Greetings,
I just became a member here after lurking around a while to see if I wanted to join. This looks like a nice place with a lot of friendly people with knowledge. I am happy to be here.
First a bit about myself: I got my first guitar when I was about 9 years old, I picked it out of the neighbors trash and asked if I could have it. It had part of the top pulled away and a few cracks so I took it home and glued it back together with a big patch of 1/4" plywood and made it a working guitar. I have been fixing guitars ever since and I am 60 years old now. I have done just about every repair that can be done on a guitar so I am pretty well versed in methods and construction.
Below are a couple of pictures of my latest project. It is a 1964 Gibson LG-0 that I picked up that had the back almost completely falling off and split in half, the finish was literally falling off of the body but the neck was in very good shape. It appeared to have been stored in the back of someones closet with no case because it had scratches and dings all over it but the top didn't have any cracks. Once I started on it I found most of the braces were either falling off or ready to so I decided to update it with new X-bracing. I patterned it after a 1940 Gibson L-00 with the addition of scalloped bracing and I tried my hand at tap tuning it. I refinished the body in Behlen Nitro and didn't use grain filler but used Behlen sealer and partially filled the grain. The top is gloss and sides and back are satin. I used an oil finish on the neck with the back of the headstock getting a few more coats than the neck to give it a nice gloss. The headstock face is the only thing that I left untouched as it was in really good shape and the Gibson logo was fully intact. It is a very sweet sounding guitar with the new X-bracing and has become my favorite guitar in my collection.
Now, on to my question. I am planning on building my first guitar so there are a number of things I don't know and will probably have some questions. I have a pretty well equipped shop with most of the tools I need (band saw, table saw, radial arm...). I would like to build a guitar based off of the Gibson CF-100 (see my avatar) with a cutaway and I would like some opinions on doing that for my first guitar? The other question I have is about tonewood for the sides and back. The original CF-100 has Mahogany sides and back and I was wondering if that is an easy wood to bend and if you have any ideas of something that would be better for someone that has never bent wood before? Also, is there a prefered way to bend it without spending an arm and leg for equipment?
I am sure I will have many more questions about building and I hope I can bring some knowledge and help to the forum about my skills in repairing guitars.
Thanks in advance and it is nice to be here.
Bob Russell
P.S I did not see that you (really) prefer real names over nik names, Mine is my real name but abbreviated and Last/First. I PM'd the Admin since I can not change it in my settings. I have no problem with changing it if desired.
(Click for larger image)
