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How does that top sound to you, Joe? Some I got in the range of $0.99 to $12.00 sound better than some of the ones I paid $30+ for.

Dennis

So far it's tapping pretty nice Dennis. I bought a bunch of them in the cheapskate range, $8 to $12, and they are stiff and make good players so I can't complain. I sanded down six sets when I was doing this one and two I had to reject totally, cracks and big pitch streak, maybe can salvage them for ukes. The rest will do for parlor size.

I sanded this top down to .120" and after I set the rosette I was using the drum sander to level it and it got down to less than .100" which is thinner than I wanted it. I didn't have this problem of over thinning tops when I did it with a hand plane! Anyway it's still amazing stiff, and since it's parlor size I'm guessing it will be okay.

I drew out my bracing pattern,


Glued on my cross-grain soundhole reinforcement and mahogany bridge plate. Since this is going to be a floating bridge I won't need anything harder.


Now I've got the soundhole cut out and the tone bars on,


Then I shaped them and fashioned the ladder braces with tunnels for the tone bars,


The tone bars were glued down flat, no dish, the ladder braces have a 25' arch, it's mild but this was originally a true flattop I'm sure, but I think just a little radius will keep it from looking concave since it's going to have a floating bridge. The upper transverse bar will be glued on flat, no radius.

This is my first top where all the bracing is glued up with HHG, and it went real slick, so I'm learning. I'd only used it for bridges before.

All for now,
Joe

All this ladder bracing keeps tickling my brain for some reason Joe. May have to give it a shot some time. And good to see you making good use of the depressing parts of the newspaper!

Joe,

Looking good !!

Yeah Dennis, join in the ladder bracing revolution!
Thanks Dave!

I've been carving and tapping away, and this is where I've wound up.



Quite a bit different than the bracing this old guitar had originally.


Another shot just for fun!

I sawed off some of the endblock at an angle, more top to vibrate.


And I've glued the rims to the top with HHG, first time and I had plenty of time, went smoothly.

You can see that I cut a simple mold shape to keep the rims from distorting, and hopefully the neck will wind up somewhere close to the proper angle and lined up straight. I checked and measured all over but there is a lot of wiggle room, so...

I'll have another chance to correct the angle when I glue on the back, but if I'm too far off I'll have to pull the neck and do a reset. Just anticipating what all can go wrong!


Thanks for tuning in,
Joe

Joe, nothing more fun than bringning an old instrument back to playing condition. I like the new version of the top bracing with the open ladders, lets the tone bars do their job, very Torres.

Colin

Thanks Colin, tone bars are new to me, so I'm anxious to hear how this sounds.
I sure like the elegance of the bridged ladders.

Joe

Incomplete post, so I tried to delete it.

Joe