Official Luthiers Forum!

40+ year old Goya needs a new top. Picked this beautiful old guitar up very cheap..but has a top issue. Neck/fretboard/back and sides are excellent...top is trashed and cracked.
Will heat remove this old of a fretboard? Removing old top: I assume the easiest way to remove old top is to a router to depth and actually cut off top and then rechannel for new binding? I'll attempt to replicate the old bracing on a new cedar top once I get the old one off.
Good thing this isn't a repair for someone else. I seem to challenge myself everyday with something.
Just finished my last coat of Lacquer on my first classical build. Even tried a peghead abalone inlay. Looks good! Very excited about polishing and setup in a few more days. Hope I get the setup right. I'm a stinker when it comes to intonation and the 2 guitars I have both have intonation issues. As a player and beginner luthier...I don't want to have spent all this time and money on a pretty wall hanging.
Kent Bailey
www.kabart.com

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Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

How trashed and cracked? Do you have any pictures of it?

Prolly, i use a clothes iron and a few different palette knives, not too sharp.

Yes that can work well, you just need to expose the joint so that you can work a knife in there, it is still a bit tricky to get them off cleanly, especially over the blocks.

I think the easiest way is to take a block plane and plane away the top around the linings until it falls off, but that is no good if you want to save the top.

There is another method for removing tops that i myself have not tried, but that other people seem to have good results with http://www.grevenguitars.com/GrevenGuitars.html in "extras, retop how-to"

Keep us posted.

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY

X2 on the Greven Guitars tutorial.
Works like a charm.

I did an Esteban!

Thanks

John

I wish I had seen the Greven method before removing the top on a classical I had just finished. Now I know what "too thin" feels like. I used an iron to "preheat" the fretboard and a heat gun over the area where I was sliding up the palette knife. Both epoxy (fretboard) and HHG (bridge) released fairly easily but I could not salvage either due to warping. I routed down to the lining so also did not salvage the binding. I liked the Greven matching the sound hole and wish I had done it.

I wonder what you folks use to protect the top from the heat. I used two layers of aluminum foil and thin cardboard but the foil left impressions on the guitar top. Not a problem with the top to be replaced but there is another guitar I want to pull the fretboard off of to change the neck width.

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GEO
perpetual beginner

The top is trashed in many ways besides 2 large cracks running on each side of sound hole and bridge, 2 DEEP dents....actually can feel the dents from the inside. It was sanded (sanding marks visible using probably 80 grit paper) in every direction and horribly refinished on top of that. There would be no top thickness left after attempting refinishing this top unless I was planning on using it as a translucent lamp shade.

Thanks for the info. I'll start my new top adventure after I get a new top ordered this next week. I'll post my results....good or bad!

Kent

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Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

That Greven article is interesting, and very well done. The one thing that I'm not very clear on is the step where after the new top is fit, then you route a channel for the purflings. I'm trying to imagine how you could route this slot accurately between the edge of the new top and the old bindings without collateral damage.

Is some kind of guide or jig used for this?

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Jim Hansen

I would probably just use something like the ibex purfling cutter to cut the top to fit the purfling without damaging the binding.