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Here's an old low-end parlor that was given to me recently.



So I decided to see if I could rebuild it. It was all birch, 24" scale, 13 1/4" lower bout, no binding or rosette, definitely a low budget model. I made a new lutz top for it, but was able to use all the rest, even the fretboard with nearly worn out brass frets and some nice divots in cowboy chord territory.

I braced the top with bridged ladders over lengthwise tone bars and decided this would be a good time to give flying buttresses a try.



And here's how it turned out. Nitro finish.









I just strung it up this evening, so I'm still fine tuning her, but she sure sounds better than these old boxes did originally.

Joe

That's a great job Joe. It would be cool to hear a sound clip once it settles in a little. Did you consider X-bracing it? What scale length did it wind up being?
TJK

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Great job. I love the look of vintage instruments (even cheap ones). Please report back on the sound.

Thx, Tony

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Tony Flippo

Hi Joe, Your aesthetics are right up my alley and you do very
nice clean work to boot. Has she got that ladder braced sound?

Cheers! Bob

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If brute force doesn't work you're not using enough of it!

That's some fine resto work Joe thanks for posting it!

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

No Terence, there's enough x braced guitars in the world, , I've been playing with this bracing pattern, the lengthwise tone-bars help counter the potato chip curl that standard ladder bracing is prone to. And I kept the scale at 24" since I reused the old fretboard.

Thanks Tony, the old ones have the magic that time and use give them. Think of the old songs just waiting inside. And the sound is much richer just from being strung up overnight, that always amazes me.

Yeah Bob, she's got that ladder growl, but I think the tone-bars add a little more complexity to the sound than what I've gotten using the simpler ladder bracing.

Thanks Bill and everyone for the comments,
Joe

Hi Joe,

I really like the way you shaded the top - did you spray that on?

Glenn

Hi Joe,

she's really beautiful - I especially like the top finish, but the whole guitar looks like a really well done restoration

Christian

Thanks Glenn and Christian, no spray, the top is shaded with trans tint dyes, diluted with water and just rubbed on with pieces of rag. Honey amber, golden brown, and reddish brown were used on this top. It's pretty forgiving, you can scrub with a wet rag to blend or dilute an area, or do another coat to strengthen, just play with it until it pleases you. I like the way it brings out the silking, very much like dye coats brings out the flaming in maple.

Joe

Nicely Done! Did a great job breathing new life into an old piece.

-Matthew

Congrats!

I am working on something strikingly similar. Parlor, identical monster-ladder bracing. Solid spruce and maple, both 0.12 thick!! classical bridge but it had steel strings which pulled the neck out of a poorly made dovetail. I am adding a bolt to the neck, I changed the bracing to fan type and I am transforming it into a small flamenco guitar

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Build log

I must say, Joe, you are doing some cool work!
Continue!

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Great looking old parlor Joe and nice work on your part; was it originally a 'tailpiece'guitar or a pinned bridge? The slight 'snake-head' looking peghead makes me think of an old Stella ...that's a design they seemed to have started using when they switched from slot head to paddle head.
As you know first hand, those old solid birch guitars can be worth the effort to repair/restore/retop.


regards,
jack

Thanks for the comments everyone!
The old top had pin-holes in it but there were also screw holes in the end block for a tail-piece, so I guess it had seen both during it's lifetime. I've just been wanting to explore the tail-piece idea because so many seem to think that a tail-piece guitar can't compete with a pinned bridge. This is my second venture into this tone-bar/ladder bracing with a tail-piece and I'm really pleased with the sound I'm getting. This one is really opening up and sounding good, second day, so something's working right.

And I'm not really up on the early paddle head guitars, I really love slot-heads and have a bunch of old cheapies that need work, but this is the only early paddle head I've messed with.

I know Todd Cambio of Fraulini guitars makes both tail-piece and pinned bridge 12 strings and he feels his tail-piece guitars can hold their own with his pinned ones.

So, they're all unique and have their own feel and voice, but I'm liking the way these are going.

Thanks everyone,
Joe

Joe:

Nice job on the rebuild. With all that wood from the huge transverse braces it's got to sound better.

I have bought a couple of vintage parlors from ebay and rebuilt them but this is an expensive way to go. So far no one is giving these things away.

Are the buttresses there for practice? With the short scale the tension will be pretty low - are they needed?

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GEO
perpetual beginner

Thanks George, yeah the flying buttress is probably a little overkill on this one. But I had been wanting to try this out and thought this would be a good place to get my feet wet. Where I really feel I need them is on my long scale, 26 1/2", 12 string stella type builds with extra heavy strings. There I've noticed quite a bit of movement when I change from standard tuning to vestapol or spanish tuning. And this is with the tuning 4 to 5 half steps down. But with all that string tension I think the buttresses would be a big help.

It's amazing though the stiffness this adds. I had to shim the saddle quite a bit on this one because the neck didn't rise when I strung it up like I'm used to, so my neck angle and bridge height are not quite right. I'm used to a little movement when you bring it under tension, and this one just didn't move.

Joe

Reduce, reuse, recycle. Green Luthier of the Month award!

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--Reynolds Large

Way to save an old guitar! It looks great, and i bet it sounds way better than it ever did, nice job.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

Thanks TRein and Jordan!

Just wanted to update this thread. It turns out my bracing wasn't strong enough to resist the downward string pressure on the floating tail-piece, so I've changed her over to a pinned bridge. The top was slowly sinking and the sound was getting muddier and muddier. So I added a rosewood bridgeplate over the spruce one and shaped a new bridge out of a piece of poisonwood.

And here is how she looks now.




With the addition of the glued on bridge and rosewood plate the top has tightened up nicely and the clarity has returned. Still very responsive to bare fingers or pick, even across the strings and good volume and tone. So I'm happy again.

She's got a few scars and screwholes from the tail-piece, but she's ready now to sing a few more years, I hope.

Joe

Looks great Joe. Gotta give us a sound clip.

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Joe, that's a great looking guitar!!! Very cool project.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Two good saves Joe. Lots of mojo with that one. I bet you get lots of comments when you pull her out at a jam.

Thanks guys! She's still holding her shape and has a large sound, so I guess I did good.
Still working out the details of getting soundclips Bill, finding a good host for soundfiles etc.

Joe

Joe, I hope you recover from working with the poison wood.

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