Project Baby Taylor

[Cornerstone Guitars]

I just came across a Baby Taylor that has a broken soundboard. I think it will be pretty cool to re-top and voice this little gem.



as you can see, not much to it. An X-brace and bridge plate.



I have a nice Lutz top to use

Don't know what they use to glue down the bridge but it took a "little" bit of heat to get it off. (Normally I would have masked the top but I didn't care here.)



Cutting around the X-brace so I can re-use it



sanding flat and true on a sanding board



and here's the soundboard rough cut.



Stay tuned, I'll post the whole progress here.

[hnuuhiwa]

Cool Peter...I didn't realize that there isn't much to the Baby Taylor in the way for bracing or kerfing.... Should be a neat project.

[J.R. Rogers]

A 'Cornerstone enhanced' Baby Taylor... You know you're going to start a new trend, don't you?

JR

[Cornerstone Guitars]

Originally Posted by J.R. Rogers

A 'Cornerstone enhanced' Baby Taylor... You know you're going to start a new trend, don't you?

JR

Thats pretty funny! I think it'll be fun!

Thanks,

[Jeff D]

That looks pretty cool

[M.D.Smith]

Peter, you never cease to amaze me with your work....You go brother.

[Jarvis]

I'll be staying in tune.

Peter are you gonna trim down the x brace and add some tone bars ? plus tap tune and revoice this baby

[jsmarshall]

Count me in as "subscribed". I'll be checking in on this as well. Looking forward to it!

[Huckleberry]

What a brilliant idea! I have a very tired Baby Taylor, and would love to have a go at this myself (as a pre-cursor to my first build, hopefully later this year).

I'll be following this thread closely. What's the best way to remove the top - how much heat do you actually need?

I'd also like to have a go at binding my new top, but presumably I'd have to add some kerfing or some sort of rim to get the side depth for this.

That X-brace looks pretty substantial for the size of the top, I image you could go much lighter than that an improve the response a lot. I'd also thought about adding a soundport to mine as an experiment, but now I see that probably won't work too well, with that additional spruce(?) brace in the upper bout.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by Huckleberry

I'd also thought about adding a soundport to mine as an experiment, but now I see that probably won't work too well, with that additional spruce(?) brace in the upper bout.

Try putting it in the first part of the lower bout after the waist. I've seen and played a few guitars with one located there before and I feel it worked well.

[Spieler]

Originally Posted by worshipguitar

Interesting-- my '98 Baby has the same odd, curved brace that is revealed in its entirety in your picture. I believe only the older models have this?

If so, next you need to take apart a current Baby Taylor, post pictures of its nekkid bracing, create and voice a new top, and tell us what difference that curved brace makes, for good or ill.

:-)

~ S.

[tpp]

This should be an interesting project, nice.

[JDM814]

This may be the coolest thread ever......I look forward to it like Vampire Diaries...and that is a major compliment!

[Coke_zero]

When you finish it would be interesting to hear sound clips comparing an "ordinary" Baby taylor and a "Super" Baby Taylor .

[TaylorKoaFan]

Interesting project. What do you have in mind to "voice" the guitar?

I'll be watching with interest.