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So, I've had this Harmony Stella for a few years and the original birch top developed a couple of cracks on either side of the neck that I couldn't get to stabilize, so I decided it'd be a fun project to put on a new top and convert it to a pin bridge instead of the original trapeze tailpiece. I got my hands on a couple of small Carpathian spruce sets a while back that just happened to be the right size for this, so I got to it. I used the old braces, changed the bracing pattern a bit, made a new bridge out of a stupidly dense piece of rosewood, and gave it a 1920s Gibsonesque handrubbed sunburst with just enough shellac over the top to seal it. Still sounds like a Stella, but with more balls. It's incredibly resonant and responsive, which is fantastic. Still needs some fret work and some little aesthetic touches here and there, but it's coming along nicely.

Now, some shite iPhone pictures...
Here's the original top and bracing:




A shot of the back and sides for shiggles:


New top with the braces in place:


The wonderfully centered dovetail in the neck block:


And how it's looking now:

Lookin' good now.

Hail to the ladder-braced Carpathians!!!

Thanks Chank!

One of my aesthetic plans is to print out a wee picture of the painting of Vigo from Ghostbusters 2 and putting it inside the sound hole, just to reinforce the whole Carpathian thing.

GuitarSlim101 wrote:Thanks Chank!

One of my aesthetic plans is to print out a wee picture of the painting of Vigo from Ghostbusters 2 and putting it inside the sound hole, just to reinforce the whole Carpathian thing.

Holy shit, yes. Do exactly that.

Great job!, I really like how that turned out! I have to do something similar to a Tacoma/Olympia.