Building a Guitar for Steven Curtis Chapman - Page 3

JohnM · #31 07-26-2010, 09:59 PM

Just updated the page with a section showing the binding being prepared, cut, and installed.

It should be ready for finish this week.

Latest I heard from Steven was he was in China but he said: "...can’t tell you how excited I am to get my hands on this guitar...gonna be recording again in a couple of months and hoping this guitar can be a part of that process as was the last one..."

Ilovetaylors · #32 07-27-2010, 01:00 AM

omg steven curtis chapman? =O

he's the only reason I got into guitar. wow

Ilovetaylors · #33 07-27-2010, 01:16 AM

p.s does any of steven curtis chapman or koo chung have cutaways.

JohnM · #34 07-27-2010, 01:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilovetaylors

p.s does any of steven curtis chapman or koo chung have cutaways.

Steven owns a SJ I built quite a few years back, and it does not have a cutaway. It's Engleman top with Cocobolo back and sides.

Koo has owned two Mayes' so far. He had a SD-43 Indian/Adirondack, and a Redwood/Cocobolo OM. The OM had a cutaway. These two guitars were destroyed in a fire that caught on his touring van and torched all his gear. This will be his third Mayes and is intended to serve like his old SD-43.

JohnM · #35 07-27-2010, 01:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ilovetaylors

omg steven curtis chapman? =O

he's the only reason I got into guitar. wow

Steven is a tremendous guy. He is kind, passionate, and a incredibly talented writer/guitarist/singer/performer. I've always been stoked to get to work with him.

SuperB23 · #36 07-30-2010, 10:39 AM

John posted a couple new blogs for the SCC build one about binding and one about fitting the neck. Stop by and check it out.
http://www.mayesguitars.com/index.ph...id=5&Itemid=48

JohnM · #37 07-30-2010, 12:38 PM

Thanks Bobby. I added in a new one this morning as well. If you missed any check the archives.

JohnM · #38 07-30-2010, 01:18 PM

Aww heck... I'll go ahead and post final pictures of it before going to finish. I don't feel like dragging it out... It's been done for a few days.

SuperB23 · #39 08-03-2010, 05:50 PM

Looks wonderful John!! I look forward to seeing that Burst!

JohnM · #40 09-23-2010, 11:29 AM

Got Stevens guitar back from my incredible finisher today. Looks great. The pictures can't capture the color exactly right. The back, sides, neck, and edges of the burst are actually a really dark tobacco brown color not black as the picture sort of looks.

cwguitars · #41 09-23-2010, 12:57 PM

That's a sweet guitar John!

SuperB23 · #42 09-24-2010, 06:34 PM

That burst turned out great!

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnM

Got Stevens guitar back from my incredible finisher today. Looks great. The pictures can't capture the color exactly right. The back, sides, neck, and edges of the burst are actually a really dark tobacco brown color not black as the picture sort of looks.

JohnM · #43 09-25-2010, 11:24 PM

Now that I have the guitar back from finish the first step is for me to glue the bridge on the guitar. I have already set the neck so the angle is already correct. I check that before proceeding. I use a jig I've made to drill the outside pin holes in the correct spot. If I'm off by more than .020 or so intonation will suffer, or be harder to dial in properly. Here the top has been drilled for the pin holes.

Next is one of the most concentration intensive procedures to me. I scribe around the edge of the bridge. One slight mis-step and I'll either have to re-finish the top or do some touch up. I'm careful not to scribe into the wood itself, but I try to get very close to going through the finish. It's a feel thing.

With the bridge footprint scribed, I'll take some easy release masking tap and put it very close to the scribed line. This tape will help in two different ways. First off it gives me a visual reference in the next step where the scribed line is. While I can see the scribed line when routing it is difficult to catch the light right and such and I know if I stay back from the tape an eight of an inch or so I'm safe. Also it acts as a buffer to protect the finish from the bottom of the laminate trimmer so not to scratch up the top. I've used the method where you leave a bit of the finish under the bridge and use a slight step to the footprint to set over the finish. It does look a little cleaner, but I like this method better. It's slightly more area for the bridge to glue to the top which is helpful in my opinion.

Next up I use my lam trimmer set to cut .006 deep. (six thousandths of an inch). My finishes are normally right around .004-.005 thick so this cuts barely through the finish and about .001 into the wood. It is more a light scrape of the top rather than cutting into it. Here I am measuring the depth of cut, as well as a picture of the area routed.

Next I'll take a chisel and remove the finish up to the scribed line. If I've scribed correctly then the finish will break off at the scribe and leave a clean edge. If I did not go deep enough I'll have to carefully either scribe the line again or work the finish a bit to break correctly.

All clean now I can remove the tape and prep for gluing.

I didn't get to take many pictures here because hide glue sets so fast, but here is the bridge clamped on. Just using three cam clamps. Next up to make a nut and saddle, install hardware, and string it up!

swiftz07 · #44 09-26-2010, 01:55 AM

John, i love your attention to detail and workmanship on this one...its fascinating even to just see how precisely the finished is removed for bridge glue up. can't wait to see this one stringed up...not long now!

kirkham13 · #45 09-26-2010, 02:48 PM

looks pretty stressful-I can see you are another perfectionist...
wouldn't it be easier to glue on or screw on a dummy bridge before finishing... the whole cutting into the finish seems like sacriledge-lol