Rebuild of Ruined 000
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2011 12:39 pm
Some of you guys might remember me. I was pretty active here for awhile, then things got in the way. Now, I'm back and am getting back into building.
Back in December of 2007, I destroyed most of the very first guitar I ever built. I was pretty proud of that guitar ... I'd never built anything from wood that was worth a darn, and I enjoyed it. I went on building, started this forum, wrote some books, continued building, etc.
Then, in 2007, a very stressful situation encroached on our serene life. In a hurry one day, I tripped over the (stupid) cat, fell onto my 000 guitar into a chair, and it ended up ruined.
So, here's the original guitar:
Here's the guitar after my 200 lbs landed on it: Aargh. The damage was worse than is shown in the picture. The only piece of the top that wasn't broken, gouged, scarred or deeply scratched was just big enough to use as veneer on my new peghead, which I did. Bought a new neck, new fretboard, made braces, etc., etc. Everything but the sides and back.
I didn't do anything for a long time. It was 2010 before I began to work on it, because it made mu sick just thinking about it. See, I really loved that guitar. I know, you guys all understand because you feel exactly the same way about your first build: Good or bad, it's like your kids. You love it for what it is, no more, no less.
So, eventually, I started working on it. I discovered, to my happy surprise, that the sides and back were still absolutely perfectly "original." Not that they were "perfect," since they were THAT way to begin with! But, they were not in need of any repair work.
So, I removed the top, made a new set of braces, got a new cedar top from Luthier's Mercantile (I had used cedar from LMII on the original instead of Stemac's spruce), and put it on. So far, so good. Then, I wrangled with what to do about binding and purfling for over a year. I was just stalled; couldn't decide what the heck to do. Part of the problem was that the only thing I had that would work was a combination of plastic (to match the binding on the back), wood, and fiber. So, I glued the purfling in one step, then the binding in another step. Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My thinking was that I didn't want to have any effect on the existing finish of the sides; I wanted them to remain "original," so I carefully masked them and did a more careful job of gluing the binding that I would have if I could scrape and sand the sides. I pretty much achieved my goal with only a couple of oopses
So, today (Saturday, 10/1/11), I finally got a finish (after two attempts, and sanding both off completely) on the new top I could live with. After all, I've built over 20 kits since this original 000 was completed, and I wanted it to look more like my work does now, instead of back then. It's interesting how much you "learn" by just waiting; some of the learning and patience remains, and the gung-ho git-'er-done hurry-up stuff goes away. Okay, maybe four years is too long to wait. ("Better late than never?")
Anyhoo, to make a long story longer ... I'm working today on putting the bridge on. The neck's already lined up and completely finished, ready to mount. I reduced its nut width from the original guitar's 1 14/16" to 1 13/16", a width I've used on most of my guitars that fits me well. I'll put up some final pix in a couple of days.
It's a good feeling to be resurrecting this one. Some of you guys who were around back when I was real active here will remember, it was being called the "Phoenix" guitar, and "Lazarus." I didn't go for either of those, preferring to call it simply my "ruined" guitar. Here's a picture from this morning. Looking new again!
Back in December of 2007, I destroyed most of the very first guitar I ever built. I was pretty proud of that guitar ... I'd never built anything from wood that was worth a darn, and I enjoyed it. I went on building, started this forum, wrote some books, continued building, etc.
Then, in 2007, a very stressful situation encroached on our serene life. In a hurry one day, I tripped over the (stupid) cat, fell onto my 000 guitar into a chair, and it ended up ruined.
So, here's the original guitar:
Here's the guitar after my 200 lbs landed on it: Aargh. The damage was worse than is shown in the picture. The only piece of the top that wasn't broken, gouged, scarred or deeply scratched was just big enough to use as veneer on my new peghead, which I did. Bought a new neck, new fretboard, made braces, etc., etc. Everything but the sides and back.
I didn't do anything for a long time. It was 2010 before I began to work on it, because it made mu sick just thinking about it. See, I really loved that guitar. I know, you guys all understand because you feel exactly the same way about your first build: Good or bad, it's like your kids. You love it for what it is, no more, no less.
So, eventually, I started working on it. I discovered, to my happy surprise, that the sides and back were still absolutely perfectly "original." Not that they were "perfect," since they were THAT way to begin with! But, they were not in need of any repair work.
So, I removed the top, made a new set of braces, got a new cedar top from Luthier's Mercantile (I had used cedar from LMII on the original instead of Stemac's spruce), and put it on. So far, so good. Then, I wrangled with what to do about binding and purfling for over a year. I was just stalled; couldn't decide what the heck to do. Part of the problem was that the only thing I had that would work was a combination of plastic (to match the binding on the back), wood, and fiber. So, I glued the purfling in one step, then the binding in another step. Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. My thinking was that I didn't want to have any effect on the existing finish of the sides; I wanted them to remain "original," so I carefully masked them and did a more careful job of gluing the binding that I would have if I could scrape and sand the sides. I pretty much achieved my goal with only a couple of oopses
So, today (Saturday, 10/1/11), I finally got a finish (after two attempts, and sanding both off completely) on the new top I could live with. After all, I've built over 20 kits since this original 000 was completed, and I wanted it to look more like my work does now, instead of back then. It's interesting how much you "learn" by just waiting; some of the learning and patience remains, and the gung-ho git-'er-done hurry-up stuff goes away. Okay, maybe four years is too long to wait. ("Better late than never?")
Anyhoo, to make a long story longer ... I'm working today on putting the bridge on. The neck's already lined up and completely finished, ready to mount. I reduced its nut width from the original guitar's 1 14/16" to 1 13/16", a width I've used on most of my guitars that fits me well. I'll put up some final pix in a couple of days.
It's a good feeling to be resurrecting this one. Some of you guys who were around back when I was real active here will remember, it was being called the "Phoenix" guitar, and "Lazarus." I didn't go for either of those, preferring to call it simply my "ruined" guitar. Here's a picture from this morning. Looking new again!