Official Luthiers Forum!

Good work. I have an old 000-15 with a completely destroyed bass side have to replace. Going to try and do it without removing top and back. Bu may take top off because it has issues already of loose braces and either replace or repair it.

It's too late for this one, but down the road if you "notch" a structural brace try to avoid square corners. Speaking from an aircraft structures background, having radii rather than square corners will provide a better stress path. The notches appear to be approx. 50% through the brace. If you still have the top off, you might try to build a dam on one side and fill the gap with some Gorilla Glue to expand and fill the gap. You want the brace to be able to move but not enough around the notch to propagate a crack.

Good point , thank you . You know with a diploma in drafting in commercial construction, you would have figured I would have thought about that.

If you are referenceing the utbThats the way Martin did this one.

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

"uTB" ? Under the bridge? No, I was talking around the square notches. I'm far from the expert here, (you are!) but my gut tells me that the top is going to flex the most in the center, around the sound hole. I'm thinking if you fill the gap in the notch with the expanded poly so the flex is locally minimized, it's less apt to develop the stress cracks in the corners. But not significantly hamper the motion of the top.

BTW, I love the look of the braces you made. Any time you can save a beauty like this, you need to be !!

Utb. Upper transverse brace by the neck . You are talking about the x brace I gather, thank you for the compliment, but I ordered these braces from a Martin dealer pre-shaped to keep the originality to it as much as possible. So the notching is all.Martin(with the exception of the lower bout brace over the strips) the x brace in the center I do plan on putting a support in there. Thank you for your observations. I always appreciate feed back

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Applying the X brace Cap and covering a couple cracks that fall under a glued spot that I cannot cleat . Used white Denim and Glue soaked .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Lookin Gud Wud

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Nice clean work, as usual!

Alex

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

The caps are cool! Where did you find white denim?

Mom used to work for a jean company , retired now but used to collect bolt ends . Gave a lot to wife.

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Wud,

This is looking great. I have a Silvertone project that I'm about to start that may require a top removal. I've been thinking about what sort of circus acts I'm going to have to preform to fix the cracks properly with F holes. Top removal may be the best choice on that one if I can maintain the body shape.

In the photo above I'm wondering if that cloth patch at the end is going to interfere with the position of the tail block. You are probably good and I only bring it up just in case. Its the kind of thing I'd only realize once I had the glue on and the clamps ready.

John

The tail block on this Martin is beveled at all four sides . so the point that meets the top is only 1/4" wide . Good question Though !

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Decided to completely refinish the Top . Dont know If I will ever be able to hide those repaired cracks . My do a custom burst since I am planning on keeping this one for myself .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Delete these nasty Pictures

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Interesting idea but not to my taste. But than again, I'm a traditionalist

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Decided .... Going to strip it back down and work on cracks some more with spruce strips instead of filler ... start again

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Can't say I like it, either, Wud.

Alex

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

The spruce filler took on the color . I am going to take the filler out and use spruce wood and glue it in and scrape level and see where I am at .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Oooh that was hideous Jim. Good to see you came to your senses.

Are you going to try the v-groove bit in the router trick now?

I've actually used ebony "accent" strips over some glued cracks. There again, if you're keeping it, make it whatever you like, forget what anyone else says. If it were me I'd have called the strips "character" and finished it. Showing the cracks you've repaired wouldn't bother me. And if anyone asked, you could always tell them that you did it intentionally. Racing stripes?

Spruce Strips in Place . Going to try my hand at Pumice Fill

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

The strips look good Wud

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Getting Closer . The white Binding and black top are gonna rock .

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Getting Closer

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

That's looking good Wud.

I have a Martin project I've been working on that is right about at this stage. I hope that some day I get the finish right then I can move on to fussing with the next step.