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#46
12-12-2023, 04:34 PM
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I carefully cut into the sides to find the mortice in the head block:
 and when I knew where I was, I trimmed the sides and top back and then cut them flush with the mortice using the router:  A little bit of work on the tenon and it fitted in pretty well. Luckily, the bolt holes seemed to line up:  I made up the brass dowel for the neck fixing once I knew the hole spacing was OK:  I printed a few sections of the plan at 100% onto overhead projector film (remember them??) which made decent templates for marking the heel shape   I cut the heel profile with the bandsaw...  ...then rough-cut the end profile:  The shape of the bottom of the heel is a 'best guess' as it isn't shown on the plans  With a bit of rough carving, I could have the first look at how the neck was sitting:     Not perfect, a tad high at the bridge, but very much in the ball park. 
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#47
12-31-2023, 11:58 AM
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I futzed with the neck joint a bit more and got the angle a bit closer. I wanted to leave the final setting until I had attached the fingerboard and installed the frets.
I had a piece of ebony for the fingerboard and was going to rip a couple of slices off it to create an "invisible" binding to hide the fret ends. However, following the experience with the headstock inlay, I started wondering if I could also cut blind fret slots with CNC. It turns out that quite a few people do just that.  A few experiments gave me enough confidence to go the whole hog and try and machine the entire fretboard on the CNC - radius, fret slots, inlay pockets and profile. I don't feel too bad about that as I've previously cut fret slots by hand (on my Tele & uke) and sanded a radius into an ebony fretboard (on my Firebird - not an experience I'm keen on repeating; it took a loooong time) - so I feel I've served my time there. With the neck temporarily attached, I could confirm the finished length of the fingerboard to do the CAD/CAM. My CNC isn't big enough to do the whole fretboard in one setup, so I mounted the blank on a backing board that could be indexed to machine the whole thing in two setups without losing position. A test run on plywood came out great, so there was nothing for it but to try the ebony. Roughing out the radius:  Finishing the radius:  Machining the fret slots:  All machining done:  I'd bought some 'diamond and square' MOP fret markers to use, but now thought that I could add a more original 12th fret inlay. I had learned from my experience with the headstock inlay that the shape of the inlay pockets needed to be tweaked to make sure that the tool got to every corner of the pocket, even if it meant over-cutting slightly. You might be able to see that the corners of the pockets for the 'squares' have got a little bite out of them to ensure the pocket is big enough without enlarging it all around:  The 12th fret inlay was a bit of an experiment. I machined the shell pieces first and was amazed that the thin parts could be cut without breaking:    I glued the inlays in with CA glue and some ebony dust. After a bit of sanding, it came out better than I could ever have hoped:    I couldn't resist mocking things up:  If I can manage to finish it without messing up, I think it will look sweet. Happy New Year to anyone who has made it this far! Andy
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#50
01-07-2024, 05:14 PM
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Things slowed down a bit over the Christmas holiday, but I got a few bits done:
I lined up the fingerboard and the neck blank and put a couple of locating pins in under the 1st & 10th frets. I could then trim the neck blank a bit closer   I messed with the neck joint some more now that the neck was nearer it's final shape. For some reason, I wasn't getting the results I was expecting - the more I sanded, the bigger the gap got... It took far longer than it should for me to realise that the tenon was bottoming out on the body (Doh!). With a couple of mm trimmed off the tenon, normal service was resumed and stopped with the neck angle a couple of mm off the top (without the fingerboard). This is at the low end, but I think it's easier to raise it after the fingerboard is glued on than to lower it. Final angle can wait until the fretted fingerboard is installed & the bridge is available. I fretted the fingerboard before glueing it to the neck. The fret wire has slightly thicker than 'normal' tangs and proved a good, tight fit for the CNC cut 0.6mm slots. Fret tangs were cut off to clear the end of the blind slots with the popular modified sheet metal nibbler:  I have a small, soft faced mallet that I've used previously for fretwork, but it lacks 'heft' and tends to kink the frets. A bit of leather glued to a body hammer worked much better this time (practice shots):  There was only the smallest amount of back-bow on the fingerboard after it was fretted - not enough to cause me any concern whatsoever. (The 1st & 10th fret will be fitted after glueing)   (The fret ends haven't been addressed yet) I glued the fingerboard to the neck, then trimmed the neck flush with it using the router table.   Then set about carving the back of it to shape   Still very much a work in progress. I'd also been looking at options for cutting the binding channels. I have a small trim router (Makita copy) so was looking for the best way to use this. I've pinned my hopes on the style with a 'bobbin' guide that runs on the side of the guitar (a bit like the Elevate binding jig). A bit of CAD, some CNC and some anodising and I have a jig:     (Apologies for the me***work  )
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#51
01-08-2024, 11:58 AM
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Interesting, I also find a body hammer with a piece of leather on the face make my favourite fret hammer.
I also use a router table to match the neck shape to the fretboard. I've not tried the side indexed binding cutting jig because of worries of imperfect sides, ( small ripples). I made this upright jig from scrap plywood and a drawer slide, later upgraded to 2 slides. https://www.flickr.com/photos/194462...7720299310279/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/194462...7720299310279/ Excellent work, keep it up.
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#52
01-08-2024, 03:35 PM
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Thank you - It may have been a photo of yours that planted the fret hammer idea in my mind.
I thought about a vertically guide router jig, but my sides aren't particularly vertical, so I thought that the side indexed cutter would do a better job *for me* (and take up less space in my shed). I did have some unevenness in the sides, but this was mostly in the middle third, so I was hoping that the two guides would straddle it. I've actually used the jig now, and that does seem to be the case. I am absolutely delighted with the way it worked. I need to sort the photos out and will post them in a day, or so. Andy
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#53
01-10-2024, 04:31 PM
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I used a variety of blocks and cylindrical objects as blocks to try and sand the sides flat
 There were a few hollows and ripples, but these sanded out surprisingly quickly:  The patch of funky grain sanded flat but the surface was very open and 'fibrous'. I filled this patch with superglue, and it actually came up OK.  The bindings I'm using have purfling strips attached and I had bent them roughly to shape on the hot tube previously (I did them in pairs to try and make sure that I ended up with enough left / right hand pieces).  I had treated myself to a brand new 25mm router bit to go with the binding cutting jig and spent a little time routing channels into some scrap pine to tweak the settings. With great trepidation, and a very dry mouth, I attacked my guitar with my routing jig... I cut the binding channel on the back first, and it seemed to go well. The jig worked an absolute treat, and the sharp, new router bit cut cleanly.  Jeez! that was nerve-wracking! I aimed for the bindings to be flush with the side of the body and a little bit proud of the back / top, and they seemed to come out spot-on:  While I was on a roll, I cut the binding channels in the top, too (they are the same). On both cuts, I stopped short of the end graft on the first cut, and then adjusted the cutter depth and came back with a shallower pass over the end graft in case I could make mitered purfling strips work.  I cleaned the channels up with a chisel to leave just the purfling on the end graft...  I pared some of the purfling off the lining strip, and after quite a bit of puzzling I managed to get something that fitted reasonably well. The trick of looking at the reflection in the back of the chisel and lining it up with the direction of the next strip works surprisingly well.  I used a different spacer on my jig to cut the purfling channels on the top. Before cutting them, I wiped some shellac around the edge of the top to try and discourage tear-out. Again, the cutting jig worked very well, but I sort of messed up by cutting almost the full depth of the top. I read in the Cumpiano / Natelson book straight afterwards that it should be a max of 1/16" ~1.5mm deep into the top (don't know how I missed that before). I had cut deep enough to sink most of the purfling strip which ended up being just over 2mm deep. The top still has an overlap onto the linings and seems securely stuck, so it is what it is.  The back bindings were glued on using Titebond and held in place with brown paper tape while it set (the bindings were lightly sanded before gluing). The tape I used is 'Sekisui 504NS Smooth Framing Tape 25mm x 50m'. I bought it from Amazon, but as far as I can tell, it's what is sold by some places as binding tape. The tape is quite tacky, but easily peels off. It has a small amount of stretch in it that helps put tension onto the glue joint. I was prepared to bind the joint with rubber strip to get a tight fit, but the tape worked really well and I didn't feel the need for anything additional - I'd recommend it for this application.   On the top, I was intending to glue the bindings and purfling on at the same time, but after gluing the back bindings, I decided that there was enough going on without adding the purfling, so I glued and taped the top purfling into place first:  When the glue had dried (Titebond again), I cleaned up and sanded the binding channel before gluing the top bindings into place:  What have I done?? 
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#54
01-11-2024, 02:57 PM
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So how did it come out?
With the exception of a few self inflicted, faults: Very, very well!   Somehow I'd managed to catch the edge of the purfling channel on the top with the router cutter. I'm not quite sure how I managed it, but the cable on the router did catch on something at one point, so I presume it stems from that.  I hadn't trimmed the end of the treble side binding back quite carefully enough, so it left a small gap next to the purfling where the two pieces of binding join:  Most annoyingly, I had managed to dig a fingernail deep into the top when pressing the tape down:  I plugged the binding faults with little slivers of spruce and titebond and am pleased that after sanding back, my eye is no longer drawn to them. Hopefully they won't stand out too much under finish, but even if they do, I'm happy to live with that.   I tried to steam the nail mark out, but it didn't make much difference. I'm reluctant to try and fill it with sawdust, because I think it could end up more noticeable. I guess it will have to stay there to please the gods. Other than that, all the glue lines were nice and tight and everything came out much better than I could have hoped. I really like the way its starting to look:      It almost looks like one from a guitar shop! 
Last edited by misterg; 01-11-2024 at 03:16 PM.
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#55
01-16-2024, 03:09 PM
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If it sounds as good as it looks. It will be (slightly) bad of you to not make a second guitar build.
Though what I´ve understood. It's not really possible to make a build of a guitar according to plans and expect it to be outstanding. (Say no more, say no more...) 
__________________
Just reclining in a place where I am exercising the Swedish national sport of fully over estimating my superiority in the English language.
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#59
01-24-2024, 03:33 PM
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Bridge(s) of sighs:
Mark I  Mark II  Mark III  I designed the MKI to be aesthetically pleasing to me - I quite like having the bridge pins in an arc. While I had considered the break angle over the saddle when designing it, it struck me a week later that the strings would need to pass straight through the wood in front of the recessed pins. (D'oh!) Enter the MKII which was a re-work of the MKI with recess in front of the pins. I used this to set the neck angle, and after chasing my tail somewhat due to not appreciating the effects of humidity changes, I though I was done. So: time to accurately position the bridge. Only then did it dawn on me to check that the holes matched up with the bridge plate... Thus the MKIII! This has the holes in a straight line, quite close to the saddle. The original Grellier plan does show the bridge pins in a slight arc, but even these come quite close to the edge of the bridge plate. My arc was more pronounced, and I also managed to lose about 2mm from the neck length when adjusting the neck heel (I was really surprised, as I didn't seem to be taking off much material) so I'd ended up with the middle four pins well clear of the bridge plate. (Double D'oh!) I cheated and made the bridges on my small CNC router:    I did get a fit I was pleased with on the neck/heel without the help of CNC though:   There's a very slight gap under the last ~three frets which I'm just going to clamp down when I glue it in - those frets are for ceremonial use only in my hands. I had one other minor disaster: When I was checking the neck angle, the straight-edge picked up that there were a couple of high frets. I put the neck on to bench and tapped them down, no problem. Or so I thought until I tried to refit the neck - the metal insert that the neck bolts thread into had moved out of position when I was tapping the frets down. I had to drill a hole in the bottom of the heel to get it back into position. Luckily this will be hidden by the heel cap (which I still have to make).  After that, I think it's on to finish sanding and finish... My current plan is to use Tru-Oil (which I've used previously) on the neck and to try and French Polish the body (which I've never done before!). I've been experimenting on a scrap of rosewood and I think I've gained enough confidence to give it a go - I can always wipe it off again with some meths! Thanks for reading, Andy
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