Break it to fix it.

[Ozzy the dog]

We’ve all heard the saying ‘If it’s not broke, don’t fix it’. So, in order to fix my guitar, I had to break it first.

This is a guitar I made three years ago which made use of a lot of salvaged and reject timber – some of it not ideally suited to building an acoustic guitar. As such, I never expected the tone to be its’ best feature so I incorporated an experimental bracing system I have been dabbling with in the past. As a result, the guitar looked OK but as expected, did not quite sound good enough to inspire me to play it very often. Since then it has sat gathering dust so with the current lock-down creating idle hands, I decided to change the bracing to a more traditional pattern.

Before: -





The Cedar top I used had originally been discarded due to it having thin spots which could not be avoided in a guitar build. With this in mind I didn’t want to try to remove that so I went in from the back.



After breaking the back and carefully removing and replacing the bracing from the soundboard I took an old ‘short’ set of Mahogany sides and made a four piece back to replace the original. Here is the finished back and altered bridge set up. Stings have gone on this week and it sounds much better now.





Thanks for looking,
Fred

[redir]

Yikes! That was a pretty good looking guitar to start with. Another nice lesson in repair would have been removing the back intact. But hey ya got it done anyway

[Ozzy the dog]

Originally Posted by redir

Yikes! That was a pretty good looking guitar to start with. Another nice lesson in repair would have been removing the back intact. But hey ya got it done anyway

Oh if only. The original build incorporated an integral 'Back bone' that took the tension from the strings away from the front. As such it was impossible to remove the back with its' bracing. the only way to remove the back bracing from the guitar without damaging the front or sides was to remove the back first.

I couldn't risk damaging the sides of this one.

The mahogany from the broken back will get used for something so all is not lost.

[redir]

Originally Posted by Ozzy the dog

Oh if only. The original build incorporated an integral 'Back bone' that took the tension from the strings away from the front. As such it was impossible to remove the back with its' bracing. the only way to remove the back bracing from the guitar without damaging the front or sides was to remove the back first.

I couldn't risk damaging the sides of this one.

The mahogany from the broken back will get used for something so all is not lost.

Got ya, whats the story behind the rosette?

[Ozzy the dog]

Originally Posted by redir

Got ya, whats the story behind the rosette?

The rosette is the shape of my initials (F.O) which I use as a logo



In short - The SS Pegu was a merchant ship sunk by a U boat off the South coast of Ireland on 8th July 1917. In 2011 80 tonnes of Burmese Teak was salvaged from the wreck to refurbish the decking of the Cutty Sark after it was destroyed by fire.

The sides of this guitar were made from remnants of the salvaged Teak in the form of 64 small planks to resemble the decking of a ship.

The guitar was completed on 8th July 2017.

[Silly Moustache]

Fred, I've been an admirer of your design and build talents for some time. Tell us, Have you built bass guitars ? I seem to link the surname with basses for some reason.

[Ozzy the dog]

Originally Posted by Silly Moustache

Fred, I've been an admirer of your design and build talents for some time. Tell us, Have you built bass guitars ? I seem to link the surname with basses for some reason.

Hi Andy, You may be thinking of Peter Overend Watts who was the bass player from Mot The Hoople. I think Overend was a family name for him so no relation to me. Sadly, Pete Watts died the same year this guitar was made.

[redir]

Wow! That's a hell of a story. I love stuff like that. I didn't even notice the sides till you pointed it out and now it's clear.

[srbell]

What a beautiful guitar! I would never have even thought about using teak for it. And the story behind it - wow! As one that recently built a boat (you can see it on my blog at https://myboatbuildlog.wordpress.com/) building a guitar from wood salvaged from a sunken ship would definitely have some special meaning to it.

[Ozzy the dog]

Originally Posted by srbell

What a beautiful guitar! I would never have even thought about using teak for it. And the story behind it - wow! As one that recently built a boat (you can see it on my blog at https://myboatbuildlog.wordpress.com/) building a guitar from wood salvaged from a sunken ship would definitely have some special meaning to it.

Thanks Scott, Teak is probably the last wood to use for a guitar due to it being tonally dead but it was too much of a coincidence that I found it whilst imagining a boat decking approach to the sides. However, now I have changed the bracing it does actually sound very nice. Background and links to the build can be seen here https://overendsite.wordpress.com/20...-and-a-guitar/

Your boat build looks like a lot of fun. I particularly liked the contrast created by the burnt decking. It's really satisfying to see something coming together like this when you have built it from scratch.

Fred.

[archerscreek]

I think it’s actually a lesson in life and even in music. Sometimes you have to get worse before you get better (or break it apart before building it back better). It reminds me of the somewhat related saying, “The comfort zone is a nice place to be, but nothing ever grows there.”

[printer2]

I remember your making the guitar. I questioned how it would sound, glad you went back and gave it a new lease on life.

[Ozzy the dog]

Originally Posted by archerscreek

I think it’s actually a lesson in life and even in music. Sometimes you have to get worse before you get better (or break it apart before building it back better). It reminds me of the somewhat related saying, “The comfort zone is a nice place to be, but nothing ever grows there.”

I like that and yes, a lot has grown from this for me.

Originally Posted by printer2

I remember your making the guitar. I questioned how it would sound, glad you went back and gave it a new lease on life.

Thanks Fred, considering the condition of materials and type of materials I never expected it to sound brilliant when I first made it which is why I experimented with bracing. Now I have changed the bracing to the traditional X brace pattern and despite the use of Teak and narrow body it does sound nice. It's no match for my Lowden but it is better than the average, off the shelf mass produced guitar....... and I've nearly worn it out already.

Fred.