Guitar Build #2

[Neil K Walk]

It must be a sickness because I'm not even done with my first, but I decided to start saving up materials for build #2:



Pictured are:
- Carpathian spruce top
- east Indian rosewood back & sides
- CNC Martin style short scale neck with V-shaped neck profile
- east Indian rosewood faceplate veneer for the headstock







My intent is to build a dreadnought with these materials. Because I think I may have bitten off more than I could chew with my first build I wanted to do something a little simpler, plus it will be essentially replacing my old lawsuit Takamine F360 that is pretty much dead as a doornail because I tried to repair it - though I haven't given up hope. I figure that for luthery repair skills are probably more marketable than building skills.

Rounding out the unpictured and yet-to-be obtained materials:
- laminated birch plywood tail block (check)
- sitka spruce bracing (yet to decide whether to go with 4 billets or just acquire pre-shaped braces)
- osage orange bridge plate (as with my first)
- basswood reverse kerfing
- mahogany head block pre-routed for dovetail neck joint
- serviced streaked ebony 24.9" scale fingerboard
- preshaped streaked ebony Martin-style belly bridge
- D-28 style center strip
- spruce reinforcing strip
- quilted mahogany body binding
- Gotoh nickle Sta-Tite open-back tuning machines

[mb propsom]

My advice regarding the braces: Jump into the deep end, Pilgrim! Get the billets and make your own. Also, on guitar #3 you must carve your own neck! Part of the reward of this craft is taking risks. Of course, this is just my opinion. Do what you want, and enjoy yourself.

[Neil K Walk]

Thanks, Michael! I appreciate the sentiments. Patience is a vritue that I'm learning slowly. To be truthful, on #1 I did indeed split a billet and carve the braces as well as gluing up a laminated neck and carving it with hand tools and a sanding strap. Both steps were quite satisfying but since I'm a hobbyist with a long honey do list my first has taken nearly 3 years so I guess I'm just being impatient.

Still, on my first I started by making molds and bending forms and literally did two of everything. For this one I'm using a spare birch plywood tail block and I also have several pieces of a laminated neck blank that just need to be glued together and carved.

[bigsnaketex]

Carving the braces and especially the neck IS building the guitar! Jump in!!

[Dru Edwards]

First, best of luck with build #1. Build # 2 sounds exciting ... and we're already discussing build #3.

Seriously though, the sets look great!! Did you already have most of the tools or did you have to buy most of them?

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by Dru Edwards

First, best of luck with build #1. Build # 2 sounds exciting ... and we're already discussing build #3.

Seriously though, the sets look great!! Did you already have most of the tools or did you have to buy most of them?

Thanks, Dru!

I have minimal tools, I'm afraid. Kitchen Guitars let me use all his power tools but it's gotten even harder for me to get over there so I'm exploring my options. Last time I used his jointer table, large band saw, gobar deck as well as storage in a properly-humidified space. What I need to do is:

1: make a shooting board and a cheap no. 5 bench plane to joint the plates
2: notch a spare blade for that #5 bench plane to do the thicknessing
3: acquire a basic circle cutter for my Dremel
4: use my 9" Ryobi bandsaw to pre-profile the sides prior to bending
5: use a cold chisel to spilt the billets and bandsaw to rough-shape them
6: use my own homemade gobar deck to do the glue-ups

I haven't begun to consider how I'm going to do the binding. I don't expect to get to that point until well until next year.

As for #3, I'm hoping to solicit a couple of friends (who I play with in my church's praise band) to build one for each of them. I trust both of them so I'll be happy to let them borrow my first. I've already shown them both the work in progress and they seem impressed, but neither have the budget or experience to have even looked at anything over the $500 range. After that my 5yo son has asked me to build him one - though he wants an electric. That's going to be a few years off though.

BTW, getting back to #2 here I'm trying to see if there's an equivalent out there. The HD-28V has 25.4" scale. Are there any vintage-style rosewood dreads out there in short scale?

[Neil K Walk]

OK, I hate to hijack my own thread but this is killing me. It appears that I have a neck for an OM-28V but I want to do a dreadnought. As such, I may have to alter the bracing by shifting it forward. Has any builder (either large or small) made such a critter? I'm wondering what that would do for tone and how tricky it would be for a noob like me to emulate?

[dekutree64]

So you have a long scale neck and a short scale fingerboard? If so, just buy or make a proper neck for it. Otherwise the joining fret will be off, and it's just not worth it to compromise when you haven't even started yet.

But you certainly can do a short scale dread. Gibson makes 'em all the time. Just make sure you get good overlap of the bridge wings and X brace, and scoot the rest of the braces around until they look evenly distributed.

[Neil K Walk]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. The neck is 1/2" shorter than the neck on my D-16GT. I have no fingerboard to use at this point. I will be purchasing a serviced one to match this neck.

[fetellier]

The heel and dove tail on a OM neck is shorter than D to go with the body depth. You can always do a D that has OM depth, they work fine and have a good sound if done right. I am soon doing a Dreadnought with OM depth plus 1/4" and your neck and block should handle that or even a bit more.

As to all the advice you are getting from the forum, progress at your own pace. I get a kick out of many who slam another builder for using CNC cut necks, bridges etc. then send out their guitars for finishing and call them their own creation. It is about sound and playability not what you means use to get there.

[Neil K Walk]

It's only slightly less in height at the heel so I can always build up on it. Besides, I'm really not interested in building a shallow dreadnought anyway. In fact, I want it to be big with forward-shifted bracing that will be necessary anyway to compensate for the shorter scale length.

BTW, on another thread in the general section someone mentioned that the Collings DS2HA is short scale. I liked its appointments a lot - though there are some things that I'd do differently - such as heringbone in the rosette only and just BWB purfling. It's got an elongated body though but I think I should be OK sticking with a standard square-shouldered dread.

[Neil K Walk]

I tried an HD-28V at the local Guitar Center the other day. I really liked the tone and appointments so I may mimic that, particularly the diamond fretboard inlays, butterbean tuners, grained ivoroid binding and white pins with tortoiseshell dots. IIRC it's still a 25.4" scale though.