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#32
05-18-2017, 12:14 AM
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Looking good - I'm going out to the shed to re-assess the lumber I've got in there...
Quick question (or two): Do you radius the top, and if so, how do you establish that angle in the neckblock extension? Cheers Matt 
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#33
05-18-2017, 04:56 PM
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I use a 25' dish. The top of the neck block is at a right angle to the front/back of the neck block. I glued the first brace to it and the brace is flat at the neck extension and then has a little radius and joins the sides. From here I plan to shim the extension if needed to get the right elevation above the bridge. In other words I just wing it, this is the first time I am building a guitar this size.
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Fred
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#34
05-19-2017, 10:40 PM
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OK, I'm a sucker and I'll bite. If multipiece tops are said to be even better than the conventional center-seamed two-piece... why does everyone build with center-seam two-piece tops? I would not think that having vibrations pass through glue joints across the top would be optimal, nor would I think that using many pieces of wood, with slightly different mechanical behaviors in each piece, would be ideal in creating either a freely vibrating surface or a diaphragm, but I claim no expertise and only moderate building and repair experience.
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#35
05-20-2017, 01:04 AM
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Quote:
It is proven in listening tests (blind vs. known guitars) that people prefer the sound of guitars that look pretty.
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Breedlove, Landola, a couple of electrics, and a guitar-shaped-object
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#36
05-20-2017, 03:33 PM
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Quote:
We are lucky there are still large sitka trees around where most if not all of the top can be well quartered. And even if the top is, the top may not have the same properties all across the top. Part of the reason they say each piece of wood is different. The glue joint is very small compared to the wavelengths we care about and a good glue joint should not impart any downside. Of course the only way to back up that is to build a two piece guitar, listen to it, tear it apart and saw the top into multiple pieces, join them and reassemble. Have not heard anyone doing it yet. But I will take the collective experience of a few good luthiers for now.
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Fred
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#37
05-20-2017, 03:35 PM
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Top and back are on. For size comparison, a Martin size 5 pine (not a 2x4) guitar I was building before I embarked on my poor man's resonator guitar. I did maple binding on this one but might go a darker binding on the 2x4. I could not find a steel string bridge to give a sense of size but did find a classical bridge. Now that I got this far, which should I finish first?
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Fred Last edited by printer2; 03-04-2018 at 10:26 PM.
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#40
05-21-2017, 11:16 AM
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I can't wait to see what this will look like after it's completed and the finish is applied.
I assume you are not staining the backs and sides (I didn't read every post--mainly looking at the photos). As this guitar ages and deepens in color over the years, I think it will be as lovely as it is unique. I love the creativity involved in this guitar and hope the sound will be impressive as well.
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#41
05-22-2017, 07:43 PM
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Originally I thought of doing a sunburst but I have been looking at some blanca flamenco guitars and they have their own charm. I can see the pine yellowing with age. I doubt the guitar will sound impressive but I don't think it will be a dog, I tapped the top and back and it seems to resonate well enough. When first strung up we'll see how the trebles are. Pretty sure it will change some with a few years drying out.
I got the neck slotted for the truss rod. Mortise and tenon cut, went fairly wide on them with the softwood neck and full sized guitar. Trimmed the headstock, took down the neck and headstock thicknesses to close to their final dimension. Cut a bridge, using some Jatoba I baked (to see if I can get it to look more like rosewood) for the fretboard and bridge. As is a straightedge on the fretboard lines up with the top of the bridge, mind you nothing is glued down yet. I was not going to bother with binding, this is not a guitar that will take the knocks like one with hardwood back and sides, it probably won't do much traveling. Then I thought maybe some black ABS binding. I'll have to mull it over some more. Or maybe some walnut? 
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Fred Last edited by printer2; 03-04-2018 at 10:26 PM.
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#42
05-22-2017, 09:22 PM
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Do the binding Printer, it's not just for protection but it frames the whole project, it's for looks too. IMHO there is nothing cheaper looking then a guitar without binding. The irony of course is that it IS a cheap guitar (materials) but no one will even know it came from a 2x4 unless they ask, but they will notice that the instrument was not framed in binding
 You could compromise and just bind the top.
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#43
05-22-2017, 09:53 PM
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Opinions, of course, are like xxx -- everyone has one, but . . .
I've come to the opinion that bindings don't always improve a guitar's appearance. I think it depends on the woods and the finish. I recently completed a build with a fairly elaborate binding on the top, but when I saw what a fine match of colors/textures I had between sides and back (in black acacia), I decided to install grain-matched plugs where the back bracing came through the sides and not install any binding. It finished very nicely. So nicely, in fact, that a commission that saw it now wants a guitar with no binding -- top or back. (I'm not sure that deleting the top binding is a good idea, esthetically or mechanically, but, hey, that's what the customer wants.) I expect to build his guitar by running the braces under the lining but not through the sides. Just an opinion.
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#44
05-23-2017, 10:17 AM
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Quote:
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#45
05-23-2017, 01:28 PM
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Pictures?
Of the guitar I built for myself with binding only on the front? I can post a couple of pictures in the next few days. Of the commission, with no binding at all, it will be a couple of months before I can post any pictures, as the guitar is early in it's construction (and I'm a painfully slow builder). But more interesting than the lack of binding will be the neck. It's from a Fender Mustang. Not only a narrow neck with a 24" scale, but attached to the body internally with only a ¼" thick external heel. Again, a requirement from the buyer who's been playing a Fender Mustang for 50 years and wants his new, acoustic guitar equipped with Ernie Ball Super Slinky (0.009"-0.042) strings. He says that he's too old to change his playing habits. 
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