Official Luthiers Forum!

I couldn't help it. You should have seen me yesterday cataloging all this stuff. Pairing up backs with sides...It was a lot of fun. All in all enough back and side sets to do 25 guitars. Did all the resawing myself on a highly sokisstophated Grizzly G0555Z with riser.

I must have some sort of mental issue though....cuz I haven't even finished my first guitar yet. That's okay though because my busy season ends November 1st....then it's out to the shop with spare clothes and a pillow!.

The Question: On multi-piece backs...in my case up to 4 piece backs....does one run a center strip down each joint?

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Do you mean between the back pieces or on the inside for reinforcement?

If you have non matching grain a wood strip between the pieces would be good-if your pieces can go together and not see the difference in the grain then you do not really need a filler strip.

I've seen many 4 piece backs that looked great!!!
I like the look of a simple contrasting filler strip .
Like maple in Rosewood !

Mike

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Mike Collins

Hey Mike....I mean on the inside of the guitar...

I do however like your idea of putting a strip of something between each piece....

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

With modern glues, and making the guitar in the right enviroment-with dry woods; humidity around 40% a reinforcement is not necessary.UNLESS you are using a very oily wood like Coco!
If you do use it on a 4 piece back ;make them small-say just enough to cover the joint-5mm wide x 2mm tall.

Send pixs if you do one!
We'd all love to see your work!

Mike

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Mike Collins

I agree.

I've done a couple of 4 piece backs and never bothered and haven't suffered any ill effects

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My soundclick xx luthier blog xx luthier soundclick

That is an ambitious stash of wood!!!

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John Ressler

I will not send the pixs of my wood supply!
It's 20 feet tall X 20 feet wide!!!!
30 years of collecting!!!!!


Mike

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Mike Collins

Okay.....so where's the emoticon with drooling face?....guess I'll have to use

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Heh, I don't have more wood than I could ever use ... I keep saying that at home

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

sniggy, I'm right there with you, but I have 36 B+S and 20+ tops. Also more binding, FB, BB and HP pieces than you could shake a binding blank at. No 4 piece backs, but Im thinking of getting some 4 piece adi tops from Old Standard after seeing that one post a few months back. Much better wood at low prices and I couldnt even see the joint in the pictures.

I keep calling it an investment. The way the market has been and the rising price of good zoot, its not really a lie.

Danger, Will Robinson!
Speaking from experience, I would put the same reinforcements over all joints in the back. Case in point: I had some very old, perfectly quartersawn Brazilian rosewood in narrower widths. I joined them to make 4-piece backs that looked like 2-piece backs. The joints were invisible. I made two like this and both backs failed at the unreinforced seam. I wound up having to glue in cross grain reinforcements using strong magnets as clamps, inlaying a thin spline of the same wood over the joint, and refinishing the backs. What a money loser! All for the want of a cross grain reinforcement that should have been put in during construction. In my experience, it is best to not try to conceal a 4-piece back by leaving the joint un-reinforced.

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Stay with the happy people.
--Reynolds Large

I build up to 31 piece backs, OK they are lutes, but the principle is the same, each joint on the inside of the bowl, which remember has no internal bracing, is reinforced with either silk tape and hide glue or parchment paper and glue. A number of old multi-piece back guitars I've restored also had parchment/paper used as reinforcement. Torres on his multi-piece backs often used music paper as a reinforcement.

For a 4 piece guitar back I'd go with the usual cross grain piece on the centre joint and a tape and glue reinforcement on the two outer joints.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Colin.....Tape and glue?...man that's gotta be ugly. My mind is picturing blue painters tape on the inside of the guitar....I am sure however that is not what you mean. What kind of tape?

A previous poster on this thread suggested a cross grain reinforcement strip that is smaller than the center strip. I have some reject Spruce top billets (.250 +) that I could join together and make the strips out of.

BTW - TRein thanks for the input on that. My 3 and 4 piece sets are all exotics.

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

A lot of people use tape as side reiforcements on their guitars, Martin has used it for generations. Of course I don't mean blue painters tape that would be ridiculous. As I said in my post, I use fine silk tape on my lutes, many here use cotton/poly bias binding tape for their side reinforcements. You can get this tape in a variety of colours though most would use the brown tape.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.