Geo

Does the crack pull closed easily, with little force? If it does, there's a chance you could get away with glueing it up on the instrument. If not I really would recommend taking the bridge off and replacing it.

Can you post some pictures?

As for the neck angle: it's a re-shim job on Taylors, nice and easy

Hopefully I'll post some pictures tonight or tomorrow. I haven't tried closing the crack.

I figured the neck would be easy. Heck, I've had to do it four or five times on the acoustic I built.

Thanks again for your help.

Thanks Jammy.

I wouldn't really like to tack a crack like that with the bridge on the instrument though, ideally remove the bridge and have a good look over it.

Can you explain why? Would that be "gluing stress" into the soundboard?

Here's some more info. I looked at the guitar yesterday. The crack is about 1mm wide at the widest places but it varies along its length. It does not reach to the soundboard but its width tapers quickly.

Have a good look around inside for any wear around the string holes on the bridgeplate. Sometimes, excessive wear round there can weaken the area and cause this problem.

Will do... though I doubt there is excessive wear. This guitar looks brand new, with no fret or fingerboard wear. I suppose, though, if it sat around strung up for a few years, it could have "worn" without being played.

There is one other issue with this guitar. My brother complained of a high action, which he thought was connected to the cracked bridge. I looked at it, and the action problem is due to the neck angle. But this is the cheapest Taylor (110 I think) and the neck is bolt-on, so I'm confident I can fix that. (I would not feel comfortable trying to fix the angle of a glued-in acoustic neck.)

Geo, that's exactly what I was after...someone with more knowledge than I about such things! So that's how an acoustic guitar works (top driving sound onto back and assuming out the soundhole)......I had never really thought about this and it just seemed an interesting topic......you are right, at the very least, I have reduced weight and that is important as Brazilian Walnut aint' light....and this body aint' small!...

Well, I am flattered. How an acoustic works... I think... sound does not come "out" the soundhole. Sound comes off the flexible top of the guitar, which is activated into vibration by the changing torque that the strings apply to the bridge (the strings want the saddle to fall flat against the top). The soundhole is like a port on a closed speaker cab (or like the open back on an open cab), allowing the air volume inside to "breathe". It's the stiffness of the air inside the acoustic box that causes it to resonate between top and back.

I think chambers within a solid body could influence the tone... just not in the way people think. I don't think that the proportion of chambered space in the body tells you how much the guitar will sound "acoustic". The plates have to be able to vibrate freely. (Which is why an over-braced acoustic sounds "constipated".)

Keep up the good work.

That's one of the sexiest shapes I've seen in a while!!!

my thinking was that by ensuring the pickup cavities were open to the chambers, that some of the sound may enter or be influenced by this network of air pockets......

Honestly, I don't buy it. But that's not really what matters. You're thinking independently and coming up with something new (as far as I know). Let us know if the pockets do seem to influence the sound at all.

My thinking is that a pocket of air doesn't do you any good (other than weighing less) if the wood around it is too thick vibrate the air in the way that it does on fully acoustic instruments. That is, the pocket of air in there is essentially dead unless the top is driving it against the back like on an acoustic guitar.

Does the air really move in chambers within solidbodies?

Also, sound travels better through solids than air, right?

I have yet to see this in person, and I'll take and post pictures when I can. But I would like to throw this out there anyway...

My brother just bought a Taylor on ebay. He got it and there's a hairline crack along the bridge pins (as if the bridge pins caused the crack). I told him that IF I can fix this, there wouldn't be any long-term danger to the guitar since a good glue joint is so strong.

I'm worried, though, that I may not be able to get a clamp onto the bridge to glue the crack. I just don't think there will be enough perpendicular surface along the front and back edge of the bridge for a clamp to sit on. I.e., the clamps will be stretching from the front edge to back edge of the bridge and lying parallel to the soundboard.

Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

hey thanks you two, do you think id have a chance in GOTM?

Absolutely. The craftsmanship on that guitar is incredible!!!

I'm wondering where a chambered guitar ends and a semi-hollow begins.

To me, a semi is built more along the lines of an acoustic or an archtop, that is, the sides are bent, and the top and back are glued onto that. Which is part of what gives the guitar its sound.

On the other hand, a lot of Rickenbackers seem to be built like this, where the two halves are just hollowed out blanks. So are they still considered semis?

To me... chambered solidbody=semi-SOLID.

Bent sides, like an archtop but w/center block=semi-HOLLOW.

One thing I am not clear

on, and maybe you can help. They say for a bass I need a 24 inch rod. As I have short

fingers I am going for a 32 1/2 scale length. Can the rod be made to suit the scale length?

I.E. can it be cut to suit a shorter than 34 inch scale neck.

Look at your plan and see if a 24" rod will fit safely in the neck.

I would just leave it. It looks great, and it's original too.

Gorgeous!!!! The stain really came off well. Your projects are so refined!

My initial thought was to use sapele for the neck.

I think that would do just as much to the highs as a sapele body. The neck probably influences the tone more than the body, since there is more neck wood than body wood between the strings' anchor points... of course that changes with each fret... oh, this is so complicated.

My projection: a sapele body, maple neck, and bright pickup will equal a fairly bright guitar.

I haven't used bubinga so can't comment on that.

Your guitar startled me! I haven't been generally confused by a guitar design in a long time... congrats! Very original looking, very quirky! I bet it will sound killer using the magnetic pickup.

So this is dreadnought-sized, but semi-solid, with a braced top and a bolt on neck? Interesting!

Mahogany doesn't necessarily mean "dark." I built a guitar--mahogany body, underwound P-90's, maple top and neck--a VERY bright guitar with the volume full up, very warm with the volume rolled back.

Of course your redwood top won't keep things bright, but a maple neck would probably help.

Whatever you decide, if you still need more brightness, you can use 1M pots.

the problem is it loose some of the noise canceling qualities

Right. But when the amp's cranked and you're playing rock n' roll you don't really hear the buzz!

There are other factors too. The magnetic strength also determines the output.

And the coil shape and number of coils determine the color of the sound, which influences the perceived output. Don't forget the shape of the magnetic field.

Maybe try taking the string ferules out for that spot?

Or... just leave the discoloration for a "worn" look.

Personally, the easiest and cheapest way of doing this with the least frustration is to build a very simple winder from a cordless variable speed drill.

Just to add to this... a good speed control for this setup is a C-clamp on the trigger. With my drill at least, it's difficult to control the speed at low RPM, and the clamp gives you much finer control (just tweak the handle of the clamp). Also, you don't have to hold your hand in the same position. That gets tiring real fast.

I'm AR about color codes.

Well, you wouldn't want to accidentally use a crossover cable for your guitar!!!

Stranded or solid will work equally well. Solid is actually easier to use because it stays how you bend it. Also if you use solid wire, you don't have to worry about stray strands shorting to other parts of the circuit. (Of course if you're careful that won't happen, but with solid wire it CAN'T happen. )

There is so little going on in a guitar electrically that any kind of conductive material should work. You have a signal in millivolts, and I can't imagine how small the current must be.

And there are SO many variables in the signal chain, from strings to speakers and room size, I wouldn't get hung up on the kind of wire in the control cavity. Use what you have on hand.

I suppose it depends on what you want... but I think slightly mismatched coils in a humbucker could have an interesting tone. But then again, when I make pickups, I'm not trying to match anyone's specs, just expirementing.

I don't use a counter. I just wind till the bobbin is full. You can always remove windings but you can't add 'em.

Stew mac has magnets too, don't they? Also try Allparts.

I've always envisioned it this way... the wood removes from the strings (or enforces in them) certain harmonics for every note on the fingerboard. The wood thus tells the strings how they can and can't vibrate, and the pickups reproduce this through the lens of their particular impedance, magnetic strength, position along the vibrating string, etc.

BTW, anyone ever notice how playing the highest notes on the guitar through the neck pickup sounds almost as bright as the bridge pickup? In a sense, your fingers are fretting and creating another "bridge" very near the neck pickup, thus making the harmonic balance more like it is when using the bridge pickup.

And I think the "bridgey-nes" and "necky-ness" of any pickup changes slightly for each position on the fingerboard. Say you play through the bridge pickup and fret at the octave: if the bridge pickup is positioned at 1/8 the full scale length, it's suddenly "hearing" the strings at 1/4 of the scale length (because of where you're fretting), thus picking up a different harmonic balance relative to when you play open.

Nice! As you can tell I'm new to this. So, if I do Tru-Oil (since it is a finish in and of itself) I won't have to put down poly, and I wont have to sealer? That sounds like the way to go to me. How bad are the fumes with Tru-Oil? Just want to know what kind of ventilation I will need. Also is there any issue as far as temperature goes. It's starting to cool down here and I will probably be doing it in an attic.

The fumes aren't bad. Just don't go sniffing the bottle on purpose!

It'll probably take longer to dry in a cooler temperature. You should probably use thin coats too... maybe add a little turpentine in each coat? I'm just guessing here.

You can even apply it with your bare fingers

It gets really sticky on your skin really fast... I wouldn't suggest that. I try to keep it off my hands because I find it irritating.

I'd be worried about the FB backbowing. Also, I think clamping it would be difficult. Obviously, though, there are many ways to assemble and shape a neck.

Painting a fretboard sounds like a disaster to me. With a few months' playing, the strings will have worn straight through the paint! Think of old maple-necked Fenders. The strings just cut through that lacquer. It's a cool look... but on your guitar, there may not be much orange left after a few years.

Besides, fingerboard woods are usually pretty attractive. I think it would be a sin to paint rosewood.

1. Chemical strip

2. Sanding

3. Grain filler (if needed for an ash body?)

4. Sand sealer

5. Oil Based stain (Minwax, Tru-Oil something like that)

6. Polyurethane finish

I was reading an article on how to do a Tru-Oil finish and it seems pretty simple if I get the sanding and sealing done correctly.

Are you finishing it with tru oil or polyurethane? Tru oil is a finish, not a stain. With tru oil you want to prepare the wood to the highest standard possible and keep the coats even and level. But if you do everything correctly, yes, tru oil is pretty simple. You don't have to put a sealer under tru oil either.