Hello there, my fellow artisans and handcrafts enthusiasts!
Welcome to one of the last projects of this year. The following entries on this section will be all about my works on a repair I did for a very battered Venezuelan Cuatro. I had seen the photos of this instrument a while back and it had extensive damage. You will see it as well. The time of the repairs was approximately three weeks. However, the results will surprise you!
Let's jump right to the first part of the job.
Assesment
Swipe to see the photos
Before starting to do anything, we always need to take a look at the instrument to figure out everything it needs. This is an artisanal instrument. That means it is one of those that are made in series and sold cheap. Sometimes they can be quite good, but it is not the usual thing. This one in particular had all this nasty paint that had suffered from humidity. The bridge was broken. Back and top were separating from the sides. This is a signal of it falling to the floor more than once. There was a chip on the sound board. The tuners didn't work properly. And there was damage on the paint job in the fretboard area.
After taking all this considerations. The work was divided in some goals. First, remove the pieces of the bridge. Second, remove the paint from the body and neck to check is there's anything else that needs repairs. Third, make a new bridge and saddle. Fourth, glue the back and top to the sides and fill the chip on the sound board. Fifth, decide a look for the finish and repaint the sections of the fretboard that are looking bad.
Bye Bridge
Swipe to see the photos
The bridge removal was the most urgent thing. You can see there are several methods used in here. However, none of them worked. Here's why. Whoever did repairs on this instrument before me, thought it would be a good idea using contact cement. As you know, this kind of glue works by sticking to itself and it is hydrophobic and resists heat as well as it grows stronger the drier it gets. So several attempts of trying to pry it off with heat and hot water didn't work until the thought came around this realization. Then, it was just a work of using a chisel to remove the pieces of the bridge stuck to the sound board.
Another notable thing about the "repairs" is that the tuners were not held by screws. They had nails instead. This is a big no no for this works.
Surprise under the paint
Swipe to see the photos
Without the broken bridge, we can finally get to remove the paint from the sound board to get a better look at the instrument. I suspected the sound board was a nice cedrela top. And I was right. However, when removing the paint, there was a new thing to repair hiding under this red color. It was a crack in the sound board. And this came into the priority list of things to fix.
Most of the job of removing paint is done with a scraper and then sandpaper. We can be a bit more aggressive removing this ugly paint. It is possible because before we can take it off the wood, we need to take care of the lacquer. Also, it is no surprise the top looks way better without any paint. The pinkish brown of cedar is a beautiful color that works better than any kind of paint job. Maybe it is just me and my taste for how instrument look.
Anyways, we have reached the end of this process for the moment. Don't miss next week's entry. On that one, you'll get to see more of how this repair unfolds.
Thanks a lot for reading me. Until next time!
Photos 📷: Redmi Note 13
Thumbnail 🖼️: Canva.
Editing 🎬:Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
Follow me on Instagram for enquires and commission.
If you'd like to help the workshop grow, you can make a donation here.
You can find me at discord as bertrayo#1763