First try at building

[rogthefrog]

Never mind

[difalkner]

I'm about 2/3 complete on my first build followed closely by about 1/3 complete on my second (glutton for punishment...) but not near as brave as you. Not a single photo until I finish, and then only if I like what I've done. So my proverbial hat is off to you, Rog!! Looking forward to seeing the next steps.

[charles Tauber]

Originally Posted by rogthefrog

... The glued-on strip of redwood will anchor the left side; the right side will be ringed by nails and wedges pushing the right half towards the left, clamping the center glue joint tight; and the bits sticking out on both sides of the jig will receive rope or twine wrapped around the top, holding down a 2x6 on top of the joint.

If the joint fits together well, it doesn't require a great deal of force during clamping. The nails and wedges are sufficient. Provided you don't use excessive force - buckling the two halves being joined - you don't really need the 2x6 on top of the joint to keep the two sides flat: looping rope over top of the 2x6 isn't going to provide much downward force on the two halves of the joint. It is a different approach to the sticks, wedges and rope method. If you find you do need the 2x6, just clamp it at its ends rather than use rope. If you slightly round the bottom of the 2x6, along its length, that will provide adequate pressure in the middle when the ends are clamped.

There are many methods that can be used to glue/clamp the two halves. The simplest involves two heavy bricks and a length of masking tape. Doesn't stack very well, though.

[rogthefrog]

Good to know! Thanks, Charles.

[rogthefrog]

Originally Posted by difalkner

I'm about 2/3 complete on my first build followed closely by about 1/3 complete on my second (glutton for punishment...) but not near as brave as you. Not a single photo until I finish, and then only if I like what I've done. So my proverbial hat is off to you, Rog!! Looking forward to seeing the next steps.

Come on, pix or it didn't happen!

[rogthefrog]

Today I trued up the inside edges of the top and glued them.



Turns out I did use the "hooks" I cut out on my joining board, because I don't have a long enough clamp to clamp down the center block, so I used rope and wedges to hold that down. I also added an extra nail and wedge on the bottom corner (not in the picture).

[Tom West]

rog:
Nice to see you giving a go at building. Notice you are working outside. Wonder if you are aware of the implications of relative humidity...? Generally guitars are built in a RH of about 40%. Some way to measure and control RH prevents problems down the road.
Tom

[murrmac123]

Tom's just jealous ... he hasn't seen sunshine in three months ...

[Sam VanLaningham]

Way to go, rog! Good luck. I like the start so far.

Sam

[rogthefrog]

Originally Posted by Tom West

rog:
Nice to see you giving a go at building. Notice you are working outside. Wonder if you are aware of the implications of relative humidity...? Generally guitars are built in a RH of about 40%. Some way to measure and control RH prevents problems down the road.
Tom

Yes, it's been a concern of mine. I don't have a good spot indoors to do the really dirty stuff, but I'll bring things inside asap.

[dekutree64]

It's fine to work in high humidity for a lot of stuff. Cross grain gluing is where you run into trouble. Rosette, bracing!!, gluing the plates to the rim, gluing the bridge.

Gluing the fingerboard extension to the soundboard can cause trouble if the fingerboard is ebony, simply because its humidity expansion rate is so high. If both are acclimated to 70% when you glue up, and then you take it into 30%, the fingerboard will shrink significantly more than the soundboard and may cause the common fingerboard edge cracks, like this:


Rosewood has about the same expansion rate as spruce, which is still higher than cedar, but unlikely to cause any trouble.

Filing down the fret ends level with the edges of the fingerboard is another time you want to be acclimated to low humidity, or else they'll poke out in low humidity later on.

But pretty much everything else can be done in uncontrolled humidity.

[rogthefrog]

That is great information, thank you.

[Tom West]

Originally Posted by murrmac123

Tom's just jealous ... he hasn't seen sunshine in three months ...

Mur: Think we are in luck.................I see a bit of blue showing today...!!
Tom

[rogthefrog]

After 24 hours, I took the top out of the clamps, and much to my surprise the joint appears to be solid. I candled it with a bright flashlight and it's tight except at one end that will be cut off. So I'm calling this a success.

RC tonewoods indicated this student-grade top isn't as stiff as they would like, and it does feel very floppy (though I've only ever handled one other top, the Italian spruce top for my harp guitar, which may have been chosen for extra stiffness to handle all those strings). So I only took a little bit off with a hand plane and coarse sandpaper. I'll sand more tomorrow and call it done until I get a scraper to take care of the glue squeeze out on one side.

Next up: same thing, with the back. If the back works out well, I'm feeling bold and will attempt to put in a strip of contrasting wood across the joint to pretty it up. The back and sides are very white birch and I will almost certainly stain them darker.

[rogthefrog]

Question: I got a neck block and end block from RC tonewoods, but I also salvaged three blocks of an unidentified hardwood that are big enough to make a few such blocks. The wood is dark maroon/chocolate brown, and sands a bitnon on the orange side. There's no particular smell to it. I picked it up because it is extremely dense and heavy. Any idea what it could be?

Here's the mystery wood, next to mahogany for reference:



One of the mystery blocks isn't much bigger than the mahogany block:



The mahogany block is 6.50 ounces, and the mystery block is 16.03 ounces (!).

I did some math:



The mystery wood is 1.68 times as heavy as mahogany.