Members Freeman Keller Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Several of you may recall the lesson I learned in humidity and humility - I had built the little parlor undera about 60 percent humidity, and when I took it inside and let it dry out, guess what There was also a nice little crack in the side After agonizing over what to do with it (and, yes a marshmellow roast did cross my mind) I decided that if nothing else it would be good experience to try to fix it. Whether it was necessary or not, I figured a couple of patches on the inside couldn't hurt. I sanded the cracked area - notice how much the back has shrunk - that is one of the braces that is still trying to maintain the curve. I then sanded some scrap rosewood to make a little pile of power, which I worded into the crack, followed by wicking thin cynoacrylic (super) glue to make kind of a rosewood paste. Scraping and sanding the repair Back in the "spray booth" for 8 more coats. The blueish tint is the way waterbased lacquer looks right after it has been shot - it isn't shiny like nitro. The blue goes away as it flashes. A little sanding and buffing. The cross brace still stands out (that is where I sanded thru layers of finish, not much I can do about it, but the cracks are gone. I'm going to wait a couple of weeks before doing the final buffing, then I can put the neck on and move forward. Looks like TK might get it after all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MattSkibaIsGOD Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Looking good Freeman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Crab_Cake Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 awesome possum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hudman Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Excellent work, as usual. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members eor Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 did not know what was possible. looks cool to me. how do the patches affect things, tonally? grammar nazi sez - you may have meant to say that you sanded some scrap rosewood into a little pile of powder, which you worked into the crack. love, eor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Krash Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 After all the work you put in to build it, gotta make a player out of the pretty little thing. Looks good so far. Will the bracing be under any unusual strain due to the dimensional changes in the body? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarist21 Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Amazing. Its hard to even tell that anything happened. Ellen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kwakatak Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Looks good, Freeman. Much like the warts we all hear in our recordings I bet that in reality that little flaw in the guitar will barely be noticed. I sure as heck can't see it. Your daughter's gonna love it nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Cool. I love that little guitar! Glad you saved it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garthman Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Hey Freeman. Nice work - I knew it was worth trying to fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members brahmz118 Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Looks really good Freeman. Thanks for continuing to share the process with us. Just for my own curiosity -- does this guitar have a lifelong vulnerability to low humidity, or is it more stable now that it got those cracks out of its system? Also, is the strategy for the future to build at lower humidity levels, or to expose the guitar to lower humidity levels much more gradually? If I ever order a custom build again I'll probably be asking questions like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members babablowfish Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Great work. I kept hearing about how that could be done, but seeing it made a believer out of me. I look forward to seeing the pics of that nice little guitar when she is all done and strung. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members C70man Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Wow, what a relief, huh?The back looks really good. Would you consider staining it more to blend in the repair?And how's the side crack doing? Did you place patches symetrically on both sides of the guitar? I can't imagine repaired cracks on the back or side having much to do with sound quality, but whats your take on it? Heck, it might even give it sound extra umpf with that added weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Queequeg Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Superb, Freeman. I'm sure it would have been easier to curse the RH gods that foiled your best efforts and throw the guitar in the wood stove. Part of what makes you the exemplary individual that you are, is in how you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and recover from the hurdles that life throws in front of you.This isn't just a guitar lesson we're getting; this is a life lesson, and I thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Samilyn Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Freeman, you are simply amazing. The repair looks excellent and I know the little git is going to sound great. TK is going to love it. I'm so glad you canceled the marshmallow roast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted April 14, 2008 Author Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Thank you all for the nice comments. You've asked several questions that I really can't answer How will the patches affect the tone? - Probably won't help it, I guess now we'll just say it is laminated back, eh? They probably weren't necessary but I was kind of paranoid so I thought I'd just slap 'em in there. Will the braces be under any more strain? I'm hoping that the cracking relieved any stress on the wood and that thing are finally stable, but only time will tell. C70man's questions about staining and all - it is really hard to match wood finishes. I did work a tiny bit of stain into the side crack to darken it, but I didn't know what to do about those lines formed by the braces. I sand thru a lot of layers of finish down to the bare wood at that those places and it seem best to just not screw around with them. I did patch everything symetrically and I had already put some little side braces in so I wasn't worried about the sides splitting. Brahmz118 asks the best question - one that I can only partially answer (and is the root of the problem). Wood for new guitars is usually allowed to stabilize at the humidity it will spend the rest of it life at - 40-50% and most builder carefully control their shops to that humidity. In my case I exposed the wood to 60-65 percent for maybe 5 months total, then shocked it by going to my dry house at 35. It had other symptoms of a dry guitar - sharp fret ends, a little bit of ripple to the top finish - I believe now that it is stable at 40 percent and I've fixed those things. That is the whole idea of watching and controlling humidity - you want to keep it constant for the life of the guitar. Isn't it ironic that one of the things I harp on is humidity and I failed to listen to my own preaching? It will be put away for a couple of weeks (in a case with a sponge) and then I'll go back to work on the final setup. Goal now it to give it to Tina on Mothers Day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Cool. I love that little guitar! Glad you saved it. +1! Glad you decided to save it. I was hoping you wouldn't give up on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members panhandler Posted April 14, 2008 Members Share Posted April 14, 2008 Nice job Freeman! looks good as new in the pics! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JerseyGuy Posted April 17, 2008 Members Share Posted April 17, 2008 Very, very nice work, Freeman. (I had missed this thread when it first went up, just saw it now.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members moctzal Posted April 17, 2008 Members Share Posted April 17, 2008 That looks like a pro quality repair.Good to see that guit doing better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members riffmeister Posted April 17, 2008 Members Share Posted April 17, 2008 Freeman, looking good!! I had a guitar with three back cracks repaired last year by Aaron Green. As with your guitar, the results can turn out wonderfully! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guitarcapo Posted October 28, 2013 Members Share Posted October 28, 2013 riffmeister wrote: Freeman, looking good!! I had a guitar with three back cracks repaired last year by Aaron Green. As with your guitar, the results can turn out wonderfully! Some Brazilian rosewood cracks really easily. Brittle stuff. I think it has to do with the mineral deposits in the soil where it grows: Calcium & Mineral Deposits: Certain growing regions have a high concentration of calcium, sulpher, or other trace minerals in the soil or in the water table. These minerals are drawn up through the roots and deposited into the pore structure and heart of the tree. When the lumber is cut, mineral can cause problems for the sawyer, since deposits can sometimes be substantial resembling crusty rocks in both appearance and hardness. (See photograph of a typical sample of deposited calcium taken from an East Indian Rosewood log during custom cutting) In addition, calcium and other mineral deposits do not register on a metal detector. Once the lumber is cut, mineral deposits can show up as chalky white dots in the pores of the board. Extensive mineral will have a detrimental effect on the sharpness of planer blades and sawteeth. Small deposits can be removed after fine sanding by tedious digging with a needle or small Exacto knife, or they can be chemically neutralized (darkened) with muriatic acid. This will seriously alter the color and grain contrast of Rosewood if applied to the whole surface, so it is important that the acid be carefully applied to each spot with a metal quill pen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlackHatHunter Posted November 5, 2013 Members Share Posted November 5, 2013 wow, impressive work. Sweet little guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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