Violin CBG

I have been thinking about this build for a while. Find a Violin and use the body for a CBG.... 

It was fairly easy to find a donor violin, this one would have cost more to repair than it was worth as a violin.

Most of the glue joints were bad. 

It didn't take much effort to reduce it to a pile of parts.

The only solid glue joint was the neck to the back. Some hot water and prying, and the hide glue released it's grip.

I know next to nothing about violins so I did some research to make sure this wasn't a valuable instrument. It is not. There are millions of Strad copies out there.

The body will be a bit smaller than my violin bass. 

The work begins. I glued the sides to a piece of mahogany, a couple small blocks were needed to make up the difference in thickness.

Before gluing the back on I added some holes. I don't have hide glue so Titebond and lots of clamps were used.

The neck is mahogany with a Rosewood fret board. I used maple for the fret markers.

I thought I had more pictures of the neck build but apparently not. So fret marker pics are what you get. 

1/4" holes drilled in the fretboard and the maple plugs cut.

I use a little glue on the end of the plug then press them in with a clamp.

This little saw works great for cutting the plugs off flush. Then it is on to sanding and sealing the fretboard.

I tried wipe on poly for sealing the neck, the Mahogany took the poly fine but the Rosewood did not. The oils/waxes in the Rosewood did not let the poly cure. I did some research and found this is a common problem with Rosewood and other oily exotic wood. To cure this problem I removed the poly and sealed the neck with my favorite sealer, Shellac. Problem solved and lesson learned.

Hmmmm, no pics of gluing the top on either..... Titebond and lots of clamps were used. I glued the top on before attaching the neck. 

I notched the neck to get the string height where I wanted it then screwed and glued the neck in place. 

A piece of Maple was used for the tailpiece and attached with a screw through the strap button. I didn't care for the light colored Maple so I stained it. (not a great match)

The bridge is Maple also.

A piece of Mexican Royal Ebony serves as a string guide for the zero fret. 

The finished product.... 

A short video....

I had originally planned on adding a pick up but I'm Happy with this as an acoustic for now.

It no longer fits in the case....

The case is wood, perhaps it could become a lap steel?