Official Luthier's Forum Medium Jumbo - Page 15

Neil K Walk · #**211** 02-22-2011, 08:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mary

Ah, my friend. This is how the addiction begins. You need to seek authority figures before it is too late.

I was afraid of that. I'm skating on thin ice the way it is - seriously!

Who should I talk to? Friends or acquaintances who are "successful?" My father in law? My pastor? How about a shrink or a marriage counselor? How about a psychic or a fortune teller?

Kitchen Guitars · #**212** 02-22-2011, 10:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kwakatak

I was afraid of that. I'm skating on thin ice the way it is - seriously!

Who should I talk to? Friends or acquaintances who are "successful?" My father in law? My pastor? How about a shrink or a marriage counselor? How about a psychic or a fortune teller?

Jane Orie has your connections........

What a day of learning at the Kitchen camp. Yikes!

Neil K Walk · #**213** 03-05-2011, 11:16 AM

Jeez, I got to take a look at my sides and end blocks. The blocks are fine (though the neck block needed to build upon to match the height requirements in the plans) but the sides are indeed crooked. That means that installing the kerfing is going to be harder than it looks. I did a lot of marking and measuring last night but no kerfing yet.

Spike48 · #**214** 03-17-2011, 12:11 PM

I found this thread while looking for some info on the OLF Medium Jumbo.
I have the plans for the small jumbo and was wondering what the size differences were between the two.

I have to say I started laughing over Kitchen Guitars posting early on in this thread until tears were streaming. I can appreciate the frustration with a piece of machinery.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kitchen Guitars

Me and the band saw are at odds right now. I have an offering of fruits and various slaughtered animals all over it. I chanted.... No reaction or indication it is happy with me. I think I need new wheel belts (

). I'll try offering a Peanut Butter sandwich this afternoon and see if I can make it happy before you get here.

Good luck with your build Kwakatak, patience and perseverance will bring great rewards.

Mike

Kitchen Guitars · #**215** 03-17-2011, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spike48

I found this thread while looking for some info on the OLF Medium Jumbo.
I have the plans for the small jumbo and was wondering what the size differences were between the two.

I have to say I started laughing over Kitchen Guitars posting early on in this thread until tears were streaming. I can appreciate the frustration with a piece of machinery.

Good luck with your build Kwakatak, patience and perseverance will bring great rewards.

Mike

Hi Spike! Welcome. Glad I could bring you a giggle. It turned out the Belts on the saw were toast. Since then a few M&M's offered up and the things a Kitten.

Neil K Walk · #**216** 03-18-2011, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spike48

I found this thread while looking for some info on the OLF Medium Jumbo.
I have the plans for the small jumbo and was wondering what the size differences were between the two.

I have to say I started laughing over Kitchen Guitars posting early on in this thread until tears were streaming. I can appreciate the frustration with a piece of machinery.

Good luck with your build Kwakatak, patience and perseverance will bring great rewards.

Mike

Hi, Spike! I haven't checked the SJ dimensions but the rough dimensions for the MJ is as follows:

Upper Bout: 12-1/16"
Waist: 9-3/8"
Lower Bout: 16-1/4"
Body depth at Neck Block: 3-15/16"
Body Depth at Tail Block: 4-17/32"
Scale Length: 25.4"

I hear you about the patience thing. Mine's already wearing thin on other things and there are certainly a couple of places where I'd like to have a "do over" - such as the rosette and the sides - but such is the first build I suppose. I have a feeling that mine's gonna be a shallow body!

BTW, if there is a next one I think I'm gonna do something simple like a Martin dread.

Spike48 · #**217** 03-19-2011, 06:47 PM

Thanks for the info Kwakatak.

Neil K Walk · #**218** 03-22-2011, 12:08 PM

I finally got some of the bracing on to my top last night. First I needed to trace the pattern on to the underside of the top:

Then there was a little work involving the band to cut the braces to length and fashioning a lap joint for the X-brace. After that I sanded a 28' radius on the undersides of the braces and then it was time to dry test the fit with the top in the gobar deck and 28' radius dish. John pretty much let me muck my way through it but was available if I had questions.

I admit that I made the joint a little wide but John stepped in and glued some scrap in the joint to tighten it up. Once that was all taken care of I applied a little Titebond and John and I applied the go bar braces:

Looking good so far. Next time I hope to finish it up but the X-brace was the most daunting to me and I think it looks good so far:

BTW, I purposely took a break from the sides but gave them a quick look-see and brought a laser level to see if the lines I drew as guides for the top kerfing were good. Surprisingly they did look pretty good. I'll shoot some pics next time for posterity!

Kitchen Guitars · #**219** 03-22-2011, 04:36 PM

That wasn't scrap

it was the original piece.
I was ummmmm.... putting it back

Yeah, thats it, putting it back

Kitchen Guitars · #**220** 03-24-2011, 04:13 PM

I know you are missing a few bones still, your top taps great. Nice clear drum beats.

Neil K Walk · #**221** 03-24-2011, 04:44 PM

Sweet! I gotta get out there soon to finish it up. I'm thinking I may have skipped a step though. It was only sanded with 80 grit on the drum sander.

Neil K Walk · #**222** 03-28-2011, 09:59 PM

I just looked at the plans. Looks like the X brace is backwards too; the longer cut is supposed to go up by the sound hole.

Live and learn. Shouldn't be an issue, right? So long as there's a peak at 3" from the kerfing, right?

Corky Long · #**223** 03-29-2011, 07:15 AM

This is an interesting thread, because you're experiencing something that has just become very clear to me... accuracy and care in building molds and forms is really important. I must have built 3 or four different forms for my 000 sized guitars, never quite satisfied with the accuracy and function - hey' it's not the finished guitar, right?? Just the mold - doesn't have to be perfect." Well, I think I've come full circle. Mary's post about the time and effort needed to become really satisfied with jigs and molds really hit a note with me. I've also noticed a correlation between the quality of the finished product in those whose work I really admire (including Tim's) and the elegance and accuracy of their jigs and molds.

Frankly I've always been a little reticent about spending a lot of time and effort on the molds, reasoning that I've only got so much time and would rather spend it on the guitar...I'm rethinking that approach. I want a set of forms that I can use for the next 50 guitars. I'm not there yet.

Neil K Walk · #**224** 03-29-2011, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Corky Long

This is an interesting thread, because you're experiencing something that has just become very clear to me... accuracy and care in building molds and forms is really important. I must have built 3 or four different forms for my 000 sized guitars, never quite satisfied with the accuracy and function - hey' it's not the finished guitar, right?? Just the mold - doesn't have to be perfect." Well, I think I've come full circle. Mary's post about the time and effort needed to become really satisfied with jigs and molds really hit a note with me. I've also noticed a correlation between the quality of the finished product in those whose work I really admire (including Tim's) and the elegance and accuracy of their jigs and molds.

Frankly I've always been a little reticent about spending a lot of time and effort on the molds, reasoning that I've only got so much time and would rather spend it on the guitar...I'm rethinking that approach. I want a set of forms that I can use for the next 50 guitars. I'm not there yet.

That's interesting because my opinion has actually swung the other way. I really busted my hump on the bending form and then I realized that the steel slats were going to smooth over any imperfection so in effect close was good enough. If anything, the curves on the bending forms should actually a little tighter in places and looser in other to account for springback and the thickness of the sides in relation to the mold.

As for the mold, I'm coming up against limitations that I hadn't taken into account so I see your point in that case. I should have made the mold a little deeper. That crack is partly due to the fact that the sides rise so far above the profile that cupping was nearly an issue. That's why we ended up installing the blocks so quickly.

Now regarding the spreaders, I've actually barely used them. I probably should when I'm installing the kerfing but I need to get my hands on a second pair of sides and bend all over again. I'm actually looking forward to it because so far that's been my favorite step.

Neil K Walk · #**225** 03-29-2011, 07:53 AM

Now regarding the X-brace, I think I'm OK. I posed this question over at the OLF and they told me that these OLF plans tend to fall on the side of being overbraced. If John tells me my top rings like a bell before even taking a chisel to the braces then I may have just stumbled in the right direction.