Filling a soundboard trough

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Although this MK IV might prove to be a lost cause, I
bought it as a project because I hope it's a padouk body with a cedar
top.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rt=nc&nma=tru...

I base that hope on what I've read about cedar, pearwood,
and padouk.

Because the shellac can be removed from the back and
sides, the biggest problem is that too much wood might have been sanded off the soundboard, rendering it too weak. The top has been sanded everywhere except over the rosette and under the bridge. In front of the bridge there is a long trough that will need filling. Can filling it be done? How about using Frank Ford's technique for filling fingerboard divots?

http://www.frets.com/fretspages/Luthier/Technique/Frets/FBoardDivot...

The sawdust to be used would come from the wood under the
Bridge. If the trough is too long and deep, could you glue solid wood
into the hole without quite filling it, and then finish the job with Frank's
technique? If so, should the piece of cedar be in the shape of the trough by cutting a small dowel in half lengthwise? Or should you fill the trough with several pieces of cedar because of expansion and
contraction?

[Ned Knepp]

Cedar is usually softer than spruce as it is so thinning it probably didn't do anything for the tone OR the strength. Rather than try to fill the low areas, which actually seems to be most of the top, I think I would consider replacing the top completely.

 

Ned  

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Ned,

I might indeed have to do that. I'll have to wait and see what it actually looks and sounds like when it gets here. If it isn't too thin anywhere, then I'll see if it can stand being tuned to pitch for a month or so. If it can't, then it's time for a new top.

 

If it can, I'll see about having a luthier take the refin off the top without removing more wood, and then remove the bridge, and then sand the area under the bridge down to the same level as the area around it, and then refinish the top, and then remove the refin from the bridge, and then re-install the bridge. 

 

Does that sound sensible?

[Ned Knepp]

 Truthfully, the repairs you are taking about are repairs I wouldn't pay to have done. In all honestly, I'm not a good judge of this because I would tackle it myself rather than taking it to someone else  Because of that, it's fairly easy for me to say, "just put a new top on it". I really have no idea how much it would cost to have these things done, either what you are suggesting or what I'm suggesting. My priorities for a guitar is how it sounds, how it plays and how it looks, in that order. I can put up with a trashed looking instrument if the other two criteria are met.

 

 If I thought the top would hold up and the sound was acceptable, I would probably clean up the finish and leave it at that. I know it's not the prettiest top around but I would be concerned that the repairs you suggested would make the top weaker when it already is. You could end up with a pretty guitar that doesn't sound so good and is distorting from the string pressure.

 

If I were going to put money into having work done on the guitar, I would see how much more it would cost to just replace the top now and be finished with it.

 

Ned 

 

 

[Darryl Hattenhauer]

Yes, I have no problem with how a guitar looks. And I am, indeed, concerned that when I first bring this up to pitch it will sound like it has tremelo.

 

When I bought it, I knew going in that it might need a new top. I was willing to gamble and pay the cost if I lose.