Acoustic Guitar Construction

I assume you are planning to pre-bend the patch -- are you going to run the grain vertical or perpendicular?

Not sure why hiding the repair at this point is a real big concern -- you know the defect is there no matter what and if it a commission I personally would start over. The carbon fiber or fiber glass cloth would be a much more durable, predictable repair -- long term, its simply a better choice.

after much deliberation I decided to remove the back, this way I will have complete access no matter which repair direction I decide on. Now I'll know how to pull the back off a guitar if I need to again in the future. I was really pleased with my construction, the glue joints were really well fitted. That baby is built like a battle ship. I am leaning towards removing some of the side braces, bending and fitting a piece then laminating it to the sides. With the back off, I think that I can do a very clean job of it and be able to clamp the lamination securely with the body supported in the mold frame. The silver lining in this is that I think it highly unlikely that I will EVER make this mistake again!! After taking it apart, it certainly raised my level of confidence in the construction. I'll post my progress.

Now it will be easier to fix, also looks like the back came off clean.

Well there you go --- good thinking!!

Yeah the back came off really clean, just a small chip on the heal block so it should go back together pretty easily. This will certainly make the repair much easier and less noticeable when complete.

Yes Tim, that is courage! Who's the boss? Just take that back off! Well done.
Herman

Nice Job!

I started working on guitars by rebuilding older Kays and Harmonys through pulling the backs and re-bracing utilizing the X style.

Hope I never have to do it with one of my "real builds" since I've progressed.

Knowing how to to pull a back still comes in handy. I'm renovating this old Kay/Oahu square neck and will move on to a Harwood as well.
Thankfully, binding hides the errors!