Re: A Repair, Revisited/Finally Done After 2 Years.

Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Thu Feb 18, 2016 7:20 pm

I finally got brave enough to cut the pearl. I've also inscribed the fretboard with the curve, so that I know where to rout.

I traced a few copies of the fretboard motif. I cut out the individual pieces with one tracing, and glued them to the pearl. After cutting out the pearl, I put the pieces on another tracing that I made. Some of those pieces are extremely tiny, especially on the open rose and I had a hard time controlling them. I ended up gluing the 2 largest pieces with CA glue, then placing each piece in turn, gluing after each.

As you can see, some of the pieces still have the pattern paper on them and others don't. I know it looks like a mess right now, but I'm sure once I get it cleaned off, it'll look better. I still have to shape one stem with a file, then I'll file where all 3 come together, so that it looks continuous.

Next, I'll rout away all of the material to the left and below the etched line, down to the bottom of the fret slots; this will create a bas relief of the curve. The inlay will be in this area, and I'll fret in the remaining slots.

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Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Thu Feb 18, 2016 7:22 pm

More of the design coming together:

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Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Fri Feb 19, 2016 12:21 am

I decided to tackle the fretboard tonight. I used the router to rough out the relief. Tomorrow I'll use the chisel to even everything out, then sand it to 1200g.

The relief shape was inspired by MaineGeezer's fretboard!

The setup:

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The result:

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Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 12:33 pm

After 3 days and 3 tries full of frustration, I managed to put the motif on the fretboard. For better or worse, this is how the fretboard looks:

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motif 2.jpg

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John J · Post by **John J** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 3:00 pm

I like it. Certainly something new and different. It'll be a challenge to dress the fret ends there.

johnnparchem · Post by **johnnparchem** » Sun Feb 21, 2016 6:33 pm

a lovely touch!

Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Mon Feb 22, 2016 12:19 pm

it's been 2 years in the making, but Sue's guitar is singing again. I stayed up until 3am this morning finishing it. It's strung and it sounds quite beautiful. It has a LOT of sustain, and it's very well rounded. I can't wait until settles in a bit and the top realizes that it's a guitar. I still have a couple of cosmetic things that need to be done, but it's ready to play.

I found another guitar strap which is a duplicate of the strap that Sue had on it for all those years. Her strap was in tatters and held on by a large ugly fishhook! I replaced the fishhook with a proper, rosewood, end pin.

The idea of the routed bas relief shape came to me after looking at MaineGeezer's fretboard shape. Although classical guitars usually have plain fretboards, I wanted something to distinguish the guitar. Sue used to make pieces of jewelry out of natural elements like abalone and mother of pearl.

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Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Mon Feb 22, 2016 12:20 pm

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Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Mon Feb 22, 2016 12:22 pm

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Danl8 · Post by **Danl8** » Mon Feb 22, 2016 12:52 pm

Beautiful restoration!

-d.