Today's Update

 Rosewood back getting glued together

 

Ukulele getting patched back together, had more cracks then first realized

Neck joint exposed, has two shims

Gibson L-48 Update

Finished the side repair and strung up ready to play. Not a perfect repair but did not affect tone, sounds great!

Guitar Build

Well, I have finally started my first attempt at actually building a guitar from scratch. The sides are planed down and bent and the back and top are ready to be glued up.

Gibson L-48 Update

Here are some recent photos of the work on the L-48 with the busted side. It has been patched back together the best that I could with what there was left to work with. Some cream binding was installed and stained with amber dye to match the existing yellowed binding on the rest of the piece. I am still working on the color match on the side, but may have to resign myself that it may never be a great match.

Martin Ukukele

This is a Martin O Type Ukulele. I believe it to be dated pre-1930 since it has no front headstock sticker and is stamped on the back of the peg head with the Martin logo. It also has the Martin logo stamped inside the body on the back above the middle brace.

It is in pretty good shape, a little beaten up, with a few cracks and a split at the lower bout side to top connection. The finish appears that someone has done some touch up, although not a very good job.

The body is mahogany, and there is no body binding on this model. There is a black/white/black/white sound hole rosette. The fretboard and the bridge appear to be rosewood. There are 12 frets on the fingerboard. The body dimensions are 9-3/8" long, 6-3/8" at the lower bout, 4" at the waist, and 5" at the upper bout. The neck length from body to tip of headstock is 11-1/4". The neck width at the nut is 1-3/8", and 1-7/8" at the body joint.

The tuning pegs are friction type. I have taken one of them apart to show what they look like. I could not find much reference to these type of tuners on line, so I am providing this photo.

There is a small spring inside the body. The shaft is square, and the unit pulls apart once the top screw is removed. Tension is increased by tightening the screw once it is installed.

This piece will need some major reconstruction items to get it playing. The neck is loose, so it will probably come off  and be reset. After the neck is off the top will be removed in order to do the necessary body repairs. A refinish is probably in order to try and fix the previous job.

Banjo Head

Put a new head on the banjo today. First time was definitely a learning experience. It only took three times to get it right.

Here are the pieces ready while the head is soaking in water.The wood pot with metal rim on it. The flesh hoop and tension hoop are laying on the table. I reused the old flesh hoop from the head that was taken off by soaking it in water and scraping the skin off the wire. All the hooks, nuts, and metal parts were soaked in Naval Jelly and cleaned up.

The skin soaked for about twenty minutes to get it pliable. Here it is placed over the pot with the flesh hoop and the tension hoop laying over it.

That was the easy part. The difficult part is getting the skin around the flesh hoop and under the tension hoop. This took a couple of tries (and some cussing) to get  the correct method figured out. All the reading on how it is done does not replace actually doing it, making mistakes and doing again.

Here it is with the skin trimmed off at the top of the tension ring.

Now to let it dry for a few days before tightening the tension hoop down.In the mean time the fretboard needs new frets, some loose areas glued down, and sanding done to it.

Tenor 4 String Banjo

Just got this old 4 string tenor banjo. If I had to guess I would put it at early to mid 1900's.

I cannot find any markings on it to establish maker. It appears to be pretty old, has been sitting around for a while, and has the cob webs to prove it.It has a maple pot with a black/white/black banding.

This is not a very ornate model, rather plain but nice. It has all its parts that appear to be original, except it is missing the bridge. The head is torn and will need to be replaced.

 
The fretboard has been repaired or something done to it. There is a chunk that looks like it was replaced or taken out and put back. It is not a very good job and will need fixing. There are 3 frets missing.

It has a 2 piece maple neck, and a rosewood or ebony peg head veneer that someone has painted black. This will need to be cleaned off. Maybe I will get lucky and find a headstock inlay or something under the paint?

Other than that just a good cleaning should suffice to get this old gal back to playing some jigs..

Todays Fixins

This is todays post. Not one particular, but a few different things happening.. I have been busy at work, so things slow down a little.

The L-48 gets some side clamping trying to piece the side back together. Not certain how this will turn out.

The D40 gets a coat of lacquer. This has not been fun, finishing is tough..

The May Bell mandolin gets a new top. Cutting the oval and adding a walnut trim ring..

 And whats this ? A fiddle and a wiener dog with crazy eyes. Newest addition of an old French violin purchased from a guy in Scotland.. More to come on this new venture into the violin world...