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

Danl8 · Post by **Danl8** » Sun Jan 24, 2016 1:32 pm

That looks great!! I'm looking forward to the sound report.

Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Sun Jan 24, 2016 5:23 pm

I'm calling the box done. I'll do a hard polish before I string it up in a month or so. I'm going to do the neck, which I need to get done by Tuesday. I have surgery on my left hand on Wednesday and it'll be a while before I can do anything, so I want the finish to harden (nothing like a little forced patience).

I spirited off the sides/back. I'll polish with compound and buff it when I'm able to start working again.

back and sides 1.jpg

back and sidese 2.jpg

back and sides 3.jpg

Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Sat Jan 30, 2016 9:48 pm

i put 6 coats of satin hand rub polyurethane on the neck (which is my preferred finish for the neck) prior to my surgery. i also sanded the fretboard to 320g. i'll fret the board, level it, and finish everything when i'm able. tight now it's curing in my sewing room.

i'm going to design a different inlay for the headstock eventually too.

a photo with the new fretboard and bridge laying on it.

front.jpg

left.jpg

right.jpg

Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Sat Jan 30, 2016 9:50 pm

the label, with my blue rose seal.

Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Wed Feb 10, 2016 9:05 pm

I'm ready to do a little work on the guitar. I'm attaching the bridge tonight. I've decided to make a major change to the fretboard. I've decided to inlay an area at the bottom of the fretboard. This will be my very first attempt at the design, selection of inlay material, cutting the shell, and inlaying.

I suppose I've had too much time since my hand surgery to think, which can be dangerous...

This is the drawing that I've modified too many times to count. I'm going to sand the curve that you see below, so that the frets are higher and the inlaid area is lower; the step down to the inlay area, will be sanded into a gentle slope, which will form the curve that you see. Roses are my trademark so to speak. I have almost 50 rose bushes in my front yard, so I'm known locally as the Rose lady. The Roses also honor the rosewood sides and back of this guitar.

The roses will be made of light/white, but colorful mother of pearl, with abalone stems and pastel green abalone leaves. At least, that's what's in my head right now. I'll see how it looks tomorrow when I sit down with the design on a clear template, so I can visualize the colors a bit more. I have some special abalone that will make really great butterfly wings.

final motif.jpg

johnnparchem · Post by **johnnparchem** » Wed Feb 10, 2016 9:55 pm

The re-top is really turning out nice. The guitar will be gorgeous

John J · Post by **John J** » Thu Feb 11, 2016 12:12 pm

I like your thoughts on that inlay. Looking forward to see it come to life.

Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 3:53 pm

I've started doing a little on the guitar again, as my hand allows. I attached the bridge today, leveled the fretboard, and cut the fretboard to length.

For the time being, I'm leaving the fretboard square with a 20th fret, instead of contouring it to the soundhole. This means that there will be a bit of an overlap at the top of the soundhole. I think that the inlay would look better like this, but I can always change the shape of the bottom, since the inlay will start at the 19th fret.

I've thought over the problem of the inlay for the past couple of weeks. I wish I had thought of doing the inlay before cutting the fret slots from 15 on down. It definitely would look nice, and be an original look if I sanded down the area to be inlaid, making a gently curved area, but I'd run into one problem after another. I really don't want to fret through this particular inlay, so I've decided to fill the slots with epoxy in the area of the inlay. Hopefully, the end product will appear that it was never cut in that area.

So, this is the guitar as it is right now:

Diane Kauffmds · Post by **Diane Kauffmds** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 3:57 pm

This is a template with the design traced on it. It may be a bit hard to see, but you can see the location and orientation of the inlay. I've also selected the 4 shell types that I'm going to use. I'll be laying out the individual pieces o the shell and cutting it out next.

DSCF0157.JPG

DSCF0162.JPG

DSCF0165.JPG

johnnparchem · Post by **johnnparchem** » Tue Feb 16, 2016 8:48 pm

That is a very good looking guitar. It will look great with your tasteful inlay design.