Bridge mounting time

Tonight I installed the bridge. I used PVA glue, a Stewmac Bridgematic jig and a DIY bridge clamp.

First you measure the distance from the 12th fret to the nut:


Now flip the jig, and the little pointers at the end lineup with the front end of the saddle slot:



bridge located and end 2 holes drilled:



DIY clamp for the bridge:


Under the clamp

Frets, Dressing, leveling and crowning

The frets are all hammered in.... so it's now up tp me to make them nice.
First I flush cut the fret ends.

I then took a bastard fie and filed flush the fret end nubs that were still sticking out. The file cut the fret ends great, and did not even scratch the fingerboard. Awesome.

Next I created a 20" radius sanding block, and cut a 30 degree angle into it. I slid the bastard file into the block and used that to create a 30 degree angle on the fret ends. came out super. Also of note, I had to hacksaw off the handle for this file.

From Acoustic Guitar

I improved the tool:




Next I put 220 grit sand paper on the 20" radius block and started leveling the frets.

I am still waiting for my fret crowning file to coe in. It is on 2 week backorder. I will also need to get a fret dressing file to nicely dress the fret ends.

I will update this post with photos next week.

Headstock and frets

So here you can see some shots of the mostly finished headstock with the tuning machines installed. Everything is sanded nicely, I do need to wipe off the dust though. The nut is installed, but not slotted to the correct depth yet. About 1/3 of the frets are installed and I am now obsessing on which fret files to get....... way too many choices.

Inlay

I added a nice shape to the headstock. This can be seen in the photo below. A attached 80 grit sand paper to the outside of my PVA glue botle and used this to sand the profile after rough cutting on my band saw. I also made the inside part of a circle using a hole saw and attached 80 grit to that as well to use to help sand the profile. See the profile below.

So I bought some inlay from www.luthiersupply.com. It is a 1" circle made of mother of pearl, with an abalone circle and the letter S.





I started by crazy gluing the inlay on the headstock. I then used and exacto knife to trace the outline of the 1" circle. I routed this out using my Dremel in the Dremel router-base using a 1/8" spiral downcut bit.

After checking out the depth of the routed circle I dry fit the inlay. looks great. I then used 90 min black 2 part epoxy to adhere the inlay. This helped hide any imperfections in the routed circle. I used 80 grit, then 120, and so on attached to a sanding block to remove the epoxy and make everything flush.

Laminating headstock

So, the headstock came pre-laminated, but there was a chip in the lamination that looked pretty bad.




So I bought some rosewood from Stewmac.com and glued it up using PVA type glue.



I used some Oak as a hardwood Caul.



Here is what it looks like all gued up. I need to drill the holes for the tuners and create a slot for the truss rod.


Next I rough cut at the band saw and then routed flush at the router table.








I also had to clear the area where the nut goes.


I also shaped the headstock to look cooler than the square shape it came in. Those pictures will be posted next time.

Fretboard

This weekend I glued in the Abalone dots and 12th fret marker.

I sanded the fretboard starting with 80 grit on a 20" radius sanding block, then progressing through 120, 150, 220, 400, 500, 800, 1200, 1500.

Before I cleaned the dust off:


I also did the side markers.



Next I started hammering in the frets. I just did 2 to try it out. As you can tell from the photo, I started from the outsides and worked my way to the middle. I am going to have to trim these and round them off, as well as recrown.

Neck glueup

Tonight I glued-up the guitar's fret-board to the neck, being careful not to get any glue on the truss-rod. I had a caul made of oak on the fret-board so it did not get ruined due to the clamping pressure. I clamped using 6 clamps spread evenly across the neck. Before I glued and clamped I put 2 small brads into the neck and used these to locate the fret-board. worked well.
I also wiped the back of the rosewood fret-board with acetone to reduce the amount of oil for better glue adhesion.

These are the recently glued bindings and perfling on the top.

Bindings

Today I routed the channel on the bottom of the guitar for the rosewood bindings I got from www.stewmac.com.



I glued half the binding on using Titebond. I started with one half first so if I messed up I would not loose everything. I taped it down as opposed to wrapping the guitar and it seems to have worked great. I left it for about 6 hours.






Then I started scraping for the first time in my life. This is awesome. I got the scraper from www.rockler.com It was a kit of 3 and they are awesome!!!!

Bending iron redux

So I tilted the propane torch upright and moved the pipe higher up. I then clamped this to my work bench and all is well. This helped my issue with the propane torch blowing out. I used the flame on low.


I soaked the rosewood binding for 15 min. Next binding will be longer so the wood does not dry out so fast. I kept a spray bottle filled with water nearby to rehydrate the wood as it dried during bending. I used a wet paper towel between the wood and the hot pipe and it helped avoid scorching. I also made a jig to hold the binding in shape during cooling and drying. I reused the tops from the spool clamps for this jig. Wood was left in the jig for 24 hrs. The jig also helped me see if the bend was going well.

Bent two sides so far. I will update tomorrow with photos.

Bending Iron

So I decided to make a bending iron to bend the rosewood bindings. See the photos below. I used 2" diameter black pipe and sanded the black coating off the pipe. I read that is smells nasty when heated if you leave the black on. I put some insulation between the flange and the wood.

I built the frame from scrap pieces of 1X4 material I had in the shop. Pine. Bernzomatic propane torch used for heating element. I put a small baffle in the pipe.






So I tried it out and learned that the Bernzomatic torches are a bitch to keep lit when on their sides. I checked out their website and it explains there that the liquid propane snuffs out the flame. I might have to change to a regulated torch, or change my angle of attack.

Neck attached... sort of

Tonight I prepped the neck.
I started by clearing the channel for the truss rod. Making sure it was flush to the top. Next I prepped the peg head by putting a 3/8" bit in my drill press and opening the backs of the holes where the tuning machines go, so they sit flush, yet firm.

This was followed by dry fitting the neck to the body and making sure everything was in plane using a straight edge. I had to take some off the front of the neck because the straight edge was sitting a little above the guitar, which means that the neck was tilted back a little. Now every thing is in plane and ready for the fingerboard to be glued. I am probably going to us that rubber band thingy.



Also I am going to have to route the binding channels and shape the bindings before the neck is attached permanently.

Neck tang cut Bindings ordered

Yesterday I ordered the bindings and perfling. I settled on the Rosewood binding and the herringbone perfling. I am looking forward to completing this step.

I cut out the pocket for the neck tang. The stink part of this is that I did not have a flush trim bit that was piloted. All of the bits I have have a bearing, and the bearing and the screw are too long and would not allow me to fit in the cavity with the bit.
So I took my Dremel plunge routerbase, put in a straight cut bit and freehanded the cut. I then cleaned up with a chisel. I am getting better and better with the chisel.

This is how the www.usguitrkits.com recommended doing it:




Also received the jig for setting up the saddle.





Here are my bindings and perfiling:




Close up:

Top Repair... Arrrgh

Tonight I routed the top. Awesome. Came out clean. Then as I cleaned my work bench, I knocked the guitar on the cement floor!?!?#?!?

Part of the front soundboard bottom lifted and cracked. Luckily (seems ironic to use lucky in this sentence) it was with the grain so the patch went well. I added a small super thin maple patch under the crack using titebond. looks good from above.
After the repair I knocked on the top and noticed no difference in sound or feel to knocks before I cracked the top.

Here is the crack:


barely noticeable, but there none the less.
My fat arm and huge hands can't reach that far into the sound hole, so luckily my wife's much younger sister could fit her super thin arm to the crack at the base of the guitar. She used a jack to hold the piece of maple and it came out great.





Here is the patch 2 hours later.It needs to be sanded or filed to take a little meat off, but it is less than 1/4", and it cleaned up the crack nicely.

Glue-up

Tonight I glued the top to the rest of the body.
see pictures below.
I used titebond glue and the spool clamps I had made. I used some scrap as a caul, and put it right over the shoulder brace and neck block.

Clamps, clamps and more clamps

I finally cut all of the wood I needed to make the balance of the spool clamps. See the pile next to the guitar. Only 13 more clamps to go. Also I started dry fitting the top to the body and double checked the C clamp I have for clamping the top of the guitar.

Zen and the art of acoustic guitar binding

No photos tonight. Still building spool clamps. I should complete 7 or so tonight.

So, tonight I started thinking about the specifics of doing the binding. I asked some questions to Steve Summerford @ http://acousticguitarbuild.blogspot.com/ and he had lots of good recommendations.

If I do decide on the hardwood binding I am going to have to come up with a way to bend it. The DIY bending jigs seem like an easy option as I have a few torches around. Steve's blog had recommended soaking the wood in warm water for 30 min. This might be the no additional jig way to go. Heck, I think I am getting tired of making jigs.... nah.

Then I am probably going to attach with CA glue. And heck it will scrape off easily when I am done.

I was recommended to use drafting tape to attach the binding as I go along.

My other option is the black plastic stuff. I don't have to bend that. same attachment methods though.


The wood glue method seems like you can easily go wrong if you get the glue all over the place.



For those of you unfamiliar here is a diagram from Stewmac:


and a good article here on how to:
Here