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  #61  
Old 05-03-2013, 09:55 AM
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Hello everyone, I've been too busy lately to post an update, but we have made a lot of progress, so here's a lot of photos all at once.

After a few days, we could take the bent sides out of the mold. We could then start gluing the double sides together. So we had a batch of hide glue prepared from the evening before, making it as strong as possible.



Here you can see the top has been joined perfectly.



We must start by preparing the sides for gluing. For this guitar, which will have a Florentine cutaway, that means we have to cut them to length and cut off the part that will have the Florentine cutaway.



To maximize the working time of the hide glue, we have to make sure the surfaces are preheated.



In the meantime, while the hide glue heats up and the parts are heated, we can join the back.



I have gone with Koa bindings, and also decided to use a Koa back strip with some flamed maple black/white purfling.



Here you see the back roughly glued up and cleaned a little bit.



Then it was time to clamp everything down.



Next came the gluing of the sides. Since hide glue requires fast work, I have no pictures of the actual gluing, but here you see the sides clamped up firmly.



And here you see the results of an afternoon of gluing. Three things all clamped up, both the sides and the back.

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  #62  
Old 05-03-2013, 10:32 AM
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In the meantime, the rosette has been laid in, along with an outer circle of purfling, and an inner sound hole binding of Koa with purfling.



The back has been joined perfectly, after it came out of the clamps. Check it out.




Just to give you a little bit of an idea




Next comes a trick I picked up from Jeff Traugott, by using a special epoxy system on the back, before you have reached the final thickness, you can prevent the back from splitting later in its life.
The idea is that you really work the epoxy into the back and let it dry a long time. Then you sand it to final thickness, taking off the top layer of epoxy. you really sand it down to the bare wood again. What stays behind is all the epoxy that has gone into invisible cracks or weaker parts of the wood.
Here we are mixing up the epoxy system.



Then you really work the epoxy into the wood. All over. It's a nice thing to do, because it also gives you a very good idea of the final color of the wood once it will have been finished.




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  #63  
Old 05-03-2013, 10:38 AM
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While we are letting the epoxy dry, now it is time to sand the fretboard down so that everything is flat and the inlays are leveled with the wood.



Here is the result of finish sanding, making it look very smooth. It will be sanded down to an even finer grit before putting in the frets, and afterward it will be oiled, it'll look gorgeous.




Then it is time to cut the stainless steel frets to proper size. Here you see the per special fret block that is used to indicate which fret number goes where. The stainless steel frets are very tough, and hard to work with, but it'll be worth it in the end, because this guitar will never need a refret.




Then we start making the support plate for the rosette, using a special tool. And that is where I leave you for now...



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  #64  
Old 05-03-2013, 06:28 PM
Fngrstyl Fngrstyl is offline
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Looking goooooood
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  #65  
Old 05-15-2013, 01:54 AM
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This update will be mostly about bracing the top and the back. But first, here is the picture of the custom jig for this new Florentine cutaway design. Double Sided.



And a few people asked to see pictures of the Rosette inlay work. So here you go.






Then we started drawing out the bracing pattern and roughing out the right dimensions from quartersawn Swiss spruce billets.



In the background you could see the Spruce center strip drying on the inside of the back of the guitar. Here's a close-up.



The bracings have been dimensioned roughly, and now only need to be shaped



After we took the back out of the clamps, we could test fit the back bracings. As you can see the bracings are slightly radiused so the back will be radiused, which will improve the sound quality and better enable the back to handle stresses.



Before clamping up the back with the bracing, here's a picture of the back after the epoxy has been sanded it off.

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  #66  
Old 05-15-2013, 02:05 AM
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Now we can glue up the back braces with hide glue. You see there are braces underneath the back that are radiused in the same curve as the bracings. Before we let everything dry it is important to clean up all glue squeeze out.



And here you see it all clamped up. In the second picture you get an idea of the back radius.




In the meantime, I have cut all the frets to length and now I am cutting off the tangs on both ends where the binding will go, using a special cutter that is made for this task.




The top has been clamped down in the special jig that will be used to construct the entire guitar. On nylon string guitars we use this thing called a Solera, where the neck and the body are built as one, with the correct neck angle build it. This is the strongest construction that gives the best tone transfer. You cannot see that this jig has also had a radius dished out in the lower bout of the top. Nylon string guitars have a curved, radiused top to handle the stresses of string tension with much thinner bracings.



As you can see the braces have now also been shaped and before we clamp everything up, it is time to do some more glue clean up. A professional build is a clean build.



Clamping down these very thin, very rounded racing is tough, but we have a system that works. Here you see it half clamped up.



And here you see everything clamped up. The top bracings are not radiused in the front as they are in the back. So, the slight top radius will be forced into the bracings, making everything stiffer and stronger without adding weight.



And now, before we get to the next step of gluing up the box, it is time to put in the label. This is the first of the signature series and it gets both our signatures on it. A great moment.

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  #67  
Old 05-15-2013, 05:41 AM
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Unbelievable work.

Incidentally, the mouse trails on your website are seriously cool!

cheers,
Steve
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  #68  
Old 05-15-2013, 06:27 AM
KevinLPederson KevinLPederson is offline
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a vacuum bag would clamp those pre-shaped braces down pretty good too.

Yes - very nice clean work. +1.

Kevin.
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  #69  
Old 05-15-2013, 08:35 AM
p.thomaston p.thomaston is offline
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I don't even feel qualified to post in this thread but your work has completely superseded my expectations. This is truly remarkable from the concept through the craftsmanship, thank you very much for sharing.
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  #70  
Old 05-15-2013, 09:26 AM
SJ VanSandt SJ VanSandt is offline
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One of the best build threads ever! Thanks for sharing in so much detail, and with such great photos. I hope this guitar exceeds your expectations, and that you can play it with joy for many years to come.
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  #71  
Old 05-16-2013, 11:44 AM
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Thank you for all the kind words everyone. Just check out how beautiful the top and back came out of the clamps.



Then it was time to start shaping the headstock. For this, I had a special plexiglass mold made.



Just look how gorgeous it turned out. The first of the slots have been made, and now the next step was to drill the tuner holes. Everything fit perfectly. Next time, we're going to cut the top shape and blend the two shapes into one another.




I also like how the maple stripes pop out of the top.

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  #72  
Old 05-16-2013, 02:19 PM
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Looks phenomenal ! Absolutely awesome.
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  #73  
Old 05-18-2013, 04:45 PM
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Joost, this is looking fantastic. Your inlay work is pretty cool. I especially liked the inlays on the fret board, even though the rosette is very nice.
Two questions for you.
First, I know that you want the wood to be dry when building. By soaking the sides, do you find that too much water is introduced? You said you clamped them up for 3 days to dry out. Have you found drying out to be an issue at all? (Two parts to one question ).
Second, you used epoxy (IIRC) on the back. Was that on the inside or outside of the back? If on the outside, is that essentially your pore filling for the back or will more be required?
Bonus question (because I can't count): Do you know of anyone who has pore filled their b&s, after they're bent but prior to joining the top and back?
This is going to be a very, very beautiful guitar.
Bob
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  #74  
Old 05-18-2013, 07:02 PM
Pat Foster Pat Foster is offline
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Great work, Joost!

Pat
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  #75  
Old 05-22-2013, 10:19 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by naccoachbob View Post
Joost, this is looking fantastic. Your inlay work is pretty cool. I especially liked the inlays on the fret board, even though the rosette is very nice.
Two questions for you.
First, I know that you want the wood to be dry when building. By soaking the sides, do you find that too much water is introduced? You said you clamped them up for 3 days to dry out. Have you found drying out to be an issue at all? (Two parts to one question ).
Second, you used epoxy (IIRC) on the back. Was that on the inside or outside of the back? If on the outside, is that essentially your pore filling for the back or will more be required?
Bonus question (because I can't count): Do you know of anyone who has pore filled their b&s, after they're bent but prior to joining the top and back?
This is going to be a very, very beautiful guitar.
Bob
Hi Bob,
Thanks. No, by soaking the sides and putting it on a hot bending iron, almost all the water will be gone. After a few days it is dry again.

Yes, I used the epoxy on the outside of the back. It does do a lot for pore filling. Only very little will be required if anything at all.

I don't know anyone who has filled their back and sides before joining. Usually you do that when the guitar has been put together.
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