And, so it begins... Again...

I bought this BFLG guitar last October. (2014)

At the time I didn't really have any plans for it other than to rebuild it and save another Ovation from the scrap heap. This baby has definitely seen some action.

The top was completely off the guitar and broken into several pieces. Luckily, it came with an intact bridge, still attached to the sound board. I'm not sure if I'll be using this one or not. I've got an ebony bridge that came with another BFLG gutiar I bought and I really like how the bridge matches the fret board.

The new top will be made from torrefied Sitka spruce for both the sound board and the brace stock.

The binding and purfling are intact, but these will be removed because it's easier to replace these than to try to fit the sound board into the place inside them. The only reason why I fit the sound board inside on my 1619 was because I wanted to save the original abalone purfling. BWB, etc., purfling --meh.

Even though the original had A-braces, I'm going to use the custom forward X-bracing I used on my 1619. I really like how it sounds and I want to compare it to a torrefied guitar of the same era that uses the same braces. I'm going to try to make this guitar as identically to that one as I can.

The head stock and neck are in pretty rough shape. These will probably need to be sanded down to bare wood and refinished. The front of the head stock is in good enough shape that I think I can preserve the original decal.

The back of the bowl is in pretty good shape, so there's nothing to do here.

The binding on the neck is missing, so this will need to be replaced. There's also some pretty serious finger grooves in the ebony. The frets will need to be removed to fix the fret board and put new binding in place. I will be using EVO gold frets.

I puy my 1619 brace pattern mock-up into place so I could check the neck angle --looks good. No need for a neck reset here.

First step is to remove all traces of the top from under the fret board.

Next, remove the binding and purfling and clean up the excess glue and wood.

While I'm waiting for the tools to come in that I need to remove the frets and sand the fingerboard I decided to start working on the new top wood.

This top will be made from torrefied Sitka spruce with torrefied Sitka spruce braces. The braces will be glued to the top using Old Brown Glue. (hide glue)

Here are the braces, ripped to size and scallops cut and sanded. I am going to hold off tapering them until I get the top cut out and I know how much needs to be removed from the length.

The top has been jointed and is being glued together using OBG. I'll pull it out of the go bar deck tonight.

Top wood is jointed, rough cut, thickness sanded and the sound hole is cut out and fitted to the bowl.

I've decided to revert this guitar from a 1617 to a 1117, meaning it'll be an acoustic-only instead of an acoustic-electric. I've got an ebony bridge that came with another project guitar I acquired that I'll be using on this guitar instead of the bridge that was mounted to the soundboard. I like how the bridge matches the fretboard. I'll be using a bone bridge saddle and nut on this guitar.

I'm going to use the same custom forward X-brace pattern on this guitar that I used on my 1619. Brace locations are traced onto the back of the sound board.

Braces have been fitted into place. Next step is to taper the braces. Once they're tapered, I'll be ready to glue the braces to the sound board.

Ovation has verified the material as "wood" on their FB page in the comments under this photo! No response on "what kind of wood" yet though. Just some really cool creative stuff happening at the new O! I'm pretty sure a wood backed O will sound incredibly spectacular...like a woodback O with a torrefied top? Yikes...Pretty soon, you're going to have to start your own brand, Dan!

WRT my own brand, we'll have to see how the first one turns out.

I just noticed something interesting in that photo Ovation posted. They put the strap button inside the cut-away where I suggested. Kewl!

I tapered the braces.

And, cut the notches in the X-braces for the reinforcement strip.

I'll glue the braces to the top tomorrow night.

Thanks, Tennessee.

I glued the braces down last night. I'll pull them out tonight and verify the neck angle.

Assuming the neck angle is good, the next steps are to pull the remaining frets and start sanding the neck. First to be sanded will be the fret board to remove the fingernail grooves and then, clean up the fret slots.

After that, it'll be time to sand the finish off the back of the neck and head. Once all the finish is off, I'll put new binding on the sides of the fret board.

Pulled the sound board up from the go bar deck. Checked the neck angle. Everything looks good.

Removed the remaining frets from the fingerboard. Cleaned the glue from the fret slots and rough sanded with 80-grit to 10" radius using my *new* Stewmac 8" Radius Block. All the fingernail grooves are gone.

Before:

After:

Sanded the fingerboard with progressively finer grades of sandpaper. I stopped at 800-grit. There's a few chip-outs, but I can live with these. They look a lot worse in the photo than they do in person and will be even less visible once I oil the fingerboard after the guitar is finished.

Looking down along the length of the fingerboard reveals a glossy surface.

Next job is to sand the finish off the back of the neck and head stock and sand the front of the head stock to flatten it. Once that's done, I'll add the binding back to the sides of the fingerboard and shape them down to match the neck profile.