First Build. Triple Oh-I-hope-this-goes-well.

[GrimesGrimes]

Originally Posted by mirwa

Others may differ, it’s about finding what’s right for you.

I find if I use a fox style (I have LMII version) bender, if I am building with a mold (which I mainly do), I have to hand bend the sides afterwards to get a neat fit into the mold.

Extra time spent now tweaking the fit will save having a side split out from excess stress later on in its working life.

Steve

This example I have bent the side in my lmii unit and then hand bent it on a hot pipe to match my mold

Mirwa, Your sides look great, but unfortunately I don't have a hot pipe to do that so I have to do my best with just the blanket. I think next time I'll make my bender jig slightly smaller than my mold in order to get a tight fit once it springs back.

Originally Posted by emmsone

Its probably just out of shot, but are you using a controller for your heat blanket or just powering it straight out the mains? I was going to try use mine with a simple potentiometer to control it but i was too nervous about that solution so i've had an electrician friend of mine build me a real heat controller. Saved me a bunch of money over the pre-manufactured controllers. I just have to wait for it to arrive in the post before I can attempt to bend my sides....

To be honest, I just ran it off the mains. I didn't have access to a controller and some of them are wildly expensive so I decided to try without. I just plugged it in and once the sides were soft enough to start bending nicely I unplugged it. Just dumb luck that I didn't crack the sides doing so. I plan on getting a controller in the future, just about finding the right time/controller.

[GrimesGrimes]

Ok, so after a bit of a delay (work and life) I was able to get back at it and get some work done.

Glued on and slotted the back strip. Radiused and glued on the back braces. Once that was done I shaped them.

[mirwa]

Your centre reinforcement strip looks nice and straight. That is good becuase when you look in the box through the sound hole, very few things can be seen, the centre reinforcement is one of those things that is viewed externally at completion.

A trick I use, I glue the centre re-inforcement strip the full length to start with, then mark my braces out and remove that section of the strip, seems like wasted time, but it gives a perfectly straight centre strip and it’s simple to remove as the grain of the strip is 90 to the back

Steve

[GrimesGrimes]

Originally Posted by mirwa

Your centre reinforcement strip looks nice and straight. That is good becuase when you look in the box through the sound hole, very few things can be seen, the centre reinforcement is one of those things that is viewed externally at completion.

A trick I use, I glue the centre re-inforcement strip the full length to start with, then mark my braces out and remove that section of the strip, seems like wasted time, but it gives a perfectly straight centre strip and it’s simple to remove as the grain of the strip is 90 to the back

Steve

That's exactly what I did . Just no pictures of that part

[GrimesGrimes]

The other thing I've managed to get done is the neck and tail blocks and kefling.

[GrimesGrimes]

Got some more work done on the neck.

I used a pre slotted ebony fretboard from LMII


Simple pearl dot inlays. And trimmed it to the rough dimensions.




Next up is installing the truss rod and gluing on the fretboard so I can finish carving the neck

[GrimesGrimes]

My method for gluing the fretboard on was pretty simple, I think.

I secured it from moving by using the toothpick trick on both ends.

After I was sure it wasn't going to move, I wrapped it in rubber tubing. A lot of rubber tubing. Maybe too much rubber tubing. But, it worked.

[charles Tauber]

What’s the “toothpick trick”?

I use one small brad nail through each of the first and 11th fret slots and a few clamps with a jointed 2x4 gluing caul. Probably much quicker and more forceful for that large gluing surface area.