Since the OM is now hanging in my warm closet curing I am now working exclusively on the OOO. I first wanted to get the back joint all glued up and clamped down so after a little touch up sanding of the joint and checking to be sure that I had a light free joint, I glued it up and clamped it in place. One little trick I used that I learned from my RC airplane building is to butt the two pieces together exactly how you want them glued, and tight. Then take some masking tape and tape across the seam. Now when you flip the wood over, it can open like a book, but the tape keeps it oriented so when you 'open the book' it makes a tight seam again. It makes alignment a lot easier. I figured that if it works on small pieces of balsa less than 1mm thick, it would work on the top and back. Anyways, after that was done I started on the body. I first cut the sides to length and clamped them in my mold. Then I cut out the tail block, sanded it to radius and glued it in place. This is where I ran into a snag. It seems that when I put together my kit list, I failed to get a block of mahogany to make the neck block out of. After fiddling around with some mahogany I have in the shop, and even gluing up some pieces I decided I need to get the right thing. So, I made an order to LMI for a block of mahogany as well as some more bloodwood binding.
I did do one thing with the OM before I left though.
It has been pretty dry here. Actually really dry. The RH has been around 30% for the last week and this has caused some problems with the granadillo the OM is built out of. You might remember the hairline crack in the back from a week ago. Well, I took a good hard look at the back radius and noticed that it had sunken back into the body of the guitar so much that the lower bout was flat, and actually sunken in just a touch. The top to bottom radius was still there, but it had a fairly steep angle at the waist, not a nice radius all across the back. This had me fairly discouraged on Sunday when I noticed it. Well, I did some research on the internet as to what I could do to fix it, or if it was a lost cause. I decided to go to Taylor guitar's website and see if they might have anything in their video library. Low and behold, they had two videos regarding humidity. I watched them and what a huge chunk of information I got from that! If you haven't watched them, I strongly recommend you do. In a nutshell, he starts with a returned guitar that had been severely neglected in the low humidity department. It was so bad that the back had a huge split, the top had a huge split, and the radius was not only gone, but it was sunken in on both the top and back. It looked like a good candidate for the dumpster. He then put some soundhole humidifiers inside the guitar and let it soak up the humidity over a weeks time, checking and refilling the humidifiers as the week went on. After 7 days, the cracks had completely closed and the radius of the top and back completely was restored.
This was an 'ah-ha' moment for me. I took my OM, cleaned out the paper I had stuffed inside for finishing as well as the soundhole cardboard. I then rigged up a wire to hang a dampened paper towel inside the guitar so it hung about at the bridge location inside. I then hung the body inside a plastic bag sealed up with two more damp paper towels in the bottom. The important thing I took from the video was that these need to be barely damp, not wet. Anyways I left it for 24 hours and then checked it this morning. All three towels were bone dry but more importantly the back of my guitar has it's radius bow mostly back! It still has a small amount to go but it is probably 75% back to where it was when I put the braces on. I re-dampened the towels and put it all back and will check it tomorrow. I am hoping that it will be 100% back to spec's when I am done. The video showed that once the guitar has taken all the moisture it needs, the humidifier he used stopped giving up water. I am going to watch my guitar closely and if the towels are still damp tomorrow, I will pull them out and let the guitar cure in the bag.
I am so excited that I learned this little bit of extremely important information. I will sleep better tonight knowing that I was able to repair what looked like an un-repairable problem. Again, I can't tell you how much I endorse the Taylor website videos. Their Factory Fridays videos are fascinating as well. Check them out.
This is the clamping jig I made for holding the back pieces together.
This is the tail block. With an unserviced kit, it all needs to be cut to size and shaped.
So I cut the block. Hmmmm, smoke. I guess it is time for a new blade! lol
So I changed the blade and the smoke was gone. Imagine that.
I marked and cut both side pieces at the neck and tail ends on my bandsaw.
Here is the tail block all shaped and ready to be glued in.
Something new for me. I have never used oily woods before. Since this is rosewood, I needed to clean the gluing surfaces with acetone to get the oil off.
The tail block all glued up, clamped and drying.
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