The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Build and Repair

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 11-17-2021, 03:55 PM
donnyb donnyb is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 194
Default Cole Clark FL2 - body top/bridge repair ?

Hi to All, and thanks for reading this.

I've been given a Cole Clark FL2 to replace a cracked bridge. No problem doing that, but as usual, there's more to it .

The bridge and saddle are already on the thin side, viz., just under 5/16" thick for the bridge, and the saddle height is 5/64"s at both ends and 3/32" in the middle.

The neck projects 1.2mm below the top of the bridge with strings under tension.

String height above the soundboard is .380". All not great measurements.

Im aware of the Spanish style construction of the guitar, so a neck removal to rectify these action issues before replacing the cracked bridge is not possible. Well, not possible for me anyway. Oh for a bolt on neck or traditional dove tail joint....

My initial question here is, were the bodytops of Fat Lady 2's flat, or slightly and intentionally contoured when they left the factory ?
I ask because there is a belly bump in the bridge region .With strings now removed, when I lay a long straight edge along the top, the distance from the top of the rear perimeter binding to the bottom of the straightedge is .160" (4mm).

If I can flatten all or some this amount of bump without damaging the guitar, and maybe then add an extra brace, what's the best way to do
flattening of at least 2mm ?

Thankyou for any advice/ comments.

Last edited by donnyb; 11-17-2021 at 08:39 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 11-17-2021, 09:53 PM
mirwa mirwa is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2013
Posts: 3,109
Default

You can replace the top on a cole clark, but it is not for the faint of heart

I find the older cole clark's do have a slight radius to the top, I could not definitively tell you what that radius is

Another repairer had attempted this one and this is as it was delivered to me



Back to the customer

__________________
Cole Clark Fat Lady
Gretsch Electromatic
Martin CEO7
Maton Messiah
Taylor 814CE
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 11-18-2021, 05:44 AM
donnyb donnyb is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Posts: 194
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by mirwa View Post
You can replace the top on a cole clark, but it is not for the faint of heart

I find the older cole clark's do have a slight radius to the top, I could not definitively tell you what that radius is

Another repairer had attempted this one and this is as it was delivered to me



Back to the customer



OH DEAR. I think I will take a very long holiday.
Thanks Steve.
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Build and Repair

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:51 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=