it in quarter sections then hand buffed it to a shine using a shop towel. It's no where near where I want it to be, but it's looking a lot better. There is a shine to it but the camera would not let me shoot it because of the glare off of the surface, so I had to get the sun behind me. I also worked some on the front a little bit. I didn't polish it because it has a lot more sanding to do. I also sanded the pick guard area to remove the glue residue that was left behind when it came off. I just heard from the guy in Athens Georgia who said he might have an original Regal bridge that possibly be an exact match, foot print dimensions and all, of the one I need to replace. It's at a reasonable price too. Looking for a pin less bridge like the original has been like hunting for a unicorn. For what ever reason, it appears that no one makes pin less bridge anymore. Ron

Boy howdy, that sounded so good. It sings forever. Great job @Andyjr1515 . I'm speechless. Ron

I had to try two times to access the website. The first time I got some kind of "timed out error". The next went slow but it finally opened. Ron

Still looks normal here. Ron

@Bizman62, mine is ok. (Spectrum service, Firefox browser, Duck Duck go search engine. Ron

Annie has a couple of head turners that would make a front bumper of a 1953 Cadillac envious. Ron

Y'all stop pussyfootin'. Ron

I don't know what a Chicago Barron is , but it could be a farmer who struck oil on his land and is really enjoying his new riches, as in new oil money, Beverly Hillbilly style. Is the gold on the back of the neck inlaid or decals? I think it's a great first build. How well does it play? Ron

Your welcome. I too looked at some videos and all the ones I saw (unboxing / setup) the slot was already there. Perhaps it's an oversight of QC at Sawstop. Be careful. Personally I would take small bites at a time like drilling a hole but in reverse raising and lowering the saw a little bit more at a time. Good luck if you decide to go this route. Ron

You might try looking on ytube for some more information concerning this. Ron

Thank you @Bizman62 . Ron

Upon further inspection, I found that the brace doesn't affect the crack at all. I sort of misjudged the location of the brace in relation to the crack. I was looking at the wrong brace. The loose brace is about 8" from the bottom and the second brace after the sound hole, but on the bottom. So, I went ahead and fixed it. It turned out pretty good. I can't feel it at all. I can still see it but I know where to look. Next on the grocery list of things to do will be the brace on the back. Thanks to the good advise from @Bizman62, I know how to try to do this. Ron

I finally reached the point of being finished with all of the cleaning the binding by completing the "horizontal" surface of the back and sound board. Next will be a crack in the bottom bout that I found while cleaning the binding. But I don't know if I should fix the brace on the bottom bout or the crack first. I'm thinking the brace first might be the smart choice. Ron

@Bizman62, that's a very doable idea. I was making it more complicated in my mind with sort of a ? shaped cut out piece of plywood but your idea would work much better and also much simpler tool to make. I might even have a telescoping id gage for inside measurements of things. But if I don't then your idea will come real handy. ID gage Thanks. Ron

Just a little update. I'm almost finished with all of the binding on the sides of the sound board and back. Next will be the horizontal part of the binding. That should go a lot faster. I also found another crack on the lower bout close to the bottom. It's pretty minor but I'm going to have to make a dowel brace and a couple of supports to be able try to flatten that small area out before gluing. The only problem with that idea is I can't reach it with my hands. Not even close. I was thinking of the drilling a small hole and using a thread kind of thing to flatten it and add some support. I've seen a couple of videos on that and such a tool could be easily made since I have some new tuning machines that I can't use because of they won't fit the holes already in the head stock. But I really don't want to drill any holes. I'm sort of rethinking the finish and maybe I'll lightly sand the finish down to get some of the superficial cracks out of the finish. But I still have not decided if I just want to oil it up with linseed oil and call that done. I think it might depend on how much sanding it's going to take to remove the finish cracks or at least diminish them some what. Ron

She really doesn't know what she's talking about. She can't even see her feet let alone her thighs. Ron

You are absolutely right about that. It can be kind of confusing. Or at least challenging at best for me. Ron

It does sound awesome. The only instrument with double strings I have played was a 12 string. I fell in love with the fullness of the sound. If I could I would buy one and make it my main go to guitar. Ron