Official Luthiers Forum!

I am a new member with a question for you experienced folks. A friend of mine dropped off this rosewood set for me to use as I see fit. He's had them in his barn for years. The sides probably need to be rebent, but they look OK. The back is another story. There is a sizable chip out of the right half at the top of the center seam. Someone joined the halves with a backstrip in between them and then snapped the back in two along the seam.

I think that I could just cut a straight edge down from the right-most part of the chip and then copy that width over to the other half. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Also, should I try to match the colors between the back and sides? I don't know how bad the mismatch will look under a finish.

Thanks in advance. I appreciate your time and help.

Paul

Hey Paul,

If the back set is big enough for you to cut a new centerline (for both sides, so the book matches), that's what I'd do. Otherwise, you might be able to match up a scrap from an offcut with similar grain and glue it in. And if you don't have any offcuts to choose from, just ask and it shall be given unto you.

Color matching might be an issue. Try wiping a little bit of mineral spirits on an area of one of the back pieces and also on one of the side pieces, and see how far off they are. You can try to add tint to your finish for the back, but that might end up being problematic. Worst case, you can probably find one of the vendors here with a spare set of sides that match your back set pretty closely.

Best,

Michael

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Live to Play, Play to Live

Paul, if the colors in the pic are accurate, there does appear to be enough difference between sides / back that I'd do what Michael suggests.
Steve Roberson at Colonial is a whiz at matching wood, so you might want to try him. AND, he might have a spare back to match those pretty sides! And presto, you've got two sets of rosewood.
As for your idea of correcting the chip out, it sounds like it should work fine.

Good luck, and let us know what you do.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

You could also add a contrasting piece of wood in the middle and make it a three piece back.

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Joe Breault
Merrimack, NH
Perpetual novice

Thanks all for your thoughts. I will, at some point look for a back to match the sides. They have some orange in them and almost look like BRW. I will also look for sides to match the back. It is a very wide back (13" upper bout, 16" lower bout with chipped area removed) so I should be able to get an OM out of it, maybe even a D if I cut it right.

Thanks again.

Paul