40th Anniversary Build

[harvl]

sorry for the delay in new pictures but I seem to be stuck in "pre-NAMM" mode for the next couple weeks...

[Mary]

Who dare call our Harv a slacker???

It's beautiful wood, Harvey.

[El Conquistador]

OK Harv,
NAMM is over. Time to get back to work! : )

Steve

[Jonathan Razo]

Harvey,

I was just informed by Jay that i have the matching set to the Quilted Mahogany set from "the tree" you are using in this build!

I will be very attentive to this thread to see how it turns out because i know for a fact that it will look spectacular!

Jonathan

[harvl]

Originally Posted by El Conquistador

OK Harv,
NAMM is over. Time to get back to work! : )

Steve

When I get back from NAMM I always have to clean my shop first... takes a week and lasts about 4hrs before it looks like a train wreck again... Should be sanding some parts next week though.

Harv

[John Osthoff]

Originally Posted by harvl

<snip> ... I have to clean my shop first... takes a week and lasts about 4hrs before it looks like a train wreck again... <snip> Harv

I know that scenerio quite well.

I look forward to seeing more progress on this.

[cpabolting]

Harv....we are all looking forward to seeing this move along

[harvl]

Since this guitar is really about unusual the wood...here is the fretboard I decided to go with...


The first step is to drill 2 locating holes in the underside of the fretboard... this is a overly elaborate jig for doing just that


This template will locate the fret slots, the notches along the far edge will mate with a pin on the saw, the 2 black pins will mate with the 2 holes just drilled


a little blurry but here you can see the brass pin that locates the template for each slot. The cuts are made on a small radial arm saw with a .022 kerf saw blade


The completed fretboard


Because this will be a Voyage Air the fret slot spacing between the 13th and 14th frets needs to be wider to allow for the cut that will later be made for the hinge.

[harvl]

By the way the fretboard is black ebony, not striped... it just hasn't been stained...

[harvl]

So I finished my clean up which ended up being a bit of a reorganization as well. The next thing I had to do was to build some new forms since I hadn't built a guitar with this particular shape since I reworked my system. Here are the new forms. The first one is obviously, the second is for cutting the sides to the correct length every time. Now I have no excuses but to start bending some wood....

[El Conquistador]

Cool. Can't wait to see the progress.

Steve

[harvl]

I wanted to do something for the rosette that was original and yet held some significance to my building career. I wanted to use maple because it represents where I started, Vermont. The question was what to pair it with... then it dawned on me... where I want to end up after I retire... sitting on a beach somewhere (warm) so the only logical choice was black palm!!!

First the pattern is laid out, 2 circles divided in 6 equal parts using the radius of the outer circle. Next arcs are drawn from these points using the radius of the inner circle


Next small pilot holes are drilled at the 12:00, 4:00, 8:00 and 10:00 points


small finish nials are hammered into the pilot holes and the heads cut off


Using the nails as pivot points a router cuts the arcs



The process is repeated to create patterns for both sections of the rosette.


Finally the arcs are widened for the flush trim bit that will be used to cut the sections

[Mary]

Very interesting. I like unique rosettes. You intrigue your fans, Harv.

[cpabolting]

Harvey's work is always so meticulous... and working with him now on a build he is so great with communication. Looking forward to getting mine done!

[JoeCharter]

I'm in line for a custom Leach myself...

Looking good, Harvey. It reassures me that you've been building instruments for longer than I've been breathing!