Pro 2 progress & questions.

[Dean Sibley]

Hi Guys,

 well the top glued down perfectly. I have cleaned up a lot of the lacquer & currently bending new bindings.

This guitar has no bracing in it nor any kerfed linings around the corners- it surprises me how it is holding together as the area where the top meets the sides is only about 4 mm across! It does have a support running from under the bridge to the back.

Most of the apparent cracks in lacquer on the sides near the back turned out to be no more than a poor blend line from when the new back binding was lacquered after previous repair- which I have now carefully feathered in.

 The weldon 16 glue has some criticism on the Aus/NZ luthiers site as not too reliable. Stewmac state a glue can be made from dissolving binding shavings in solvent. Can anyone offer some experience with either of these?

Pix - first one shows where 99% of ca glue (from homestyle repair) ended up - thank god! Looks ugly but the clean-up results in 2nd pik show better outside than inside the join - no sign of ca now.

The 2nd pik also shows paper towel with masking tape on it - I found the heat needed to soften the bindings for bending quite high so folded 4 sheets of 2 ply paper towels, cut & taped a slot to pass either side of binding. Almost no heat penetrates this to damage wood or soften existing glue joins.I have waited 48 hrs for new glue to set before bending new binding.

 I have tried to contact Matsumoku but received no reply. Also on their site the link to forums does not work - perhaps they just don't care about what happened to possibly( I stress the "possibly")  the first Aria pro 2 ever made.

I am enjoying learning about repairs/history of guitars.

Thanks for all the help,

Dean

[Doc Rathwell]

Hi Dean,

   It's looking really good. The CA cleanup is great.

   For binding adhesion, I use the LMII offerings.

Best wishes,

Doc

[Andrew]

So how do you get that in Canada? Its listed as dangerous goods on their site and that they wont ship it out of the US.

[Doc Rathwell]

...message sent..

[Dean Sibley]

 Hi Doc,

Thanks very much for help. LMI looks like another great resource. I have just found Aus/NZ luthiers site so will try to solve same dilema as Andrew. FCA glue sounds like the bees knees. I tested the melted binding glue which worked relatively well but when I stuck scalpel under the binding it came away with the glue showing little penetration of the wood - stuck to the plastic well though.

cheers,

Dean