Thanks Patti, will do - I am quite excited about this, as well as apprehensive!

I'm now at the stage of assembling the things I need, and expect to receive the following tools and parts in the next week or so:
- nut blank (bone)
- fretwire
- nylon-tipped hammer
- ground-end fret nipper
- ground tri corner file
- flat mill smooth file
- vintage style tuners
- tailpiece and bridge (recycled from another vintage parlour, on its way from a fellow forum member :) )
- shellac

I will need to get some masking tape, appropriate glue for the edging, and some suitable sandpaper, but for the other tools I will need I'm either using things that my husband Kevin has in his toolbox (e.g. needle files for the nut slots) or borrowing from luthier Matthew Bascetta - and I'm very appreciative of Matthew's advice and help.

As soon as I get the shellac, I'm keen to try the French polishing technique on a few scrap bits of wood before trying it on the guitar itself, but am also very keen to get started on the frets. I'll keep you posted!

Fliss

Whats the lowerbout size on this baby?

MM

Hi MM, it's around twelve and three quarter inches.

Fliss

Almost everything you need can be found on eBay for nice prices, especially the fretwire, tuners & shellac. What you may need though is a method to bend your fretwire, which can be costly. There is someone on eBay who is selling fretwire benders for about £60 though if you get stuck.

I am also pretty sure I have seen fret & nut files on there but you will have to wait for them to be delivered from either the USA or China.

Hmm, now I think of it there is a guy who sells unbleached bone nuts for about £3 there too. Gotta love eBay.

I dont know if you'll need nut files...

You might be able to shape the structure of the nut with low grit sandpaper...

Then use a thin bit of metal, or plastic [something thin mainly], and wrap hi grit sandpaper around it... Then file the string grooves in...

I got this from a fellow from Houston:

"I use wet dri sandpaper cut into approx .5" width about 3" long. This is my cutting medium.

I have cut an old pair of light gauge strings so that I have about an 8" piece of the ball end of each string. You want something smaller than your current string gauge. With the paper wrapped on the string it makes it slightly wider. The "G" string gets a little tricky, but is doable.

Wrap the paper tight around the string, and try to pinch it closed at the top. You want to minimize opening the top of slot too wide.

Slowly run the string through the slot as you would a regular nut file. Watch to make sure that your keeping the slot straight, and that you are lowering the slot evenly.

Once you have the slot at the proper level, you will want to angle the rear portion of the slot lower than the front.

If you have appropriate sized drill bits [thin and skinny] they can also be used instead of the strings. Both work quite well for this.

How low to go? I aim for right between the 1/64, 2/64", clearence at the first fret.

2/64" is pretty high, and what I would consider excessive. 1/64" is pretty low. My Geddy has this measurement from the factory. I need to run my relief at .015" to keep fret rattle acceptable with the nut slotted this low.

I can run .010" relief on my Standard jazz with the nut slotted in the middle of the two numbers. However I generally run the relief at .012.

On my fretless with 1/64" at the, nut to board clearance, I can run .005" relief with acceptable board rattle in the first fret position.

Put the new nut in the nut slot and install the "E, A " strings. Apply a little tension to hold the nut if needed, and move the nut side to side to line it up evenly. Mark the nut sides with pencil on the front side of the nut. The front side is slightly wider. Sand the nut to proper "rough" width. Leave it slightly wide till the slots are cut and you have "white" glued it back in place. When your ready, tape off the neck area, and finish sanding the nut width to smooth it out.

You may also need to profile the top of nut. Just gently sand the top of the nut, matching the general angled profile. Look at pictures online. You just don't want the strings buried in the slots. You should be able to feel the strings protrude a little from the slots. About 1/3 dia above the slot is safe.

You should be able to do all of this in about 90 minutes, to a couple of hours. I can cut a nut from a blank like this in about 4 hours."



MM

Thanks guys! CZ, I asked Matthew about bending the frets and he said I can do that at his workshop :)

Fliss

Ah very lucky Fliss. I'm building my own bender with some surplus metal and parts from various things in the house (yup, everything in the hose is now missing a screw, nut, brass knob or wheel :D).

I received a package in the post this morning with a tailpiece and some bridges for my parlour:

http://img242.imageshack.us/img242/4636/p1070841.jpg

The tailpiece is great, and amongst the selection of bridges, all from similar vintage instruments, there's a particularly nice rosewood bridge which I'm hoping will work for me, but two of them appear to each have a brass saddle, and although I don't like the look as much, I wonder what difference the brass saddle might make to the tone, and whether I should try one of those. Anyway, here's a pic with the tailpiece and my favourite of the bridges giving a hint of things to come:

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/9739/p1070849.jpg

Fliss

lookin' good!

Where did you get your supplies from?

With a really nice polish that tailpiece could come out gleaming.

I got the tailpiece and bridges from a fellow forum member.

I've been giving the tailpiece a healthy dose of brasso and elbow grease this afternoon, and it is shinier, but I'm going to be careful not to over-do it, I don't want it gleaming too much :)

Fliss

If you wanna get rid of some of those rust specks, just slice a fresh raw onion in half and apply a bit of elbow grease - rubbing the onion into the metal... Onions have certain reactive properties which help repell rust...

MM

While I'm waiting for the supplies and tools to arrive, I decided to make a start on the binding. First of all, I tidied up the ends of the binding that's there.

When I visited Matthew's workshop, we decided that the walnut would actually match better than the rosewood. Although it looks light in its raw state, Matthew put some finish on a piece to demonstrate how much it will darken - in the photo below, it should be possible to see the difference in the colour unfinished (left) and finished (right)

http://img371.imageshack.us/img371/2828/imgp1972.jpg

Matthew also identified which would be the best piece to use, which is that one in the pic above, and marked on it in pencil where I should cut it. I decided to try the cutting on one of the other pieces of binding before trying it for real, just to see if I could do it right. Here's me cutting the test piece:

http://img682.imageshack.us/img682/9738/imgp1969.jpg

Fliss

Once cut, I held the test piece in place to see how it would fit:

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/7126/imgp1970b.jpg

It looked so good I decided to just go with this - there's not much difference between it and the piece Matthew identified, it's just not quite as good a curve to match my guitar, but close enough! So, I glued it and taped it in place. I'll leave it like this till tomorrow evening and see how it works out!

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/8785/imgp1971.jpg

Fliss

Good start :D .