Strings are on and action is measured

Strings are on and I didn't have to adjust the nut or the saddle heights!

I measured with a caliper the thickness of some business cards that I taped together to use to measure the bottom of the string to the top of the fret heights. Here's the measurements at the first fret:

  High E string .013 inch gap @ 1st Fret

Bass E string .017 inch gap @ 1st Fret

High E string .063 inch @ 12th Fret

Bass E String .074 inch @ 12th Fret

Used a guitar tuner to get the strings in tune and the guitar is now playable and no longer in the workshop!  Yes, it sounds great too when I pluck the strings.

End of Project



Tuners are back on

Put the tuning machines back on and found 2 bad ones with minor problems that I hope will not impact the tuning of the string.

This tuner has the screw in nut stripped so it just barely grabs some threads.  Hope it doesn't vibrate/buzz the string.

This 2nd bad tuner has a bit of string left in the hole to help retain the cover of the peg.  Guess I'll leave it in and maybe cut it off after the real string is installed.

Uh-oh, 2 of the Tuning Machines have problems

2 Tuners have problems:
1. the retaining sleeve's threads are stripped
2. the peg cover on one tuning machine is coming off but stays once the string is thru it

Not a major problem but we'll have to evaluate it some more to see how it handles once the strings are on and tightened.

I'm tempted to buy the replacement Grover Tuning machines I found for $35 on eBAy Hong Kong.  But going to wait and see.   Boy, you can continue to spend $$  all the time on these guitars.

Staining and painting next

Well I couldn't match the stain up and in hindsight I should have just left it unsanded because the sanding I did do made it look worse.

Note:  The preslotted nut is now glued on.

Here's what the rear of the headstock looks like now, pretty ugly huh?  But!  It's has a smooth finish though.  Looks just as off colored as the front.

If the saddle sits in the bridge correctly, I'll try the 1st & 6th strings install and adjust for the action height.  That'll be a biggy task/challenge as it may require truss rod adjustment, nut slotting or saddle height adjusting.

Frets need cleaning

The finger board looks fine so I started to tape up the finger board areas to protect it from the filing and steel wood cleaning.

The first 5 frets had a lot of wear, probably the last owner like to stretch the high strings.

All cleaned up.  Now I understand why the guitar techs say to use the steel wool very lightly.  It's very easy to flatten the fret instead of maintaining the crown.  It the string buzzes when fretting a flatten fret, then it may have to be replaced if there not enough meat left on the fret for filing.

Filling

Had to fill the front of the headstock where the chunks of wood splintered off when the break occurred.  The back of the headstock area just below the nut has a deep gouge/hole that needs filling too.

I filed some mahogany wood to create sawdust to mix with my white glue, it was better than the wood filler I found at Home Depot.

Here's what it looks like after the filler dust mixed with the glue is poured on.

And from the back:  Not sure about the dark spot of the filler and how it will react with the stain later.








After some sanding the missing splintered wood is looked filled in.

Sanding, dust and mistakes!

Wow! Lesson learned - There's a time to NOT use an electric orbital sander especially on the back of the neck or headstock areas!  

I used 150 grit flintpaper and it ate wood real  FAST!

Here's some more shots of the sanding exercise:

Need to fill that gap with some wood filler, but the Home Depot stuff did look like it would work so I'll make my own filler by sanding some raw mahogany to create the saw dust to mix in with wood glue and stain.  If it still looks crappy, then I'll just sand the gap area flat, don't like doing that since it'll make that part of the neck thinner and not as strong.  We'll wait and see.

Here's what I ended up using instead of the orbital sander, it's simply a block of hard foam with the sandpaper wrapped around the block.  It's soft enough to take on the contours of the corners and rounded areas.

Next challenge:  Find wood stain to match

First time at a Guitar Center store!

Got there at 9:50am but the doors weren't opened yet, but I did see a lot of people inside so I thought they had let some customers in early.  As it turns out, the extra people were actually the staff!

Put 30mins in my parking meter and got a warm greeting after walking thru the front door.
Every section had staff and they all offered to help.  Even the enclosed special room for big bodied acoutic guitars looked intimidating!  All of the cheap guitars (under $300) were outside of this special room.

Finally ended up where the guitar hardware was and their wall was just covered with a multitude of different brands of strings.  Since I knew I wanted Elixirs, I just asked for them. 

No nanoweb kind but had the polyweb type.  Supposed to lessen the squeaking of your calloused fingers as you slide then on the strings and they were a $1 more.  $14.98 + sales tax.

The store is kinda overwhelming to the novice first timer so I just exited to get away from all that eye candy!  Did check out the guitar straps and found a nice one for $19.98.  Those straps can cost plenty if you have special needs! or want it to look fancy.  So I'll look on eBAy once again to see how bad or good the quality of the $1.99 webbing guitar straps look via their photos.  Since I'm giving the guitar away, cheap straps should work out fine since it's for school kids anyway.

I think I need some kind of wood filler?

Here's what the back of the headstock neck area looks like after I tried some white glue to fill the open void with.  It looks like it'll take a few more coats of glue to fill it.  Maybe a wood filler will help?

Going to Home Depot to look for the wood filler and maybe get the clearcoat spray.  Darkening the break area like a sunburst style may help hide the discolored area of the damage.

Guess what came in the mail today?

Ordered the bone nuts from eBAy on Jan 3rd 11pm, it shipped Jan 5th arriving Jan 11th today.  USPS International service was used.

Here's what they look like, already marked with slight cuts for the strings and flat ready for gluing back to the headstock. 

Now there's the question of which glue should I use for the nut to the headstock neck area?

Any opinions?

Now I really need a set of strings so I can measure the nut and saddle heights before gluing.

Visiting SF Guitar Center to look

Going to drop by SF Guitar Center on Van Ness St., San Francisco and look at straps, strings, and a case.  All for the future though; gotta wait until I actually have the guitar in a playable mode and have it sound good enough to not throw back into the trash.  That'll help keep the costs down as I only need the headstock nut ($5-10), and a set of strings ($5-15).

Martin strings are cheaper but I'd like to try the Elixir brand so the cost will be 3 times more.

I'll report back after my store visit.
 

How Guitars (Taylor) are made in the USA?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGJJtm22smo

How guitars are made in China?

Here's youtube videos I found that was interesting to watch and see how guitars are made in China.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFFvrHHct70&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CxbwgdxXk&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4CxbwgdxXk&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Yamaha Guitars made in China
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP0d18tFjSY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpTdU3mhZW0

To Bone or not?

Opinions?

Use real bone for the nut, saddle, and or bridge pins?


Any comments on Graph Tech nuts or saddles?

2 bone nut pieces cost me $2.99 +$5.00 for USPS International Shipping.

What the guitar looks like

If I left the glued seam and chipped face of the headstock showing the damage, do you think anybody would notice?

Gluing always looks crappy until you clean it up by sanding

There's chipped off mahogany above and below the glued seam.  May have to fill it in with something, not sure yet what to do.

Goop'ed a bunch of wood glue over the seam and chipped area.  After it dries, I'll try sanding it level.  Plan to wait a couple of days since it's still 40 degrees at night.  Might have to put it in front of my heater vent again.

My Ox bone nut is on it way from Hong Kong but I have no way of checking on the delivery progress.

Next to do:  Glue fill in the gaps behind the headstock.

After 48 hours of clamping and drying time

What the glued headstock looked like after the clamps come off.

The break is so close to the tuner hole but did not go through it.









I think I'm going to have to fill the big gap only to make it look

nicer, but it should not impede my hand when playing any of the basic chords.

My bigger clamp didn't allow me to see the gap; should have used my finger to feel the seam to check and move it back in place.  But the glue has dried, so we'll have to see if the glued joint holds up.

Where I found the guitar parts I needed

eBAy'ed around during the week and managed to find a camel bone nut 1 5/8inch for $5 including shipping from Hong Kong.  Ordered on January 3rd, expecting delivery January 24th.
Since I'm not in a hurry, I can afford this long wait.  Meanwhile I'll stop by SF Guitar Center on Van Ness Street and look for a set of Elixir Nanoweb Extra Light Acoustic Guitar strings $14.

eBAy also had a bunch of cheap guitar straps $1-5 but I'll see what Guitar Center has before I decide.

I looked at the Graph Tech nuts and saddles but decided to use this type later for another guitar project that I have queued up after the JB Player acoustic gets finished.  Not sure if this material makes the strings sound better as their website claims.  Any opinions?

New Year's Eve Glue job

It's 46 degrees F at 9pm New Year's Eve!

Numbered and tagged the tuning machines before taking them  off to lighten the weight of the headstock and get more clamping room over the area of the lowest tuners closest to the neck nut area.

I bought a new bottle of Gorilla brand wood glue for $4 from the local hardware store. 

Laid out the various clamps and tried the fit of the headstock back to the neck without glue.  Glued twice, once for the first coat that got absorbed by the raw wood, and then added a 2nd coat of glue then started clamping. 

Used 3 clamps total and moved, squeezed, pushed and made the joint match back together with hardly any crack seam showing.  Used wax paper to prevent the clamp pads from being glued to the guitar.   

 

Found a quiet stable place for the guitar to rest and have the glue dry while clamped for next 48hours.  .

The weather was in the 30's at night and mid 50's during the day so the guitar was laid down in front of a heater vent in one of our old bed rooms

Hey, I'm NOT a Luthier or Guitar Repair Specialist!

I've done some wood working with mahogany, oak, ash and pine, but mostly for children furniture and knife cutting boards type work.  Never used anything else except white glue for wood.  Got lots of bar clamps, wood clamps, and squeeze grip clamps.  For this challenge I won't be needing my 12 inch table saw or router, but it will require a lot of sanding with an orbital sander or a hand held rubber block sander.  Not sure I want to make the repair look undetectable yet.  All I care about for now is that the re-gluing of the headstock will withstand the pull pressure of 6 guitar strings and not break while playing it in front of my family.


My training on how to repair/setup this guitar is from watching YouTube.com to see how others have done it.  These videos range from real luthiers to amateurs who like me can't afford a real shop repair.

What the guitar looked like before starting repair

This is what the broken off headstock looked like before the repair started.

I got a free damaged acoustic guitar

Last year I got a free guitar that was going into the trash and this is what I had to do to make it playable again.  On New Year's Eve December 31, 2010 I started the repair project. This guitar is a JB Player HW41-303N Acoustic dreadnought style guitar made in China (per the paper label inside the sound box).  This brand may be related to Hondo or the Musiccorp name.  The JB Player name came about around 2005.  I can't find the name of the designer who's responsible for the guitar but the quality is not too bad but still classed as a cheaply made guitar. The the poor craftsmanship of the neck edge binding and the fingerboard is mostly what my eyes see as issues, but I'm not guitar pro.  The truss rod is accessible thru the sound hole but there is no visible end of the rod at the headstock end.  The sides, back, and neck are made of solid mahogany and the flat top wood is still a mystery to me for now.  The fingerboard and bridge is rosewood.  The compensated saddle is made of plastic and I'm missing the nut.  The bridge pins are also made of plastic.  The rosette on the sound hole has a nice design but some areas are faded.  The pick guard overlaps the rosette by a wee bit but only luthers will notice.

Damage:
Headstock broken off just below the tuning machines and above the nut.
Missing nut.
No strings
Other that the above mentioned, the guitar is in beautiful condition!  Found a few dings on the flat top surface but the back of the guitar looks clear and unscratched.  The tuners look fine but will need to wait and see after the strings are installed.

The final ultimate plan is to give my repaired guitars away to a middle or high school system.  So I'm in this project just for the fun of repairing something worthwhile and give our school system another musical instrument to use to teach students with.