I found this sad guitar on Reverb.com. Everything seems to be in good shape except the top and bridge.

I'll be working on this guitar in tandem with my brother's 1528 Ultra.

This will be getting a torrefied Sitka spruce top and braces. I played this guitar before taking the neck and top off and it sounded pretty good. So, I'll probably be duplicating the K-brace pattern. It's like a simplified A-brace pattern.

From the looks of all the screws, I'd gather this guitar had a problem with a lifting bridge.

Neck is off.

As is the top.

I love the use of the wing-nuts. Hey! In an emergency, you use what you got!

Cleaned up the lining so the body is ready to have the top joined.

Next job is to start jointing the top and making the braces.

I was able to joint the top in preparation for joining and rough cut the braces.

I'm planning to join the tops for all four guitars at the same time so that I can take them down to the sanders and have them all thickness sanded together.

While each top is drying I'll be cutting out the braces.

Got the top outline rough cut, sound hole cut, bridge alignment pin holes drilled and braces glued.

I'll let this dry until tomorrow afternoon, then pull it out of the gobar deck and start working on the 1778T(orrefied)

Top is being glued.

Yes, that's the 1778T next to it.

I got to a stopping point because I didn't want to use the bankers box any more to route the binding/purfling channels.

It worked well in a pinch, but truth be told it's kind of a pain because it doesn't really hold the guitar securely.

So, I made a crude copy of a fixture used by the MS that I've seen in numerous factory tour videos. Theirs is a lot slicker as it uses vacuum to hold the bowl into place.

But, mine will work pretty well. It secures the bowl into place which will make working on these guitars a lot easier.

The vise is a drill-press vise clamped to the stack of plywood which is in turn, secured to the 3/4" plywood base.

The risers are adjustable, tilting furniture feet.

Here's the 1612 clamped into the fixture.

For guitars like this one which has the removable neck I'm using a 2x2 that I've installed IKEA furniture clamps. The IKEA cap screws go through the Ovation neck mounting holes to clamp the 2x2 to the bowl.

I originally made this to paint the bowls, but it also works great for this fixture. The 2x2 is clamped into the drill press vise.

The feet are adjusted as necessary so the bowl is evenly supported.

Now, routing the binding/purfling will be a lot easier. It will also make gluing the binding and purfling a lot easier, too.

Back to work on this one.

I'd routed the purfling/binding grooves when I was working on all four guitars at once. (1117, 1528, this one, 1778(T)orrified). I'm glad I did because it made binding this guitar much easier.

Fitting the center seam of the purfling/binding.

Once the center seam is lined up with the center seam of the top, I use a few strips of tape to 'tack' the purfling/binding all the way up to the top of the body, then trim the excess.

I use an acid brush to spread the glue inside the grooves and between the layers of purfling/binding. I use an Xacto knife (LL) to trim the brush. (LR) The brush comes with long bristles, but the long bristles just drag across the glue instead of pushing it down into the joint where it needs to be. The shorter bristles make it easier to brush/push the glue between the layers. With this job, more glue is better.

Now, I start gluing the purfling and binding starting at the top and working my way to the bottom. I work a few inches at a time. In the pic below, I'm all done with the bass bout and ready to start gluing the treble bout.

Treble bout is done. Now, set the guitar aside for 12 hours to let the glue dry.

Glue is dry. Removed the tape to see the raw binding job.

Purfling/binding is scraped down. At this point, the top is ready for final bridge alignment check in preparation for masking and finishing.

Top is masked and ready for sealer/base coat of polyu.

Meanwhile, back to the neck. Old frets were removed, fret board leveled and new frets installed. I'll let the glue dry until tomorrow afternoon, then trim, dress, level and crown the frets.

Basically, you use fret trimmer and a file to get the fret close to the wood, but you have to use them with care so you don't damage the wood.

Dan

I got the first couple of coats of clear on the top.

Here's a pic showing the coloration and grain of the top. Lots of silking and character.