bulging soundboard

[geoff]

Hi,

Just after a bit of advice,

i have a cheap samick abilene aw15 dreadnaught guitar that was given to me, it had a buldging top behind the bridge, which made the string height way to high for playing.

i have removed the soundboard off the guitar ali=ong with the neck, the sound board is still raised even after a week or more without strings, the bracing is still glued, no breaks, How do i go about flattening the soundboard out again. i think it is NATO

 

cheers

geoff

[geoff]

i ned and bill,
thanks heaps for your replies,
i ran out of time yesterday arvo to post pics
i will hopefully do so this arvo.

Ned- as far as i could find out, the guitar is made of nato, it is an abilene guitar and on this page http://sybmac.com/pages/catalogs/abilene/ab1.html theyy specify nato for the top, the guitar is a aw-15

the thing i am worried about with making a new top is the sound hole and inlay.

i was sort of hoping i could straighten the top out, and maybe add a Bridge doctor?

totally understand the economics of the repair wouldn't really be worth it, but it is all about learning to get familiar with things, and i would much prefer to stuff a cheap guitar and learn then an expensive one!!!!

cheers
geoff

[William F.Eden]

I am sorry you don't have a dremal tool Geoff .I thought every one had at least one. I
just have five of them myself . You could very ease do the rosett with it .I guess i was just hoping to get your feet wet. What ever way you go I wish you the best of luck Bill.;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

[geoff]

Hi bill,
i have one i aquired that isn't in the best condition.
i would need to make jigs for it i suppose.
i do want to get my feet wet, just not sure if i want to only dip in a toe at a time to start!!!

saying all of that, my father inlaw is great with wood work, and very fussy about his work, i might have to have have a talk with him.

[geoff]

finally some pics of the bracing and inside

[geoff]

and some more

[Ned Knepp]

Geoff,
It looks like the plate is plywood with the wear through the top layer. Is that correct? I don't really see anything overtly wrong in the pictures except the wear on the plate. The material of the plat seems to be a soft wood which could be replaced with birch plywood or maple.

I haven't worked with Nato in a top before. What I know of the wood indicates that "nato" can have a broad range of characteristics from extremely hard to fairly soft. It grows over a fairly wide range with some significant differences between trees harvested in one area and another. It could be that the top was not very stiff and the bracing is just not robust enough to hold the top flat. One thing I've seen a couple of time is the addition of a bracing running between the lower legs of the X, right against the bottom of the bridge plate to help keep the back edge flat. This would make it pretty hard to change the plate later but you probably should change it now anyway.

If the braces are warping, I don't really know what to tell you. You might try installing a JLD system but I think those are really designed to counteract bridge rotation, not warping of the whole top. The only response to weak bracing I know of is to replace the bracing and if you are going to do that you just as well replace the top wood too.

[geoff]

Hi ned,
that is exactly what it looks like to me as well, ply
im guessing it is the crapy wood used that was the problem, and maybe at some stage this guitar was not so well looked after? left in the heat?

i am thinking that a new top might be just the project for me on this one.

might get the old father inlaw involved, might be the ticket to getting him feeling a bit better.

cheers
geoff

[William F.Eden]

A good son inlaw
can always depend on his father inlaw for all most any thing theys days, I think you will find that the plywood is seperating and that it is the problem from the start, We are now back to the new top which will make a guitar out of it in the end, Good luck with Dear old dad..Bill.''''''''''''''''''''''''

[geoff]

thanks bill,
i am sure there will be more to come in the way of question on this one.

[Ned Knepp]

That's what I would do too. It gives you a chance to use some better sounding material for the top a well as giving you experience. As Bill pointed out, it will be easier to put it all back together that way too.

Ned

[Frank Karau]

I purchased an old 1974 Yamaki Folk Deluxe 112 that had a bulge in the sound board and made for high action at the bottom of the neck. Apparently a common problem with these guitars but hey it is 41 years old and at that age everyone deserves to be able to have a bulge in their midriff. I have the guitar in Mexico and travel between there and Canada. Here is how I fixed it with awesome results and no cost whatsoever. Just before I left for six weeks back to work in the oil patch I de-tensioned the strings and wet the inside of the sound board reaching in through the sound hole with a soaked rag. I then placed a cribbage board which was long enough to bridge the entire sound board on a table and laid the guitar sound board down aligning the bulge at the saddle with the cribbage board and shimmed up the neck so the sound board was 90 degrees to cribbage board. I then place a weight (a 30 lb cash register from my ex wifes defunct clothing boutique) on a flat board on the back of the guitar above the bulge forcing the sound board flat. When I came back after six weeks the sound board was as Steve Earle says "Straighter than a preacher" and played like new.  Even had adjustment to play with on the adjustable bridge it came with instead of being maxed out. It was a hail Mary maneuver that gave perfect results. Give her a whirl. What have you got to lose except six weeks of not playing the guitar? Not too sure if less time will give same results as I wasn't there to periodically check on it.