Re-Building an Old Parlor

[Joe Sustaire]

Well I was given this old cheap parlor so I thought I would see what I can do with it.
It had been disassembled at some point and then given up on.
It's a 12 fret, 24" scale, all birch body parlor, no name evident, probably a catalog or variety store model from the late 30's or early 40's.

Here's what I have,












As you can see, it's seen better days and it was pretty simple and crude to begin with. But no doubt the price was right for someone, and the cowboy chord area of the fretboard has some pretty nice finger divots worn into it.


Because the top is so warped and has so many cracks it will be replaced by one of those low end, long name lutz tops that I so blindly stockpiled once upon a time.



So I sanded the "fir" off the new top and glued it up with HHG using the tape method and while I was at it I glued up a bad crack in the back. It's only got the one crack and it's not warped to bad so we'll go with it. Glued with HHG and some diamonds in between the braces and it should be okay.

I'm planning to use the same ladder and tone bar bracing I used on my last build, except I'm going to bridge the ladder braces over the tone bars like Hanns did on his 12 string, and maybe this old girl will sing again!

Joe

p.s. I also plan to change this to a tailpiece model since that worked so well with this bracing pattern last time.

[Jim]

Joe,

You're a glutton for punishment! That's a great place for one of those $10 tops; and from my experience, they aren't all that bad!

I look forward to watching you return this old guitar to its "cowboy" glory days. Hey, my '68 Martin D-18 has the same kind of divots as your parlor. I've had it since about 1974. I know more chords now, but they aren't wearing in like the old D-G-A series!

Best of luck, Joe.

Jim

[Josh Slaughter]

Looks like we're in about the same boat. Be looking forward to watching you do this one. It sure is fun playing with these old guitars isn't it.

Josh

[Lefty]

Hey Joe,

That doesn't look so bad. In fact, the string looks almost brand new.

Lefty

[DaveWhite]

Hey Joe - so you finally got yourself a kit guitar. It looks like that one took a long time coming in the post

Should be fun!!

[Dennis Leahy]

Hey Joe! (sorry, I guess I never tire of that )

Since it is a no-name and not getting "restored", do you plan to put anything in the neck (carbon fiber, trussrod, chunk of Ebony, aluminum or steel bar, etc)? Or do you figure if it didn't warp after all this time, it will probably be OK with nothing added?

Dennis

[gilmoreguitars]

Joe
Have yo decided what you will do with the fret board yet....replace, or refret? I am wondering if the fretboard is ebony or if it is some other wood that has been dyed black.
Cheers
David

[Joe Sustaire]

Thanks for tuning in guys! And yes, this kit guitar was a long time getting here.

To answer specific questions, yes Dennis I decided I'd better put a 2 way truss rod in there. I hate to in a way since I didn't have one on hand and had to make up a stew-mac order, but as sure as I counted on the old neck staying straight I'd run into problems down the line, and then would I be kicking myself for penny-pinching on a $15 rod.

And I'll make a new fret-board also David, the old one is thin, badly divoted, and as you guessed, some dyed substitute for ebony. And the frets are trash also, so this is a pretty easy decision.

Now the dovetail join on this neck is tight so I'm going to try and not separate it from the body. Getting the top and back glued on with the neck at the proper angle is going to be a little tricky. It looks like doing it upside down on a building board is probably the best way to go at it, so that's what I'll try.

Luckily for me, Kim just posted some pics on the OLF about routing the channel in an existing neck, perfect timing! Thanks Kim.

First the neck had a slight bow to it so I sanded it flat on my sanding board, then,


I clamped the neck and body down solid, drew a center-line down the neck, and then carefully pinned two pieces of 3/8" plywood for guides and clamped on stops at each end.


Fitted the template collar to the laminate router.


And routed my channel in stages with the bit to fit the hot-rod truss-rod from stew-mac.

I also got the back cleaned up and sanded.


And layed in a simple bwbwb rosette for the top.


And that's it for today,
Joe