What's on your workbench right now?

[hexes]

All the parts for a modified Blonde Showman build except arguably the most important part: THE CHASSIS.

that’s the only thing keeping me from making the ultimate surf guitar amp. the chassis.

[Flurko]

I've read a lot about "rubber bridge guitars" these days, and I have an old acoustic at my parents that would really do the job.
I really like some kinds of paintings on guitars, such as what Jake Wildwood did on this project :
https://jakewildwood.blogspot.com/2019/ ... ridge.html

So as the guitar I want to work on is not at my place yet, I've already worked on the illustration, with the model scrathing her ears just beside me while I was drawing :

[seenoevil II]

So, this isn't the most exciting thing. This is a Goodwill find by my dad. It was sub $20 and he thought he found a bargain. It was missing it's strings and most notable had a hole in the back. It almost looked like somebody shot it! This was definitely somebody's starter guitar but they never really learned and it went in the closet and got bashed around over the years.

My dad offered it to me to repair. This guitar has essentially zero resale value, so I took it on as a guinea pig to practice various luthiery skills.


Here's the hole repair. I should have taken before pictures or progress pictures. It's laminated so this wound was a real mess. I had to push out the compress plies, then flooded the area with thin superglue. Then, I grafted a piece of tight grained pine into the hole. I colored it with fountain pen ink of all things and the match was remarkably close. Then I drop filled with super glue. I tried to level sand that, but wound up sanding through some of the surrounding finish. I color matched with some opaque acrylics and dyes to cover those spots up. Then some spray poly over that. It's a disaster of a repair job. But where there once was a hole, now there's a weird looking bunch of obvious touch up work.



Pure carnage.


It's a "Spectra" Doubtless a Chinese firm that makes generic guitars to be rebranded for export to various markets. It's odd because whoever designed the model and tooled the factory really knew what they were doing. The bound neck is a nice touch. The neck profile is one of my favorites I've ever played. The bracing layout has good intentions. The neck geometry (minus the fret work) is actually pretty good with a good set angle and decent fall-away. After a set-up, it plays really nicely. It just sounds like a shoebox with strings on it.

The execution is absolutely atrocious though. The braces don't meet each other or the curfing by a centimeter. They are made of pine and have grain runout into their gluing surfaces. One of the X braces cracked from just sheer shitiness of timber selection.

Things I did to it.

Hole repair and subsequent touch up work.
Reglued X brace
Reglued loose back brace (near impact site of hole)
File, dress fret ends
Spot level frets
File string ramps in bridge
Lower bridge saddle
Refine nut (not too much, wasn't too bad to start with)
Adjust truss rod




Now the question is what to do with it. I need this guitar like I need a hole in the head. It plays fine, but it sounds like poo. Frankly, my dad doesn't need it either. He has plenty of great guitars. And this thing in immaculate condition would only fetch about $80 max. Even at my novice level, I put in more work than this thing is worth. But I got some good practice out of it. So, I'm pleased. Got to LARP as Ted Woodford for a couple evenings.

I'm thinking of taking it back to goodwill. They get to sell it again and make more money for a good cause. Plus, whoever buys it will get a properly set-up guitar that plays nice and easy. This thing is leagues ahead of the acoustic I learned on. I'm kinda thinking of turning that into a thing. Buying basket-case guitars at goodwills, practicing lutheir skills on them, then taking them back to goodwill like a kind of guitar repair Robin Hood.

Anyway. That's my not exciting shop notes installment.

[UC3]

Almost had it.



Got caught daydreaming in one of the most critical areas of the round-overs - the neck pocket.
Ironically, I had already done a 3/8" and decided I would try the 7/16" - which I actually like better... minus the “Oh Scheiße !” moment.


Any ideas?

Maybe something like this modified neckplate. IDK... it's pretty random anyways.



Regards,

Mark

[Gordon]

Any ideas?

Or this, but a lefty one: https://www.philadelphialuthiertools.co ... no-screws/

[Steadyriot.]

I’d go with the ferrules too!
Or you could give it a reverse 3 bolt neckplate

[UC3]

Thanks Gordon, Steadyriot,

Going to step away from the router and do a little epoxy fill while I get a plan together

[antisymmetric]

Oh man, I've had plenty of those moments Stepping away is the trick, give yourself some time to regroup, sometimes these things can lead you in a good direction. Maybe a smaller plate/ recessing/ partial recessing or a combination of those things? Or ferrules, as already mentioned.
Cool project btw.

[ludobag1]

You could do a little plate ,old aria have screws more near than fender plate one ,no need to copy just made your own ,later guys will said what a nice plate,if you change error in creativity it béguin to be personal
Some screw up can be good ,on my lp i have a bad seam and need to recut it to reglue ,problem was after it was too short
Solution one stripe of mapple into 2 venner of mahogany to complete thé miss and now i find it seriously cool (at first i was real angry but with little break ,reflection and ta da thé idea!,now i am happy of my screw up)

[UC3]

Anti, Ludo, Gordo, Steady,

Thanks again guys.

All good ideas, Smaller neckplate a'la "Aria" or custom, and the recessed a'la Ron Kirn is growing on me though.

Guy I used to know always said " If you cant fix it, feature it!"

OTH, I did save the off-cut in front of the neck pocket, so I got that going for me

I'll see if I can come up with something without "baking my noodle" first. Or maybe I need to bake my noodle first. IDK

Mark

[Lost In Autumn]

finish is done on the body, now the hardest part, waiting 3 weeks for it to cure.
clear coat is finished, now we let the finish cure for 3 weeks before leveling and sanding. I've also begun finishing the neck, which is from a Starcaster



Starcaster neck, modded to work with a JM body.

[JSett]

Purple sparkle with tort binding? I think you might have just broken OSG

[Maker]

Fixing the broken truss rod anchor in a 1960's Teisco.

[seenoevil II]

Fixing the broken truss rod anchor in a 1960's Teisco.

You're gonna need to give us more than this. What's going on here? Is it an all metal reinforcement beam with a truss rod inside? Are you just going after the anchor?

[seenoevil II]

Sacré...violet

That's amazing.

Tort binding, very purple. I'm just realizing how Prince inspired this guitar is.