Official Luthiers Forum!

Not to be too much of a contrarian, but back removal is not uncommon in repair work, and without binding or finish to fuss with, relatively uncomplicated. Back removal would give access to both back bracing and plenty of room to strip out the X brace and replace. We typically do not remove the top for rebracing or significant top repairs if the back is accessible, as the guitar less back can be loaded into the go-bar deck in the building mold to maintain shape and bracing removed, and any new bracing glued in using the deck.

But...Mr. Brentrup makes some excellent points, and an instrument whose purpose is to allow you to build skills by moving through the order of build to completion may better serve you by - you guessed it - being completed, rather than as a repair project. In fact, there is always the option to complete the instrument and come back in a few years to practice some repair work.

Re: the photos...this is why the scalloping caught my eye - on the long list of TBD repairs when I run out of things to do in the shop.

_________________
For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

That may the worst buckling I have ever seen.

You can rely on experience based opinions given on this forum. Posers are exposed pretty quickly around here.

Looks like a rather weak cedar top - a good candidate for complete top replacement.
to the O.P.-
You will hear solutions proposed from people with different perspectives, some different but still valid. It is up to you to choose the one that you are most comfortable with.

Man there's a lot of subjects in this thread.


I'm glad you guys are coming around to my thinking!

First, this is not a criticism in any way of Bosco's(?) work. It's his third instrument. many folks never get that far!

This guitar will not be mistaken for a professional quality instrument. It's value is in providing experience for a new builder.
It's value will likely be the same if he goes back and tries to rework things or goes forward and fixes them when/if they become a demonstrated problem. Adding bracing, if something starts going wrong, is easier than pulling the back and rebracing.



I don't think there is a short cut learning to discern good advice from bad. many pro's are hacks and many amateurs would blow excellent pro's away. Advice that appears universal across the majority of responses might be a good place to focus.
I think most here would agree, removing a torrefied top with a separating knife sounds like trouble.

To ease the torque on a potentially weak top, you can set the neck angle and bridge to work with the stings on the low side over the top.

Big curl redwood...will be a fun repair.

_________________
For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Thanks, Haans. You are of course right. When you say to put a cap on the X brace do you mean flatten the scallop and glue some brace stock on top of this? Is this better than putting a set of secondary braces out of sight parallel to the top arms of the X brace?


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Thanks, Clay. Yes, the torrified top is very brittle so you’re absolutely right in saying it would be better and easier to add braces if need be due to their easy access. I guess the question is do it do it as a precautionary measure anyway, or do I see how it holds under strong tension?

Here’s a view of the body without the back on for better perspective.


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If the guitar is going to be observable for a few months (does your friend live near by, or visit often) You could string it up and monitor it before adding extra braces (if needed).
If the guitar is going away I would add the extra braces now. They are cheap insurance, and would be in an area of the top that doesn't impact much of the sound of the guitar (IMO).

I see from the 2nd photo of the top bracing that you did cap the X.