Blogging Fatso!

[David L]

Finally got started and decided to name my guitar Fatso, couldn't think of a better name for an HD28 and don't flatter yourself Tony, I didn't name it after you!

[David L]

Glued the backs together using John's CA glue method, Thickness sanded using a knockoff of DaveB's method, ended up with some type of spot or color variation of some sort, it's about silver dollar sized on the left hand side above the waist. The finished thickness ended up at around .010 +/- a few thousandths. Anyone ever had one of these spot things pop up? What can it be and better yet, what can I do about it?
Here are some pictures of my Gobar deck that I finished today, installed is a 15' radius dish, had to modify it (cut the corners) tto fit the deck. Gobar rods are scheduled to be delivered tomorrow and if the humidity is right I will be bracing top and back.

[deadedith]

Don't know what that spot could be - does it show thru to the other side?
DaveB

[David L]

OK, here's the deal, you're going to make me tell on myself. When I CA glued the backs together I ended up with extra unwanted CA glue on and on both sides (left and right) of the back strip, so I took a scraper and scraped away until all the CA glue was removed, and of course as a result of this, I ended up with a valley down the center of the back. So I had to sand and sand and sand to get the valley out and achieve a flat surface. The spot didn't show up at first but only after I had sanded for awhile did it appear. Now to answer the question, no the spot does not show on the other side, however, I am reluctant to do too much sanding on the other side as I also have a slight valley and a couple of waves (I assume from the servicing). I am afraid that In order to get a good flat even surface on this side the overall thickness might be comprimised. Like I mentioned I'm already down to about .010 and the spot might show up on this side like it did on the other side after I sand for a bit. I can do a little bit of localized blend sanding to make this side good enough for the "inside" side of the back which leaves the nice flat, even side with the spot for the "outside" side of the back. If you can make any sense of what I'm trying to say, I'm open to any suggestions, thoughts, ideas, hints or advice as to what I might do. Thanks!

David L

[tippie53]

how think were the plates to start with ? I prefer to glue up then thickness , this gives you some fudge room

[David L]

Actually I put the decimal point in the wrong place. I did not thickness sand the plates prior to glue-up. the original thickness of the plates was whatever they were when I received the kit, if I remember correctly somewhere in the neighborhood of .125" now they are at .100" give or take a couple thousandths. If I have to sand the other side to an even, flat surface in the hopes that the spot won't rear it's ugly head so that I could use that side for the "outside" of the back the final thickness will probably be .080" or even thinner. Now, I'm certainly no genius, and everything I know about making guitars could fit in a thimble and there would be plenty of room left over,this is a serviced kit which to me means that the thickness of the plates I receive in the kit are close to final thickness. I don't think they intend for me to cut the thickness nearly in half. How thin is "too" thin for the back of a dread?

[David L]

I didn't have any acetone on hand, however, I did wipe it down real good with mineral spirits and while it was good and wet the spot was not visible, once it was completely dry the spot was still visible but not nearly as much as before. I have to hold it at a certain angle to get the light to reflect just right to see it. The best way to describe it is that it is a bit more shiny than the rest of the board. I will get some acetone and try that, as I believe it to be a better solvent than mineral spirits and besides that's what Ken suggested to begin with. A good sign is that it wasn't visible while wet and likely not to show under the finish.

[David L]

Rubbed real good with acetone with perhaps a little bit of improvement.

[David L]

Just got in from the shop, got a lot done (at least I think so), profiled the back strip and cut notches for braces, got all four braces glued in and are curing in the gobar forest. I took some pictures and will take some more tomorrow when I pull it out and clean it up a bit, however I can't post them as my computer tech is in the hospital. I suppose I should learn how to post pictures. I know how to post them on the forum, it's the whole download from the camera and being able to retrieve them from the computer that i'm not too hip on. I'll see what I can do tomorrow.

[David L]

OK, so I going to try to post pictures from yesterdays progress. Expect the worse, hope for the best! Here goes. I'm editing: Looks like the pictures showed up, at least on my end they did. Here's the pictures of the gobar forest!