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  #16  
Old 04-02-2018, 12:20 AM
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Bruce Sexauer Bruce Sexauer is offline
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I really liked you first post. Accurate and with a good attitude. Looks like the work is going well enough. My best to you.
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  #17  
Old 04-02-2018, 02:23 AM
CycleBob CycleBob is offline
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I really liked you first post. Accurate and with a good attitude. Looks like the work is going well enough. My best to you.


Very kind of you Bruce. It’s been fun and an insight so far. You luthiers have a very cool job—one that balances art and science in a really appealing way.
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Old 04-02-2018, 07:10 AM
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I just now tumbled into this thread Bob. Very well written and entertaining.
You have some great pictures to tell the story as well. How exciting it must be to be guided through that process by someone with that skill.
The guitar looks awesome so far - best of luck. I'm now hooked to watch the rest of your building adventure!
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Old 04-02-2018, 03:48 PM
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Originally Posted by HOF dad View Post
I just now tumbled into this thread Bob. Very well written and entertaining.

You have some great pictures to tell the story as well. How exciting it must be to be guided through that process by someone with that skill.

The guitar looks awesome so far - best of luck. I'm now hooked to watch the rest of your building adventure!


Thanks very much HOF. I’m delighted to think that others might enjoy following along with the thread actually.

Yes! Phil’s not only got the skills and experience but he’s a good teacher. Knows how to step in just before you put a chisel through your top (either the guitar’s or your own ha ha).

The other essential support for me has been my wife. She’s been wonderful and encouraged me to take this opportunity even though it means she has to look after the girls and our home solo for a couple of weeks. I’m super grateful and as I’m not used to being away from them, miss being with her and my girlies. At least I get to see and speak with the family daily via digital communication apps & gadgets.
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  #20  
Old 04-03-2018, 03:17 AM
CycleBob CycleBob is offline
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Default Engelmann/Hog 000... em... self build(?)

Day 5: today we routered the binding ledges, cleaned up the ledges and bindings (rosewood) to ensure a good fit and glued them in. Then we planed and sanded the top and back. Next cut the rosette pieces (Aussie Blackwood) and glued them in. Picture is of the rosette roughly placed before fitting and glueing, but we did get it in just before I left this evening. That’ll set us up for some more work on the top tomorrow morning.






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  #21  
Old 04-04-2018, 02:44 AM
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Day 6: started out the day routering the bindings flat on the sides of the guitar. I made a mistake by not doing up all of the supports in the cradle-type jig the guitar was sitting in and the weight of the router tilted the guitar resulting in a slightly notched area of the binding (about the width of a router blade not surprisingly). It’s subtle but definitely there. It was the first job of the day and really didn’t think it through. Phil understandably didn’t think to ask if I’d properly put the guitar in the jig—the answer should have been obvious.

The rest of the morning was a quick scrap of the bindings, which Phil did, and the lots of sanding by hand and orbital sander. This included sanding the rosette flat. Then a bit more sanding. I don’t mind it actually as long as I’ve got a comfortable and effective dust mask. If I did this for a living I might start to mind it though... Another thing about sanding: its trickier than you think to do it well. I’ve probably needed more coaching on sanding than any other process. Well... might be tied with chisel use actually.

I feel like the body is really starting to approach a finished product. With every process it seems to evolve tonally. I can start to understand the comments from luthiers around the personality of the instrument emerging as they build (especially with many points of comparison). It seems like my guitar will be responsive, which is maybe not surprising as it’s lightly built with the decoupled top and back i mentioned before. What’s more surprising is a much bassier sort of response than expected given the body size, which seems to draw a comment from most folks that give it a tap. I guess it’s all speculation until we get strings on it and play it though which is a few days away. Drawing on my deep understanding of guitar construction, I believe we’ll need a neck of some kind as well.



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  #22  
Old 04-04-2018, 02:52 AM
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In the afternoon we cut the mortise, and the started work on the neck. We did start with a mahogany basic structure Phil had prepared earlier and then got to work on tapering the thickness, getting a Blackwood headstock veneer on, and then cutting and planing the rosewood fingerboard into shape.
It occurred to me while I was cutting that rosewood might be called rosewood because of how it smells when you cut and sand it: a bit like roses—very floral at least.




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  #23  
Old 04-04-2018, 07:09 AM
Southern Cross Southern Cross is offline
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Could you tell me how thick your headstock is with the rosewood veneer on it? I am putting a kit guitar together, and I haven't seemed to be able to find a good number that allows tuners to be in the correct position. Thanks, and this is very interesting watching your build. I have just glued the top on my box, and I am starting to work on the neck. Good luck, and I hope it sounds great to you.
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  #24  
Old 04-05-2018, 03:18 AM
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Originally Posted by Southern Cross View Post
Could you tell me how thick your headstock is with the rosewood veneer on it? I am putting a kit guitar together, and I haven't seemed to be able to find a good number that allows tuners to be in the correct position. Thanks, and this is very interesting watching your build. I have just glued the top on my box, and I am starting to work on the neck. Good luck, and I hope it sounds great to you.

Clifford


Hey Clifford. The headstock thickness is 16 mm. The veneer is only ~1 mm after sanding. Sounds like we’re at the same stage. Started work on the neck properly today. Best of luck with it mate.
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  #25  
Old 04-05-2018, 03:32 AM
CycleBob CycleBob is offline
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Default Engelmann/Hog 000... em... self build(?)

Day 7: This morning we sanded the headstock veneer, radiused and sanded the fretboard, placed and installed the fret markers, cut the fret slots, and got the fret wires in.

Had a bit of a quandary from a design point of view on whether to put in fret markers. On the one hand I like the look of a clean minimalist fretboard. On the other hand the other design elements are very true to a classical OM without many contemporary changes or additions. Phil and I batted it around and ultimately decided to stay true to the classical OM, complete with fret markers.





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Last edited by CycleBob; 04-06-2018 at 12:30 AM.
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  #26  
Old 04-05-2018, 03:37 AM
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In the afternoon we shaped the tenant and started shaping the neck. While I’m by no means a natural on the tools (what’s the opposite of a “natural”??—I’m that), I did enjoy the sort of sculptural aspects of shaping the neck. Both challenging and very satisfying.


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  #27  
Old 04-06-2018, 12:33 AM
CycleBob CycleBob is offline
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Default Engelmann/Hog 000... em... self build(?)

Day 8: in the morning we continued shaping the neck, this time working in the headstock area. This just leaves a flat middle area of the neck for clamping the fingerboard when we glue it in, which we’ll do later today with a no of luck.
Also this morning we filed the fret wires and cleaned up the any glue from yesterday’s process installing them. Finally sanded and cleaned up the headstock a bit more.

Pics below. The first is of the shed Phil’s got his workshop in. We’ve been lucky with the weather so far: beautiful every day!


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  #28  
Old 04-06-2018, 02:12 AM
CycleBob CycleBob is offline
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Default Engelmann/Hog 000... em... self build(?)

In the afternoon we set the neck—that’s a tricky and detailed process that you’d be very hard pressed to get right without considerable luthier coaching. Drilled the thread holes for the neck fixings. Finally glued in the truss rod and glued the fretboard on.
Reached a couple big milestones today. Tomorrow’s going to be a particularly long day, but the end is in sight!
On the way home skippy and friends checked in to see how things were progressing.





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Last edited by CycleBob; 04-06-2018 at 01:28 PM.
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  #29  
Old 04-06-2018, 11:11 AM
HOF dad HOF dad is offline
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Looking good Bob!
The rosewood on that fingerboard looks gorgeous.
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  #30  
Old 04-06-2018, 01:27 PM
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Default Engelmann/Hog 000... em... self build(?)

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Looking good Bob!

The rosewood on that fingerboard looks gorgeous.


Thanks buddy. I was really pleased with that particular piece and how it came up. I think a dark rosewood is my favorite for fretboards because you can typically still see quite a lot of wood grain (unlike jet black ebony).
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