Deconstruction of the Guitar Sound Board

      For the C40 Yamaha classical guitar model the sound board of the guitar is attached to the body with a meltable adhesive. The bridge and portion of the fret board which are attached to the soundboard are also sealed in place with the same adhesive.

     

In order to remove the sound board the bridge must first be removed from its face. A heat gun and a razor blade are ample tools to do this procedure. As the heat gun melts the adhesive a razorblade can be wedged under the bridge to lift it off the guitar. Once it was removed it was sanded and polished to remove any exess adhesive or debris.

Removing the bridge with a Dremel

Close up of bridge

Polished and Sanded bottom of bridge

Following the bridge, the portion of the fret board which extends on to the soundboard must also be removed. A backsaw can be used to cut behind the twelfth fret to separate the inner portion of the fret board from the neck. It can then be removed with heat and a razor blade, similarly to the bridge.

Cutting the fret board at the twelfth fret

The final task is to remove the soundboard itself. In order to obtain the best results you first want to remove as much of the center soundboard as possible with drummel while leaving a good half inch perimeter of the remain soundboard around the outer edge of the guitar. This perimeter can then be segmented using a backsaw or drummel and removed using a heat gun piece by piece. If the board isn't segmented, you are faced with the difficulty of heating the entire perimeter of the guitar at once and removing it as a whole, leaving a lot of room for error. 

Removed Soundboard

Guitar without soundboard