Batch; Thinning the top

The next step is to take care of the body of the guitars in the batch. Some cracks still needs to be glued, but I start by thinning the top. The bottom can be thinned in the drum sander, but not the top that is attached to the sides. Instead, it is thinned from the inside with various small planers, knives to scrape with and a small "sanding mouse" with coarse sandpaper. This is one of the more messy steps in a "GammelGura" renovation. There will be a lot of dust and shavings. In addition to a face mask, I have an air purifier and a point extractor to avoid inhaling a lot of wood dust.

Both Levin guitars had a top that was about 4 mm thick, the others had tops that were closer to the 3-XNUMX mm that I think is a good thickness of a top.

It did not start out well, my old Black & Decker sanding mouse broke, and I had to buy a new one. It was a good thing though, it turned out that the new one was half as loud as the old one. I still needed both a face mask, hearing protection and the magnifying glass in the forehead plus my own glasses in addition to a pair of thick leather gloves to reduce the vibration from the sanding mouse when I worked. This is as geared up that I ever am in the shop!

The entire bottom is sanded to provide an even and fresh adhesive surface for the braces, but the top above the sound hole does not need to be thinned more than that. Only the top below the sound hole is thinned to 2,8-3 mm. To keep track of the thickness, I use a very good digital thickness gauge. A magnetic steel ball on the front of the top measures the thickness between the ball and the sensor on the inside, the measurement is visible on a digital display. I have benefited greatly from it over the years.

A lot of unnecessary tone wood ends up on the floor, the guitars become lighter, and they sound better when they are finished :-)

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