Archtop side crack

[Barry Daniels]

You are off to a great start. I would be tempted to do a full length spline in the joint after you stabilize it with the cleats. It might be possible to use your binding router jig and cut a T-slot along the entire crack. Then inlay the spline. I will go look for a router bit to do this.

[Barry Daniels]

This is the type of bit I am thinking about. You could cut though the side, just barely contacting your cleats, then glue in the spline that has slightly tapered edges. This should clean up most of the damage.

https://www.woodcraft.com/products/whit ... x-1-7-8-ol

[Bryan Bear]

That's a good idea. I would be nervous during the cutting but I'm always nervous when I cut for bindings. . . I was thinking a scratch stock could be used similar to how the binding ledge is scrapped into the side with a gramil and a blade ground for scraping but that would be difficult.

[Barry Daniels]

Difficult, time consuming and prone to small irregularities. Just do the router thing in small depth increments of about 1/16" at a time.

[Ryan Mazzocco]

And the work continues...
That's 8 down, 4 to go.
It's going pretty well. I found that I had to adjust the angle on the cleats a bit more. It slowed the work down; fit, modify, fit, modify, fit, glue, clamp, rinse, repeat... but I really started to get into a groove by the end of the day. I should have them all done tomorrow and then I can start sweating about patching in for the missing material.

As for the router bit, I don't use the tower jig anymore. I use Chris Ensor's jig now and I'm not sure how it work with that set up. It might, but just a little slip up and not only would my rout be irregular but I could blow right through the binding. I think no matter which way I decide to go here, it's just going to be hard. Looking forward to it

[Barry Daniels]

Doing good. Are you using clamps to prevent the cleats from spreading the crack open?

[Ryan Mazzocco]

Doing good. Are you using clamps to prevent the cleats from spreading the crack open?

I'm not. I was going to, but i found that it wasn't spreading and it's more stuff to get in my way when its tight quarters already. I hope I dont regret it, but so far it seems to be working for me.
I will say, the most useful tools for this job have been my hemostats and violin post setter. sometimes even using them together; clamping the post setterto the hemostats for even further reach.

[Barry Daniels]

Sounds good. Yes, this kind of work is akin to dentistry or micro-surgery.

[Ryan Mazzocco]

Okay, I've been away from this project for a while. finally got back at it and it's about finished up so I thought I'd post and update a little bit.

I got the cleats all put in. now it's time for the splint. I used a piece of Mahogany binding and bent it to fit the side.

then I slowly and painfully carved out the channel using a fresh, sharp razor blade and various sharp chisels.

snug fit....

Glued in...

Scraped and sanded level....

[Ryan Mazzocco]

And finally the (almost) finished product...

I used nitro with tobacco tint. Had to go pretty dark to get it to match up. But I think that actually made it easier.
Then I scraped the bindings clean leaving a nice bright white which I aged up a little by spraying a bit of amber tinted lacquer to match the rest.
But then it just looked too pretty compared to the rest of the guitar so I tied it to a chain and dragged it behind my truck a few blocks to give it that nice naturally distressed look.

Just have to put it back together and string it back up now.

Thanks to everyone who helped, either with their sound advice or with their supportive cheer-leading!

[Bob Francis]

This has been an excellent post thanks to all.

[Joshua Levin-Epstein]

Ryan,

That looks great! You should be pleased.

[Steven Smith]

Well done!

[Bryan Bear]

Nice!