My homemade 74 negra has always had an issue with the string spacing being a little off, so after months of deliberation I finally mustered the courage to tackle this repair. The E strings were perfect, but the others a bit off. I filled the old holes with hardwood toothpick tips touched in glue. Then I carefully marked where the string would exit. I used my homemade hand drill to drill the holes taking care to keep the bit aligned to exit perfectly. I used a piece of golpeador plastic to protect the top and let the drill turn easy. This hole must be drilled angled up which meant keeping the drill shaft on the top purfling edge.

The drill was made from two aluminum 1/4 inch post used in old electronics work. They were drilled and threaded on both ends. I had tried to make this drill using wood dowel, but could not drill the hole for the bit accurate enough. This is a job for a lathe and I don't have one. I used a #52 bit and since the threaded holes in the post were 6 x 32, a bit large for the #52 bit, I put perfect fitting heat shrink on the bit using two sizes of shrink, then threaded the bit in the post. The result was a well centered, very secure bit. I used my left hand as a guide and my right hand to turn the drill. It took some time but the results were nearly perfect. I made the spacing exactly like my Tsiorba, so changing guitars doesn't confuse my fingers.

Nice work, Sam.

A very tidy job. I don't think I'd have the patience to do that properly