Official Luthiers Forum!

Hi folks, A bit of backstory (I'll make it brief) when I was a boy I found my Grandad's Weissenborn style guitar (doubt it is an actual one). It was in a basement and the side was stoved in . I took it home and my folks had it "repaired" by a young college age friend. That was 50+ years ago. I am now restoring it if I can. I was able to get the back and fingerboard off and will eventually remove the top. Inside was awash with old hide glue and fabric patches to try and seal a myriad of cracks and splits. Some long, roughly fashioned cleats were also glued on the side to strengthen the cracks (young college friends repair). What I plan to do is replace the badly damaged side. I will also try to remove all of the hide glue and fabric from the inside. It's in a bad enough shape that I will need to replace the kerfing and then bind it to compensate for the ragged edges. I will also refinish it. Why am I writing? I am wondering what approach some of you would have, other than just burning it. It is a personal project. I don't care about keeping it completely original. So, any thoughts?

With that much to go through, and you're going to take the top off anyways, I'd be tempted to just take the braces off. Bridge and patch too. Clean it up and a light run through the drum sander, re brace etc.

Pat

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Pat

I would never attempt something this corrupted by poor prior work and time, etc. But I understand the attraction Nathan and good on you for wanting to help an old friend/guitar out!

Might I suggest a different approach. Use it to model a recreation and build one just like it from scratch. Where you can use a part from the original, say a side do so. It may be less work building a new one from scratch than repairing this one AND attempting to get poor prior work and glues to release.

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Update on the repair and full disclosure, this was my Grandfather’s guitar, so there is the hook. Moor years it’s been sitting in the closet and I felt it’s either time to try a repair or just chuck it. I can’t pass up a good challenge and brother, is this a challenge! I do need to source wood for a new side and have posted on the building forum. I’m looking for a piece of quarter sawn mahogany 4x40x .85. Any leads are appreciated.
Also, I have managed to get all the old hide glue and canvas off the inside and have removed all the braces and bridge plate. There are a fair amount of cracking which will be repaired and I’m thinking that I will try and seal the outside with epoxy fill after removing the already compromised shellac finish. I would assume that would also seal any micro cracks as well.

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Maybe you can give us an update on your Grandfather's guitar and what direction it is taking you? This is an awesome restoration project.

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Measure Twice,

Karl B.

Hi all, here is some of the progress I’ve made on the the project. As I started really looking at it I discovered there was really nothing very symmetrical about the guitar. I don’t know who built it originally (it wasn’t my Grandad). The top appears to be Koa but I still can’t tell. The sides were macho and too far gone to repair. I think the back is mahogany as well but certainly not quarter sawn. I’ve decided not to do a strict renovation but give it better bones through a better strut pattern. I’ve also added new sides of Sapele. I was initially get quarter sawn mahogany the length needed. I’ll post more as I get closer to the end.


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It appears I attached the photos to a prior post if you are interested.