Archtop Rebuild Sides Question

[Eric Knapp]

Hello,

I'm working on getting the sides of my old Epiphone Triumph ready. I'm pretty close, I hope. The finish was so damaged that I was getting flakes of black varnish on everything just moving the sides around. I thought I'd have to use chemicals to get it all off but a few swipes with a scraper and it fell right off.

Turns out the wood that was covered with black varnish is Birdseye maple.

The insides took some effort to get cleaned up but they seem ready.

The old side braces were just some strips of cloth. Those, all the old hide glue, and the chips from the old kerfing came off with a scraper and a lot of effort.

I'm assuming I should use wood braces. Is that what you all would do? (Just checking, why did they use cloth? Is that still a thing?)

Thanks,

-Eric

[Randolph Rhett]

A LOT of builders (including me) use cloth. There was a recent post on that here. You may want to search "bias tape".

[Eric Knapp]

A LOT of builders (including me) use cloth. There was a recent post on that here. You may want to search "bias tape".

Well, cool. I need to learn about this and I'll start with that thread. Thanks for letting me know about it. That guitar was built in 1938 and had cloth on the sides until today. There are no cracks at all. The top and back have some cracks I'll need to repair but not the sides. Hmm, maybe that's a hint.

-Eric