Official Luthiers Forum!

As the picture show, a bit of grain blow out while routing for bindings.

My thought is to carve the damage out, like this, and glue in a sliver of wood, level, and re-route.

Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated. The damage is on the treble side, front lower bout, so it will not show too much. Thanks!

Alex


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Make your bindings a bit taller and add purflings and rout the damage off.

The binding and purfling is at 1/4" and the damage would need to be routed to 11/32". That's a bit deeper than I'd like to go, Ed.

This is a first guitar, and I'm not having visions of grandeur. I'm sure there will be other blemishes along the way. I'm pretty good at "Dutchman" repairs.

Alex


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

If you don't want to go deeper, the only option I know of is to shim in a piece. If you can find the blown out chunk, see if it works. I have had luck with that. I personally haven't had great luck using a separate piece. Otherwise, if it looks bad when all put back in, do a burst that shades the sides, and go dark over that spot.

If you have not vacuumed that piece is around. I have gotten on my hands and knees until I have found the bit of blown out wood. When it comes out that way the piece is around an most likely intact

_________________
http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

Which is why vacuuming after each operation that went well is so advantageous. Narrows down the splinters to sort through...

Cleaned the bench before routing, so unless it shot into the corner of the shop, it should still be there.
I made a copy of your binding jig, Ed, and it works great! I'm using a down spiral bit and a bearing guide instead of the rabbeting bits.
Another glass of wine and some more olives, and I'll start looking for the splinter!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Somogyi suggest when this happens to turn it into a decorative feature. Maybe a half diamond shape in ebony. Maybe a matching one on the other side. Lemons into lemonade. I tend to agree with the others re the blown out piece.................if you can find it. Good luck, keep thinking it through before acting. All will work out.
Tom

_________________
A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Good luck on your hunt! Been there too many times:)

My jig is an iteration of the Ribecke jig, I believe. I like the LMI bits, cause we have a router for each cut and just swap routers. Whomever invents a system like that with a downshear gets some of my money though...

Put the close up glasses on and find that splinter! Looking good. Going to look awesome. I love the Wenge. If you can't find the piece, wood dust and CA on the treble side of your first guitar would hardly be noticed but I KNOW you could splice a sliver in.

That sucks Alex.

Get some hose (stockings) or thin tee shirt and cover the vacuum nozzle and start picking up the dust/splinters around the area you were working... when the cloth is clogged, turn the vacuum off over a small pan or container, this should reduce your hunting time.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

If you can't find the piece...

Did you thin the edges of the soundboard?

If not, you may be able to find a millimetre or so there, then rout for deeper bindings, but 1mm less deep than they might have been. You only need to get as deep into the chip as to where the bevel outward starts. A good epoxy grain fill will pretty well hide the rest.

_________________
Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

Sifted through all the shavings on the bench top and found some splinters that might have been parts of the missing piece, but nothing that I could fit together.
I cleaned up the damaged area, and managed to get two clamps on a 5/8" patch. Tomorrow will either be a triumph or a do over! I'm not at all upset about this. Stuff happens all the time. If I had take a chunk that size out of my thumb, it would be a different story!
This guitar making stuff is fun!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Here's how did the bearing guide, Ed. Like most of my jigs, the idea was borrowed from someone else.



The fine adjust is a carriage bolt through an angle bracket, into a barrel nut.

Alex


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Yeah I would look for the piece. I think matching a piece to a carved out area like you mentioned would be more noticeable.

Sent from my SGH-T599 using Tapatalk

_________________
Another day, another dollar.

Does the guitar have a cutaway? If not, you could turn it into a lefty with a micro armrest bevel

Thanks, Dennis! I would have been sadly disappointed if someone hadn't suggested that one!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Simplest, putty the area with good dyeable putty, dye the area, apply some Weldon 16, rub into the putty, then sand flat and dye the whole back and sides.

I have successfully used the method described in your initial thoughts -- if you have a matching or similar piece of wood its possible to make a near invisible repair. Glue the splice in with Elmer's do not use CA pay attention to the grain orientation -- the trick is scratch in some grain lines crossing the glue joint then use very fine marker or color pencil to lay in the grain color. Go a little beyond the actual repaired area with the fake grain -- I think you will be surprised how natural this will end up looking.

_________________
Ken Cierp

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/

Once the patch was glued and left to completely dry, I sanded it flush with 240 paper on the back of a chisel along with a couple of thicknesses of masking tape so that only the high spot of the patch gets sanded to the same curvature as the side.

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions. As usual, you folks are the best!

Alex


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Nice job!

Had a similar thing on my build..the router chuck slipped and made a massive mess of my binding channel, taking out a large chunk for a 1/5th of the guitar. .

Fixed using extra beading ..turned out ok in the end.. stressful time though

Good repair there

What blowout......................????
Nice recovery..! Alex
Looks like you were doing conventional routing at full depth when you had the blow out. I like to go in about .020" to .030" for a primary cut. In my mind less chance of blowout at full depth. Also I like to climb mill, also less chance of blowout. Trevor Gore points this out in his book. When you climb mill you can go all around the guitar in one direction. Thanks Trevor.
Tom

_________________
A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Thanks, Tom! I did conventional route on the four bout areas, and then a 360 climb cut. I'd have to say I should have used a bit more caution than I did. This wood seems to be on the fragile side. I did three crack repairs on the sides early on, although maybe I was a little ham handed.
When it is ready for pore fill, I'll be doing what Ken suggested - etching some grain lines, and colouring them. I've done that in the past where I had to repair furniture that I'd built for customers. I would always tell them, but they had to find it themselves!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Alex, you showed that blowout who it's daddy is!
Nice-un.
Dan

_________________
wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah