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#16
03-10-2020, 06:42 PM
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Quote:
Preferably, pick yourself up a 100 count box of cheap transparant plastic drinking straws. Cut the end off at a 45 degree angle and crease the straw to create a point at the tip. You can zip along the squeeze out line as soon as it starts to set a bit. Do several inches until the tip of the straw fills, then squeeze the accumulated glue out with a small piece of paper towel to give you a empty end to continue your clean up. This works amazingly well and you'll soon figure out a virtual raft of places to use the straw tip to clean squeeze out away. Once you get the hang of doing it you'll end up with clean edges that require no further clean up. 
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#18
03-28-2020, 08:46 PM
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plain ol blues
After remaking the spruce braces I planed off the back wood, I glued those on, then prepared to notch in the linings/sides for the brace ends. O, crap! The 3rd back they sent me is too small for the body(even allowing for binding cuts). Sent pictures and an explanation and received a proper back plate (properly joined) AND a set of back braces. Those are acclimating to my build room for now, and I took the time to shape the peghead, inlay and fret the fretboard (first time for everything but its the ONLY way I'll learn anything with CORONA enhancing everyday life). I even engineered some little soda straw "roofs" taped into the truss rod channel to keep any glue squeeze off the truss rod threads. I had some scraps of mammoth ivory so I made a heel cap for the neck and glued that in place. Neck is joined to the fretboard and spent the morning rough carving/sanding the neck. The gray and black ebony supplied for the peghead overlay was a .010 too thin, so I crafted another of the rosewood from the failed back plate. Used the ebony and two slices of the white plastic supplied for the heel cap to make a tapered inlay for the tail pin location on the box. Maybe I'm just an old deluded nut job but this luthiery stuff is getting into my head like nothing has for a looooong time..can't hardly wait to hear this guitar
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#19
04-05-2020, 12:09 PM
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progress
the rosewood back now has the braces glued, carved, and sanded, and marriage strips installed. Neck is completely shaped. Sides/linings are notched for the brace ends. Braces/back are holding the curvature, as I did not repeat the mistake of joining them before acclimatizing to my build room. Back is now fitted and ready to join. In an effort to stabilize the body wood before the back is joined, I opted not to open the dovetail until the box is closed. Granted it will be a bit more of a chore exposing the dovetail, but the sides have remained dead square to the top in the area of the neck joint (per build instructions) and the length of the body is still correct, so I am optimistic. The upcoming binding routing concerns me. I need a router base for my Dremel, and I freely admit I am scared of the routing process. I am wondering if I can find help from a real luthier in the South Sound area around Tacoma, WA. I will be happy to pay, or offer shop cleanup, or beer, or whatever. I REALLY do not want to screw up my guitar after getting this far
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#21
04-06-2020, 10:38 AM
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Quote:
It actually isn't difficult. However, I've used a Dremel to cut binding rabbets only on an arch top guitar. I find it a poor choice of tool for the job: it is too light and underpowered. It will work, but isn't my choice. As you are probably aware, if the top and back of a guitar were flat, one would simply use a laminate trimmer and be done with it. What complicates matters is that the top and back aren't flat. If you lay a laminate trimmer on the top and back - using the domed surface as the reference for the trimmer - and then route around the edges of the guitar, the trimmer will tilt as you go around the guitar body. This will result in rabbets of varying width and depth. There is nothing that prevents one from doing that and then cleaning up the rabbets with chisels and/or files. That will work. It is more work than doing it all by machine, but less than doing it all by hand. In order to prevent the trimmer/router/Dremel from varyingly tilting as it cuts around the guitar body, there are numerous methods aimed at either using the sides as the reference - rather than domed surfaces of top or back - or accounting for the dome while still using the top or back as the reference surface. Once one has that addressed, by whatever means one chooses, the routing is simple. One needs only to pay attention to the grain direction, particularly of the guitar top. It is finicky, exacting work, but not particularly difficult. Next to finishing, it is my least favourite part of guitar making. Except for sanding. 
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#22
04-07-2020, 01:26 AM
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Getting There
Thank you Charles for the thoughtful reply. I had similar concerns about the power available in the Dremel..I may get some blowback about a laminate trimmer, but I suspect that will be my best option. Besides, this is NOT the only guitar I intend to build. I am appreciative of the fact you mentioned rabetting undersize and finishing with chisels/files. I can make a "check template" easily enough and accurate enough to finalize the rabbets. I am attempting this first "unsupervised" build in the face of the whole Corona panic and appreciate any tidbits I can glean. There are expensive routing options available, the operating principles of which are readily understood, but space is at a premium until we decide to pull the trigger on building out the front of the garage to extend our parking and allow me a small shop in the existing garage. I realize I don't have much of a prayer against the likes of established builders especially since I am already 66. BUT, I have always enjoyed a built-in affinity/aptitude for working in different materials (I started carbon-fiber composite work on UAV's at 42, when I left construction). I've played guitar since 15 after piano lessons gave me theory. I wish to help people enjoy the guitar at a better level than I started at and express myself simultaneously. I learned a lot in 22 years of composite work and am willing to share with anybody my understanding of carbon fiber, uni-directional reinforcements, vacuum bagging techniques, mold/tooling, part design, etc. if that will help any luthier I meet. I was bitterly disappointed to learn the GAL convention was cancelled for this summer near our new home. Sorry to run on, but right now THERE'S NO ONE TO TALK TO. Got the side reinforcement strips fitted/glued in tonight and getting ready to close the box. Thanks again.
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#23
04-07-2020, 01:34 AM
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Rudy4-Great hint!! I even came up with a wrinkle on that idea....getting under the thinned end of braces with the straw can be a challenge, so after cutting off the end of the straw at 45 degrees, I snipped off about 1/2 to 3/4" of the beveled end, then clamped that into a set of hemostats. I can even "choke down" the opening of the beveled end by varying the place where I clamp the hemostats, and vary the rake angle of the bevel. COOL!!! Joel
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#24
04-12-2020, 05:38 PM
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Lessons in Humility
Got the box closed yesterday morning. This morning, I couldn't sleep and made tea so I could quietly slip downstairs while my wife slept with the grandkids. Removed the spool clamps and was horrified to find a gap 2.5" long where a back brace had been pinched during the gluing up. Mood took a spiral nose-dive like the water in a flushing toilet. In retrospect, totally my fault by not checking under the clamps. After a suitable period of self-loathing, I found an ancient leather tool like a curved tempered steel needle with a wood handle. I stoned the tip to create a micro-chisel and cut a feather wedge to hold open the gap while I worked to get the spruce brace to seat in the notch. After seating and closing the gap to finger pressure I flexed/pumped the gap to wick glue into the joint..then more spool clamps and voila! I hate learning this way, but I am pretty sure I will never forget it.
Then carefully laid out cuts to approach the walls of the dovetail and sawed open the dovetail pocket. I felt cutting open the pocket AFTER closing the box would serve to help stabilize the body in process, rather than BEFORE as the kit recommends. Just a gut call from a background of NO experience, but it worked out. Trial fitting the assembled neck to the body with the bridge taped in place (with tape off my tee-shirt)showed the neck aligned for centerline AND the gap under the fingerboard extension = the gap under the straightedge over the bridge. Figured I had already used up all my allotment of dumb luck for the day, and decided to approach final-fitting the neck tomorrow, after a full night's rest and no grandkids. QUESTION-if the neck is setting above the spruce about .070, do I sand slowly on the sides of the TENON to drop the neck into the dovetail, or the sides of the mortise? Everything appears to be pretty nicely centered and aligned with the bridge.
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#25
04-12-2020, 06:14 PM
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Quote:
In general, it is easier to get tools in to adjust protruding/male components than it is to do so for enclosed/female components.
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#26
04-14-2020, 10:29 PM
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Neck is Fitted
Went really slow getting the pocket sawed open. NOW I appreciate the fine-cut Japanese pull saw I invested in years back hoping to approach this work some day. After cleaning up the pocket edges slow and easy, I lightly sanded to level the milling marks in the dovetail (neck still had .070 gap under the fretboard extension)then began sanding gently on the sides of the neck tenon. Even and slow, slow and even. Checked for alignment of neck as fit improved. As soon as the fretboard touched the spruce, I stopped and placed a straightedge down the center of the frets and it kissed the top of the bridge. Lucked out and never touched the cheeks of the neck joint. Today, I carved out the wedge shape for the ebony tailpin inlay, which I had already bordered with .110 ivoroid (meant for the heel cap and tailpin area). The .055 thick ebony supplied for the peghead overlay was replaced with a piece of rosewood. The ebony(gray/black blotched) with the ivoroid border looks pretty cool against the rosewood. Inlaid approx. .045 deep. Figured out a way to mask the edges of the inletted zone to keep them free of Titebond, brushed glue down the center, then removed the tape and put the Bind-All cement on the plastic edges, and put it in place. Wax paper and foam rubber over the top, a spruce strong back, and clamped lightly. Still have to get the laminate trimmer and bit/bearings for the binding..WHEW! Cleaned up all the overhang of front and back plates by hand, but will make another pass with a flush cutter before I start the binding rabbets, and make a 5 degree wedge for the router base for the back of the guitar
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#27
04-25-2020, 12:07 PM
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Realization phase
Tumbled to the fact I have been resenting the restriction of the whole Covid thing, and letting that spill on my wife, arguably the best thing thing in my life. She certainly deserves better, as she has helped me through more than one rough patch in my life. So in the angst of waiting for a cutter and bearing set for the binding/purfling, and obtaining a laminate trimmer, I received several very nice replies about the binding operations. I have a LOT to be thankful for, and so applied myself to other projects by way of helping my wife put up a shade structure on our back deck, and painting a garden shed just before today's rain, and transferring stuff from the garage to the shed. Made more room for work in the garage, too, perhaps even some guitar work. I WILL bind this guitar myself, and all the others that follow. We even found some volunteer morel mushrooms by the back door of the garage! We are blessed and I am grateful. Stay safe (within reason) and enjoy your families/friends, and do all you can to bolster the music community, because music has magic nothing else comes close to
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#28
05-16-2020, 06:54 PM
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Now I Really Screwed It Up
I screwed up my courage and went after the routing for the binding/purfling. Got the front done without incident, and I was very happy with the result. Then I made the 5 degree wedge for the router base and discovered it was only adequate for the neck end of the body. So I made one at 2.5 degrees for the shoulder-to-hip cuts, and used NO shim for the tailblock area. HOWEVER, making the initial climbing cuts, I reversed the orientation of the router, and cut a 5" long groove .045 deep and .300 wide just clear of the back plate, ending just short of the neck mortise. Went ahead and completed the rest of the cuts satisfactorily, feeling like a fool, and wondering if I had been completely deluded to dream of building. Then I cut a little spline of rosewood ~.070 thk and .300 wide and got out a heat gun and a pair of pliers and proceeded to bend the patch spline to profile in the groove. It's clamped, taped, and gluing now. The worst part is I was completely sober/straight when I f?@!$$& it up.
I massaged the ends of the groove so the spline would intersect the surface of the curved sides on a ramp like a scarf joint. Still not sure if that was correct. Probably look like crap, but maybe I can do some strategic tinting to help hide it. After it is leveled I will finish the routing correctly in that area. I guess I am fortunate that I was generous with the size of the tapered shim, as it prevented the cutter from going all the way through the side. I sure managed to torpedo any hope of maybe selling the guitar. Expensive lesson.
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#29
05-16-2020, 07:45 PM
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I'm not able to follow the issue with the multiple angle wedges and reversing the orientation of the router, which ended up with a groove.
What sort of curvature does the back of your guitar have? What sort of router setup were you using? It is tough for a new builder to wrap one's head around the rabbet cutting on a domed surface. However, it is now well established technology, with a variety of methods for accomplishing it adequately. Not sure where yours went wrong or why multiple angled wedges were needed.
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#30
05-16-2020, 09:34 PM
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Clarify
the router base was only shimmed on one half, and I inadverteently placed the unshimmed part of the base on the sound board for the initial climbing cut. Fortunately the tall side of the shim rode on the edge and prevented the cut being disastrously deep. When I checked the angle of the cutter on the middle and lower bouts, I saw a lot of angle variation and to limit the amount of hand work required, I made the 2.5 degree intermediate shim to transition to the lower bouts, then removed that to a square (unshimmed) base for the wide end of the body. It work pretty well overall, excepting the error zone. This is an OM model. The back braces and plate were a 20' radius per plan, but the generic instructions with the kit are also supplied with their dreadnought kit. The reversal of the router on the first climb cut was totally my fault, and I am a bit sick over it, but I must move on. Thank you for replying, Charles. Your posts seem to reveal a level head and good technique. Perhaps I should have stayed with the 5 degree bevel all around and just eaten the extra hand work.? As yet I am without sufficient shop space to enjoy a nice floating router setup
Last edited by Th'Axe; 05-16-2020 at 09:36 PM. Reason: revision for reply
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