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  #46  
Old 03-26-2010, 12:41 PM
Fliss Fliss is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coke_zero View Post
Good start .
Thanks

Here's what it looked like when I took the tape off - amazingly, it worked!:



And after sanding - just a little filling to do:



Fliss
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  #47  
Old 03-27-2010, 04:21 AM
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Kitchen Guitars Kitchen Guitars is offline
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Good job!
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  #48  
Old 03-28-2010, 08:25 AM
Mark Schrier Mark Schrier is offline
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Hey Fliss,

I just signed up here and yours is one of the first threads I've gone through.

Real interesting to see such a neat old instrument come back to life, especially since I was thinking about building a parlor.

One of my favorite things about this hobby is to figure out ways to do the job correctly without getting the wallet vacuumed out by the specialty suppliers.

I have found some great how-to videos on Youtube by entering the process I want to perform in a search. Here's an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_DWA-gBAUk

I am looking forward to your further posts.

Mark
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  #49  
Old 03-28-2010, 09:59 AM
Fliss Fliss is offline
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Thanks guys

Mark, welcome to the forum! That fret bender looks very intriguing, I'm beginning to understand why Coke Zero said he's removed nuts and bolts from everything in his house! If you're thinking about building a parlour, you may be interested in some videos that have been put on YouTube by British luthier Gary Nava, in which he talks about a parlour that he's making, the design of which is based on an old one:

http://www.youtube.com/user/NavaGuit...13/2aHfmr35q1U

I'm currently in the position where there's not a lot more I can do on my project till I receive the various bits and pieces that I have on order, but they should arrive this week so I expect to spend some time on it over the Easter bank holiday weekend.

Fliss
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  #50  
Old 04-11-2010, 01:15 PM
Fliss Fliss is offline
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The learning curve continues... First off, sanding the fretboard to get it level before attempting to add frets. This pic shows it at a stage where I still have some work to do:



Then the exciting bit... frets:



Unfortunately, this didn't go as well as I'd hoped. The first couple of attempts, I couldn't get the fret to go all the way in, and wondered if the fret slots weren't deep enough, or whether I just wasn't hitting it hard enough. Then this happened :



The good news is it's a nice clean break with a large area to glue, so glued back together, here it is:



I emailed the photos to Matthew and had a chat with him by phone, and he reckons it might not be as bad as I feared!!! He's going to take a look at it for me tomorrow, to see if he thinks the repaired headstock will be strong enough, and whether the fret slots need to be deepened. Wish me luck...

Fliss
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  #51  
Old 04-11-2010, 10:10 PM
jarfly jarfly is offline
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yikes. those type of moments suck so bad! I'm getting more and more attracted to parlors.
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  #52  
Old 04-12-2010, 02:10 AM
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patticake patticake is offline
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i gasped when i saw the headstock break. good thing it was a nice sized area that glued well!
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  #53  
Old 04-12-2010, 06:18 PM
Long813 Long813 is offline
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Quite the learning experiance :shock: Looks like you're learning and fixing the issues though.
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  #54  
Old 04-13-2010, 12:30 PM
Fliss Fliss is offline
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Thanks folks! Jarfly, I can totally understand the attraction to parlours. In my experience, it's useless to try and fight it, you may as well just give in

Patti - me too!

Long813 - yes, it's definitely a learning experience!

The good news is that Matthew has had a look at it, and reckons the headstock repair will hold. I need to arrange to take it back to him so that he can deepen the fret slots, and then I can have another try. Phew! Meanwhile, I've got a little bit of filling I can do while I wait for that.

Fliss
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  #55  
Old 04-24-2010, 11:40 AM
Fliss Fliss is offline
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I visited Matthew today, and he deepened the fret slots for me and put in the first fret!



So, when I got it home, I had a go at putting some in myself:



Matthew said to do the ones up to the body join, and then arrange for him to do the rest. So, I did up to the 12th fret, and filed the ends. I've got a little more tidying up to do on the fret ends, but this is where I'm up to:



Fliss
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  #56  
Old 04-24-2010, 12:10 PM
sachi sachi is offline
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Very nice! I'm glad the headstock could be repaired.
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  #57  
Old 04-24-2010, 12:15 PM
Coke_zero Coke_zero is offline
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Those frets you have done look great. How you finding chamfering and rounding the fret ends? That bit seemed a little tricky when I watched it being done.
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  #58  
Old 04-24-2010, 04:49 PM
Fliss Fliss is offline
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Thanks guys! CZ, it's not as bad as I thougth it might be, the metal seems relatively soft and easy to work with, but I'm taking my time with the fret ends, and letting my fingers guide me. I'm going to have another go tomorrow and just aim to get them a little smoother.

Fliss
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  #59  
Old 05-01-2010, 02:17 PM
Fliss Fliss is offline
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I did a little more work on my project this morning. The first job was widening the holes for the tuners, as the new tuners don't exactly fit the existing holes. I used a round file and just took it slowly, as I know the tuners need to be a reasonably sung fit, so didn't want to overdo it:



Then I rough-shaped the nut, using a pencil (sanded in half) to mark where to cut, and a razor saw to make the cut just at the top of my pencil line:



I then used a rasp to smooth where I'd cut and round off the back edge a little. Here is a pic with the nut and tuners in position, though not fixed yet:



I'm not totally sure I haven't taken too much off the nut, as it was difficult to be precise with the cut, so I'll try fitting the tailpiece and bridge tomorrow and putting a couple of strings on to get some idea of how the set up is starting to look. But if I have taken too much off, I'm not going to worry, I'll head back to the shop for a new nut blank and start again! It's all part of the learning experience, and I confess I'm enjoying it probably more than I should

Fliss
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  #60  
Old 05-01-2010, 03:48 PM
gitnoob gitnoob is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fliss View Post
I'm not totally sure I haven't taken too much off the nut...
I'm enjoying this thread, Fliss. I'm tempted to try something like this myself.

Did you cut all the way to the pencil mark? I believe the mark is for the bottom of the nut slots, and you need to cut the nut about 1/16" above the line.
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