Re-topping a Mauel guitar

[Dave Bagwill]

You may remember that 2 years ago my niece Jamie managed to get to the back of the house where she did not belong, sit in a chair, lean over backward, spilling her and her chair into the top of my 000-12 Hank Mauel guitar that I've owned since 1989.

Irreparable. So today I removed the top - the neck is fine, so is the body, the bridge is okay, and I saved most of the braces.
Pix will show the neck joint, the brace configuration etc.
Nothing really startling - it WAS glued TIGHT - just perfectly glued.
But - The braces are all 3/4" tall. And thin.
That's right. All of 'em except the scalloped portion.
At the X - 3/4" braces.
Finger braces - 3/4"
Tone bars - 3/4" - and short, too.
40' radius top, 15' back.
That x-joint is almost exactly 90 degrees.

[John Parchem]

Yes retop and make a great guitar. I am amazed that the kerfed linings in good shape.

[Dave Bagwill]

I may try that type of neck attachment. It would save doing the threaded insert thing, and just seems more secure in a way. Worth a try.

The top was .108" thick consistently, except the lower bout around the rim - .091" consistently. The top was WRC, and that thinness surprised me.

The kerfing notches for the braces were somewhat inconsistent, and the notches for the lower bout legs of the X were not cut closely at all. That may have been on purpose; a sort of de-coupling move. Or just a little sloppy.

I've given a good look inside two boutique guitars now - Mike's custom Goodall and now Hank's guitar - and there is no magic. They look just like what we do. Really good gluing practice, nothing slipshod. Both looked a little overbuilt to my eye, but they knew what they were doing.
The height of Hank's braces did surprise me.

[Herman]

Looks good Dave,
Maybe their vision was to use a very thin top and a bit heavier bracing.
The tops of the scalloped braces seem needlessly high IMO.
Was it a great guitar? I vaguely remember it was.
H

[John Parchem]

The tone bars are tall with deep scallops, but if it had a good tone, you could use the same braces as they look good. I would replicate the top with WRC. They have the WRC about where I would have. Were you able to save the rosette? You can turn the project into a vintage restoration.

[Dave Bagwill]

When Hank shipped the guitar to me, he included a very specific note, to the effect that the top flexed quite a bit more than he was expecting, and that I should use light strings and light picking. At the end of the note he restated; "Remember, Dave, light picking!"

And under those conditions it sounded very good. But - anything a bit aggressive in finger plucking, or any other gauge strings than very light, and the guitar was very 'nasally' if you know what I mean. An unpleasant spike in the 250-800 hz range.

I'm thinking that Hank starts out with taller than needed braces and takes them down according to tapping or whatever testing he uses, like a lot of us. And this one sounded good to him at this brace height. So many ways to approach bracing.

The rosette had to be sacrificed. I have a very nice European spruce top that I'll glue up and use instead of WRC since I don't want to buy anything if I can help it.

[Herman]

European? Nice!