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Simon And Patrick


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I came across this on Ebay and thought "that would save me a lot of hassle" not having any bending gear etc. I bought it for £36.00 which included p&p.

The materials would have cost that much and these ones are pre assembled. :D

I felt a bit guilty at first it seemed like "cheating" but hey I thought it's my first acoustic build, and the solution to bending the sides was there.

Its a simon and Patrick Body Cherry Back and Sides.

I was planing on a mortise and tenon bolt on neck joint which would mean routering out this one, what say you guy's on this

BodyLength.jpg

Edited by jaycee
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no problems with that!!

I'm finishing off # 25 & 26 and I've never cut a fret slot yet......

does that mean I'm cheating?

Don't care!!

That's what I like to hear

I am leaning toward a butt joint Matt, if it's good enough for, and works for them then that fine with me.

I am making a 12 string will the xtra tension make a difference?

Edited by jaycee
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no problems with that!!

I'm finishing off # 25 & 26 and I've never cut a fret slot yet......

does that mean I'm cheating?

Don't care!!

That's what I like to hear

I am leaning toward a butt joint Matt, if it's good enough for, and works for them then that fine with me.

I am making a 12 string will the xtra tension make a difference?

I don't see why it would. Taylor's 12 is also just a 2 bolt design (or maybe a bit more complicated now, with the NT, but it used to just be a 2-bolt design). Plenty strong enough.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've got used to it now and glad that I have it as my funds have dried up fir the moment.

The only problem I have to solve now is whether to attempt and take the binding / purfling off hoping not to mess up the edge on the sides, or to make the top so that it fits into the body then put some type of purfling / edging around the top to finish it off

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no problems with that!!

I'm finishing off # 25 & 26 and I've never cut a fret slot yet......

does that mean I'm cheating?

Don't care!!

Having done just about everything at least once now (speaking of electric solid bodies), I can tell you that if there's anything you want to skip, it's cutting fret slots! (Manually, anyway... although I keep doing it that way. What's wrong with me??)

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Take off enough binding so you can glue the top on (block plane should do the trick, or a big sanding board), no more than that. You'll route the rest off when you route for the new binding. No muss, no fuss. Much, much, much easier than trying a drop fit.

That had gone through mind and i'm pleased someone suggested it. One concern I have however is when I am routing is there a chance that the binding (which is plastic)could tear out some of the side?. I will route perhaps 2mm below the existing binding anyway to hopefully avoid this

Edited by jaycee
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Honestly, hand-cutting fret slots is easy as pie. As long as you have a good mitre box, templates, and a good japanese saw.

Especially the latter. Without it, it's a massive PITA.

It's a ton easier with the Japanese saw I got from LMI, that's for sure.

If I didn't have all this cool cocobolo (Woodcraft had a few awesome planks I couldn't pass up), I'd still probably buy slotted boards though.

Still takes me an hour with the new saw...I'm probably more meticulous about it than necessary, I guess.

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I guess it's about getting used to the tool; I slot an ebony fingerboard in about 15 minutes, usually do three or four in an hour's time. I could probably cut the time to ten minutes if I had a backed saw so I could set up the depth stops instead of having to do it by eye (basically, the slot's deep enough once the teeth are fully embedded in the board).

With StewMac's old fretsaw, slotting took me more like an hour and a half of actual sawing. And waxing the blade, and sawing, and clearing, and waxing....

Honestly, though, one of the reasons I'd like a CNC is to do fret slots and radiussing. Because while it's not hard, it's not exactly fun, either. But like you, I've got a fairly large stack of nice fingerboard wood (ebony, madagascar rosewood, and a dozen cocobolo boards) that each cost a fraction of what a pre-slotted board costs, and then there's the fact I plan on building several 'off the wall' instruments (baritone scales, long scales, multiscale fretboards, that sort of thing).

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BodyLength.jpg

It seems that the original top on the body was arched. the waist is slightly higher than the front and back, the back of the neck block must be 2mm higher than the sides and the heel block slopes up. I guess it must have sat ok this way, should I keep it like this or sand everything level and have a completely flat top?

EDIT: the thing I was worried about is that the top would not make a good enough contact with the kerfing, but I found a piece of 4mm ply and put that on the top pressed down and it bent enough to keep out all the light. I assume a solid top would be just as pliable as the ply, so I may leave it as it is

Edited by jaycee
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The top's radiussed, which is normal, meaning the top is higher at the waist than either head or tail. Most folks also arch the bracing to match, although some (Huss and Dalton on certain models) glue radiussed tops to flat sides, some use no arching in the top bracing, some only arch some of it, and so on.

It'll work fine as is, bottom line.

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