First try at building
Never mind
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I'm about 2/3 complete on my first build followed closely by about 1/3 complete on my second (glutton for punishment...) but not near as brave as you. Not a single photo until I finish, and then only if I like what I've done. So my proverbial hat is off to you, Rog!! Looking forward to seeing the next steps.
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There are many methods that can be used to glue/clamp the two halves. The simplest involves two heavy bricks and a length of masking tape. Doesn't stack very well, though. |
Good to know! Thanks, Charles.
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Today I trued up the inside edges of the top and glued them.
http://i.imgur.com/qVqDyVL.jpg Turns out I did use the "hooks" I cut out on my joining board, because I don't have a long enough clamp to clamp down the center block, so I used rope and wedges to hold that down. I also added an extra nail and wedge on the bottom corner (not in the picture). |
rog:
Nice to see you giving a go at building. Notice you are working outside. Wonder if you are aware of the implications of relative humidity...? Generally guitars are built in a RH of about 40%. Some way to measure and control RH prevents problems down the road. Tom |
Tom's just jealous ... he hasn't seen sunshine in three months ...
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Way to go, rog! Good luck. I like the start so far.
Sam |
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It's fine to work in high humidity for a lot of stuff. Cross grain gluing is where you run into trouble. Rosette, bracing!!, gluing the plates to the rim, gluing the bridge.
Gluing the fingerboard extension to the soundboard can cause trouble if the fingerboard is ebony, simply because its humidity expansion rate is so high. If both are acclimated to 70% when you glue up, and then you take it into 30%, the fingerboard will shrink significantly more than the soundboard and may cause the common fingerboard edge cracks, like this: http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Musi...elmerfix09.jpg Rosewood has about the same expansion rate as spruce, which is still higher than cedar, but unlikely to cause any trouble. Filing down the fret ends level with the edges of the fingerboard is another time you want to be acclimated to low humidity, or else they'll poke out in low humidity later on. But pretty much everything else can be done in uncontrolled humidity. |
That is great information, thank you.
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Tom |
After 24 hours, I took the top out of the clamps, and much to my surprise the joint appears to be solid. I candled it with a bright flashlight and it's tight except at one end that will be cut off. So I'm calling this a success.
RC tonewoods indicated this student-grade top isn't as stiff as they would like, and it does feel very floppy (though I've only ever handled one other top, the Italian spruce top for my harp guitar, which may have been chosen for extra stiffness to handle all those strings). So I only took a little bit off with a hand plane and coarse sandpaper. I'll sand more tomorrow and call it done until I get a scraper to take care of the glue squeeze out on one side. Next up: same thing, with the back. If the back works out well, I'm feeling bold and will attempt to put in a strip of contrasting wood across the joint to pretty it up. The back and sides are very white birch and I will almost certainly stain them darker. |
Question: I got a neck block and end block from RC tonewoods, but I also salvaged three blocks of an unidentified hardwood that are big enough to make a few such blocks. The wood is dark maroon/chocolate brown, and sands a bitnon on the orange side. There's no particular smell to it. I picked it up because it is extremely dense and heavy. Any idea what it could be?
Here's the mystery wood, next to mahogany for reference: http://i.imgur.com/BNso3qe.jpg One of the mystery blocks isn't much bigger than the mahogany block: http://i.imgur.com/jtJ27aL.jpg The mahogany block is 6.50 ounces, and the mystery block is 16.03 ounces (!). I did some math: http://i.imgur.com/I8wSAAi.png The mystery wood is 1.68 times as heavy as mahogany. |
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