My Beloved Delilah is Singing Again

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Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

My Beloved Delilah is Singing Again

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

It's been more than a year since I dropped my poor Delilah on the concrete floor. However, I finally took the time to fix her up, and now she's singing again, perhaps a bit better than before.

I found more damage than I had anticipated. She had quite a bit of damage to her upper right bout on the back with a couple of cracks that extended below the second brace. She had splintered wood on her back, in that upper corner, where she hit the concrete, which required some replacement wood. She also had damage on the rim and binding, where small pieces of wood had fallen out along the purfling, leaving long and narrow holes.

Since I had all of these repairs to do, I thought I'd make a huge lemon into lemonade by resetting her neck and replacing the bridge. I never liked the prefab bridge the I used. Delilah was my second guitar, and the first time I bent wood. I made her without a proper mold or proper tools, so she's never been a perfect guitar.

Now she looks like a beaten up step-child.

I have wood left over from her build. I used a thin piece to reinforce the inside of the right rear upper bout, where I pushed the wood back together. On the outside, I had to place a small filet into a void. I also had to fill some areas along the side purfling. I used y miniature Veritas block plane, to make whisper thin strips of wood, which I worked into these voids.

Since I had all of this work to do, I decided to make a new, proper bridge for her. I never liked the original bridge. When I pulled her neck to reset it to the proper angle, I found that her neck block had cracked. It wasn't a complete surprise, because the way she fell, I was surprised that her neck didn't break.

I decided that her neck block was salvageable, so I used 2 part epoxy to fix it. After fixing it, you couldn't even see the crack. I french polished her damaged areas. I made the bridge, glued it, and reset her neck. I bought a very nice bridge slotting jig, so her saddle slot is spot on.

Shes been strung up for several days now, and her action hasn't varied at all. Her intonation is as good as it gets and her voice is wonderful. It's good to have Delilah back in time for the Holidays.

However, just as I was getting ready to put new strings on her, one of her old strings gave way, sending one of her bone with red dot pins flying. I've yet to figure out where it landed, so I'm using a set of bone pins with abalone, until her pin turns up. I hope it turns up soon.
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Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: My Beloved Delilah is Singing Again

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

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Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
ruby@magpage.com
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 8:03 am
Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: My Beloved Delilah is Singing Again

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

Pretty wood. Have you done that extensive an inlay since doing that one?

Ed
Ed M
JLT
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Joined: Wed Nov 02, 2011 9:13 pm
Location: Sacramento, CA USA

Re: My Beloved Delilah is Singing Again

Post by JLT »

It's always gratifying to find something and restore it to functionality ... musical instruments, old cars, that cast iron frying pan that your grandmother might have used. In some ways, it's better than making or buying something new, because it is a link to the past, and reminds you not only of who you are, but who you were. Good on you!
Kevin Sjostrand
Posts: 3712
Joined: Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:06 pm
Location: Visalia, CA

Re: My Beloved Delilah is Singing Again

Post by Kevin Sjostrand »

Diane I'm glad you got her fixed up and playing again, and happy for you that she still sings sweetly!!
Diane Kauffmds
Posts: 3246
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2014 8:13 pm

Re: My Beloved Delilah is Singing Again

Post by Diane Kauffmds »

ruby@magpage.com wrote:Pretty wood. Have you done that extensive an inlay since doing that one?

Ed
I've done inlaying, just not as much on a single instrument. However, stay tuned. I'm inlaying 2 boards with as intricate of an inlay, if not more so, than Delilah. The quilted mahogany and the Panama rosewood builds will have extensive fretboard inlay. I'll be laying out the quilted mahogany's fretboard in the next couple of weeks.

I have a good air inlay tool now, which is much more precise than the dremel I used on Delilah.
Diane Kauffmann
Country Roads Guitars
countryroadsguitars@gmail.com
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