Well,its been a busy weekend. I got the inlay fitted,though I had no luck staining it.So I have a big orange square twixt the 12th and 15th fret! Never mind, its a lot better than three huge screws.I got the frets back in and leveled them all with a spirit level and some 180 grit. Everything was pretty reasonable except the 12th,which was quite a bit lower. I crowned them all as best I could polished them up and oiled the fretboard.
I measured up the line of the frets to the top of the bridge and came to about 6mm over, so I set it to 1mm over ,marked the heel and took some wood off. I was very happy to end up exactly 1mm over. I glued the neck up and clamped it in place,leaving it overnight. I then radiused the bottom of the brige against the curve of the archtop to get that sitting snug and also radiused the saddle to the end of the fretboard.
When the glue was dry I wet sanded everything and polished it up. I have to say it came up lovely.I didnt bother trying to match paint and touch up the heel and other chips. That can be done later if I get the urge.
Machine heads on,tailpiece,bridge and strings and its done.The action is fantastic,its holding its tune and it feels and looks great. The neck feels very chunky but Im used to playing a strat so Im sure its just a case of getting used to it. The sound is very???. Not sure how to describe it. Boxy? Tinny?
Not very warm. Its my first archtop,maybe they all sound like that. Plus it was an economy model back in '58/'59. Plus its strung it up with old strings!!
Anyway,I am very happy not only with the result but also with the fact that I did it myself with no experience and no special tools. Another historic guitar brought back to life.
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