Quote:
Originally Posted by gpj1136
A go bar deck is both easier to use for gluing braces and easier to build also. you could make the rods from left over oak. Using different lengths of rods you could also use it for gluing the top and back to the sides.
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I would also need a radiused work dish, which I have been planning on building without. I'd need a more robust router and the proper routing bit, plus the jig to cut the dish. Then I would build the go-bar deck. Doing what I am doing now may take a little more time, but it will take less money. I may chose to build with a go-bar deck in the future, but for now, I think this is where I'm going to stay. I can also use the cam clamps for gluing the back and top to the sides.
Quote:
Originally Posted by charles Tauber
I made a new set of clamps about a year ago or so. In order for them to work as well as the commercially made clamps, the tolerances/fit need to be just so. Perhaps most critical is the fit of the upper jaw on the bar. The fellow in the video doesn't mention it, but when both jaw faces are lined with cork or leather, to work well, when the cam is thrown, the upper jaw needs to be 90 degrees to the bar or a hair less. If not, they won't clamp thin materials well and will apply lateral forces to the work, causing glued surfaces to slide.
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Hmmm. Do you mean the entirety of the upper jaw, or the clamping surface itself on the upper jaw? The angle of the clamping surface, obviously, changes dramatically when the cam is thrown. So is it that small, square inch or so surface that needs to be parallel to the bar when the cam is thrown? Or the whole upper jaw? Cause right now, the whole upper jaw is almost exactly 90 degrees/perpendicular to the bar, due to a fairly straight cut on the thin inside piece. If it's the clamping surface itself, then you would want the whole upper jaw to be tilted something like 5 degrees or so away from 90 degrees, away from the lower jaw. I can still glue a shim in place if it needs it. Love to hear your feedback on that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by kwakatak
Hehe - you know I was just teasing you, right? I can't wait to hear the finished product though. I'm wondering if an oak guitar would sound similar to a maple guitar.
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Yeah, I know that. And yes, I can't wait to hear it either. All this work, months of effort. Dreaming about it. Agonizing over each detail, each decision. I might cry if it doesn't at least sound pretty decent. At the same time though, I think I'll probably be ecstatic if it plays in tune!
I'll have to plunk down a few bucks and get a decent microphone so I can record something.
I tend to think the species of wood doesn't have much to do with the sound. Perhaps it does in an 80/20 rule kind of way. 80% of the sound will be directly attributed to the builder... the construction, the bracing, the thickness, stiffness and mass of the top, the care taken in striking the right balance for the target guitar and how it was built, etc.. Then the final 20 might represent the coloring of the sound due to the species.
I once played an all solid wood spruce and rosewood instrument in a nice, locally owned (non GC) guitar store. I took one look at it and smiled, thinking that it's a classic combination and that the guitar should sound great. Sat down with it and started playing a finger style melody. It was mediocre in every regard. I didn't play it long and stuck it back on the wall a little disgusted. I'm sure the species of wood makes a difference once you are building at an elite level, once you can already make excellent, lightly built, highly responsive guitars regardless of the wood. THEN the species can begin to make a subtle difference because the builder has fine tuned his construction methods enough to actually release the character a particular species has to offer.
But, that's just my opinion based on a small amount of playing talent and the guitars I've played. Obviously not based on observations from having built lots of guitars.
So I hope my guitar sounds nice, though I would not say it would be representative of the sound one could expect from a well built oak b/s instrument.