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  #61  
Old 12-21-2018, 07:16 AM
FPerezRoig FPerezRoig is offline
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Thanks!
Look what I just built, not very professional, but seems to work just fine.





It's a tube made of inox steel with a 200w halogen bulb and ceramic socket inside, mounted on a piece of spruce.

Still have to practice a little before bending the real sides of the guitar. ¿How much do you soak rosewood before bending? I tried with a piece of RW I got, and sprayed it generously with water on both sides, then started bending and when the wood dried, sprayed again , continued bending and so on until the wood was bent to the desired angle.

Seemed to work fine, but it wasn't a quick task.
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  #62  
Old 12-21-2018, 10:28 AM
BradHall BradHall is offline
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From advice I learned here I put a folded paper towel, the blue shop type, on the pipe. I spray water on the towel and move the sides over it, respraying as it steams off. I wonder if your pipe might be more effective if you closed the open end and just lest a vent hole.
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  #63  
Old 12-21-2018, 11:08 AM
FPerezRoig FPerezRoig is offline
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Thanks Bradhall,
Maybe the picture is misleading but the pipe is closed. The second pic I uploaded only to show what is there in the inside.

We don't have this blue paper towels here in Spain, hope normal kitchen paper towel will do just fine.
I'll give it a try!!

Fran
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  #64  
Old 12-22-2018, 10:52 AM
printer2 printer2 is offline
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I use a shop rag on the pipe, I think the important part is the blue color though.



Yes it is not necessarily a fast process but you do get better with more practice.
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  #65  
Old 12-22-2018, 11:52 AM
FPerezRoig FPerezRoig is offline
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Hehehe I ended up using a wet kitchen rag, spanish yellow , and only sprayed but a little water on the wood. I bent this so far:



Unfortunately, I messed things up a little, this is proving to be a real challenge.



I got this crack on a couple places, always on the edge of the wood. I might be able to save the side, though, don't you think? By gluing with cyanocrylate after the whole side is bent. At the end of the day, the edge of the sides is going to be routed to house the binding.

Why could be the cause of these cracks? To be honest, I'm guessing the pipe is not getting hot enough, and that is the reason why I'm better not wetting the wood to much, and it takes that long to being able to start bending.

I'm placing the hot pipe vertically, and looking at Fred's picture, it seems like a better idea to place it horizontally, in order to keep the sides perpendicular to the pipe. Thanks for that!

Fran

Last edited by FPerezRoig; 12-22-2018 at 11:59 AM.
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  #66  
Old 12-22-2018, 12:28 PM
JonWint JonWint is offline
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How thick is it?

Looks twice too thick.
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  #67  
Old 12-22-2018, 12:57 PM
FPerezRoig FPerezRoig is offline
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It's 2.5mm thick, around 0.098 inch.
Is it too thick? My plans state 2.2mm for the sides, so I made them a tad thicker so it ended up 2.2mm after sanding etc.
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  #68  
Old 12-22-2018, 01:16 PM
JonWint JonWint is offline
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I just checked some thicknessed RW I have from Martin which is 0.065" and 0.075".
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  #69  
Old 12-22-2018, 01:42 PM
BradHall BradHall is offline
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Yes, thicker wood, and especially high oil content wood like EIR, are more prone to cracking along grain lines. Not enough heat, bending too quickly with too much force make it more likely. Once you get a few under your belt it becomes easier to let the wood tell you how much pressure is needed. I find bending over a pipe one of the most enjoyable parts of the build ( most of the time). Certain woods like Maroke just don't cooperate with me.
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  #70  
Old 12-22-2018, 02:30 PM
FPerezRoig FPerezRoig is offline
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Cheers mates,
I'll swap the 200w bulb to a more powerful one, and see if it helps.
Guess I just need some patience and practice to get this right.

In case I mess the sides up completely, I'll thickness the next sides somewhat thinner to make work easier.

Fran
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  #71  
Old 01-16-2019, 08:44 AM
FPerezRoig FPerezRoig is offline
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Hi! The guitar is coming along nicely. With the top and back finished, and sides bent I decided to start with the neck.
Wondered if you could shed some light on this... please!!

I feel like I'm cheating a little, for I ordered a precarved neck and slotted fingerboard from lmii to make things easier.



The neck specs are:

14 frets to body
24.9" scale length
Width at the nut - 1.875"
Width at 14th fret - 2.3"

Started shaping the headstock with success.
However, I would like to mod my neck to 1 11/16 inch nut width, 2 1/8 inch witdh at 12th fret... Is this feasible? What would be the preferred way to do th¡s? I would probably have to buy some tools for this, and want to make sure I get the right ones.

There are some holes drilled on the fingerboard side of the neck. What is the purpose of these holes? They look too big to be used with some pins drilled through the fret slots while gluing the fingerboard in place.

On the other hand, this is the fingerboard I ordered:



Scale Length: 24.9" scale length
Number of Fret Slots: 20 fret slots
Radius: 16" radius

From Lmii : "The boards are slotted with a nut slot offset to correct for fret saw blade kerf for compensation purposes so that the bridge edge of the slot is at true zero. "

I can't understand what they actually mean... Are they referring to the extra piece of fingerboard before the first slot? Should I remove this? I read a little about true-zero nut slots, but I'm not sure I understand how things work here.
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  #72  
Old 01-16-2019, 09:18 AM
ruby50 ruby50 is offline
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You will get more answers, and, as usual, ask 10 luthiers a question and you will get 11 answers, but here is my take.

From Lmii : "The boards are slotted with a nut slot offset to correct for fret saw blade kerf for compensation purposes so that the bridge edge of the slot is at true zero. "

For the fret slots at, say .022" wide, the center of the slot is the point where the string touches the top of the fret, so the edges of the slot are each .011" from that point. At the nut, the cut is moved a bit long so that the center of the old slot is now the edge of the new slot where the nut starts.

As for carving - mount the fretboard with the pins thorough the fret slots so you can always get it on in the same place repeatably. Some glue it on and work to it. Making a template out of clear plexiglass scraps from the hardware store, or even s shirt cardboard, helps get the right shape - make one for the first fret and for the 9th-11th fret depending on how many frets clear you will be using. There is plenty of guidance on the innerweb on duplicating a neck you have.

Since the nut and 12th fret width are only a little wide and there will be very little work to do to take it all down to your spec, perhaps a course file, followed by a scraper would be all you need. Always start in the center to get the thickness right, then when it is straight from end to end, draw a pencil line down it and don't ever remove that pencil line. I find it easiest to draw pencil lines down the length of the neck where I will be shaping the sides to help figure out where I am removing wood - work a little, then redraw the lines while leaving that center line. Try working with facets - flat surfaces - down the length of the neck to get close with the file, then just a little file work between facets to more round it, then some scraper work followed by sandpaper held in the palm of the hand.

Good luck

Ed

Last edited by ruby50; 01-16-2019 at 09:30 AM.
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  #73  
Old 01-16-2019, 09:34 AM
JonWint JonWint is offline
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Ed's description is how I understand it. You can convince yourself by measuring from bridge-side edge of slot to center of 1st fret slot and comparing to the calculated distance.
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  #74  
Old 01-16-2019, 10:00 AM
charles Tauber charles Tauber is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ruby50 View Post
You will get more answers, and, as usual, ask 10 luthiers a question and you will get 11 answers, but here is my take.

From Lmii : "The boards are slotted with a nut slot offset to correct for fret saw blade kerf for compensation purposes so that the bridge edge of the slot is at true zero. "

For the fret slots at, say .022" wide, the center of the slot is the point where the string touches the top of the fret, so the edges of the slot are each .011" from that point. At the nut, the cut is moved a bit long so that the center of the old slot is now the edge of the new slot where the nut starts.
Another way of stating it is as follows. The saw cuts are placed at the centre of the fret positions. If the same is done for the end of the fingerboard, centering the saw cut on the zero position, the fingerboard will be shortened by 1/2 the saw cut, .011". LMII has moved the saw cut for the nut so that the edge, rather than the centre, of the saw cut is at zero.

Many makers, large and small, do not do that. Instead using that .011" shortening of the distance from nut to first fret as a small amount of nut compensation. That is my preference. Some makers shorten that distance by as much as .030" or so to provide greater compensation at the nut. Some will compensate each string at the nut as each string dictates, rather than a uniform amount. That produces a stepped compensated nut.
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  #75  
Old 01-18-2019, 08:38 AM
FPerezRoig FPerezRoig is offline
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Thank you guys!
Now I understand

I'm installing the truss rod as we speak, and will start carving the neck really soon.
I've got average sized hands with not very thin fingers and like to use my thumb a lot to fret the E string , what neck profile would you recommend ?? I'm thinking about a modified low oval, but I'm no expert ... is it a good choice with a 1 11/16 neck? My current acoustic is a Lakewood M14, whose neck feels too thick and wide for my taste, which is the main reason why I'd like to sell it. I'm probably too used to fender electric guitars and would love a neck that feels somehow like an electric.

Last edited by FPerezRoig; 01-18-2019 at 08:47 AM.
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