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8 string acoustic


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  • 2 weeks later...

Well a couple of weeks of night shifts later I've finally got a bit of bench time. These return to the bench sessions are usually followed by a bunch of cock ups....

Headstock time. Rosewood face from the backs leftovers. Binding channel cut and ebony glued. Tuner holes drilled. 4 a sided. Rock n roll.

For some reason I was a bit unnerved by string travel over the headstock so they are inline with the furthermost being about 1mm higher than the nearest. It may well look odd, but hey ho. Who was it that thought square ended slots would be cool? Probably the same idiot that decided to excavate using a chisel. Still didn't take too long and may clean up nice.

 

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Well its time for a tea break - when isn't it - and I sort of feel like I've got some things done this morning.

First things first, I built a block of wood. glued two recessed magnets to the end and set about slotting. Now this is the only board I've cut that I'm happy with. I think I put it down to using a pull saw - it takes wood off at an alarming rate so less faffing around in the slot and cutting on the pull just seems more intuitive. Either way it seemed to work with the only down side really being that it seems very easy to go too deep - though that's my fault for not putting a stop on it. Cue the look no hands shot of a saw demonstrating the magic of magnets.

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I also glued the heel to the neck. Its now gone from a light piece of wood to a heavy piece of wood. Though both Limba, the density of the heel block is quite  bit higher. Pity the fool that has to carve that. Oh yeah, that's me.

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Jig building is the biggest joy for me. I manufacture furniture in my day job, and most of that is concocting jigs/workholding/processes to standardise, simplify and optimise. A lot of that is part of my personality though, being a problem-solver and hair-splitter extraordinaire.

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haha I'm completely the opposite. I quite like the flexibility of making it up as you go along, though if I were doing this for cash, I daresay I'd feel a lot differently about things. One thing I do want to put a bit of effort into is a heat blanket bending set up. Not necessary fox bender style, but something similar. Bending this one fully manually was unnerving slow and knackering to say the least - but then I've not had nearly enough practice.

 

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Definitely an improviser here as well.

With regard to side bending, I don't have a lot of experience either, and it certainly varies by wood, but for some reason the mandola side I bent last night was much easier than my previous practice attempts. It seemed that getting the right combination of temperature and water for a given wood made all the difference. Geting the tight radius around the scroll took a little doing, but at some point the wood just sort of went slack, like it gave up resisting me, and it became surprisingly easy to bend, 

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27 minutes ago, ScottR said:

It's not funny I hit the like button, it was inevitable.:D. It was also in the stars that you would pick up on that right away...I actually thought to myself as I hit the button--Carl's going jump right on this one, he is.

SR

I'm the predictable safe option. :thumb:

Unlike fish on an airplane.

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:lol:oh fiddlesticks. literally. I think my reluctance to get into this is also driven by my small work space, though I bet with a but of thinking there'd be a way of increasing storage. See any excuse...... Joking apart another thing on the list is trying to sort out some sort of drum sanding solution for thicknessing. I can see I need to meditate on this.

I'm walking away from this today. Time for a quick play and a couple of blisters getting the fretboard levelled. Its going to work out a but thinner than I'd have wanted, but should work I think with a lower action and  the strings being closer to the top than planned.

 If I keep it together this is what were shooting for. The sound hole is going to be continued into and through the fretboard. Who plays up there anyway?

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Edited by 103801061982
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Thanks mate. I wish I could claim good vision, more like happy accident.

Looking at the headstock last night, I can see that I definitely went a bit mental with the file when cutting the slots.  I spent a bit of time straightening then out this morning with a wide flat chisel.. Consequently the central bar (?) is a bit thinner than I would have wanted for the tuners I have in mind. If necessary the solution will be to wait till I have them in hand and then take a mm or two off the outside edge + rebind. no bigie.

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The real question that's been bugging me is whether or not to build a full fox type bending machine. I'm half convinced that I want to for the sake of building it. I'm also not too sure how much it would add to the bending process over and above just using the blanket over a form clamped down with cauls. Pretty sure I know which way Prostheta would fall on this ;)

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The cost and bulk aspect would bother me more than anything. A simple benchtop bending iron is a far more viable proposition than a big bulky Fox bender. The workshop here is already at the point of needing to be "two layers deep". Jigs are my stock in trade, however they do tend to chew up a lot of storage space.

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The + points for me are speed, consistency and supposed reduced cupping, cracking and warping.  I'd also be building an extension to cope with bending cutaways (not something I want to try on the iron). The - are I haven't got room for one. I'm talking myself into it damn it.

How not to fit a neck #2. relieved the central portion of the joint with a router, maybe a bit generously. Spindle sanded to a rough profile while the heel is still square.. Surprisingly good fit and going to leave it there until its time to fine tune and mess it up. Will now look into carving the heel, or at least the part the buts to the body.

The plan is to glue and bolt, flatten, then run a channel in the top and epoxy in a bar to act as an ersatz tenon/truss. Plans though, as always change.

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Not much office time today and what time there was was spent effing and blinding. Everything seemed to be a bit of a struggle. This afternoon will be spent apologising to the neighbours for the uncouth language :D.

First job of the day was to make some holes. Same idea as the first neck, but this time I left more meat around the heel area - made it easier to position and hold the neck on the press.

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After that the effing and blinding started. Fitting the neck. It went eventually, but wasn't arf stubborn about it. I've left this heel chunkier to increase gluing surface. The plan is to string with a high a, so no one;s going to need to be going up the dusty end anyway.

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I also rough cut the cutout in the fret board. This section will be taken back flush with the edge of the soundhole- not bound but fret tangs hidden with dust and CA.

Next in line - finish the heel, then I think get the neck I place, level again and get the fretbourd on. I was going to fret before attaching the board, but I think theres more than enough support there.

I was going to have this sprayed, but after watching a few videos on it, I'm going to try French polishing - perhaps

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