 |
Here's what the crack looks like after only 1 day of hard
humidification- it's closing up very nicely. It looks even better
on the other side of the bridge, but this is the worst spot and I'm
going to have to deal with it. |
 |
The action is coming up and we now have a pretty reasonable 3/32" or
.093" for us digital folks. That's just right. |
 |
A few more days humidification and the crack is closed about as much
as it's going to. In the previous shot I could get a .004" feeler
gauge in there and now I can't. It's about .002". |
 |
Here's what I did- I smeared a damp rag over the crack to squeegee
off some water. Then I did the same with LMII white glue. The water will
help draw the glue down into the crack. Because I am definitely
filling a small gap here, I didn't use hide glue. To further fill
the gap, I took some fine rosewood dust and smeared it into the glued
crack, then smeared more glue over the top, then more dust again. |
|
|
Wiping the glue off, this is what we have. it's not bad, but
there's still a little seam in the very top of the crack. It's
filled down in the crack, but not all the way to the very top. |
 |
Inside the guitar, I have glue squeeze out. I wanted to see this
because it means that I got glue all the way thru. After taking
this shot, I reached in and smeared it. Note that there is only 1 Tone
brace. I'm not excited about that big empty gap between the brace
and the tailblock so.... |
 |
...I'm going to put a mahogany cleat in there. I'm not a big fan
of cleats, but I really think this guitar needs one. The grain in
the cleat is running perpendicular to the top and I'm going to use a
fairly wide cleat, too, for maximum strength. Here's where it's
going to go, but on the inside of the guitar. |
 |
And here's the cleat, glued and clamped. Note the squeeze out
again. It took me 3 tries to get the cleat right where I wanted
it, but I'm happy with it. I'll let this dry for 30 minutes or so. |
 |
Alright, back to the top crack. Here's a close-up of what I've
got after I've used glue and dust. |
 |
And here's what it looks like after I've applied a little trick.
This putty is soft and pliable. I just smeared a little on the
top, worked it into the crack and ta-da....looks better already. I
use this putty for things like filling in under fret ends, too.
Works great and we're just talking about a little smear. |
 |
Here's a close-up of the crack now. Not too shabby, if you ask
me. |
 |
Stick the label back on over the neck screw and I'm almost done!!
The top of the guitar is looking good with no ripples or strange
distortions, the action is perfect, the string alignment is good, and
the only left to do is make a new bone nut to replace that one that's
washing around in the gulf. I've got a cold today and it's 10 pm,
so I'll do the nut later in the week. This is the week leading
into Christmas and I'll wait until after the New Year's to ship this
back to Scott. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|