Guitar Resto-Mod underway

[Hobbyman2]

Nice job !!! something to be proud of . what type of glue did you use ?

[nuhobby]

Nice job !!! something to be proud of . what type of glue did you use ?

Thanks! For the most part I'm using normal Titebond wood glue. This is said to be good for future serviceability since it can be un-done with heat + steam if necessary. I did also have early work on the end-blocks where I was paranoid about the mahogany sides springing loose, and there I used J-B Quik (fast version of J-B Weld) epoxy. That is the dark-ish epoxy line that I covered with veneer wedges in one of the picture postings.

[Hobbyman2]

Nice , a couple years ago I did some testing with hide glue where I made my own from rawhide, it is also used by luthiers , so far it has withstood the test of time , my next test is taking it apart and reglueing the pieces , I had a neighbor years ago that built violins and he all ways made his own glue . I knew tightbond makes a hide glue and your project peaked my curiosity .

[nuhobby]

Well, I'm finishing up my Covid isolation, and ready to quit thinking about this guitar for a while, too...

The mahogany sides I had bought were a bunch of trouble, splitting and driving me up the wall.

I decided to "mud 'em", to even up the surfaces:

Sides Mud.jpg (141.4 KiB) Viewed 1385 times

Then I made up some dark red milk paint from powders I had on hand:

Sides Milk Paint.jpg (186.99 KiB) Viewed 1385 times

Later I had oiled all over the thing, and it's to the point I don't want to see it for a while, but at least it works (if not being a stage gloss piece):

Assembled Guitar.jpg (142.41 KiB) Viewed 1385 times

Back Assembled Guitar.jpg (124.63 KiB) Viewed 1385 times

Thanks for watching,

Chris

[BuckeyeDennis]

Ouch -- sorry to hear about your troubles with the mahogony sides, Chris. Overall though, it's some really impressive craftsmanship.

This may be a dumb question, as I know nothing about lutherie, but are the sides generally steam-bent? In the first post, you said that you bought curved side pieces from a kit maker. So I assume that they were already formed roughly to the shape you needed?

[nuhobby]

Hi Dennis,
You're right, kits will usually have the sides pre-bent. I think premium kits like Stew-Mac's must have great components. I actually spent less than half that amount from an auction seller. So the mahogany sides I got were pre-bent, but they'd already started "rebounding" (curves springing back to larger radii) when I received them. I'm not sure how much of that was the cheapness of the mahogany versus the rigor of the bender/ seller. Anyway, as it turned out I messed with some heat and water -- and a hand-saw -- and I got my "OOO" sides down to more of a "OO" size that I lashed to the end blocks. It was a learning experience.

Chris

[nuhobby]

Well, 2 years later -- I've liked that resto-mod, but I got the itch to make a guitar from scratch.

Some random points of progress (red oak rift sawn wood for the sides and back)....

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[BuckeyeDennis]

The photo with the plane is absolutely gorgeous. Did you make the plane?

[rlkeeney]

Thank you for sharing. I'm very interested in seeing future progress. Nice photos

[algale]

Building a guitar is an ambition I have in my retirement, which is rapidly approaching!!