My First (and Slow) Build

[Hector]

sand it back,

and maybe use some sort of caul to evenly distribute the pressure.

[Denis]

Thanks Hector and Jon,

I hate this roller coaster ride that is my first learning curve!!

I went out this afternoon to sand the veneer off with 60 grit in the orbital sander, and whadya know....... There's enough thickness in the veneer for the worst of the furrows to go. I switched VERY quickly to 240, and went a lot more gently. It isn't perfect by any means, but then I knew that the first one wasn't going to be.

So, just for today, I have decided that I am just going to get on and finish it, warts and all. If nothing else, it will be a record of my learning, and if I look at it long enough while I am making the next, I may remember the learning I have had so I don't repeat the process on the second.

I have ordered some water based finish and black plastic binding from LMI today. Until that arrives, I am just going to try to get everything mounted and checked out so the only snags that can surprise me should be in the finishing. (famous last words)

I have also taken the precaution of making up a couple of pieces of Maple with the veneer on so I can test the routing for the binding and try out the finish before I ruin the beast itself.

When I look at some of the other projects on here and how beautiful they are, I wonder if I am particularly stupid or they are particularly bright. Is it an age thing? I have just turned 58. Did anyone else go thru this switchback process?

BTW just to cheer me up, I have bought one of these from ebay.

Something silly to be going on with

Denis (breathing again, but only just)

[Denis]

What a long time since I last posted.

Well, I decided to put the beast together without finishing it just to make sure everything worked. I was particularly worried about the pickups, as they were secondhand from ebay.

It sounds great. I used the wiring diagram from Dennis Waring's book, with coil taps and a blend pot, and the range of sounds is well beyond my expectations.

Here it is -

Unfinished

- the bridge is off line, and there are one or two other tweaks to do, but I am very pleased so far.

I also got some KTM 9 from LMI - what nice people to deal with - and I have done a test piece of maple with the bird's eye maple veneer. Left the 10 coats for 3 weeks before trying to sand and finish it. I sanded it out to 1200 grit tonight, and then polished it with some chrome cleaner, and It looks pretty good. I will sand the guitar with finer wet and dry, but at least I have a good understanding of the process.

I also decided to bind the top, and have a router bit set up that lets me do a good job - a 3/8" bearing on a 1/2" bit gives just the right depth for the binding I got.

So, all I have to do is tear myself away from the beast, strip it apart and take my time to finish it before I start on the next one.

What a learning curve!!

Denis

BTW I made the cigar box guitar I mentioned in the last post. I found it a really good way to break down some of my apprehensions about making a neck from stratch. I plays and sounds OK, considering it cost me $30 and a 2 x 1 bit of maple that I had lying around. I've bought 3 more cigar boxes from ebay - look out, you might be getting one as a xmas gift!!

[travismoore]

Wow looks really nice =)

I like it!

[Jon]

Great work overcoming the obstacles, can't wait to see the finish on it.