Acoustic Guitar Construction

Some of you may remember this unique build I had.

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Some of you may be wondering why I never finished the blog. Well, he told me he needed it badly that weekend for a jig and would bring it back to finish up. It was the only guitar I let go that the payment wasn't complete on and he never showed back up and never paid me. I was always a little skeptical if the glue would hold on that top.

So, this week I get a call from a guy telling me he bought a guitar from a guy that was in pieces and wanting to know if I could put it together for him, I asked him what he meant by pieces and he said the original top and back were gone and the neck was off. He had a new braced up top and a back that needed to jointed and joined and the neck glued up. I told him I could probably do. He said he'd get up with the original owner and get the back and mail everything to me. He called me back in about ten minutes and told me as he was telling the guy who was going to do the work for him that I was the guy who built the guitar. I said is this guy's name "JJ" and he said yes. I described the guitar and he said that's the one. He said JJ told him that I said the glue might not hold on that guitar and suggested using a different top. He first removed the back to try to fix the braces and failing removed the neck and top but eventually decided just to sell it.

So here it is 2 years later coming back to me to get fixed. What are the chances? This time I intend on getting paid:)

Paid is good!!

Tim,

It would be instructive to know why you initially suspected the top would not hold.

Thanks for telling us about the situation, in any case.

John Link wrote:Tim,

It would be instructive to know why you initially suspected the top would not hold.

Thanks for telling us about the situation, in any case.

In the 40's the Martin Factory had a small fire in the finishing room that destroyed and damaged some material. That top was one of the "survivors." It was pretty scorched though, as one can see from the pics. The wood was very crystallized on the top and back and because the wood was already thin I could take any off and he actually wanted the scorching to show. He wanted it glued up that way. To me I kinda equated it to glue something on top of old glue without scraping it off. It holds for a while but eventually gives. That is what happened in this case.

I have this exact concern if one is using our standard cell migrating adhesives with the new old "Torrefied" wood.

Thanks Tim. I had wondered about the burning on that top but never connected it to a gluing issue. I think Ken's remarks are germane too, with respect to the new heating processes. The great Martins of the 30s were not made with "treated" wood.

So, what would you use to re-glue the top? Hot hide glue?

I have yet to build with torrefied wood. The suggestions I am seeing on other forums suggest 24 hour clamp time. Jeffery Elliott, a classical builder I had a weekend class with, lightly moistened the top before gluing braces with yellow glue (not hide glue). He uses very seasoned sets of European spruce for his tops. I thought of doing that as well as a long clamp time when I try a torrefied top this summer.