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A Moment of Fun, what caused this? Baby Taylor Breaks UP....

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Vicious Arkansas Possum attack?

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Sorry guys but I can not resist. Baking the top?

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"It's a Tone Faerie thing"
"Da goal is to sharpen ur wit as well as ye Sgian Dubh"
"Sippin Loch Dhu @Black lake" ,Kirby O...

It's hanging above a heat source.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Is that air con/dehumidifier or heating below the guitar?

You've got the passing and possibly drying draught of the rooms in it's position by the door, the cooker..a recipe for disaster, perhaps?

Unless the guitar got accidently chucked in the river and then dried with too much zeal.......

Arkansas tornado?

You guys and gals are tracking right. This just got here for rehab from Connecticut.

I toured a bit of tornado damage yesterday. It's completly amazing to see what the storm did to a church on the interstate. I stopped and gauked like some others too. There was a lot of activity at the site. A bunch of kids were there for daycare, awaiting mom and dad getting off work. The tornado hit it at 5PM. The main building, which was new steel building is totalled. The old sanctuary made of frame and brick was unscathed. Across the interstate a residence was gone, nothing but a foundation. I'm not sure but a family of 3 died nearby, may have been that home. So sad. What is wonderful is seeing all the help they are getting. Still, all totalled 52 dead from 32 tornadoes from that storm. Lots of animals killed too, chickens, horses, cattle, dogs. One word for it is devastation.

Okay, so what happened to this Baby Taylor? Disclaimer: I wasn't there so I'm guessing with you.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

ah. Fell off the wagon. rehab. Got it, Um, fell off the UPS wagon

Bruce,
I've seen lightweight guitars before, but never seen one actually float off the counter like that.
Amazing....

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Was it in a case?

It got sucked apart by the shock of low pressure?

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Steve, That's actually a levitation trick I learned at LMII.com, Chris showed me how to do it. You just need some smoke and mirrors, a leather thong, and a #4 Finish Nail, and a little luck that momma doesn't notice the hole I put in her cabinet.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Bruce, you don't think that momma is gonna notice there's a guitar hanging there? And then she just might wonder how?
You're a brave man.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Heat dried it out, and you are humidifying it. I think he drove a nail with the headstock. Probably the one he hung the guitar on the wall over the heat vent with.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

I just thought it was doing a Linda Blair impersonation.

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"It's a Tone Faerie thing"
"Da goal is to sharpen ur wit as well as ye Sgian Dubh"
"Sippin Loch Dhu @Black lake" ,Kirby O...

Tub o'Lard goes to Waddy. Others I think were on to it as well. Turns out you can see fibers in the top ripping in two as it dried out. Also, it pulled the top loose from the side, and seperated a little spruce off the right lower bout. There is a third crack, that didn't open up much because it is over the treble leg of the x-brace.

So, that's why I hung it up over the humidifier. Just got it yesterday from the NE USA, Connecticut. Every fret end is sharp as a razor blade, so the ebony board too has irreversibly shrunk. I'm in no hurry to patch this little guy up though and so we'll let it hang there a few days. A look over at my RH guage a room away from the kitchen and it's 40 percent.

No cooking going on here, matter of fact, I want to go out to eat tonight, I'm 10 pounds lighter since Jan. 7th.

Back to the little Taylor. I was really disappointed in the shoddy construction techniques employed inside the box. No linings whatsoever. I found an x-brace which ends short of the sides. No support there. No finger braces, no tonebars, it did have a bridgeplate and a wild curving headblock brace that glues to the sides in a big arch inside, that was cool.

So, I think if it had enjoyed traditional linings and a few more light braces, this guitar may have survived the drought conditions.

My plans are to 1) hydrate the guitar 2) close the gaps in the spruce top using hot hide glue and clamps 3) add cleats or small bracing internally or both 4) add some small linings around the guitar kind of like classical guys do in small segments, maybe some flex-linings 5) add a K and K pickup system 6) glue the headstock booboo, epoxy or superglue there. 7) hit the fret ends with the file and touch up the neck with a bit of shellac there. 8) string it up and enjoy it.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

I'd say it fell, taking a direct hit to the rump, then coming down forward wacking the peghead against a coffee table.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

Okay, guess not. Simultaneous postings.

Those are some pretty oddly placed cracks for a dry top.

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Eschew obfuscation, espouse elucidation.

WOW! My first To'L. Is it customary to rub it all over yourself before logging on to OLF?

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Not quite, Waddy. What one does is EAT it all be fore logging on again. And documentation is necessary.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Dave, you could still be right. I wasn't there. It just doesn't appear to have any collision markings except for the headstock, which may have happened after the fact?

The sharp fret ends are a good indicator that the guitar is dry. And... I bet that even Taylor wasn't pre-shrinking tops in '96, that is eleven years ago. If this top had been pre-shrunk it may not have fallen victim to low humidity if that is what caused it.



Look carefully at this pic and you'll notice that two grainlines are still attached, indicating shrinkage damage to me? It appears to be getting a little better as it humidifies too.

David, Too you may be right about the tail lick. It appears to have enjoyed a pickup, which was removed, likely installed in another guitar. It is drilled 1/2 inch and so the hole will require a fill, nothing better than a K and K to do that, or I have an IBeam I could stick in it from the swap meet. It's an intriguing little guitar and may not be as easy to fix as I envision?

When I'm done, I'll have to revisit the out-working of the little project.



I just had some of this and it beats Lard all to Pieces!
El Terrifico Tamale Co., White Cheese Dip

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Sounds like alot of work for a $300 guitar.
-C

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Freeborn Guitars
and home of BeauGuard©

Maybe if it had binding and purfling on it, she wouldn't have cracked up like dat. Go ahead and fix 'er up with some Bruce.

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

Charles, you are correct. But let's see, at the average hourly wage for the average luthier, I'll come out way ahead and my wood will already be aged!

As I walked past this a few minutes ago it occurred to me, "Hmmmm, if I pop the neck off, rout off the top, that would give me full access to install linings back and top and install a new adirondack (pre-shrunk) top. Grin.....

I like Taylors, but this one was built just a wee too lean...

Hi Chuck, you may be right, bindings do what?...... bind!

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Are you saying this baby doesn't have any lining in it? And it looks like rats was chewin' on the headstock...

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

Baby Taylors are very mediocre in terms of structural integrity. I had a buddy that dropped one, and it had damage similar to the one in this thread. Top split, and several braces broke loose from the top in the process. No linings; braces weren't tucked, feathered, or anything else to keep them from pulling away from the outer perimeter of the top in a crash like it suffered. He asked if we could fix it; I convinced him that it wasn't worth the effort, and he was better off building a new one done right. So he did. Now he has a very nice properly-made guitar, and he couldn't be happier.

I'm a Bob Taylor fan, but I was very disappointed in the build quality of the baby Taylor line.