Build #5 started. Hopefully named "The Banjo Killer"

[Kitchen Guitars]

I play in a "Band"; The Upright Monkeys. My buddy Mark thinks I have it in for his Banjo. I don't. I just want to drown it out
So, after a journey through some small bodies I am building a "HD28" for myself.
Very old, very straight Indian Rosewood and a super tight grained Sitka top. All of my builds so far have been bolt ons. This one I am going to try a Dove tail.
I watched a couple of folks at Martin do dovetails. 3 an hour was one fellas average. My bolt on bolt offs are time consuming, tedious and annoying!
Getting started involved really learning my thickness sander.

After a few years it had gone off true and I had to re-level it.
So far in two days I have the back and top joined and thickness sanded, Sides sanded and bent. My first with IR it bent easier than Mahogany IMO.
I got the simple Rosettes in. I actually had a panic. Glue in place my second Rosette kept snapping as I bent it in place. So, fast judgement call and I filled the spot with "Plan B"




I am going to imitate my Martin example for the bracing. Forward shifted and scalloped.

[Neil K Walk]

Looking good!

What'd you whip that all together in about a day? There must have been a Spongebob Squarepants marathon going on down in the house, huh?

BTW, you just took the Martin tour so you should know the answer to this: wasn't the Orchestra Model actually the banjo killer in bluegrass bands, and not the dreadnought? Or was the OM derived from the banjo somehow to fit the same niche and cut through the mids so that they could be heard over the dreadnoughts?

PS: do you have any more of that brown/black purfling?

[Kitchen Guitars]

Not sure if the OM was the Banjo Killer but it is a suspect.

I think there is black brown in the Binding nest

[HHP]

If I was going to build a fast car, I wouldn't name it Ferrari.

[jeff crisp]

My first 15 were tapered dovetails. John halls video (youtube)) on fitting them really helped me speed this up. Though I recently decided to switch to hanger bolts . As far as the rosette goes If its pre glued BWB I roughly pre bend on bending iron (no water) and If making up more then a few I store them in a round tin till Im ready to use them.

Jeff.

[Kitchen Guitars]

Originally Posted by HHP

If I was going to build a fast car, I wouldn't name it Ferrari.

Ferrari did

[HHP]

Originally Posted by Kitchen Guitars

Ferrari did

But Ferrari didn't exist before Ferrari. There already is a Banjo Killer and its a high mark to shoot for. Not a great name anyway as a lot of banjos are capable of killing you back.

[Kitchen Guitars]

Originally Posted by HHP

But Ferrari didn't exist before Ferrari. There already is a Banjo Killer and its a high mark to shoot for. Not a great name anyway as a lot of banjos are capable of killing you back.

Then maybe...
"THE SON OF BANJO KILLER"

[Kitchen Guitars]

FYI stats;
IR back 2.3mm
Sides .089
Sitka top 3.2mm
When I was just starting #1 I had a conversation with Bill Collings. At the time I tried to grasp his explanation of multi radius's of his tops. He described it as "Fluted". Radius on the outer, flatter towards the center. Whisk ahead to the special tour of Martin 2 weeks ago (20 builders on the tour) and it was also explained as Multi radius on the x brace. Up till this time I had put the x brace on the top in the radius dish, at the same time the non-radiused braces. Martin doesn't bend the top to the brace. They bend the brace to the top. Glued down on a flat surface. They use a fancy vacuum to achieve this.
So, this top I did a 28' radius to within 4" of the x. The last 4" I left flat. Then I pinned the brace to the to the top. It worked. We will see what the end result is.


Martin also shared that each of the back braces has its own radius. Getting flatter as the lower bout widens

[Kitchen Guitars]

Welp
Chipped and sanded the x brace out. The new one has longer stems. Its the little details that get ya.

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by Kitchen Guitars

Welp
Chipped and sanded the x brace out. The new one has longer stems. Its the little details that get ya.

That's exactly the reason why my first set of braces on my build was chiseled off. They have to lock into the kerfing.

[Kitchen Guitars]

Soooo, I also chipped out the second one! The 3rd x brace is a lucky brace right? Lol Its in and lightproof! I think I will write a long note on the inside wood to camouflage all the wounds. Back to it.

[sonso]

Very Nice!!! Probably more cost efficient to stuff a rag in the back of Buds Banjee when he ain't lookin...but,.. not half as gratifying...

[Richie H]

Nice! Bracing problems, hmm, sounds familiar.. Had to throw two sets of X-braces in the wood burner yesterday.. Three hours of handplaning, sanding en chiseling gone down the drain.. Learning money, I guess..

Good luck on this build, I hope you'll live up to your own expectations with this one!

[jeff crisp]

The lower part of X brace does not necessarily need to be tucked under the linning. But if you take that path you need to make sure the taper ends where it meets the linning and not before.
Jeff.