Official Luthiers Forum!

Just a little background on me: I'm a hobbyist musician (of a bunch of different instruments) and have always been a DIY guy who wants to fix stuff around the house. I don't have a ton of training (besides a shop class back in highschool) or experience (just minor work -- replacing a nut, little electronics soldering, drum assembly), but I'd love to improve my skills and build some more instruments.

I'm actually in the middle of building a kit Tenor Ukulele (and will post pictures once I'm done).

However, I have an old beginner acoustic/electric guitar that never gets played. On top of that, it isn't in the best shape. Years ago, the (laminated) top started to belly and the bridge was pulling off so I built a sorta makeshift tailpiece out of scrap wood. It doesn't look pretty and probably hurt the tone a little, but it was a laminated top to begin with so it wasn't the end of the world. But like I said, it doesn't get played because I have two solid top acoustic guitars.

I wanted to make it something unique that my other instruments don't already offer. Most of the ideas I'd thought of involve removing the guitar's top and installing a new top and bridge. I've considered experimenting with a metal (probably steel but maybe bronze or brass) top. I've also considered trying to turn it into a dobro/resonator style slide guitar.

While I think I'd prefer replacing the whole top with either a solid tonewood or something experimental (like metal), I have heard that it is not easy to remove a top. So I thought I'd pick your brains for not only what I should do, but also what is feasible as a project for a beginner, amateur luthier.

I don't have a huge shop full of toys (oops... tools), but I have some basics: dremel, belt sander, scroll saw, drills, various clamps and whatnot.

I've never removed a top before but would imagine it being hard because of all the overlapping of wood on the corners where the binding, ribs, and top all come together. However, if you are planning on replacing the top completely you could cut it off as close as possible to the ribs with your Dremel and then chisel off the kerfing thereby keeping the sides the same height for the new top. You will destroy the existing top, but that doesn't sound like a problem anyway.

As far as the wackiest idea you have ever heard for a new top...maybe try a drum head like a banjo would have. You may have to add wood around it because drum heads are circles, but I bet you would truly have a one of a kind instrument if you did that. Just my two cents.

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http://www.sixgunguitars.com

Yeah, I'm not concerned about ruining the current top -- really, it already is. It is laminated, is warped a little, and now has extra drill holes for the custom tailpiece.



Nice idea. I might have to try that in the future. However, that sounds like a daunting task for a beginner. You'd need to add some sort of shell for the drum head to attach to. Hmm... that gets me thinking though. I have some experience assembling drums so I'm comfortable working with drum shells and hardware. I'll have to add that to my list of projects (which is perpetually growing).

Hello and welcome
i think you'd get better answers on what you should do
if you mentioned whether you want to pursue luthiere for the long haul
or just wanting to build a guitar
The way i see it is ...you dont seem happy with your other guitars
anyway i wont get into what you should do yet
but look at frank fords site anyway
good luck
tomas

I'd like to continue with it as a hobby. I've no plans to become a pro luthier but I do enjoy woodworking and would love to develop my skills building guitars (amongst other instruments).



I'm actually more than happy with my other guitars. One's a spruce solid top that has started to mature nicely and has a pretty big sound. The other acoustic I have is a "folk" smaller body guitar with cedar top that has beautiful tone mostly for fingerpicking.

The "problem" is that I like these two other acoustics so much that the old beginner guitar with a warped top doesn't get played at all. However, if I made something unique out of it so it didn't sound just like another acoustic guitar, it might get some use. I considered trying to turn it into something similar to the "electric sitar" guitars, but I think that might be too much for my current skill level.

I'm leaning toward just removing the top and replacing it with a unique material.

For the most part it sounds like a waste of your valuable time in the sense that the rest of us face. Sure we could do x,y. or z, but the same effort put into some real parts yields something of pretty high value. Sure your first instrument may not be worth much, but it could stand in for one that is. Meanwhile this thing you have in mind, not so sure that is going to really crank you up. But if the guitar is destined for the dumpster anyway, you should get something out of it.

Taking a top off is easy. Getting the neck off may or not be. The first thing is whether the neck is bolt on or glued on, and if it is glued on is it done in some reasonably sensible way where you could get it off. If the fingerboard is glued to the top, you probably have a guitar that needs to be steamed apart. If it is a Kmart special who knows what stuff may be in their, from waterproof glues to hardware. If you just can't get the neck off you can remove the fingerboard and go from there..

If you can get the neck off. You can just jigsaw the top off, you are then left with the binding, but it, and you can get them down in many ways, planing sawing, griding. The final few thou need to be planed scraped or carefully sanded. If you get that far, you will now have a very floppy body. You can stabilize it before it gets this far, by hot melt gluing some brackets around it. You can tape the sides and just glue to the tape.

If you have a slotting cutter in a router you could saw the whole thing off in pretty much one go.

You're right on some accounts in that I don't expect a Martin D12 replacement out of it. However, part of the value in me taking on this project is getting some experience and improving my skills.



It's actually a Takamine G-series, which is respectable for a beginner guitar. The fingerboard does appear to be glued on and I believe the neck is too. I've never steamed apart parts of a guitar so this could be a learning experience for me.



Thanks for all the advice.