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  #46  
Old 11-22-2017, 02:56 PM
guitar george guitar george is offline
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I see that the crack has been glued edge-to-edge without cleats. I have known from woodworking classes in high school that glue is stronger than wood, so, no cleats should be required. Is that what Steve said?
As a test, we would glue boards edge-to-edge and then smack the boards. The wood would break, but, the glued edge line did not break.
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  #47  
Old 11-22-2017, 03:02 PM
Looburst Looburst is offline
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No George, he merely glued it first to check for flexibility in the top, overall then he will cleat once we decide on the bracing pattern. He said it would be wise to do this for added stability. But he liked what he got out of the gluing alone. He said the top now has flex strength, and that was what he had hoped for, before moving on.You are right about the whole gluing of wood though. Steve says the wood being so old, it would be better to be safe.
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  #48  
Old 11-22-2017, 04:37 PM
Salty-Fairy Salty-Fairy is offline
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This thread is both joy and pain. The joy of seeing how a true craftsman goes about his work and the pain of not seeing him work on my guitar. I ordered one of Steve’s guitars the other day and it needs a few mods. I’m at the back of the que, but very happy to be onboard. Thank you for sharing, it’s enlightening.
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  #49  
Old 11-22-2017, 04:42 PM
Looburst Looburst is offline
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Great to hear. You're in very good hands, Salty! He's one of the few that offer what he does, right now. He has a pure love for the older Parlor guitars of the 1920s thru the 60s and his expertise is priceless too! I would love to visit his shop some day soon. Might be getting back up there in the coming year. Steve is not a waster of time so it won't be long before you'll be getting his emails, letting you know the progress.
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  #50  
Old 11-22-2017, 05:52 PM
Looburst Looburst is offline
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I just got the book, Cowboy Guitars and thought I would show where my guitar is listed. As I thought, it was an early 1940s version, they called it a sunburst.

Here are all four versions of this Yodeling Cowboy guitar.
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  #51  
Old 11-22-2017, 06:10 PM
Looburst Looburst is offline
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A little more history of what I already believed was true about this version I have.
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  #52  
Old 11-22-2017, 06:43 PM
Truckjohn Truckjohn is offline
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That really is cool. Its pretty amazing that you could find that level of historical detail on it.
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  #53  
Old 11-22-2017, 08:48 PM
Looburst Looburst is offline
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Thanks John, I bought the book and there's where it all lies.
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  #54  
Old 11-22-2017, 10:16 PM
Looburst Looburst is offline
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I was in CarterVintage the other day, buying some picks and saw that on the wall of old cowboy guitars, Walter has an old Jerry The Yodeling Cowboy guitar right there! His is the greenish gray version. Just so you know, the late 1940s and 1950s versions are easier to spot because all of them had tailpieces and floating instead of fixed bridges. Also the 1950s version had no Hopalong cowboy hat on it either.
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  #55  
Old 11-28-2017, 12:57 PM
Looburst Looburst is offline
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Here's the latest, the weekend steaming/pressing of the warped top area had around a 6 out of 10 result. Steve said with the warp, there's no telling how long its been like that and once wood is warped, for a period of time, you'll never completely remove it all. But he said 6 out of 10 is better than 3 out of 10, so we're moving on.

Steve and I talked today about the bracing options and he said the top would handle either so I'm going with the gamble here and chose the X bracing option!

The conversion will be a fun difference while still keeping the overall original
sound of the wood.

Next on the agenda is to replace the fingerboard with a new one.
Steve said the new fingerboard should be arriving any day. This is a shot of the steel reinforcement he's epoxying into the neck.
Stay tuned!
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  #56  
Old 11-29-2017, 05:53 AM
Salty-Fairy Salty-Fairy is offline
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6 out of 10 ain’t bad. Thanks for the update.
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  #57  
Old 11-29-2017, 06:39 AM
Moocheng Moocheng is offline
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I love seeing these old guitars being given a new life,
they are in a small way part of American History
made as cheap as possible in times of need.

Whenever I see one, car'nt help but think about, who was the first guy who bought it, how many hands have played it ? did they have good lives or not so good ? A lot has happened in the 80 or so years these guitars have been around

Its kind of nice to see folks value them
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  #58  
Old 11-29-2017, 07:11 AM
zombywoof zombywoof is offline
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Looking at the original bracing in that guitar it comes off almost more as a toy than a guitar meant to be played. The fact that the birch top, which is a hardwood and stiffer than spruce, warped is testament to that.

To show that there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel, I just had a mid-1960s Harmony Sovereign go through a full conversion. This guitar was a wreck when I snagged it. While I fixed the broken headstock and did some other small things so I could string it up, the guitar had suffered through a number of previous poorly done amateur repairs which would have had to have been made right and went far beyond my rather limited abilities. So I sent it off where it was not only repaired but got forward shifted, scalloped X bracing, a maple bridge plate and pin bridge, new Grover Sta-tite tuners - the whole nine yards. They are still sitting on it waiting for everything to settle in but according to the luthier this guitar is now so responsive that even a light touch makes it ring out to Kingdom Come.
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  #59  
Old 11-29-2017, 11:06 AM
Looburst Looburst is offline
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Yeah, I agree with ya zombywoof. I'm not really concerned about the warp, I knew it was there and knew it would be a task to get rid of any of it. I look at most of these Cowboy guitars as toys first, since they were constructed so crudely. But I'm also in the camp with Moocheng and others here, that think of these as all anyone could afford. They weren't obviously built to last but made from decent wood, for the most part, so why not rescue a few here and there? Sounds like your Harmony got a complete overhaul! It'll be nice to hear that thing when you get it back. Thank you Salty! It has been my pleasure.

Here's the new fingerboard installed! Don't she look CLEAN!
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Last edited by Looburst; 11-29-2017 at 08:40 PM.
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  #60  
Old 11-29-2017, 11:20 AM
guitar george guitar george is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Looburst View Post
Here's the latest, the weekend steaming/pressing of the warped top area had around a 6 out of 10 result. Steve said with the warp, there's no telling how long its been like that and once wood is warped, for a period of time, you'll never completely remove it all. But he said 6 out of 10 is better than 3 out of 10, so we're moving on.
Do you think with some unique shaped braces or creating a unique bracing pattern or adding a few extra braces you could get the warp result up to around an 8 or so? Any of these ideas could affect the sound, for better or worse, however.
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