Dovetail Madness III

[Howard Klepper]

Originally Posted by mesa

Looking great Howard! .....and congrats on the beautiful new pup...what type of dog is Farlow?

Thanks!

German shorthaired pointer.

And his name comes from one of my guitar heroes.

[RogerC]

Beautiful work, Howard.

as an aside, we got a short-haired pointer about 6 months ago, and she has been a terrific dog. She's great with the kids and is very eager to learn and please.

[Howard Klepper]

Farlow is a great pup. Smart, energetic, sweet, a little mischievous. He's visibly bigger every day.

Here's a shot of the liners being glued. I like reverse kerfed liners made of Spanish cedar. I make them tall to further stiffen the sides. Next to go in will be the carbon fiber struts or "flying buttresses."

[cpabolting]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Tell me that is not killer attention to detail!

[Steve Kinnaird]

Howard, I love the colors on this one quite a bit.
The subtlty of that Cocobolo against ebony is wonderful.

Steve

[Howard Klepper]

Liners and struts are done. I'll probably have the back on later today.

[Howard Klepper]

Back with some progress photos.

First, the slotted and tapered fretboard sitting (not glued) on the neck:



The back is on:



And the top got glued on today. It's always exciting to get the box closed up.



I put the purfling on the fretboard and glued it to the neck. I like binding with the board on the neck, although I've done it different ways. Here the board (hidden by the clamps and caul) is clamped to the neck.

[Howard Klepper]

Top and back on and trimmed to the sides. It's looking like a guitar! Next is binding.

At this point I can tell more about how the guitar is going to sound. It has a loud and rich tap sound, which will only get better when the binding is on. I'm fond of saying that a good guitar should be a good drum. I also can now check the main air resonance, which is right in between F# and G--perfect at this point! I'm secretly thinking this guitar is going to sound great, but I'm more restrained than that in public, so I'll just say all indications are good.

[jaymarsch]

Thanks for keeping us in the loop in this incredible build, Howard.
If it is anything like the guitars of yours that I have had the good fortune of playing, it should be stellar both in looks and tone.
I look forward to the next installment.

Warmly,
Jayne

[Laurent Brondel]

Looking great Howard! Stunning woods and woodworking.

[Simon Fay]

You sure don't like to build easy ones do you!!! Exquisite workmanship!!!

[Brackett Instruments]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

.................................................. ........ I'm secretly thinking this guitar is going to sound great............................................. ..................................

I'm thinking it's going to sound great....because the builder knows what he's doing.

[Howard Klepper]

Binding the fretboard, for those who like to see green tape.



After binding and arcing to a 14-20" compound radius. Binding and purfling change at the end of the board shown here:



Now inlayed with "mosaic pin" inlays:

[mesa]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Binding the fretboard, for those who like to see green tape.



After binding and arcing to a 14-20" compound radius. Binding and purfling change at the end of the board shown here:



Now inlayed with "mosaic pin" inlays:

Just amazing workmanship!

[Howard Klepper]

Some new shots. Binding is all on, except for the side port. There are inevitably some asymmetries on a "harlequin" style guitar. Some are caused by the neck elements meeting the body. Another problem spot is the end wedge, especially if it is tapered. I have continued the themes of having the pufling and binding reverse every place that the body woods change. But this would have caused an offset of the binding switch from the top corner of the end wedge that didn't look right. I solved this by "half-dovetailing" the bindings at that spot. The bottom of the wedge didn't have this issue, since it is the same width as the dovetails.

The back purfling is 5-ply maple and black. The side purflings continue the narrow b/w/b and w/b/w of the neck and headstock.

I've put the neck on the body for a couple of shots. It's not actually attached. I still need to fret and shape the neck, and add side dots.













The koa and maple purflings have very tight, stong curl, but it doesn't show well without a finish. These two shots may make the curl visible. It will pop when the guitar gets lacquered.