I have completed the general repair and gluing of the next batch. The necks have also been repaired and given their carbon fiber rod. Top and bottom have been thinned, two-part bottoms have been given a center strip. The harp guitar received a new 1,5 mm thin ebony "fingerboard" as a replacement for the 0,6 mm veneer that sat on it.
In addition to these, I make the "Bluesax" and a Levin school mandolin from 1959 on the side. One of the guitars in the started batch was replaced with another guitar from the waiting room. So, there are now three instruments on the workbench that do not yet have a buyer.
I will spend next week mostly on regular repairs and the two remaining GammelGura in the previous batch, but also make all the braces for the new batch.
GG167, harp guitar ca 1890
Both top and bottom were thin and fine, I just needed to polish the surface for the glue to adhere well to the bracing. A crack in the head was glued, the neck was made of one solid piece of very hard maple! No cracks in the bottom or top, but the bottom got a center strip. The neck was given a new “fingerboard” in thin ebony, a 20″ radius was ground into the neck and the flat and thin fretboard was glued on with hot hide glue.
GG168, Levin 1917
The top had a good thickness of about 3 mm, the bottom was thinned down to about 2,5 mm from 3,5 mm and got a center strip. The top's spruce had a strong run-out and the spatula dug itself into the spruce on one side and a new piece of spruce was glued in.
GG169, “bluesax” FOR SALE
Se previous blog post.
GG170, Levin 1926 FOR SALE
Here I had to work hard with a small planer and the electric sanding "mouse" with coarse sandpaper. The top was 4 mm thick and 1 mm had to be removed, the bottom was thick too and 3,5 mm and was taken down to about 2,5 mm with the drum sander. This one has never sounded good, but on the other hand, neither the top nor the bottom have cracks. It became much lighter!
GG171, European ca 1925-1930
Both the top and bottom were 3,5 mm and thinned down. I had a little problem with the drum sander and the cracked bottom and filled in some maple veneer at the bottom block where the drum sander took too much. A couple of cracks in the top were filled with spruce sticks and a cleat strip was glued over the bottom crack.
GG170, No. 34 Levin 1916
Number 34 from the waiting room. It will be converted to glued on bridge. The cracked end block was glued and a small crack between the two top halves got a spruce stick. Both top and bottom were thinned down from about 3,5 mm and the bottom got a center strip. I glued in som missing wood in the rosette to be refined later, I used wood from an old scrapped top.
GM173, Levin 1959 FOR SALE
I traded in a Levin mandolin. At first I just thought of repairing it, but when I knocked on the bottom I heard a rattle. It turned out that all the braces, including those in the top, were more or less cracked or loose. I think I should do a light X-bracingin it. The 4 mm thick bottom was thinned out, however, the top was 3 mm and only needed to be cleaned with light sanding. The center strip's hot hide glue pinched together the bottom well when it dried!
