#31
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Here's some new pics!
Top having been cleaned and all the braces removed. Now gluing the crack, heading south toward the bridge. There's a pretty prominent warp in the top so Steve's gonna see how it holds and flexes, once that crack is cured then proceed from there with checking the stability of the top overall, then cleat it for added stability.
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Dump The Bucket On It! Last edited by Looburst; 11-21-2017 at 02:01 PM. |
#32
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I meant to add that Steve said the first order of business is to render the top stable enough to pass judgement on it's condition before moving on to the braces.
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#33
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That is a nicely figured piece of birch. As these old all-birch guitars are so easy to find and so cheap to buy I used to occasionally experiment with them. I took one in particular which had an unusually pretty top and converted it into a Big Joe Wlliams 9 string lap guitar. While I was at it I enlarged the soundhole and refinished it. A couple of folks told me they liked the way it looked so much they offered to buy it off of me.
But in your case, I would also definitely want to leave the graphics be. The cool factor is undeniable.
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"You start off playing guitars to get girls & end up talking with middle-aged men about your fingernails" - Ed Gerhard |
#34
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I'm also in the middle of a Regal project. This one is all solid woods. Spruce over mahogany. I took out the ladders, added X bracing, Kimsey brace, herringbone back-strip, back center-strip, installed a truss bar, etc..... It has a solid Brw fretboard. I like tinkering with these old guitars - especially the dovetail ones with great materials and factory-mass-production craftsmanship and assembly. My favorite is my moniker - the under-appreciated Harmony H165.
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#35
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Thanks zombywoof! I’ll bet that was quite a sound too! Your guitar must’ve been somewhat of a guess as to what you would get in the end but it’s always nice when it ends up with folks trying to buy it from ya.
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#36
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Hey H165, interesting bracing, what made you decide on it, or was it merely a try then check process?
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#37
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Quote:
I always love to see one of these old guitar having new life breathed into it. Here is the spruce top, maple body Regal that is in line to be my next project. I may just go ahead and replace the bridge with a pin bridge. Not sure of where I want to go with it but the lumber it is built with does make it a candidate for a full conversion. As it is perfectly playable as is though there is no great hurry. Here is my last Regal "conversion" - the 9 string lap guitar. I left the bracing as is but not much else.
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"You start off playing guitars to get girls & end up talking with middle-aged men about your fingernails" - Ed Gerhard Last edited by zombywoof; 11-21-2017 at 04:43 PM. |
#38
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Wow! Thanks for showing these two guitars, zombywoof! I love that Regal, that pickguard and the whole guitar is AWESOME! It's great that it already plays even though not converted yet. That Lap is an interesting guitar too! Never seen one before.
Steve just sent me another email stating that the process for removing all the glue and gunk was this way,,,, first he chipped away at the old glue, by hand with a razor blade. Then he used 80 grit sanding ceramic discs to clean and finishing with a nice Festool orbital finish sander.
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#39
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Yeah, I have cleaned out all kinds of glue and gunk from inside guitars. Every time I start I mutter a silent prayer to the Guitar Gods - please do not let it be epoxy. You have inspired me to talk with Steve about the Regal and a mid-1930s spruce/mahogany Kay I own. The last two guitars I worked on turned out to be more involved than I was expecting and took a lot out of me. So I am not so eager to start up another project at the moment. I am also sure Steve or H-165 would do a far better job than I could. I pretty much just muddle my way through and hope that my luck holds.
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"You start off playing guitars to get girls & end up talking with middle-aged men about your fingernails" - Ed Gerhard Last edited by zombywoof; 11-21-2017 at 06:39 PM. |
#40
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Yep, this was old epoxy too. He said it was very labor intensive but the end result is always worth it. Better than me, I would've given up, probably. But I guess when you've done enough of these, as he has, then it's just part of the job.
Yeah, that guy was crazy to think it should just be a wall hanger! I wanna play that thing myself! Or at least try to.
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#41
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Quote:
Quote:
Last edited by H165; 11-21-2017 at 07:40 PM. |
#42
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Quote:
The bracing I want to try in a smaller body guitar is what Gibson used in the early 1930s - a tall and knife edge thin un-scalloped X. Those old guitars have a lot of punch.
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"You start off playing guitars to get girls & end up talking with middle-aged men about your fingernails" - Ed Gerhard Last edited by zombywoof; 11-21-2017 at 08:32 PM. |
#43
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Ok, here's the latest. Steve says the glued crack did it's job beautifully, giving flex to the top but no give at the glued crack. YEAH!!! Now he said he will steam the top over the next several days to try and diminish that warp on the top, around the sound hole. We are going to talk bracing on Monday. Stay tuned!
Looks great in the pics he sent!
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#44
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Very nice job keeping the top looking good. This guitar will have the short sustain associated with this top wood.
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#45
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Thanks, yep, should be a lot of fun to play. I'm going to check with Steve, when we get there, to see if there's any solvent he could use on the top to remove some of the grunge or grime/dirt that have darkened the images somewhat, without removing any of the paint.
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