estebanana -> RE: Tips for repairing flat soundboard (May 28 2015 1:14:34)
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If this were a guitar by an important maker I would say a careful restoration would be in order. It would be good to see the straight edge placed on the center seam of the top and then a photo from the side to see the overall distortion from fingerboard to end block at the tail. That whole line tells more of the story and how the straight edge shows the condition of the top as it moves over the lower lateral brace and the bridge area. But since it's not a known maker worth saving, you have a golden opportunity to make a better guitar by making a new top with a sensible bracing pattern. I would consider that very seriously rather than a fix based on trying to fortify an odd original bracing pattern. If you make a new top you gain in several ways and end up with more or less a new guitar. You could also peel the original top off the ribs by razor sawing it away from the blocks or even routing around the rim. And leave the two lateral braces intact by carefully releasing the glue or just carefully planing the old top material off the braces. Then make your new top with just the fan bracing and rosette patches in place, then glue the new top to the existing lateral braces with C -clamps. Then you save more of the original guitar and you don't have to try to refit new lateral braces to the ribs with pillars under them. It is nice to leave the original lateral braces because it leaves more of the original structure intact, provided those two braces are in good condition and properly arched under the sound hole. In any case when I re-top a guitar I leave the lateral braces intact as I remove the old top. The reason is that these two braces hold the structure of the guitar in place in case you can't put the new top on right away or if you seen to study the situation further before making the new top. So I'm saying don't just rip the existing top off and leave the rib structure without some fortification to keep it from distorting more. Without the top and the lateral braces the ribs can change shape slightly. So before you do anything like taking a top off, make a tracing of the outline of the face of the guitar on a big sheet of paper. Then you have a record of the exact shape of the ribs. And consider carefully whether or not to remove the lateral braces. Just a few thoughts on re-topping, everyone does different things, mileage may vary.
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