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I thought I'd touch base on this guitar. Before my second shoulder surgery, I got the back off, which is in 3 pieces. I cleaned all of the repair glue from it, which thank goodness, was hide glue. I'm confident that I'll get the back repaired.

Looking at the finish closely, I've come to the conclusion that the dye was done later. It's a horrible, hand applied, streaky, uneven. I just don't think that a guitar as well-built, with such fine woods, with fine inlay, would have a slopped finish. Therefore, I'll eventually redo the finish...

The top is bookmatched adi. The back is bookmatched flame maple, with some areas of quilting. Honestly, it's the finest maple I've ever seen. You can feel the ripples of the figure in the wood. As you can see, I dry clamped 2 pieces together. With the arched back, I'll have to use a clamping method to.push the pieces together, with something that will clamp them top and underside as well. You'll see crack repairs, but they won't be as noticeable.

If it weren't for the back, overall the guitar is in good shape.

It'll be a few more weeks before I can work on it.

That guitar is so cool! Inlays/bindings on the top are tasty. Good luck with this instrument!

Well guys, I'm plugging along, slowly but surely...

This is the guitar as of today. I bound it yesterday, sanded the back, and dyed it 4 colors. I make my own unique mixtures of dye from 5 basic colors of powdered dye.

I think I've minimized my repair. This is what I did:

After removing the back, it was in 3 pieces, which had been filled with hide glue/sawdust. All of that stuff had to be removed. These repairs were done at least 60 years ago. They weren't done by a luthier. Also, the finish had been redone to hide the damage. It was obviously done by hand.

1. I sanded Each glued edge at a 45° angle. This allowed me to.overlap the edges.
2. I dyed Each edge before gluing. I know that dye doesn't penetrate glue.
3. I glued Each piece. After years of being open breaks? The shape didn't match. I got it as close as possible.
4. One brace was broken. I made a new one, then glued all bracing. Btw, I'm using hide glue on everything except the binding.

5. Glued the back on.
6. Routed new binding channels
7. Bound the back.
8. Cleaned the binding.
9. Sanded all.of the finish off and to 320g
10. No filling needed since this is maple
11. Dyed it with my blends of: red mahogany, dark brown, black brown, then mahogany again.

This is the result:

For comparison, this is how I started:

Looking so nice. I love the old wood and the work you’re doing.

Under the crud:

I've got 99% of the box cleaned and 75% of the neck. As you can see, the sides are as magnificent as the back. The top is solid bookmatched red spruce. The inlay is entirely intact and beautiful.

That purfling is incredible!

I've stripped everything, repaired what was necessary. Today I finished sanding to 220g and I've dyed the sides, back, and neck. I've also made a new fretboard. I will cut identical fretmarkers and inlay it tomorrow. I'll clean up the bindings before finishing with shellac. I have to cut a new heel cap.

Here she is. I had a gut feeling that this archtop was something special; she definitely is...

Made a new fretboard. I'll make inlay identical to the original. Instead of maple? I made it out of ebony:

I've put the first coats of shellac on it, to protect it. The back reminds me of a catseye gem; I've never seen so much chatoyance in wood. I don't know if the camera catches it or not.

I've also finished the fretboard and selmer style tailpiece.