Pair of 12F Modified Dreads for Jack - Videos Added

[Kenneth Casper]

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

Hey Ken, they're looking great so far. Very clean and precise work.
The gluing caul (we call ours "donuts") with the built-in cutaway caul is a brilliant idea. Thanks for that!

Steve

Thanks Steve, and you are welcome for the idea! I hadn't made a caul for this new modified dread yet and ended up using the one I had for my Huron model. Different profiles but close enough I could make it work until I get around to making one.

Ken

[Kenneth Casper]

The red spruce guitar needed some work to catch up. I got linings on the rims, braced and carved the top and backs, and this morning, closed the box. I am not posting pictures as the process was basically identical to what I posted on the Engelmann build. After routing off the overhanging spruce, I level sanded the rims, so both bodies are now ready for binding. Here are a few pictures of the two bodies:





Enjoy the day!

Ken

[Nemoman]

These are looking great!

Love the looks of that adi top too!

[Kenneth Casper]

Originally Posted by Nemoman

These are looking great!

Love the looks of that adi top too!

Thanks Nemo. Nice to have the boxes closed. Btw, that red spruce top along with the engelmann top are going to get hand rubbed bursts prior to shooting lacquer.

My wife and I are off to warmer climes for several days, so the shop will be idle. I'm at a good stopping point, though. I'll pick up with binding when I get back

Ken

[Kenneth Casper]

About time I post an update to these two builds. Nice to be back in the shop again after some time away. I am sure Jack is glad to see progress being made again.

I previously made up some wenge bindings for these two guitars. Wenge has a lot of figure when flat sawn. The quartersawn face has grain lines that run tightly parallel to one another. I want the quartersawn face to be the wider edge of the binding.

Flatsawn face:


Quartersawn face:




A fist full of wenge binding:


Because we are using osage orange purflings, these need to be bent along with the binding strips. I tightly tape the binding and purfling together so the purfling strips don't roll when bending. I then run the taped up binding and purfling through my bender:


I cut the binding and purfling channels using my laminate trimmer, which is mounted to a jig that keeps the trimmer straight. I put the Engelmann body in a carrier that allows me to level the body so the rims are 90 degrees to the table surface:


The laminate trimmer does a good job at cutting the channels, but I still use a small sanding block to clean up the channels and run a scraper around the inside corners:


I test fit the binding and purfling prior to gluing in:


I like to move quickly when gluing in the binding and purfling, so I cut miters and butt joints and pre-cut pieces of binding tape. With everything laid out, I am ready to go:


I start at the tail graft and work my way around one side of the soundboard, gluing and taping as I go. When one side is done, I repeat the process with the other side. Once the top binding and purfling are taped in, I wrap the entire body with twill tape to pull all the joints in tight:


I got the back bindings on the Engelmann body this afternoon as well as the top bindings on the red spruce body. Tomorrow I should finish up binding and will start leveling. I'll post more pix when get both bodies done.

Thanks for following along.

Ken

[Kenneth Casper]

I finished binding and got both guitars leveled and sanded. I work very meticulously to get nice tight joints, but I am never really certain how well I did until I level and sand. It is sort of like an unveiling. No issues with these as the joints and seams are tight with nice straight lines. The osage orange really pops under some mineral spirits.

Others have mentioned, and I believe I have before as well. Being a luthier gives me a chance to work with some really nice woods. I admit I do get a bit of a rush after the bodies are bound, purfled, and sanded, and I swab them with mineral spirits to pop the color and grain.

Enjoy the pix and thanks for dropping by! The third guitar is a cherry Huron. I slipped it in to get pictures of all three bodies I have been working on.

Ken

[Lonzo]

Magnificent woods and just beautiful guitars.
I also like the color combos of wood purfling and binding!

[GeoffStGermaine]

Kenneth - gorgeous instruments. The bound bodies look absolutely fantastic!

[Nemoman]

Originally Posted by GeoffStGermaine

Kenneth - gorgeous instruments. The bound bodies look absolutely fantastic!

What Geoff said--these look wonderful!

The osage orange was a great choice to set things off.

[Kenneth Casper]

Thanks for jumping in and sharing the nice comments!

Originally Posted by Lonzo

Magnificent woods and just beautiful guitars.
I also like the color combos of wood purfling and binding!

Lonzo, Always nice when the woods come together as hoped!

Originally Posted by GeoffStGermaine

...gorgeous instruments. The bound bodies look absolutely fantastic!

Geoff, We are well on our way!

Originally Posted by Nemoman

...The osage orange was a great choice to set things off

Nemo, Osage orange is my most requested custom purfling. It pairs very well with the darker woods.

[Steve Kinnaird]

Wow, Ken, those look fabulous. That wee strip of Osage looks electric under the mineral spirits. What a nice touch!

Steve

[memphis1]

Absolutely stunning wood on these!!

[mountainguitar]

Your work is so beautiful, Ken! These are turning into gorgeous guitars!

I played my Casper Huron yesterday- what a beautiful instrument.... I still just love to look at her. And the playability is excellent and the tone is continuing to open up.

I'm looking forward to continuing to check in on what you're up to in that Michigan workshop! Thanks for sharing with us!

beth

[Kenneth Casper]

Originally Posted by Steve Kinnaird

Wow, Ken, those look fabulous. That wee strip of Osage looks electric under the mineral spirits. What a nice touch!

Steve

Appreciate that Steve. As you very well know, those little details can sometimes really make the difference.

Originally Posted by memphis1

Absolutely stunning wood on these!!

Yes Memphis, we found some nice wood for this pair. Thank you.

Originally Posted by BMH1

I'm looking forward to continuing to check in on what you're up to in that Michigan workshop! Thanks for sharing with us!

Beth! How is your shoulder doing? You must be doing better if you are playing again. Happy to hear that beautiful Huron is enjoying some time outside the case. You are always so complementary, so I love seeing you chime in

Happy to have you all following along!

Ken

[Kenneth Casper]

With the bodies done, I started working on the necks. I had previously glued up the neck blanks of mahogany and wenge laminates. I typically build my necks using five laminations with the two narrower laminations fanning out over the heel. This was my approach with these two necks as well.

I do not plan to start a debate on hand carved vs CNC milled necks. I'll just say my CNC is a great help in my one man shop and allows me to get very repeatable neck profiles.

First thing I do is mill a slot for the truss rod then flip the blank over to mill the heel, profile, and back of headstock:


I cut the face of the headstock on my bandsaw then clean it up on the belt sander:


I use a bolt on mortise and tenon neck. The mortise and tenon are cut using a jig that takes into account the needed angle for the neck joint:


I installed a pair of barrel nuts in each tenon and drilled matching holes in the neck block for the bolts to pass through to the barrel nuts in the tenon. Prior to routing the heel tenon, I wicked super glue into a few key areas of the neck heel to minimize tearout. You can see this in the image below. This will all be cleaned up when I final shape and sand the neck after the fingerboard is on:


The neck needs to be hand fitted with a chisel and sandpaper to ensure a nice tight fit:


Looking like guitars now! Enjoy the weekend!

Ken