"The Gambler" Stella Style Goodman 12 string
 

Okay, for those of not familiar with his model in the 20's the Stella Company made a model 5024 painted black with decals of playing cards on the face AKA "The Gambler".

So This is my take on that guitar- I am not trying to make an exact copy unlike the original it will have an adjustable truss rod and a bolt on neck.

The body is made from soft maple, the neck is poplar,Adi top ebony fretboard and bridge and pearloid (celluloid nitrate) bindings, head veneer and heel cap.

I forgot to take pictures of the first few steps of joining the top and back-I use an 1899 12" jointer-sort of like killing a mouse with an elephant gun!


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Here I am gluing the back reinforcement in the go bar deck.

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The top braced,Hide glue.


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The "boat".

Brad, I can't see the picture....

Chris.

Hi Chris,
I know-I am still trying to figure it out-it worked last time. I'm glad I build guitars better then I work computers!!

Please stand by while we fix our technical difficulties......

Now yer talkin'!
Is that the 15-3/4" box or the smaller? Spruce bridge patch? Gonna paint it black and put the decals on it?

Haans,
My box is 16" -3/16" X 2" spruce bridge patch.

It is black with the card decals-Art work by Neil Harpe.

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Gluing the top with go bars.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6223/...8d9b9ea0_b.jpg

Here I am truing up the top (note shim)in order to match the neck angle. Before I glue the top on I do the same thing to the sides (ala Jim Olson)

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6031/...9fb8be8a_b.jpg

A bunch of neck roughs.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6221/...313038d4_b.jpg

The head and neck surface after being trued on the jointer.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6050/...8fa9a11a_b.jpg

Routing the truss rod slot on the router table.

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Drilling the dowel reinforcement to the heel.

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Here I am drilling the holes with a jig for the inserts for the bolts (ala Mario Proulx)

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Inserting the dowel.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6105/...9b90ac03_b.jpg

Gluing the Pearloid head veneer on.

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Pattern routing the head with the overarm router.

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Here I am drilling the tuner holes with my trusty old doweling jig-works perfectly!

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6226/...7ae3b771_b.jpg

Here is the jig I made to rout the slots.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6217/...b036bfc0_b.jpg

The almost finished head-still need to carve the ramps.

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Tapering the fretboard on the tablesaw (Ala Bob Bennedetto)

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Binding the fretboard.

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The finished fretboard.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6053/...c800447c_b.jpg

Carving the neck.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6092/...2c0e9763_b.jpg

The finished neck.

I love this!
Great headstock and inlays - can't wait to see how it all turns out!

Can I ask a stupid question? After putting on the fretboard binding, why would you take a chance on messing up the edges while finishing the neck; or is the binding protected with tape to allow you to finish the neck to the edges? This question came up in my mind because I'm a carpenter, not a Luthier. Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the thread.

Jerry

Hey, Mother of Toilet Seat! Always wanted to build one with a MOT F/B too! :D
Looks good Brad, yer a fast worker! Must be young-err...

The fact that two vintage Stella repro 12 string builds are at the top of the Custom Shop forum makes me feel all warm inside...I don't know why...but it does!

Hey Damian, to top that, there are FOUR 12 string threads on page 1 and they are all VINTAGE instrument copies AND no drednaughts! ;)
That's got to be a first...

Great work Brad! Looks like you've got some really cool tools in your shop.
I'd love to have one of those overarm routers! I'm enjoying your build.

Been out of power for a few days.... I am posting from another computer.

Jerry, There are no stupid questions (just stupid answers!).


The way I build necks the angle (round area) actually is part of the binding-otherwise the neck can feel "square" at the edge so in other words the neck actually blends into the binding.