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I pulled the back to rebuild the top on a '49 J45 which included filling in holes (for multiple pickups) in the top with grain matched spruce. I was so unhappy with the looks of the holes that I ended up retopping it. Turned out to be a good decision, the original top was just a mess anyway.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

That is exactly where I am at Steve. I just don't think the top is worth saving. It has two large holes, excessive pick wear and a really poor refinish.

Barry you are brave and you are a great Luthier. I learned a lot from you and I hope that you know that I really appreciate you. I apologize to you for coming across in my email as I did a while back. Merry Christmas my friend.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Hi Barry,
I would be inclined to do something less invasive. I would work through the soundhole and remove the cut through lower leg of the existing X and remove the "sistered" piece and scarph on a new piece to the old leg of the existing X.
I would plug the holes in the top and match the grain of the spruce as well as possible and touch up the finish.
Since you are resetting the neck would it be possible to move it "out" slightly to add compensation rather than changing the bridge? Has anyone tried this?
If the guitar has the same player as the one who excavated the trough in front of the pickguard I would suggest to them a larger pickguard. If it has a new owner I would be more inclined to repair the soundhole edge as well as possible, and clean, color match and finish the "trough" area.
Similar to ourselves, I think accepting some play wear and the evidence of a few bad decisions is O.K.. Although through "major surgery" we can remove the ravages of time, maybe a "joint replacement" is all that is really needed.
In the past , when I have delved too deeply into "renewing" and "improving" instruments I have later regretted it somewhat - not that they didn't work better, but rather that they lost some originality and that the work was not really necessary (and sometimes things turned into a can of worms!)
One thing I am sure of - However you decide to do the work, the end result will be first rate.

I have done exactly what Clay has suggested before and it works quite well. I am lucky to have long thin money arms though and can literally touch the end block of a Dreadnought. If you can reach in there with an arched micro-plane then you can shave the brace out to the soundboard where the missing chunk is. Feather it to zero there and take a portion of the whole lower X with it, at least half it's height I would suggest. Then make a brace from spruce that fits right in and caps off the whole length of the brace so that it's the same height as the original.

000 12 fret ready for the tenor singer in my bluegrass trio.
Just in time for Christmas.

I'm the same with the arms. I can get my arm into a dreadnought up past the elbow. Used to come in very uh . . . . well, handy.

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I can't do that. I can barely reach the damaged area and there is no way for me to maneuver around and carve it out evenly.

I'm in the middle of sanding the finish on this one. Just finished sanding the top to 4000. Starting to get shiny.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Buffed out some GluBoost fills on a Texan I've been working on using an Autobrite DA3, 75mm/12mm throw polisher after seeing Barry Daniel's posts about a similar item.
I normally use a 12" buffer outside and with the winter weather being rubbish, thought this was a worthwhile investment to let me do it indoors, and it seems fast and effective.
Pleased with the results, although the picture shows all the "character" the guitar has after years of knocking about.

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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.

Made a holder for a soundhole humbucker on an 80's plywood Ibanez. The client had previously glued it to the bridge end of the soundhole with a mixture of caulking compound and rubber cement

I must admit he was creative and it actually worked pretty well. This was an afterthought on a guitar that needed a lot of much bigger work in multiple areas.

IMG_6307 by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

If any of you fellas making Marshall clones want a custom name plate like I did for John’s amp just let me know. I have a metric ton of that .065 HDPE.

Happy New Years folks!


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Back to working on this little fella today. Fretboard first, the cut the M/T. Super glad for shop time!!!






Brad


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Enjoying 80F weather and roughed in the neck joint at 2.5 degrees.
Because of the veneer top, the end of the fretboard in the air.
I reckon I’ll whittle out a ramp. The bridge will need to be jacked up too.
I assembled a little CNC machine and have been making shell test cuts.
I have not decided what the inlay theme will be, possibly bugs. The top will have a green dye, and I bought some green Abalone.

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Brad ole Pal ole Buddy who we still owe a visit and good time at our place. Can you make custom name plates??? I want one if you can for "Heshtone" only in the style of writing that no one can do anymore that Marshall uses Let me know and maybe we have something you would like too? Are these just double stick tapped on?

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Sure thing, Hesh. I will send you a PM to work out the details.


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Woo Hoo I'm excited and thanks Brad. Going to get a "Heshtone" for my Marshall JCM45 clone and that makes my week!!!

John (JF) what did you use to attach your logo to the tolex please? I would imagine that this surface gets warm or even hot too. I've got all the special pickguard adhesive but it's pretty thin and and tolex has grain. Please let me know what you used and if it's working well for you? Many thanks!!!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Getting ready to spray this Cedar/Cypress OM today.
Will be spraying Target Ultraseal Shellac then EM6000.
I have previously padded on some 1/2lb cut dewaxed ultra-blond, before the EM6000; am interested to see how the Ultraseal works

Currently working on & stored in my 4-guitar bin, from left to right: OM-curly Mahogany & Carp. Spruce 14 frets, L-0 Mahogany & Sitka 12 frets, 0-size Mahogany & Carp. Spruce 12 frets.

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It’s been nice having shop time over The holidays.


Black locust 000 after ammonia fuming. Walnut binding.



Walnut fretboard, first CNC one for me.


Walnut head plate and CNC inlay.

I love that so much! Everyone who sees it compliments on it. The font called Amplify, gotta love that

Two screws countersunk and painted white. It's not the greatest up close but it does work. I had thought about gluing it somehow but then there is the issue with the heat.

What would probably work best is to have a few studs on the back of it that fit into drilled holes but that's a lot more involved too.

I think it looks fantastic JF!! Little white screws sound like the ticket and I agree that adhesives might soften from the heat. Brad sent me a pic already, he's fast and it looks fantastic!!!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Awesome!!!

Don’t know if it will be for guitars or not, but I quartered up a bunch of spalted ash and waxed the end grain. Got it moved into the shop until I got time to break it down further. Still got to figure out what to do with it my dad planted it about 40 years ago so that’s kinda cool because he is gone now.