Bounsall build: curly walnut 00 and sapele dreadnought

[Andy Bounsall]

Progress update: time to make some necks. A Birdseye maple neck for the curly walnut 00 and a Spanish cedar neck for the sapele dreadnought. A third walnut neck seen here is for a future build.

Gluing up the headstock scarf joint.
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Neck laid out.
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Truss rod jig attached to the neck.
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Routing truss rod channel.
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Piloted reamer used to create space for truss rod adjustment end.
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Test fit the truss rod.
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Routing a neck mortise in the body.
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Routing a tenon in the neck.
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Neck joint mortises and tenons.
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Two dowels let into each neck. One through the tenon to give mounting hardware something extra to bite into. The other though the heel helps to reinforce it.
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[Andy Bounsall]

My apologies to folks who’ve been trying to follow this thread for the mysteriously disappearing photos. I think I’ve got that solved now.

[Andy Bounsall]

Progress update. Making fretboards for the sapele dreadnought and walnut 00.

Cutting fret slots.
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Drilling for marker dots.
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Cutting wooden markers with a plug cutter.
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Birdseye maple markers in an ebony fretboard.
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MOP markers in a cocobolo fretboard.
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Chamfer the top edge of each fret slot. Helps prevent chip out when a refret is eventually needed in the future.
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Cocobolo fretboard for the sapele dreadnought. Ebony fretboard with walnut binding for the walnut 00.
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[Andy Bounsall]

Progress update: fitting the neck and doing the bound headstock.

Installing neck mounting hardware.
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Fitting heel-to-body joint.
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Checking neck-body alignment.
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Shaping the headstock.
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Gluing up book matched head plates.
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Head plate installed and binding channel cut.
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Headstock done. Truss rod installed. Ready for fretboard.
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[Rmouton]

I love the self centering jig for the fretboard markers! Where can a fella get one of those?

[Andy Bounsall]

Originally Posted by Rmouton

I love the self centering jig for the fretboard markers! Where can a fella get one of those?

See here - https://elevatelutherie.com/product/dot-locator/

[gstring]

Hi Andy

I love this stage of the build. Seeing it all come together makes me start thinking of ways to tell my wife I need another Bounsall guitar.

daniel

[Guitars44me]

Looking sweet! And the pics all worked for me just now. I re-read the entire thread.

My guess is the CF rods to stiffen the box allow you to lighten up the top bracing a bit to get more sound out of the upper bouts???
Upper bouts being notorious for not making much of the music…

Very tasty!

Paul

[Andy Bounsall]

Originally Posted by gstring

Hi Andy

I love this stage of the build. Seeing it all come together makes me start thinking of ways to tell my wife I need another Bounsall guitar.

daniel

Would love to build you something, Daniel. Maybe a small body…0 or 00?

[Andy Bounsall]

Originally Posted by Guitars44me

Looking sweet! And the pics all worked for me just now. I re-read the entire thread.

My guess is the CF rods to stiffen the box allow you to lighten up the top bracing a bit to get more sound out of the upper bouts???
Upper bouts being notorious for not making much of the music…

Very tasty!

Paul

Thanks Paul. Stiffening the upper end of the box with the CF bars doesn’t really affect how I brace the top. Their purpose is to resist the long term tendency of the neck block to rotate inwards under string tension. I have a different design with no central sound hole that makes use of lighter bracing to get more of the top vibrating and producing sound.

[colins]

Originally Posted by Guitars44me

Looking sweet! And the pics all worked for me just now. I re-read the entire thread.

My guess is the CF rods to stiffen the box allow you to lighten up the top bracing a bit to get more sound out of the upper bouts???
Upper bouts being notorious for not making much of the music…

Very tasty!

Paul

I just re-read it too! Love that cocobolo fretboard .

[Andy Bounsall]

Things conspired to keep me out of the workshop for a while but glad to say I’m back now with a progress update…fretboards attached and neck profiles carved.

Fretboards attached to birdseye maple and Spanish cedar necks.
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Neck profile shaped with various rasps and files, then sanded smooth.
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Neck shaping complete: top view…
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…bottom view.
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[Andy Bounsall]

Progress update: bridges and truss rod covers are the last items to be made. Except for a few items that need a bit of cleanup, this marks the end of the fabrication stage for these two guitars. Finishing stage will be next.

Bridges and truss rod covers made.
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Locating bridge to mask its footprint.
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Fingerboard extension and bridge footprints masked off.
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[Treenewt]

Looking good Andy!

[Andy Bounsall]

Progress update: the finish stage has begun. A couple of coats of ultra blonde shellac to seal the wood followed by pore filling the walnut and sapele with epoxy. The side benefit of the epoxy is that it really pops the figure and enhances the woods chatoyance.

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