The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Build and Repair

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #16  
Old 09-30-2016, 02:21 PM
SnowManSnow SnowManSnow is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 598
Default

well, my brain hurts
I just spent the last 5 hours talking with and watching someone cut out a top / match, cut out, and bend sides, and surface sand everything to thickness.

great stuff.

I do have Cumpiano's book on order, and I'm headed back to the shop next Friday to continue watching and talking about the same build.

He also suggested a kit for a first build, and i do understand the WHY to kit vs non kit.

So, if I go that direction what would be a good first kit selection ? Suggestion ?
Again, thanks to all
Reply With Quote
  #17  
Old 09-30-2016, 05:20 PM
printer2 printer2 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Dec 2012
Location: Middle of Canada
Posts: 5,098
Default

Well thought of.

http://www.bluescreekguitars.com/
__________________
Fred
Reply With Quote
  #18  
Old 10-03-2016, 11:31 AM
Rodger Knox Rodger Knox is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Baltimore, Md.
Posts: 2,431
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by printer2 View Post
No direct experience with his kits, but John is a great guy and an excellent builder and repair person, he really knows what he's doing. I'll recommend his kits on that basis.
__________________
Rodger Knox, PE
1917 Martin 0-28
1956 Gibson J-50
et al
Reply With Quote
  #19  
Old 10-03-2016, 12:30 PM
SnowManSnow SnowManSnow is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 598
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rodger Knox View Post
No direct experience with his kits, but John is a great guy and an excellent builder and repair person, he really knows what he's doing. I'll recommend his kits on that basis.


I did speak w John on the phone. He knew the guy who is helping me along on this first build and gave him a call to discuss what was the best option for me at this juncture.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply With Quote
  #20  
Old 10-08-2016, 07:16 PM
SnowManSnow SnowManSnow is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 598
Default

I don't have any "guitar things" yet, but I'm trying to get some tools made.
Here is a Gobar deck I made
It is a bit taller than the ones you order, but much higher than this and inexperienced some wobbly"ness" stacks of 2x2 3/4 ply can get heavy




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply With Quote
  #21  
Old 10-10-2016, 11:32 AM
SnowManSnow SnowManSnow is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 598
Default

Hi Roger
Yes. I'm currently reading through the book ... actually now haha
good basic stuff. I agree.

A tool update:
I have a REALLY big work table on one side of the building that is HEAVY. It has been there since the build of the shop, but the plywood top is really rough and dinged heavily with years of use.

What I did, was make a 2x2 station on one end.
Basically I realize there will be different items that will need to be eventually, some way.. attached to the table, but I cant easily get UNDER or AROUND it, and there isn't a clamping edge.

SO what I did was take a long 3/4 thick by 2" wide strip and cut it so that I had "fences" that a 3/4 2x2 will slip in and out of. There are 2 sides and a back that are attached to the table.

This way I can affix whatever jigs / tools I need to seperate 2x2 ply boards and simply slip them in and out of the fence to keep them from twisting.



Again thank you for all your advice on this first build.
I don't even HAVE the kit yet... but I've decided on an OM build.
Reply With Quote
  #22  
Old 10-20-2016, 06:04 PM
SnowManSnow SnowManSnow is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 598
Default

I suppose it's time for an update.
I have the back and front braced. I also have kerfing on.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply With Quote
  #23  
Old 10-21-2016, 06:19 AM
emmsone emmsone is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 525
Default

Looking good
Did you go with a kit build in the end? and if you did, which one did you go with and what came with it?
Reply With Quote
  #24  
Old 10-21-2016, 03:24 PM
SnowManSnow SnowManSnow is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 598
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by emmsone View Post
Looking good
Did you go with a kit build in the end? and if you did, which one did you go with and what came with it?
went with a martin hog and spruce build OM 18.
comes with the wood and stuff to finish the guitar. All the jigs and molds and such have to be bought or made.

---

Went back to my builder friends place today and.. after deep depression of looking at his work and remembering what mine looks like I'm ready to go back in tomorrow morning haha.
Reply With Quote
  #25  
Old 11-05-2016, 06:05 PM
SnowManSnow SnowManSnow is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 598
Default

It's been a while since I posted so ...



Binding is coming in this next week so I can get busy with that

So yes building a guitar is hard... But so far my most challenging issues have been dealing w not having the right tools... Trying to use something else, then having to buy what I should have had in the first place and fix it haha.

Over a VERY enjoyable experience!
My next big thing will be joining the neck getting the angles right and so fort.

I HOPE this works out since I used radius disks from the beginning. The top has a 28" radius, but the front of the neck bout was sanded flat ....w the back of the disk. In theory this should give me the three desirable regions of the top.

Here's the workspace I've been working on / in lots of clean up to go... But it's slowly becoming more "guitar friendly".



More details / pics soon ...
Can't wait to install binding looking forward to the challenge/ what I'll learn.
(I'm certain there will be more notes on my log pad of what didn't work / what did work / remember to do this" haha


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply With Quote
  #26  
Old 11-06-2016, 12:47 AM
Neil K Walk Neil K Walk is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Pittsburgh suburbs
Posts: 8,309
Default

It's turning out great!
__________________
(2006) Larrivee OM-03R, (2009) Martin D-16GT, (1998) Fender Am Std Ash Stratocaster, (2013) McKnight McUke, (1989) Kramer Striker ST600, a couple of DIY builds (2013, 2023)
Reply With Quote
  #27  
Old 11-06-2016, 03:33 AM
emmsone emmsone is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Switzerland
Posts: 525
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnowManSnow View Post
... But so far my most challenging issues have been dealing w not having the right tools... Trying to use something else, then having to buy what I should have had in the first place and fix it haha.
100% spot on. From whats going on in my project at the moment I could have written this quote myself!

It looks to be coming along quite nicely though and at a good speed.
I like the look of your workspace, I'd love a space like that!! I'm doing mine in a public access workshop but its only open a few hours a day so if you can't get there when its open you can't do any work.
Reply With Quote
  #28  
Old 11-06-2016, 09:02 AM
charles Tauber charles Tauber is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 8,381
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by SnowManSnow View Post
But so far my most challenging issues have been dealing w not having the right tools... Trying to use something else, then having to buy what I should have had in the first place and fix it haha.
It is quite possible to build state of the art guitars using little more than a modest workbench, a few chisels, a hand plane, a scraper, a few files, a handful of clamps, a straight edge and a bottle of glue. The catch is that one needs to develop skill in using those simple tools and applying them to a variety of tasks.

The earliest English language guitar making books, such as Sloane's and Cumpiano's and others, used almost entirely hand tools and simple processes.

The guitar, itself, hasn't changed all that much in the last 40 years. However, clever people have implemented newer methods and tools, ranging from hollow dishes and vacuum clamping to CNC machining and robotic-applied UV-cured finishes. Some of these have been implemented to improve production quantities in factory settings, while others for the purposes of making things quicker and/or easier, and sometimes, reduce variability. There is no question, for example, that thinning exotic hardwoods is faster and easier using a thickness sander, but it can just as effectively be done using a hand plane and a scraper, if you know how to sharpen them and use them.

Beginning makers, these days, often seem to get wrapped-up in the need for all of the latest "high-tech" advancements in tools and technology, despite that fact that people have been making high quality instruments for centuries using simple hand tools and a few forms. All the rest are "nice-to-have", might make things easier, but are not essential: gauged fret files come to mind, as just one example.

The "right" tool is the one that you can use to do the job well. The beginning guitar maker, who often has little "manufacturing" and/or woodworking experience, often chooses to buy a specialized tool for each process step, rather than develop the woodworking tool skills to do the job with simpler tools. The assumption is often that it is possible to make a high-quality guitar - primarily a woodworking project - while having little in the way of woodworking skills. If one can buy the necessary specialized tools to perform each operation, one can largely circumvent the need for woodworking skills, while still producing a guitar of acceptable quality.

I can well understand people wanting to make their own guitars without having to get side-tracked in first developing the basic woodworking skills necessary to do so. However, it does rather remind me of someone wanting to make a soufflé without knowing how to separate an egg yolk from its whites: perhaps there is a specialized tool that one can buy for that step.

My point is not to be critical of those wanting to make their own guitars, or the skills they bring with them to do so. Instead, it is just a reminder that one really doesn't need a lot of tools to make a fine guitar. The PID-controlled side bender, the vacuum clamping frame/go bar deck, dishes, gauged fret files, fancy binding ledge cutter and the many other tools are nice to have, but not essential for a first-time builder who might not make more than one instrument.

Last edited by charles Tauber; 11-06-2016 at 09:13 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #29  
Old 11-06-2016, 10:34 AM
SnowManSnow SnowManSnow is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Posts: 598
Default

I completely agree. But at the same time a chisel isn't a chisel is a chisel. If you're going to carve braces, it's REALLY hard to use a stump splitter
A lot of the tools at my disposal have been rusted/ broken/ and so forth.
I realize skill w a tool is paramount, but at the same time a poor tool is a huge discouragement.
But yea you're right. It doesn't take a lot of fancy tools. Agree 100%


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Reply With Quote
  #30  
Old 11-06-2016, 11:41 AM
Halcyon/Tinker Halcyon/Tinker is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Posts: 2,129
Default

Looks very good so far, congrats!
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Build and Repair

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 08:39 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=