My Worst Nightmare Come True!
Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2018 6:32 am
Well folks, I dropped my beloved Delilah.
For the newbies, Delilah was my second build. She's a 00-12 fret, made of WV cherry. I recently replaced her top with WV red spruce from the Pocahontas National Forest. I also reset her neck to the proper angle.
I named her Delilah, because I had a hard time building her. Her shape isn't symmetrical. because I didn't have a proper mold for her. You name it, and it happened. I swear that Delilah didn't want to be a guitar. But for all of her faults, she has a fantastic voice. I've had 3 offers now to sell her, warts and all. But, she'll never be for sale.
I dropped her and she landed squarely on the corner of her upper back, right shoulder. The wood splintered, plus there are 2 other cracks, all are through and through damage.
I pushed the wood back together the best I could. My concern was to stabilize the damage immediately. When I build, I squirrel away every scrap of wood, because you never know when you'll need it. I have off cuts of her wood. I glued a ~ 2x2" piece of thin cherry to the damage inside, and I used a piece of plexiglas on the outside, sandwiching the damage. Everything was held in place by strong magnets. This brought the splintered wood back together pretty well. I also put cleats on the cracks and I ran ca glue along them.
Then I flooded the damaged area with thin CA glue. After everything set up, I took a closer look. She had a 1/2" long area of missing wood that I couldn't find. Using an off cut, I matched her wood the best that I could, and I cut a filet to fill the area. The missing spot was in the shape of a triangle. I made the filet a rough pointed elliptical shape, which would be a better match to her crazy grain.
I put the filet in, with CA glue, after cutting out and cleaning the graft area. Truthfully, I could have done a better job. If this guitar was someone else's. I would have done the filet nicer, but this is Delilah and i don't mind if she had one more scar. I just want to make sure that she's stable.
I sanded the area to level everything. I decided to strip the shellac off of her entire back, because the cherry had darkened since I built her. To make her back match the shade, I had to sand her entire back to remove the patina.
I'm in the process of french polishing her back again.
For the newbies, Delilah was my second build. She's a 00-12 fret, made of WV cherry. I recently replaced her top with WV red spruce from the Pocahontas National Forest. I also reset her neck to the proper angle.
I named her Delilah, because I had a hard time building her. Her shape isn't symmetrical. because I didn't have a proper mold for her. You name it, and it happened. I swear that Delilah didn't want to be a guitar. But for all of her faults, she has a fantastic voice. I've had 3 offers now to sell her, warts and all. But, she'll never be for sale.
I dropped her and she landed squarely on the corner of her upper back, right shoulder. The wood splintered, plus there are 2 other cracks, all are through and through damage.
I pushed the wood back together the best I could. My concern was to stabilize the damage immediately. When I build, I squirrel away every scrap of wood, because you never know when you'll need it. I have off cuts of her wood. I glued a ~ 2x2" piece of thin cherry to the damage inside, and I used a piece of plexiglas on the outside, sandwiching the damage. Everything was held in place by strong magnets. This brought the splintered wood back together pretty well. I also put cleats on the cracks and I ran ca glue along them.
Then I flooded the damaged area with thin CA glue. After everything set up, I took a closer look. She had a 1/2" long area of missing wood that I couldn't find. Using an off cut, I matched her wood the best that I could, and I cut a filet to fill the area. The missing spot was in the shape of a triangle. I made the filet a rough pointed elliptical shape, which would be a better match to her crazy grain.
I put the filet in, with CA glue, after cutting out and cleaning the graft area. Truthfully, I could have done a better job. If this guitar was someone else's. I would have done the filet nicer, but this is Delilah and i don't mind if she had one more scar. I just want to make sure that she's stable.
I sanded the area to level everything. I decided to strip the shellac off of her entire back, because the cherry had darkened since I built her. To make her back match the shade, I had to sand her entire back to remove the patina.
I'm in the process of french polishing her back again.