Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi

Received my order today from UK supplier but not very happy with it and wanted your opinions on it

The back - has a split on one side (in photo) would you glue this or send it back

The spruce top - has big chunks out of the top end of board.. I can move template down to avoid

The top and back wood wants to curl up -i left it on a table and its starting to distort after 1day ..is this normal ?

I would return the B & S., that's not a good start and it's a long split.
The top, well, do you have comfortably enough to avoid your template and joint the halves?
Otherwise, same story.
As for the curling up, that's the humidity change, probably the plates drying out.
I like to sticker everything immediately as I unpack wood, for that reason - you never know how wood's been stored, or the conditions it's endured in transit.
Do you have humidity control?.
It can be very dry inside a centrally heated house or heated workshop this time of year.

_________________
The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Thanks Colin

Yes humidity is pretty good at around 55 which is same as last build and never had this problem.. will keep wood flattened next time while it adjusts. .will contact the seller
Cheers

Cracks can happen, especially in transit humidity and temperature. As for the top, great the pattern can get moved. Did they draw the issue area in pattern? I don't understand why there is a pencil line going through it. If they drew that in pattern, that's a miss.

Andy

Just curious - what is the grade of the top, and what is their grading system?

There grading system is vague.. one price for most woods sold as a kit but you can speak about the qaulity with them..I did and the backs really good ..but pay extra 30 for top stuff (I didn't ) ..cheaper than most I researched

I was just applying templates to some very expensive sets. Both had unexpected cracks and checks. But the templates were positioned to avoid them. I took proof photos before cut and shape and super soft soak. If they fail, I'll send photos to dealer. It's all I can do at this point. Your crack looks unfortunately located. But can you align template to avoid? Or minimize?

I can position the top template to avoid the bad stuff there Mike ..but the back unfortunately is a 3-4" cracking so will be on guitar

Yes Andy that's there pattern drawn on. .I don't get it either

Return them. Cracks extend past what you can see.

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Ken Franklin
clumsy yet persistent
https://www.kenfranklinukulele.com

I think it would depend on how much of crack remained after joining to neck block. And the size of your neck heel. But, yeah, I'd return those if I could. I just looked a bit closer and see that the crack is longer than I first thought. And after thinning, might even be longer yet.

Unless the understanding was that this is second quality or rejected material --- most certainly return them.

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/