I’ve no idea why I bought this, but I did. I had no plan, other than the fact I liked the look of it.
The plan is to emulate one of these:
A 30’s/40’s era Gibson L4, the Gibbos were done in a blonde natural and the usual flavours of burst. I am going to leave this one as a red head natural, with the exception of the paint line detail from the headstock.
The G company also did varying levels of ornamentation, but all I am going to do extra is add binding to the fretboard edge.
Pick guard, bridge and tailpiece are going to be crafted from spotted gum (Benedetto style, unless it doesn’t work, at which point it will become a trapeze).
However there are issues.
There is a little spot of factory sand through on each side of the waist. They are so inconsequential that they don’t rate a photo. But I know they are there.
The neck socket was loose and rough but I have already fixed this with judicious knife work, sanding and veneer fill.
The one that is causing me most angst is the sound post/bridge reinforcement.
You can see him tucked away down there in the belly of the box, snug and well glued.
What I have discovered in marking out the scale length and cantering things up, is that this sound post appears to be in the wrong place.
As you can see from the photo above, the tape line represents the 24.75” scale length.
The preceding two photos show me measuring back to the front edge of the block from the neck socket and establishing the general vicinity of the front of the block.
I had to do a similar measurement back of the block, viewing the location of the rule end to the back edge of the reinforcing block through the f hole on a really flat angle. Needless to say That due to obstructed view, light angles and only two hands the block width is at best an estimate as illustrated below:
The tape line represents a theoretical midpoint of the bridge, more or less. Given that the bridge base is only about 1/2” wide the bridge assembly is going to be sat at least an inch away from the reinforcing block intended to support the load it will take.
The L4/L5’s of the era used longitudinal ribs down the length of the top to help bear the string tension. They were also solid carved tops not ply, which may have helped mitigate things.
I am considering if it is going to be prudent to try and reposition this block, or if is big enough (it’s about 3” wide and 1 1/8” deep) that is presence will provide adequate support where it is.
What does the collective reckon?
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Originally Posted by king casey
