Project guitar is COMPLETE!
Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 8:53 am
If everyone remembers, I bought a $9 wreck from Ebay, which masqueraded as a guitar, with the idea that I could learn from it before building my first guitar. It started life as a 1950 Silvertone guitar. When I got it, it was trash, as you can see from the photos.
I replaced the top and fretboard. I stripped the rest of the wood, which was solid birch, fixed the cracked back, then put everything back together. I must have done something right, because the intonation is almost perfect; I will have to do a tiny bit of filing for the bass "E", but otherwise, no adjustment will be needed.
I did end up replacing the first fret last night. I couldn't figure out why I was making so many mistakes while playing it, when I realized that the treble E was missing a note! Yes, I filed down the first fret so much that, essentially, there was NO first fret for string 1. Hahaha! I should have leveled the fretboard better, but this is only one of an entire book I could write on what I learned from this guitar. It has a lot of boogers, but these are mistakes that I'd rather make on this guitar, than my kit.
Surprisingly, she has a very good, even tone, with great projection and a lot of sustain. I used my favorite, Engelmann Spruce; the fretboard and bridge are rosewood. The back and sides are solid birch.
I replaced the top and fretboard. I stripped the rest of the wood, which was solid birch, fixed the cracked back, then put everything back together. I must have done something right, because the intonation is almost perfect; I will have to do a tiny bit of filing for the bass "E", but otherwise, no adjustment will be needed.
I did end up replacing the first fret last night. I couldn't figure out why I was making so many mistakes while playing it, when I realized that the treble E was missing a note! Yes, I filed down the first fret so much that, essentially, there was NO first fret for string 1. Hahaha! I should have leveled the fretboard better, but this is only one of an entire book I could write on what I learned from this guitar. It has a lot of boogers, but these are mistakes that I'd rather make on this guitar, than my kit.
Surprisingly, she has a very good, even tone, with great projection and a lot of sustain. I used my favorite, Engelmann Spruce; the fretboard and bridge are rosewood. The back and sides are solid birch.