000 14fret shortscale acoustic build.

[FPerezRoig]

Hello!
It's been a whole year since I last posted an update on my guitar, here are some updated pictures!

I routed some pockets on both headstock and fingerboard and inlayed them with mop. Hope you like it! I named my guitar "Asandei" as in "Guitarras Pérez-Asandei" after my wife and kids surname.







On my last post in this thread back in 02-10-2021 I posted some geometry measurements asking for confirmation that they made sense. Could someone confirm?? That would help me a lot, since I'm reluctant to glue the neck before being 100% sure my neck angle is ok. Can't wait to prepare the guitar for finishing. I've been practicing and studying a lot about french polish, and the guitar will be finished with shellac and this technique.

Cheers,
Fran

[redir]

Fantastic!

[Fathand]

Regarding your question of neck to bridge geometry.

A straight edge on top of the fretted fingerboard at the centre should ideally just touch the top of the front edge of the bridge. I cut my bridge blank slightly thicker by 1mm than this height and make the bridge with final sanding bring it to correct height.
In other words, I build my bridge to work with the neck angle. Bridges from 6 to 10 mm thick should work with the ideal being 8 or 9mm.

If your fretboard is not fretted you could lay some cardboard the height of your frets on it.

[FPerezRoig]

Thank you Fathand.
Never thought about later sanding the bridge to its final height, that is a great idea.
I could perfectly lay some cardboard on top of my un fretted fingerboard, but string tension shouldn’t be taken into consideration ? Thought a straight edge ideally should touch the front edge of the bridge of a fretted guitar with strings installed.

Maybe I’m overthinking things and , as you said, the final fine tune can be done after the neck is glued when sanding the bridge at its final height .

[Fathand]

Originally Posted by FPerezRoig

Thank you Fathand.
Never thought about later sanding the bridge to its final height, that is a great idea.
I could perfectly lay some cardboard on top of my un fretted fingerboard, but string tension shouldn’t be taken into consideration ? Thought a straight edge ideally should touch the front edge of the bridge of a fretted guitar with strings installed.

Maybe I’m overthinking things and , as you said, the final fine tune can be done after the neck is glued when sanding the bridge at its final height .

With or without strings is only going to make a few thousandths difference which can be adjusted with saddle height. The player's preference for high or low action also comes into play as does preferred string gauge, The height of the bridge is also reduced slightly when you sand the bottom to match the guitar top contour.

If your final bridge height is 9mm and your saddle protrudes 3mm, your strings will be 12 mm of the soundboard which is a good place to make final adjustments from.

BTW, I am nearing completion on a 000-28 , 24.9 scale and just made my bridge the other day. It came out at .325 inch or 8.25 mm thick. My neck angle is 1° with a 1/4" thick fretboard.

[FPerezRoig]

This is great news. Will glue the neck asap and post my results.

[FPerezRoig]

Originally Posted by redir

Fantastic!

Cheers! Glad you like it.

[phavriluk]

Bridge height is a cosmetic consideration so long as the saddle is of a height needed to support desired string displacement off the fingerboard. These rules of thumb hold unspoken assumptions about what the meaning is of that straightedge used to observe the 'right' bridge height. The height of a bridge is not part of the geometry involving strings and saddles.

[FPerezRoig]

Thank you phavriluk.
I undestand, but it is merely cosmetic?

If you don't take bridge height into consideration and end up with too much saddle material (or too little) protruding the bridge to get to the right displacement off fingerboard, couldn't that be a problem? Is there a limit where the saddle height starts being unstable?

[phavriluk]

Agreed, but I have no idea as to how much saddle slot depth is not enough. I suspect the amount varies with saddle width (3/32. 1/8, 5/32....). I need to leave that to somebody who knows what they're talking about. I just ran past the limit of my knowledge (such as it is) on the topic.

[tdrake]

Beautiful!

[FPerezRoig]

Thank you guys.
Just a quick update, I inlayed my signature on the 12th fret.

[FPerezRoig]

Hi!
I finally located the bridge and put some tape to mark its place. Neck angle is also set and I was able to get a tight fit between neck heel and guitar body.
I think I'm ready to glue the fingerboard extension.

Any ideas for testing the truss rod prior to gluing the neck?
I guess I installed it correctly, but would like to make sure it's working fine before it's too late.

I'm using a double action welded Truss rod , 14 1/2" x 3/8" (overall length 15 1/2").
Thank you!

[Fathand]

Originally Posted by FPerezRoig

Hi!
I finally located the bridge and put some tape to mark its place. Neck angle is also set and I was able to get a tight fit between neck heel and guitar body.
I think I'm ready to glue the fingerboard extension.

Any ideas for testing the truss rod prior to gluing the neck?
I guess I installed it correctly, but would like to make sure it's working fine before it's too late.

I'm using a double action welded Truss rod , 14 1/2" x 3/8" (overall length 15 1/2").
Thank you!

Tighten the truss rod in both directions and sight down your neck, you should be able to visibly see a difference, bow one way, hump the other

[FPerezRoig]

Will do, thank you.