NGD needs patching

[tedmich]

I picked up a nice 7 string Carvin off Ebay, a pretty mahogany with 5-piece neck through (with walnut stringers) Its got a nice OFR in black (I've always wanted one) but as was Carvins thing for a while, no locking nut and Sperzel type tocking tuners.
Whole guitar is raw tung oil.


The neck is thinner with ebony with side dots only and SS jumbos with ZERO wear. Thats a custom wood cover made by Bob's custom Plates, rosewood knobs but...

Old owner simply HAD to move the volume knob ... looks to have cut hole with a rusty corkscrew??


Gonna try matching a mahogany plug and starting top over, will be adding a top edge bevel like Abasi guitars have and will carve out the back of the lower cutaway to accommodate my overly large hand..
I plan to take it down to bare wood and refinish with 5-7 coats of Libron finishing oil and and Renaissance Wax, with or without a red base tint.

First guitar I've bought since 1991! That one was also a Carvin (I still have) and almost exactly 1/2 the cost of this one, adjusted for inflation they cost the same.

[The Dude]

That's a sweet looking axe,........ except for the "custom work".

Probably tough to get a plug to match. Maybe you can carefully cut out a piece big enough to plug holes from underneath one of the covers on the back? It'd then be the same wood and grain pattern.

[tedmich]

got the Carvin patched, couldn't perfectly match the mahogany (its grain is complex!) but picked up a pack of 6x 0.25" thick slats off ebay and picked the closest piece
Then bought a Whiteside Inlay kit, way more expensive at $45

the collar stays on to cut the hole

after careful planning the plug barely takes out the "bad wood"
\
the collar comes off to cut the plug, with template and thickness planed patch all held to waste board with carpet tape
the plug bottom gets carefully tapered with a drum sander (stay away from top!), chilled in freezer 30min and carefully tapped in and sanded flush, NO glue (yet)

it awaits careful color matching with water soluble dyes, and a epoxy on the cavity side to keep it snug.
I already rounded over the top bout to allow smooth access of right arm to fretboard, a little like an Abasi or modern Kiesel but with smooth curves,
and I also scooped out the lower cutaway on the back to allow my huge hand access. Its scary taking a Holey Galahad to soft mahogany!

I think I'll inset the trem cover, and use a nice piece of figured myrtle instead of the black plastic, and possibly drop in a 7 string sustainiac
if I can find a sane way to pay Alan Hoover (last he said send him CC number in 3-4 separate emails because voice calls don't work ??)
I may not add back a control where patch is, or maybe add one with a HUGE knob if I want to cover up...

[tedmich]

dye helps but its not an "undetectable repair"

I'll see how much more I can "muddy the waters" with the oil finish

[xtian]

That's great! I love my Carvins. Just bought my fifth one!

[tedmich]

That's great! I love my Carvins. Just bought my fifth one!

So yours are all Carvins and not Kiesels?
I bought my first (and for a couple decades only) guitar in 1981 from Carvin; a DC150BE, still miss those M22SDs...

[xtian]

Yes, all Carvin. Can’t resist, good deals available!

[g1]

If you told me 'that's where a sticker was' I'd believe it.
A real close inspection reveals some of the grains don't match up but damn close. Nice work.

[tedmich]

I decided to flush mount the OFR spring cover, and make a control cavity cover to match.


I found a lumber yard that sells precision surfaced wood online, as thin as 1/8" (technically S4S, surfaced 4 sides and cut to length) and got 5 species to try,
all 1/8" x 6" x 24" and each about $13

the wenge looked best, and just needs sanding to take a beautiful oil (Liberon) finish

I have 4-40 1/4" black flat head philips screws coming from McMaster Carr, along with brass threaded inserts to match the ones Carvin put in the control cavity.
I'm going to do an identical wenge glued peg head plate as the Carvin logo is a thick plastic overlay and looks cheesy on an "all raw" guitar IMHO.