Build #3: sitka/black walnut 000

[Neil K Walk]

Aw, cr@p. I had the herringbone rosette inlaid and nearly perfect, then got too confident and broke out the palm sander and sanded through the herringbone ring. Even worse, I also cut out the sound hole.

The two outer BWBWB rings are still perfect though but there's no covering up the middle herringbone ring with the pick guard; it's on the other side of the sound hole from where that would work.

Let me include a picture. The angle and resolution isn't the best but it doesn't meet my standards. It may be temporary given my history with hosting sites:



Fortunately, the top is still clamped to the work board so the relative position of the center hole hasn't changed and I can remount the circle cutting jig and still have it centered and not having things move around in relation to one another. I can also use the cutout as a leveling guide.

Unfortunately, I need to order another $17 rosette and I've made 2 purchases from Stewmac in the past week which my wife has already complained about. I may need to walk away from this for a few days until cooler heads preside.

[Fathand]

Originally Posted by Neil K Walk

Aw, cr@p. I had the herringbone rosette inlaid and nearly perfect, then got too confident and broke out the palm sander and sanded through the herringbone ring. Even worse, I also cut out the sound hole.

The two outer BWBWB rings are still perfect though but there's no covering up the middle herringbone ring with the pick guard; it's on the other side of the sound hole from where that would work.

Let me include a picture. The angle and resolution isn't the best but it doesn't meet my standards. It may be temporary given my history with hosting sites:



Fortunately, the top is still clamped to the work board so the relative position of the center hole hasn't changed and I can remount the circle cutting jig and still have it centered and not having things move around in relation to one another. I can also use the cutout as a leveling guide.

Unfortunately, I need to order another $17 rosette and I've made 2 purchases from Stewmac in the past week which my wife has already complained about. I may need to walk away from this for a few days until cooler heads preside.

I did similar once and put the center back in place temporarily with masking tape. It worked.

You could save a bit of cash buying those rosettes at Lee Valley

BTW, Martin usually installs those pointing clockwise but maybe your camera flipped the image or I'm reading it upside down?

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by Fathand

I did similar once and put the center back in place temporarily with masking tape. It worked.

You could save a bit of cash buying those rosettes at Lee Valley

BTW, Martin usually installs those pointing clockwise but maybe your camera flipped the image or I'm reading it upside down?

I was not aware that it was supposed to be clockwise. Even more reason to do it over! I'm locking up the palm sander.

Anyway, I still have the pilot hole in the work board and centered in the sound hole. The middle ring was a little tight and the cut too shallow anyway so reasons #2 and 3 to do it over!

PS: thanks for the idea about Lee Valley. Are those prices in Canadian $? I'm in the US and the only US store I see is in Reno, NV. The next closest one to me is in Niagara Falls. I live less than 2 hours from Stewmac in Athens, OH. I could go AWOL for an afternoon and save myself the shipping fee!

[Fathand]

Originally Posted by Neil K Walk

I was not aware that it was supposed to be clockwise. Even more reason to do it over! I'm locking up the palm sander.

Anyway, I still have the pilot hole in the work board and centered in the sound hole. The middle ring was a little tight and the cut too shallow anyway so reasons #2 and 3 to do it over!

PS: thanks for the idea about Lee Valley. Are those prices in Canadian $? I'm in the US and the only US store I see is in Reno, NV. The next closest one to me is in Niagara Falls. I live less than 2 hours from Stewmac in Athens, OH. I could go AWOL for an afternoon and save myself the shipping fee!

They are $13.95 in Canadian $. I would guess cheaper in US. They have good prices on the few luthier items they carry compared to SM

[Neil K Walk]

Here's a better angle of the rosette. If it were a clock the worst of it is from 6:00 to 8:40.

[Fathand]

Originally Posted by Neil K Walk

Here's a better angle of the rosette. If it were a clock the worst of it is from 6:00 to 8:40.
[/IMG]

Just another possible option, at least once, when I made a mess of a rosette, I was able to turn the top upside down and install the new rosette in the other side. The spoiled rosette was covered with a "soundhole reinforcement veneer".

[Neil K Walk]

Originally Posted by Fathand

Just another possible option, at least once, when I made a mess of a rosette, I was able to turn the top upside down and install the new rosette in the other side. The spoiled rosette was covered with a "soundhole reinforcement veneer".

Thanks, but the rosette isn't a total loss; the inner and outer rings are perfect. Plus, notice the last picture: I was able to mount the center hole using the ring from the soundhole cutout as a guide. I'm 99% sure that it's centered so I can just reroute the center ring all over again. I just need to order a new rosette from Stewmac and just use the herringbone ring.

[Neil K Walk]

Here's the second attempt. It's good enough for me.



BTW my local shop has a bunch of Martin 000 in stock, including a 000-18 Modern Deluxe and several Martin Custom Shop 000-28 1937 in both natural and Stage 1 Ambertone. I went in today to give them a try, mostly because I can't recall ever playing a 24.9" scale. As much as I love my 25.5" scale Larrivee OM-03R those Martins were much more comfortable - and yes, lightly built!

PS: that Martin 000-18 Modern Deluxe was sweet! The 000-28 1937 with Stage 1 Ambertone finish has simulated finished checking which for the life of me can't see as a selling point. I like the burst on the top though, but the tone is not for me; I think I like rosewood for OMs better.

[Neil K Walk]

Yesterday I cut a rough outline around the top and glued in the X bracing. In a perfect world I'd have bought a radius dish and used my gobar deck to finish this step faster but instead I'm relying on the arc on the underside of the braces to do the job and cam clamps. This afternoon I'll do the lower face tone bars and upper transverse brace. I'll have to cut a new bridge plate but I've already bought maple stock for that purpose since the one included with the bracing is slightly too small for my comfort and the X brace creep slightly during glue up and the plate will not fit flush. I know that I could plane/sand it and will likely have to do this with whatever piece of wood I end up using.

[Fathand]

Originally Posted by Neil K Walk

Yesterday I cut a rough outline around the top and glued in the X bracing. In a perfect world I'd have bought a radius dish and used my gobar deck to finish this step faster but instead I'm relying on the arc on the underside of the braces to do the job and cam clamps. This afternoon I'll do the lower face tone bars and upper transverse brace. I'll have to cut a new bridge plate but I've already bought maple stock for that purpose since the one included with the bracing is slightly too small for my comfort and the X brace creep slightly during glue up and the plate will not fit flush. I know that I could plane/sand it and will likely have to do this with whatever piece of wood I end up using.

I've done 9 guitars and some ukes clamped like that. They all worked well. I find it a little slow doing 2 or 3 braces at at time is the only issue.

[Neil K Walk]

Yeah, I figure that this is partly like a kit so I can rely on the benefits of using serviced parts. Apart from the X bracing though, the rest don't appear to have an arced underside. That, the number of remaining braces, the lesser number of clamps than are required to glue them up and my lack of patience have motivated me to use my home made go bar deck:



I made it from MDF, a piece of bead board and various fittings from the hardware and plumbing sections of my local Home Depot. It cost less than $100 to make. The go bars themselves are actually fiberglass rods for running AV wires behind drywall. I find that the metal ends are better suited than previous experiences I've had with actual go bar rods with rubber end caps; they are less likely to slip. I trimmed of the male ends and place the trimmed ends in holes in the bead board to eliminate the risk of them slipping on that end.

PS: I also placed it on a carousel so that I can rotate the entire assembly while installing the go bars.

[Neil K Walk]

No pics but here's what I've been up to this week:

- living like a bachelor while my wife is in Spain. The house is a mess and she comes home tomorrow.

- I've sharpened my chisels and tapered the non load bearing braces on the top just short of the kerfing

- I've sanded the kerfed lining on the upper bout region of the top to be flat with a slight angle to avoid the 14th fret hump.

- I've notched the kerferd lining on the top for the X brace and number 1 brace inlets.

- I've glued on the maple bridge plate and the small popsicle stick braces that surround the sound hole. Next step for the top is to voice it by scalloping the tone bars and the lower arms of the X brace.

- Next for the sides is to inlay a flamed maple end edge with fine BWB purfling.

- I have three and a half lengths flamed maple binding with matching BWB purfling already glued to it. I need to order another binding strip to match. Once it's in I'm going to tape them all together and attempt to bend them all in my Fox bender. Previously I'd use a hot pipe but I've cracked them in the past and feel more confident with the fox bender; I've successfully bent zebrawood and oak which are not particularly oily woods.

- Once I have the end wedge in I'll refine the notches in the back side of the sides assembly and glue that plate in first. The following day (after I've voiced the top) I'll do the sound board.

With luck I'll have the box closed by next week. Then I can build up the courage for the binding.

[Neil K Walk]

Today I installed a flamed maple end wedge with thin BWB purfling. I did a minor screw up but it won't be noticeable. I still need to install cloth tape at various positions inside the sides to prevent key cracks.

[Neil K Walk]

It’s getting close to the time to close the box, but I was tempted to rout out the dovetail mortise (actually the block was pre-routed but I still needed to cut away the sides around the area) and did a quick fit of the neck. This gives me an overall idea of how the shorter scale length will look. It also sort of helps to center the plates - especially to see how much the fingerboard overlaps the rosette.

[Neil K Walk]

I have a question for those of you who do these style of builds: do you use a halo that drills into the mold to clamp the plates in place?

I'm thinking that's the way to go but I don't want to spend $100 on one and am in the process of trying to figure out how to make a flexible plate out of 1/4" plywood to do the job.