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  #31  
Old 01-25-2018, 10:48 AM
printer2 printer2 is offline
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Even with the handsaw doing a fair job of cleaning up the bottom of the saddle slot there is no way it would be flat enough so the saddle sits on the bottom the whole length of the slot. My solution of not having a edged tool the right width and one that would machine the slot flat. Some angle iron from a bed frame gave up a piece of steel (actually is not iron) which I filed the right width and honed a sharp edge on it. I then had it stick out of the vice just enough to come into contact with the bottom of the saddle slot. I then lined up the slot with the tool and pushed the bridge the length of the slot. Took some effort but it cut a little curl of wood.



I marked the bottom of the slot with a pencil and took a few more runs at the tool raising it up a touch each time. With the pencil lines still showing I have a few more times to go.



The saddle fits pretty good and is tight enough that it won't fall out.



Because there is a radius on the guitar top the bridge needs to be radiused also to fit well. I used a blade to scrape the center section.



Once the bridge is close to shape we put sandpaper on the top where the bridge will sit and sand the top's shape into the bottom of the bridge. Things always glue up better if they fit well together.



Normally if a neck is bolted on the bolt is tightened on inside the box. But in doing that there must be a good mechanical connection between the bolt and the neck, that is not going to happen with a spruce neck as the fastener might just pull out of the wood with any kind of accidental rough treatment. It is better the screw bites into the plywood block while pulling the neck tight. A pilot hole for the screw, it was lined up in the center but the bit took the easy rout through the soft wood. No matter for what we need it to do.



Should have used the forsner bit first, oh well I got it done. Rather than use a wood screw which has a bevel at its base I will be using a machine screw which has a flat base beneath the head. We do not want the bevel to give the wood a reason to get spread apart and create a crack, not a lot of meat here.



Lined up the neck so it is lined up with the center of the guitar at the tail block. Clamped the neck solid and drilled a pilot hole through our hole and into the neck block.



Side dots in the neck. They want a fair amount for a few pieces of plastic as side markers. I picked up a roll of plastic rod for use in 3d printing, need to get metric drill bit for it. I dimpled the spot I needed the hole to be with the hammer and a finishing nail, it had a good point. Later used it to put the CA glue into the hole before the plastic went in. I bought some tubes at the Dollar store before and they were regular viscosity, seems now the only have the gel.



Filed them down flat with a fine file, looks alright.

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  #32  
Old 01-25-2018, 11:17 AM
flatwater flatwater is offline
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Default Nice thread!

Kick-*** project Fred!
As someone considering my first build (but not wanting to buy a shop full of specialty tools) I really appreciate your approach.
Also, I like the idea of 'getting over the first guitar hump'. I tend to get perfectionist pretty easily and building a 'learner' guitar might be a great way to get past that, make the process more fun.

Keep posting!
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  #33  
Old 01-26-2018, 12:55 PM
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Your side dots look great!

I tend to show pictures that tell how basic some of our tools are, too. Tim was raised by his dad that if you need or you want something, then you should build it. I was raised by my dad to know if you can't build it then you probably don't really need it. That helps us in many aspect of our business.

I promise you there is a guitar for every player and a player for every guitar. As someone who isn't a builder but is married to one, I don't let anything become scrap. I use mismatched and awkward items I may have messed up on the cut one way or another. I have decided these items are useful as they later become folk art because there are people who love the art for the originality.
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  #34  
Old 01-26-2018, 04:19 PM
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Fifteen years ago I sold my house and moved into a spare bedroom with my sister so I was not pressured into buying a house. I knew I would regret getting rid of a lot of stuff, it is hard for me to throw something out. As Mary says, you look at something and then figure out a use for it or see it having potential some time down the road. When I grew up we lived in the city but my parents had some property that we farmed on the weekend and like any farmer if something broke you fixed it. At 14 my brother and I could swap out an engine in a VW in half an hour.

It wasn't till my lat teens that I realized everybody and their kids fixed or built their own stuff. I never work on wood all that much other than make RC airplanes. Mind you their construction has some similarities to building guitars. Tooling and jigs will be something I want to work on yet but I do like building with a rough idea and winging it. Should be interesting what I will be making in a couple of years when I get my shop set up and get more experienced at finishing. Speaking of, the guitar is getting a few coats of wipe on poly, the compressor is out in the garage and things are somewhat frozen out there.
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  #35  
Old 01-26-2018, 04:56 PM
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Very practical and clever way to do a saddle slot. I'm looking forward to a video or sound clip of this one.
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  #36  
Old 01-26-2018, 06:40 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redir View Post
Very practical and clever way to do a saddle slot. I'm looking forward to a video or sound clip of this one.
I was trying to figure out how to get the bottom flat, thought about it for a couple of days. How do you keep the bridge and the tool offset on the same plane of the bottom? When it occurred to me I made the top of the bridge flat the idea came together. It was a little harder to push the bridge over the tool then I thought it would be. Had to use a block to push on the wing, not much purchase on a sliver of wood.

I'm wondering of my choice to leave the color of the wood as is. Seems a little bland where the mat finish of the wood without finish looked a little more interesting. I will have to look at the neck and the body together tomorrow, just put another coat on them.
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Old 01-28-2018, 05:07 PM
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Awe, if you truly are making this your most simplistic project because it is your first it is my opinion that it's fine to keep the wood in its natural state. It doesn't need glitz or depth in color. The oils in the players hands will contribute to the wear and tear. It will give you something to build on as an upgrade later.

I kind of like the basic rustic method of this build.
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  #38  
Old 01-28-2018, 05:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mary View Post
Awe, if you truly are making this your most simplistic project because it is your first it is my opinion that it's fine to keep the wood in its natural state. It doesn't need glitz or depth in color. The oils in the players hands will contribute to the wear and tear. It will give you something to build on as an upgrade later.

I kind of like the basic rustic method of this build.
This is my firs at doing things at a basic level like this, just hoping it will be inspiration for others that want to build but see us with all these tools at our disposal and think they can not do it. Better yet if they look at it ans say, 'I can do better than that'. I already put on the finish I was planning but I had a little drip/sag in the finish in the right upper bout. I scraped it down with a razor blade but I buffed it out and was not careful enough while I did it. I over heated the finish and it yellowed a little. I sanded it off and am giving that area a few more coats.

One of the things I want is a buffing wheel, thought I could fake it by using a palm sander with an old t-shirt. It actually did not do too bad, the picture doesn't show it that well. The maple fretboard looks great.

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  #39  
Old 01-29-2018, 07:45 AM
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You can go down to your auto parts store and buy a hand held buffer for like 30 bucks. Been using one for many many years. I'll never get a shine like on a factory Taylor but then I don't like that either and the hand buffer does a pretty good job.
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  #40  
Old 01-29-2018, 08:16 AM
charles Tauber charles Tauber is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by redir View Post
You can go down to your auto parts store and buy a hand held buffer for like 30 bucks. Been using one for many many years. I'll never get a shine like on a factory Taylor but then I don't like that either and the hand buffer does a pretty good job.
If one has an angle grinder, just adding a couple of sheep-skin bonnets will give results like a buffing wheel, but takes a bit of practice. That is an inexpensive alternative, as well.
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  #41  
Old 01-29-2018, 11:28 AM
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Heyyyy, this reminds me of when I was a kid. My dad owned a tree service and each time a big job came up he would hand wrap a 2 x 4 block of wood with a paper grocery bag around it to buff marks out scratches of his chain saw blade to make them shine. He felt it was more impressive to potential customers to see he took care of his equipment. Thus, he felt seeing him and his equipment clean they would be assured he would take great care of their plants, tree and lawns.

Of course, this shows my age as paper grocery bags were strong enough, rough enough and plentiful back in those days.
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  #42  
Old 01-30-2018, 09:15 AM
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I do have a car buffer that I used on one guitar. The idea of using an angle grinder, don't they spin rather fast? I was only using the palm sander as I thought the person that might be inspired to do something like this might have a sander and I was just showing it would work.

I lined up the tuners, everything fit. Pricked a hole in the wood and drove the screws in.



Thought I lost one of the tuner shaft covers, only five in the bag, so I put on another set which are shorter and very white. Later found the other cover and swapped them. In the shot just above is a crazy looking thing, I made a caul for the bridge area when there was no back on. The braces go between the squares of wood, when time comes to glue on the bridge the caul will be propped up with wood or if you have a long clamp that can get in.



Tried to figure out a foolproof way a new builder can put in frets with a normal hammer. The wire has an arc to it, I tapped in the ends enough that it would hold itself in place. One thing to do is put a little bevel on the slots with a file. It helps when you redo the frets, it reduces the the wood splitting and coming up when you pull the frets out.



I then took a piece of spruce and put it over the fret and gave it a good hit.



Did the middle section next, then the end. Sometime needed to go back and do the middle again and touch it up.



Just when everything seems to be going right things go wrong or so it seems. Being a softwood when I was putting in the frets I use two wedges and some cloth over top it to sit the neck on. It dented the wood, when I noticed and tried to do it a different way I somehow knocked off the end of the heel. It broke in two at the screw hole and came off, I glued it on as best I could. I scraped the finish on the neck where I dented it , made it damp and steamed them up with my clothes iron. Sanded it down and started refinishing it. Had some pictures but deleted them from the camera. Just one of those days.



I am not too confident in the glue holding the pieces together with my original plan to have the screw holding the neck on along with gluing the fretboard. I think I it would be best if I glue the heel to the body as well. I refinished the neck and should be gluing on the neck and bridge today.
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  #43  
Old 01-30-2018, 05:11 PM
M Hayden M Hayden is offline
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Maybe you could put a maple dowel in the heel of neck to hold the screw better?
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  #44  
Old 01-30-2018, 10:05 PM
charles Tauber charles Tauber is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by printer2 View Post
The idea of using an angle grinder, don't they spin rather fast?
About the same speed or less than buffing wheels.

Foam pads in a hand drill or drill press work acceptably. For a first home-made effort, with as few tools as possible, one could simply hand buff or hand sand with adequate results.
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  #45  
Old 01-31-2018, 10:42 AM
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It was suggested that I put a dowel down the heel also, I did not consider it before because it required a drill press, well maybe not if you have a good eye and a steady hand.



Looks like it might fit, now drill the rest of the way.



Trimmed the dowel and put a walnut heel cap on to pretty it up.



Filing the fret ends along the neck to get them all flat and next to the wood.



Had one slot that got away on me when I was cutting it. The fret barbs did not want to hold it down.



I use a fretboard guard to protect it from the file even though I ground down the bottom edge. I filed the edge of the fret starting at the base of the fret and as I stroked I rolled the file over to the crown of the fret. I had to do this two strokes per corner of the fret, not very good files. The luthier I got this one just does one swipe and he is done.



Clamped down the fret and wicked some thin CA into the slot.



I used a black marker and drew a line over the tops of all the frets. Then I ran the file over the tops lengthwise. You can see the high spots with no marker on them, keep going till the marker is gone.



Then I use a piece of man made stone that is used for counter tops and some 400 grit and sanded across the frets with the stone lengthwise. Normally the fretboard is taped off so it does not get dirty or marked up but, well this is not that kind of guitar.



I tried one of the cheap radiused crowning files you can buy. It sort of works, sort of. I then went over the frets with a fiber nail board to smooth and round off the crowns. These things are great for building and are cheap.



Took some 400 grit then 600 and then crocus cloth, not sure if it is called that other places. I have some 2000 grit cloth and this stuff seems finer. Really polishes metal up.

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