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Take a look at this guitar because it’s about to go in the garbage don’t ask me why it doesn’t matter it ain’t right oh well that’s theLuthier game -sometimes it’s just not fun




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Send it to me for disposal.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

That looks like Black Locust for the back and sides.

I can’t help it…. Why?

No, it's flamed red birch.

There is an area that's too thin on the top....
I didn't realize it until now.

I need the satisfaction of sawing it in half on the bandsaw....

How thin is "too thin"?

You couldn't even donate ti to a veteran's society or a youth project?
Must be pretty darn bad...

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Hard to put into words, but with moderate thumb pressure I could (and did) crack the top.

It's actually not "that bad" yet it is bad enough for me not to put my name on it.

I wouldn't donate it for the same reason I am junking the guitar-my reputation.

Thinking back on it this guitar was jinxed

I had a problem with the head and I fixed it.

Then the router bit slipped when I was doing the binding and I fixed it.

Both those fixes didn't affect the overall structural longevity of the instrument, but this one did.

Sorry to hear about that, I’ve been there and had guitars suffer a “career ending injury” very late in the build process and there few things more frustrating. I keep one of these hanging around the shop to beat up as a test mule for new routing jigs or finish experiments.

Bandsawing them in half would feel amazing although I’d probably opt for a baseball bat for max enjoyment.

That's some pretty birch and a pretty guitar. Sorry it went like it did--I have a few casualties hanging on my shop wall. I understand though.
Dave

Why not retop it?

Man I hate that. Sorry Brad


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Give it the Office Space printer treatment:

https://youtu.be/N9wsjroVlu8

It's easy to take out our frustrations for our failings on the guitar - better to do that than beating the wife or kicking the dog, but still it's not the guitars fault. I have a guitar that has a thin spot in the top from overzealous perimeter (sanding) tuning. It sounds quite good. I would never sell it that way but it sounds too nice to bandsaw, and besides, retopping would be a better option.
I would suggest - glue the crack, slap a bridge on it, some cheap tuners, and string it up. You might learn something from it.
If your name is on it, that can be removed and it will look like all the other nameless birch bodied catalog guitars from the 20's.
In the "moment" we might take some satisfaction from the object's destruction, but we don't really learn anything from that.

I've fixed far worse.

It would make a lovely birdhouse if nothing else.

What’s the downside to re-topping?

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

These days I retop a good number of guitars at my shop. If you really want to get rid of it, I'll make a new top for it. 100% serious

Don't destroy it, please. I consider all guitars - no matter how trashed, to be raw materials at their most basic. Take it apart and use the wood for something else. A guitar back eventually becomes a mandolin back, a spruce top could be used as patching material, pull the fingerboard and use it on something else. Save the hardware, the bridge, and so on for use elsewhere. It's not worthy of destruction, because it's not the guitars fault.

Save the wood and let it live as something else, please.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

^Ramen

I second this opinion.

I also end up re-topping more guitars these days too. Shizz happens but you don't need to take the whole guitar to the shooting range.

I lit one on fire once (and posted pics of it here too, the pics are long gone though). It felt great at the time to absolve myself of that frustration, but I often wish I had kept it as a personal guitar.

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Instagram: @jfrenchluthier