ACRosengrant Posted March 6, 2020 Report Share Posted March 6, 2020 Little backstory, recently sold my Stinnett. Broke my heart, but we needed money,and it went to another Stinnett owner. So still in the family. Told my wife I wanted to build. Been contemplating for about 10 years now. This will be a proof of concept for me. Body will be 4 pieces of mahogany, glued lengthwise for thickness and edgewise for width. Local lumberyard only had 1"(3/4 after their surfacing) mahogany. Chambered with 2-piece maple top. Debating on design for useless f-hole. Neck will be 3-piece maple, or maple/purple heart/maple, as I've got a chunk of purple heart that I acquired from a relative that's just been sitting for years. Depends on if I have enough maple or not. Ebony board probably. Parts will be cheapies due to this being a test build to see if I've got the chops for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 7, 2020 Report Share Posted March 7, 2020 right on welcome. I waited far too long to start building because I had ideas of it when I was 16 and assembled lots of parts guitars but never did a scratch build until 30 yrs later. so joining boards sounds like it's going to play a big part in your build. what tools? you a hand planer type or router type or jointer type? big fan of chambered as I'm a big fan of light guitars - everything I've built so far has been chambered as I have yet to find wood that is light enough to go fully solid. look fwd to seeing your build pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norris Posted March 7, 2020 Report Share Posted March 7, 2020 1 hour ago, mistermikev said: have yet to find wood that is light enough to go fully solid. I don't know if you have access to African khaya in the states. It looks and works like mahogany. The body of my build is solid but very light. There are lots of varieties of khaya - the one I'm using for the body is quite pinkish in colour, but is looking like mahogany after a few coats of Tru Oil. The neck is a darker, denser variety. I'll do a weigh in on my thread before I hand it over to its owner. It's certainly very light weight for anything resembling a Gibbo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 7, 2020 Report Share Posted March 7, 2020 1 hour ago, Norris said: I don't know if you have access to African khaya in the states. It looks and works like mahogany. The body of my build is solid but very light. There are lots of varieties of khaya - the one I'm using for the body is quite pinkish in colour, but is looking like mahogany after a few coats of Tru Oil. The neck is a darker, denser variety. I'll do a weigh in on my thread before I hand it over to its owner. It's certainly very light weight for anything resembling a Gibbo thanks Norris. I have a what's left of a 8/4 x 13" x 12' stick of it in my garage along with some 12/4. the delta lectric, and sweet spot blonde builds were all cut from that stick. I suspect that a 1.75" solid body of that is gonna make a guitar fall in the 7.5-8.5lb range. it has bee my understanding that khaya mahog can be light OR heavy - this one being on the lighter side of heavy and very orange. I've been waiting for a new shipment of mahog at my local spot to see if I can pick thru and find a lighter 13" board but it's hard to judge weight on something that big. I could go buy some stuff from a few spots that I know is light, but I'm in no hurry and I prefer the prices at my local spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACRosengrant Posted March 7, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2020 4 hours ago, mistermikev said: so joining boards sounds like it's going to play a big part in your build. what tools? you a hand planer type or router type or jointer type? I've got both an 6" electric jointer and 12" planer, as well as a hand plane I believe, but that bad boy probably needs to be cleaned. I kinda just ended up with an old tool box with some woodworking tools in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACRosengrant Posted March 7, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2020 Design Wood Pay no attention to any of the pine. I'm building at a buddy's house and he builds reptile enclosures with the pine. Pay plenty of attention to the dark stuff on the left, the brownish red stuff almost to the left, and the long pretty blonde stuff in the middle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 7, 2020 Report Share Posted March 7, 2020 Oh gee... The longest blanks of dedicated guitar wood I have actually seen have been long enough for a body or a neck. The plywood on the right looks familiar, though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 7, 2020 Report Share Posted March 7, 2020 walnut mahog and maple a winning comb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACRosengrant Posted March 7, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2020 23 minutes ago, mistermikev said: walnut mahog and maple a winning comb. Wish I had some walnut, but lumber yard did not have. Maybe if I build another, I'll probably go to Houston to a hardwood place and get some good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 7, 2020 Report Share Posted March 7, 2020 ah, right, that's purple heart that turned to brown heart then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACRosengrant Posted March 7, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 7, 2020 46 minutes ago, mistermikev said: ah, right, that's purple heart that turned to brown heart then? It's in bad lighting, it's kinda rough on the outside, and I've had it for at least 8 years. But it was definitely that purple color when I got it in the light of day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 8, 2020 Report Share Posted March 8, 2020 2 hours ago, ACRosengrant said: It's in bad lighting, it's kinda rough on the outside, and I've had it for at least 8 years. But it was definitely that purple color when I got it in the light of day. right on. was just reading that it tends to turn right at the 10 year mark. it looks real dark in the pic but you know... hard to tell from pics. look fwd to seeing the purple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 9, 2020 Report Share Posted March 9, 2020 On 3/7/2020 at 2:47 PM, ACRosengrant said: I'll probably go to Houston to a hardwood place and get some good stuff. Clark's Hardwood or Houston Hardwoods? SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACRosengrant Posted March 9, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2020 2 hours ago, ScottR said: Clark's Hardwood or Houston Hardwoods? SR Hell, I don't know. They're both about 120 miles from me. Maybe both. Also, a second build is probably a long way off lol. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACRosengrant Posted March 15, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 15, 2020 Not much progress done, did some planing, gluing, and clamping of body lams Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACRosengrant Posted March 22, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2020 Been a hell of a day. Had a cat sick all week. He passed at 2am(Texas time, whatever that is for all you other cats), made bread, and did a little more guitar stuff. Planer was not adjusting properly, so took that apart and somehow unbinded it. Planed my mahogany a little too thin, but I'll make it work. Then jointed the edges and glued it up. Got 8 clamps holding it together. I feel it is enough, cause it's all I had. Also did some gluing/cutting of templates, unfortunately, my fretboard template paper got all wonky when it came into contact with glue, so not sure how to make that a thing that can happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 22, 2020 Report Share Posted March 22, 2020 1 hour ago, ACRosengrant said: template paper got all wonky when it came into contact with glue, Glue sticks are dry enough not to warp the paper. Contact cement spread thinly on the template is good as well as is spraying adhesive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACRosengrant Posted March 28, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 28, 2020 Not a whole lot of progress today. Went to UPS and printed a new template yesterday. Took my son with me to buddy's house to do work Unclamp body. Good deal. Joint is a bit wonky, but nothing the planer can't fix. Glue and clamp top join together. Take body outside to planer. Try to adjust planer. Only one side will move. Take apart planer. Bottom screw in one of the gears broke. Threw whole thing out of whack. Found a way to get it back together. Used WD-40 on all rusty areas and left to penetrate. Decided to get belt/disc sander running to see what all the fuss is about. Figured I could just sand the body to plane it. Nope. NOPE. At that rate, would have taken a year. But dug through the rusty old tool box and found what I at first called a flat rasp, but might be called a sureform. Even let my son take it for a spin. That made taking that uneven spot out WAY easier. Used sander to smooth out edges of body template. Traced template onto body blank, deciding that it would make more sense to flatten only the wood I'm using. Cranked up the old bandsaw, got about 6 inches into the wood, blade breaks. I'm just not having luck with tools today. End up repurposing some old bunk bed wood to make a shelf for my kids room. Also built tiny table for the front of the disc sander that I'll just call into place when I need it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACRosengrant Posted March 29, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 29, 2020 PROGRESS! Got body and top cut out(roughly), chamber for f-hole routed, did some belt sanding to make everything smooth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted March 30, 2020 Report Share Posted March 30, 2020 Man---I absolutely LOVE your shop! I need one just like it. SR 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACRosengrant Posted March 30, 2020 Author Report Share Posted March 30, 2020 9 hours ago, ScottR said: Man---I absolutely LOVE your shop! I need one just like it. SR It's my buddy's garage lol. But thanks Scott. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mistermikev Posted March 30, 2020 Report Share Posted March 30, 2020 sometimes I wish I had kids... so I could make them build kewl guitars! haha. looking good. looks well planed after all. nice job. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACRosengrant Posted April 1, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2020 Need advice below. Forgot to take pics of the smoothed out body and top. So here they are. The wolf head is gonna be the f-hole, hopefully, the part between the jaw and about isn't too fragile. Figure I can leave the wood thicker there. Two questions, does it look like it will be a problem? And should I cut it out now or after I carve the top? I figure I can't carve the top until after I glue it to the body, but then I can't cut the hole after I've glued the top down. Also, they are smooth, but they aren't matched yet, and the top doesn't sit flush on the body either. Got some kinda non-flatness messing it up. Close, but not close enough. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScottR Posted April 1, 2020 Report Share Posted April 1, 2020 17 minutes ago, ACRosengrant said: Two questions, does it look like it will be a problem? And should I cut it out now or after I carve the top? I figure I can't carve the top until after I glue it to the body, but then I can't cut the hole after I've glued the top down. It depends on how you plan to cut it. If you are using a saw you have to cut it before glue up and therefore before carving. If you plan to route it like with a template or like an inlay, then you need to do it before carving but could wait till it was glued up. The mouth area would probably not survive that. If you plan to carve the opening then you could wait until the top was carved and have less thickness to carve out for your hole. In any event you are going to have to be very careful with the mouth area. You could reinforce it from the back.with glue and gauze or a bit of veneer glued cross grain. SR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ACRosengrant Posted April 1, 2020 Author Report Share Posted April 1, 2020 13 minutes ago, ScottR said: It depends on how you plan to cut it. If you are using a saw you have to cut it before glue up and therefore before carving. If you plan to route it like with a template or like an inlay, then you need to do it before carving but could wait till it was glued up. The mouth area would probably not survive that. If you plan to carve the opening then you could wait until the top was carved and have less thickness to carve out for your hole. In any event you are going to have to be very careful with the mouth area. You could reinforce it from the back.with glue and gauze or a bit of veneer glued cross grain. SR My plan was to use a drill to get rid of the bulk of the design, and do the rest with files. That veneer idea is genius though. Maybe I'll revise the design so it's not as fragile in that area, but I kinda wanted it howling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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