Time to reveal goings-on with the Aria 5102T rebuild/zoot

slyd · 2011-07-07T17:02:12+00:00

Well, a coupley months back, I was brought this old early-70's Aria 335 copy. I t was sad . . . very sad. It had been the guy's (late some while) uncle's axe. He had managed to dig it up, and REALLY wanted it fixed-up (although everyone told him to buy a new guitar!). Big issues: body separation, neck-pocket displacement, top warped away from neck pocket, general warping, neglect, sun, water, rats, spiders, etc. Once I found the neck was cool, and my wood-prof told me we could re-shape some wood, . . . I was off . . . . . . . . Check some pics: Just some of the before pics, . . . what a hectic journey and learning-curve ? Many more pics and details to come . . . :-[

flatfourfan

would be a shame to buy something like that. Seems like a simple (yet very effective)concept.

Manfred-Klose

you get can some info for old aria guitars here, there is a forum as well:
http://www.matsumoku.org/models/models.html

What finish are you going to put on the body?

slyd

Arjun Menon wrote
flatfourfan wrote I love those little clamps that you made, so simple. What are they made from? (Felt type material, washers, wingnuts, threaded rod and wooden spacers.....erm, cut up curtain rod of hole saw donut holes????) very nifty.
I believe they're spool clamps, and by the looks of it, i reckon Slyd has done quite a bit of shopping at Stewmac ?

flatfourfan wrote would be a shame to buy something like that. Seems like a simple (yet very effective)concept.

Aaaaah . . . . the "spool clamps" . . .. 8)

@Arjun Menon - NoNoNonono, these babies are my own !
@flatfourfan - You're almost spot-on with your (varied) analysis of their make-up ?
Okay, quite a story . . . after seeing the spool-clamps in an old 1993 StewMac catalogue # 56, I checked their site and eyeballed them very closely.
At R188 for a set of 6 large (R144 for a set of 6 small, excl shipping and VAT), WHO CAN AFFORD THAT? ?

I sat and thunked for a while. 2 ways of going about making these . . . .
1st- curtain rod cut to size, then hole drilled, etc. I tried this, and gave the rod to a wood shop to cut into sections for me . . . . aaaarrgh they were'nt even cut straight! Waste of time and money!
2nd attempt - I used a 2x4 from my workshop, put a hole-saw in my drill-press, and spent a bit of time "cutting donuts". Wow, perfectly formed spools, and with the bonus of having a centered 6mm hole in the middle at the same time!!! I hole-sawed some high-density foam I had (black and green) for the cushioning, as I could'nt find felt or cork anywhere in and around Margate. Glued them on, and Voila ! I bought some 6mm bolts, with wingnuts to fit, and large washers , and suddenly I had 19 spool-clamps at a cost of about R23 total for the bolts, wingnuts and washers. The rest came from stuff lying around in my shop ?
The foam will soon be replaced with some quarter-inch cork I got from my wood-prof (the foam doesn't grip as firm as cork will)
I'll take a few close ups of the make-up and assembly of them here shortly * ?

slyd

I'll also get some 6mm threaded-bar, to make smaller/shorter clamps, if necessary.

slyd

flatfourfan wrote wow, you're seriously giving this guit some much needed loving. Will almost be a shame to hand it back once it's done.

You're right with that . . . it feels like it should be my own . . . oh well*

Manfred Klose wrote What finish are you going to put on the body?

Man, the finish is destined to be surprise to you'all, but I've been having a secondary vision as I've progressed. . . . I will (or maybe won't) let you know :?
It is still one of "contrasts", either way ?

slyd

Right . . . time to sand the inlays and filler . . . . ?

Might as well smooth out the other bits of fretboard at the same time . . . .

An awesome result! My gap-filler is almost invisible, and the inlays have come back to life (albeit upside down) !

So cool . . .
except I got clever, and thought I would polish the inlays one more time with abrasive polish . . . . . .hrmmmph . . . this polished out some of the filler around the edges of the inlays, and required a re-sanding to smooth them flush again >☹ Oh well, we're all stupid sometimes)

flatfourfan

man I'm glad to hear that you made them.

Norman86

Fantastic work!!!
Really well done!

arjunmenon

Looking sharp man. Well done 8)

slyd

I'd been having nightmares about trying to sort out the warped neck pocket. The neck pocket support brace had cracked, and the pocket had moved upwards/forwards, reducing the break-angle of the neck to an unplayable position.
My wood prof designed, and and got another mate of ours to weld a special brace to assist with this, as well as when re-assembling the guitar.

With the guitar well supported in the brace, i filled (super-filled) the cracks in the support brace with "Magic Wood" (a very light super glue), and, with another clamp (the red one), slowly tightened the neck pocket away/backwards, until the cracks closed.

I left it overnight, and when I released the clamps, the neck pocket was now at a perfect break-angle for the neck. WOW . . it worked! ?

Awsome, another problem issue overcome :-[

slyd

Well, all warped bits 'n pieces sorted out as best they can be, it's time to glue the top back on !
We (my wood-prof & I) start with the critical point . . . the neck pocket and top must allign. Only this is glued first, and left overnight, so that the body and top can be manipulated and twisted when it's dry (without the neck-join budging outta position)

The second night, we only get just past the waist, as the top and sides were so warped and out of sync, we couldn't allign everything at once.

The next night, we glue and clamp the rest. It was impossible to get all the sides and top to line up, so we reconciled that we would have to do a little re-routing of the purfling and binding channels. . . we'll get there . . .

(note the 4lb hammer and dumbells used to pull the bottom of the axe sort of in-line)

Now to plan the routing . . . and slip in some other necessary tasks . . . :-[

slyd

As I'd levelled all the frets before doing the inlays etc., I still needed to file and dress them.

Frets filed, time to sand, using my home-grown "don't fret, fret-jig", running thru 1000, 1200, 1500 wet-dry paper, and then buffing with the reverse of the sandpaper

At last, . . . a pretty looking fretboard, with it's first dressing since the early 70's . . ?

Moving on again . . . getting closer to the end result . . . ???

slyd

So many little things to do on the side . . . . . ???

The pup covers and rings are looking a little worn and forlorn :

Fine-sanded to remove the worst scratches and dents :

then polished and buffed . .

a distinct improvement

Remember the trem unit . . . ?

freshly chromed and assembled with new s/steel screws, bearings, . . and made a little button out of walnut to cover the trem arm height screw-hole

Looking sharp 8)

costafonix

looking good !!!! ? :yup:

slyd

Replacing the tuner bushings in the headstock . .

Gotta make them fit, after so many coats of clear . . ?

StephenG

wow - how many people are working on this project?? sems way to quick a progress for just 1 peeson?/

its looking awesome as it goes along.

slyd

StephenG wrote wow - how many people are working on this project?? sems way to quick a progress for just 1 peeson?/

its looking awesome as it goes along.

It's all done myself, with occasional advice and assistance from my wood-prof, in gluing the body.
It seems very fast, because I only started posting pics when I was already deep into the project (about 6 -8 weeks), and had built up a huge gallery of pics to begin the story.
The pics have almost caught up to where I am now . . . almost ?

Attila

slyd, kudos on the rebuild

I hope you took the time to write something profound in pencil on the inside of your guitar, under one of the F-holes so its partially visible once assembled.

It adds a nice personal touch for prosperity. The chapie who built my acoustic archtop, Gary Stroup, did when assembling mine ….nice

slyd

Attila wrote slyd, kudos on the rebuild

I hope you took the time to write something profound in pencil on the inside of your guitar, under one of the F-holes so its partially visible once assembled.

It adds a nice personal touch for prosperity. The chapie who built my acoustic archtop, Gary Stroup, did when assembling mine .nice

Thanks Attila. Hey, what a great idea to write something in there. I didn't yet, so I'm gonna have to try and do something like that with my hand through the pup hole ?

StephenG

slyd wrote
It seems very fast, because I only started posting pics when I was already deep into the project (about 6 -8 weeks), and had built up a huge gallery of pics to begin the story.
The pics have almost caught up to where I am now . . . almost ?

:rolleyes: ? ooooohhh of course..!!sorry man - thought there must have been like 10 guys just standing out of camera shot!!!

keep them coming..!!!

« Previous Page Next Page »