Rebuild: Update 5

Another month has passed. Nothing spectacular done, only some lacquer removal and a neck gluing.

 Checking the angle before gluing. All looks good. There is no more lacquer on the neck.

 Mixed hide glue overnight. 

 Heated to 61C (~145F) using double boiler mason jar and multimeter thermometer

 Prepping the joint. Dollar store brush.

 Using an ancient hair dryer, I preheat the mortise/tenon.

And in a frustrating blur of hand movements, I nervously glued the neck back on the guitar. 

I've tested the new angle again afterwards with the high/low E strings. Everything looks great. 

Next step would be to cut out two little 'wings' of mahogany to be glued at the top removed fretboard. After leveling the area, the fretboard segment can be reglued, re-radiused and leveled, and refretted. That would be it for wood working. Grain/pore filling and finishing would be the final step. 

-Andy

Rebuild: Update 4

Well it's been over a month. Here's what I've done since last.

One thing that occurred during neck removal was warping in the last bit of fretboard that I took off. The swelling laminate wood around the mortise pushed up on the piece, resulting in the top of the fretboard piece becoming almost completely flat. It's hard to explain the exact shape it was in. Regardless, the piece could not have been glued back in the state it was. I employed a pot of shallow, boiling water and a cookie cutter to heat and moisten the piece in preparation for re-bending.

Heat and moisture softens the misshapen fretboard. It was later clamped into shape using a vise and shims.

Some neck work was done, including removing 75% of its finish (using only 150 grit sandpaper). I took great care in monitoring lacquer removal, for such low grit sandpaper could remove noticeable amounts of wood if one doesn't pay close attention. Since I am keeping the binding on the neck, I couldn't have used acetone for removal.

Finished removed, except for peghead. Notice the bottom maple shim and the properly shaped fretboard piece.

I used superglue and rosewood shavings to fill in my drilled steam holes and chips from fret removal, which I continued to do for the entirety of the fretboard. 

Using a filed soldering iron tip, I heated each fret before removal with my modified fret nippers. 

All off. Some big chipouts were superglued back in place.

Steam holes mostly filled. Keep in mind the new frets will cover any small chips. Once I re-sand the fretboard, it should look great.

From StewMac, I received a new quart of Behlen's Nitrocellulose Stringed Instrument Lacquer, med/med fretwire, 0.060"/0.25" creme binding, and a grain filler squeegee. I began with the new binding, gluing it into the cleaned binding channel using the acetone glue like before. Removing the tape after the glue dries, gives this.

Glued binding. 

Much easier than last time, when I used 0.090" thick binding instead of this 0.060". With a burnished razor and X-acto knife blade, I scraped the binding flush with the body. The little material removed also ensured even binding thickness throughout. I filled any gaps between the binding and the wood with the acetone glue. 

The curved X-acto blade allowed me to scraped the binding so it didn't slope near the edges, resulting in a nice 90 degree edge.

Looking good. The binding end on the bottom right is angled to compensate for the weird curve in the neck joint I explained in the previous post.

Through all the steaming and moisture, the neck joint dried in a way that there was slight wobble when the neck was placed. I added a mahogany shim on the side of the tenon so it fit snug.

Mahogany shim made from a few block plane shavings. The imperfections at the bottom of the neck is from a mistake I made during initial shaping years ago (it's hardly noticeable with a finish on).

The neck is ready to be glued in, so expect that in the next post. The peghead lacquer will be off as well. I'll probably, by the next post, have the fretboard piece also glued in. Who knows. 

-Andrew

Rebuild: Update 3

I've gotten a lot accomplished since the last post.

After shimming the bottom of the tenon, I needed to fix the angles of the other flat surfaces on the neck. I began first by making sure the flat joint surface on the body was as flat as could be. It should already be flat, but through the neck removal process, some material was removed and there were some cuts affecting the level. I used a file and a chisel to do this work. Not much was needed to be changed. I started filing the neck surfaces to bring the angle at the neck/body connection to zero (i.e. a flush seam). Doing so brought up a problem. The neck's curve as you move up away from the joint causes another curve to emerge as material is removed. This picture should help clear things up.

 The maple tenon shim is visible. The surface perpendicular to the tenon is being filed, removing most material from the top flat area. As the surface is filed (going into the picture), a curve emerges, shown next to the black line. 

This could be a problem if I were to continue. The connecting portion of the body wouldn't have the same curve. It would look goofy and would be hard to fix. Instead, I stopped adjusting the neck surfaces and added tiny shims on the body surface, shown below.

The body neck joint. Maple and walnut shims added to fill the areas created from changing the neck angle.

I glued the shims in and used the following method to bring the surfaces flush (from StewMac):

http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Neck_relief,_building_and_repair/i-5763.html

The result is rather impressive, considering the size of the walnut shim.

Neck/body joint. The maple and walnut shims are visible. The seam is flush. The new binding will also help to make the seam even more fluid in transitioning to the neck.

With the neck angle fixed, I moved onto more barbaric repairs that needed to be addressed. These are, of course, removing the finish and binding. I don't have much on the finish removal process, but here are my steps.

For removing a nitrocellulose lacquer finish (expect binding damage):

1. Setup a work place with funky music playing and a chair in which to sit. 

2. Use a piece of cardboard as a work surface.

3. Obtain a can of Acetone from ye' locale hardware shoppe, along with plenty of spare rags, latex gloves (most other types will melt), and safety goggles.  

4. Place instrument on cardboard surface, and use your gloved index finger to regulate a dripping stream from the inverted can of Acetone onto the lacquer surface, making a reasonable puddle about 4" in diameter.

5. Wait 2 minutes, adding more drops in case the Acetone evaporates too quickly.

6. Use a folded rag to forcefully wipe the puddle up. If done properly, all the lacquer in the area should be removed, right down to the wood, in one wipe. 

7. Continue. I've found this to be the best method for the top surfaces.

8. For the sides, make a few attempts at the above method. It may work here and there, but most of the time it'll just run everywhere and you'll get frustrated and you'll go blame a relative for all the problems that have occurred in your life. I found just soaking the hell out of a small rag and wiping it down, repeating until all the wood is visible, works well for small surfaces.

It may not be the best, but it's what I did, and I got great results in under 6 hours of work over two days for just the body.

Finish removed, guitar naked. I've had a few people by now tell me to just stop messing with this guitar, it was fine before. I am, however, insane and have little else to do. 

As you can see, some binding has been removed. I have about 90% of the body binding off by now. It basically peels right off, with the exception of some areas tearing the side walnut off. I will have to fill those areas where this has occurred. I made sure all lacquer was removed where the binding meets the wood before trying to rip it off.

I will remove the rest of the binding and do some touch up work in the binding channel. This includes removing any binding glue (with acetone), squaring or rounding certain sections, and filling tear outs where they have occurred. By then it will be ready for new binding (StewMac 0.060"x0.25" cream). Until they are shipped, I will strip the neck lacquer and remove all the frets. After the new binding is installed, I can glue in the neck. 

That's all. 

Bye.

-A

Rebuild: Update 2

I began work on adjusting the neck tenon to achieve a proper neck angle. This was accomplished by manufacturing a precise wooden shim to place on the back side of the neck tenon. For the shim, I needed to use a hardwood to preserve the rigidity of the mortise/tenon connection. Since the tenon is mahogany and the mortise is maple, I would assume to use one of these. I chose to use some left over maple veneer for the shim. It was already thicknessed to 1/16", so all I'd need to do is taper a small piece that is profiled to the shape of the tenon. I did so against some sandpaper.

Maple shim tapered from 1/16" to 0", ~3" long.

To assure the shim brought the neck angle to the proper position, I loosely placed it under the tenon and used a C clamp to hold the neck in the mortise. I strung the high and low E strings to observe the action. Here's my setup:

C clamp temporary setup

The shim will need final shaping to assure the tenon and mortise sitting flush. Otherwise, the neck angle seems perfect. The bridge sits a little high, but I assume after applying full string tension, the neck will pull forward slightly and I can lower the bridge just a bit. It isn't hilariously high. Below are some pics.

Down neck view with new neck angle and action. Looking good so far.

The string elevation looks much better. The string angle from the bridge to the stopbar should apply more pressure to the body, increasing sustain and tone while reducing buzz at the bridge. 

Next step is to glue the shim to the tenon, use graphite coated paper to find high spots on the shim. After leveling the shim, I will tidy up the surrounding neck surfaces around the joint. It will be ready for gluing. Before this, however, I'll need to strip the finish and do binding work.

Updates soon.

-Mr. B

Rebuild: Update 1

Well I got bored and immediately began removing the neck on my 335 about 6 days ago. I'm already planning a full refinish, so lacquer damage isn't a problem.
Using the following link,
http://www.premierguitar.com/Magazine/Issue/2010/Dec/Removing_a_1952_Goldtop_Les_Pauls_Neck.aspx
I attempted to mimic this process (same for both LP and 335). As I mentioned before, long tenon neck removal like this is difficult. There is a lot of surface area of glue to soften. I began... thusly.... :

Remove a number of frets at different intervals along the tenon.

Drill 3/32" holes along the fret slots and in pickup recess.

Apply heat and add boiling water to the area. Adding the boiling water with a syringe and removing it wicks away some of the hide glue in the joint.

Then this happened. After two solid days of adding boiling water and removing it (hundreds of times), I decided to try and steam the joint. Using my trusty pressure cooker steamer, I attempted to get the neck off. Unfortunately, I don't know how to properly make steam and the hose just sputtered hot water into the holes. After all this fuss, the wood near the neck mortise swelled and pushed up the end of the fret board. I took this opportunity to remove this part of the fret board to gain direct access to the neck joint.

I went crazy with the drill and added more holes. 

At this point in time, I assumed the guitar was no better than firewood. I was in shambles and on a downward spiral to a dark and suffering depression. I let the neck sit as it is for 2 days to allow the wood to dry and shrink again. I began applying light heat for 3 hours, followed by a bigger bulb and more heat. I took the guitar to the steamer again, and ramped the stovetop up to 6/10 (crazy medium/high shit). The output of the basketball needle was a supremely hot jet, rid of sputtering. At this point, the heat/moisture ratio was better balanced, and I let the joint cook. I took about 30 seconds to each drill hole, cycled through 2-3 times, and I began to see movement. This opened up more gaps in the joint and the steam penetrated more deeply than before. After applying a terrifying amount of manual pressure on the neck, towards the front of the guitar, the body was finally rid of its blessed neck.

Any professional seeing this probably threw up in something. 

I used the steamer to blast away any glue leftover. Below is my steaming setup.

Pressure cooker, vinyl hose, heat-insulating dirty sock, basketball pump needle, pile of scrap wood.

Observations:

-The lamp heat, steam, and moisture caused some Titebond glue near the joint to soften. Some of the laminations separated about 1/64". I am not concerned. The glue is still there, so I plan of reheating the area and clamping the wood back into place. The existing Titebond should hold everything .

-The lacquer damage was moderate. The whole finish will be stripped.

-The swelling wood also broke away some of the binding. I've never been pleased with my binding work. As nobody probably remembers, I used 0.090" cream binding instead of 0.060" like I should have. This required a lot of scraping, resulting in a very uneven thickness throughout. Since it is coming off fairly easily, I plan to remove all the body's binding (not the neck's), and replace it with the proper size. This should really make the body look much nicer. 

-The removal of the bottom few frets actually makes the neck angle fix much easier. I can shimmy a strip of sandpaper completely through the neck/body contact to sand the neck flush. Further updates will illustrate this.

-The detached fret board portion also requires me to re-radius the board, and, of course, re-fret it.

-Drink plenty of water while dealing with steam and heat lamps n such. I sweat like a pig in the middle of Juuuu-ly. Yes sir.

Next step:

Let the wood dry completely. Heat the creeping glue areas and clamp to original position. Afterwards, the tenon and mortise will need re-squared and possibly shimmed for a better fit (chisel and router work). Afterwards, I can properly shim the neck angle.

-Andrew

ES335 Update and other junk (boring text update)

Well it's been a while, almost a year. I graduated college with a BS in Electrical Engineering, and currently have an awesome job lined up. Being out of college and home, I have been thinking of plans for future projects. Once I start working and have some income flowing, I plan to kick start a few projects (along with paying off loans, o' course).

The Bauer 335:
Well the guitar looks great, except for the lacquer spots I've mentioned. I haven't gotten to fixing that for a big reason. Since adding the hardware and stringing the guitar, I've noticed my action was a little high. The bridge is lowered as far as it can go, so I've just had to deal with what I got. I'm not alright with this, however. I've contemplated lowering the bridge by machining it slightly, but that would become a problem as the stopbar would also need to be lowered to prevent loss of pressure to the bridge saddles. My only sure-to-succeed solution would be......

A neck reset. 

This is rather insane with this particular guitar, due to the number of contact points of the mahogany neck with the rest of the body. I'd need to modify 5-7 different surfaces of the neck/body to get it to sit right. I'm only looking for possible maximum of 1/16" of wood removal/addition to achieve the proper angle. I've seen the process done online on different guitars and I have all the tools, so my only fear is just passing the initial hump of temporarily destroying my pride and joy.

Once repaired, I should be able to set the bridge to the proper height to allow adjustment to below perfect action. More importantly, the increased bridge height will increase the angle of the strings from the stopbar, reducing buzzing I've been hearing at the bridge. I will do any lacquer touch ups needed around the neck joint and the rest of the guitar, and respray the entire thing. I will let the new lacquer cure for a much longer period of time, so after buffing the finish won't get hazy like it did.

The high action has been haunting me and is the only thing that is preventing the guitar from being comfortably playable (besides the fact I don't have a functioning amp). Plenty of research will need to be done.

Another 335:
Well I have all the tools, jigs, molds, and material. Why not?
If I were to build another, I'd make a couple modifications:
1) Change the outline shape of the guitar. The blueprints are crap in representing the original. The body's 'ears' are too pointy and the cutouts need to be more rounded. The joint of the neck to the body should be smooth, without a 'discontinuous derivative'. Meaning it should be flush. This only affects the outer jig I made. Easy fix.
2) Reconstruct the contour mold. Changes would include more defined contours around the 'ears' and a smoother belly on the main body. Nothing ridiculously different. I may just get some Bondo and better contour my existing mold.
3) Practice better building techniques. This includes: Using the proper binding width on the body, drill holes perpendicular when they need to be (bridge pins are crooked), use glue other than Titebond III, spray lacquer thicker and let dry longer...

Accordion Bellows:
On my diatonic accordion I built a while ago, I used too thick a material for the bellows. This caused problems with finding the proper parts, so the project has been on hold since almost 2009. I plan to rebuild the bellows with thinner material and dress the instrument up nice.

Sitar:
I found a couple plans for a sitar online, which are detailed enough  to give me a possible direction to head with a project. It would certainly be interesting. First step is to obtain a giant gourd.....


I will keep updating here as long as I have time to do so. I have slight plans to start my own website, but that's further down the line. I will let the 1-2 people following this know if I plan to move elsewhere.

I did college.

Thanks everyone.
-A Bizzle.

Music

I haven't much touched the didge since my last post, as I haven't had time. I did find time to record this. It includes tracks of my built 335



Enjoy,
Andrew