guitar_player Posted December 25, 2008 Report Share Posted December 25, 2008 I have a couple electrics I have to finish up and I have to make some jigs and stuff for this so I should be making some progress in a week or two. It's going to be pretty much a standard dreadnought, it will have walnut back and sides, sitka spruce soundboard, one piece mahogany neck, walnut headstock veneer and pickguard, ebony bridge, and a striped ebony fingerboard. I'm going to use pre-shaped braces for this one if there's a next I'll do my own and I would probably have to since I'm hoping to do a 12 string if I decide to build another acoustic. back: sides (all or most of the sap wood should be cut away): soundboard: neck blank (big enough for 2 necks): Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egdeltar Posted December 26, 2008 Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 Very nice, are you gonna do this on a steam pipe or a fox bender? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted December 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 26, 2008 Very nice, are you gonna do this on a steam pipe or a fox bender? I'm not sure how I'm going to do it yet, I have tried steaming in a steam box and it seems to work pretty good I'm going to test that a couple more times with some scrap wood. If not that I'm going to make a fox style bender with light bulbs instead of the blanket Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted January 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Well I've finally been able to start working on this. Today I finished making the radius dishes and go bar deck. I glued the soundboard together. Tomorrow I have to make a mold for bending the sides and a mold for building the body and maybe get the rosette inlayed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted January 26, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 Today I experimented with bending the sides. I think I'm going to end up bending them on a pipe heated by a propane torch. Here's a test side clamped to the form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted January 26, 2009 Report Share Posted January 26, 2009 That's a nifty bender you've built there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted January 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2009 I had to make another form since after it's clamped overnight there's barely any spring back so the form adjusted for spring back bent it too much. I bent one of the sides today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted January 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2009 The side I bent yesterday came out great so I bent the other one and clamped it in the form. I routed for the rosette and glued the back together. routing for the rosette: rosette glued in: back glued together Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anderekel Posted January 28, 2009 Report Share Posted January 28, 2009 Oh man, I LOVE your gluing method there with the cement block HAHAHAHA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted January 29, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2009 Oh man, I LOVE your gluing method there with the cement block HAHAHAHA It works great lol. I got a lot done today, the back needs a little sanding and it's done. Tomorrow I'll work on the soundhole braces and the sides. Soundboard and rosette: back cut out: Gluing on braces: Soundboard cut out, soundhole cut out, rosette sanded: rosette: Back done besides sanding: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted January 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2009 Gluing on x brace: Gluing on more braces: Head and tail blocks and some kerfing: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted January 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 31, 2009 The sides are flaring out at the top and not matching the template so I'm going to try making a full mold and removing the lining and tying to get it to fit. Gluing on braces and bridge plate: Finished soundboard minus sanding: cutting kerfed lining: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted February 3, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 I made a full mold today, would have preferred it to be solid plywood but I don't want to use up all that I have left. I cracked the side trying to take the kerfing off so now the sides are all over my shop lol. I bent 2 more sides today and have them in the molds. One half of the mold: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted February 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 So, I'll be back up to where I was tomorrow. The sides came out great clamping each in half the mold works great, with barely any springback at all and this way I can do 2 at once. I got the head and tail blocks glued on and the kerfed lining glued on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted February 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 I shaped the back profile, glued in kerfing on the back, glued side struts in, and glued a shims on top of the tail and head blocks because there not high enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted February 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 9, 2009 I've been a little busy lately but I got the top glued on and started the neck. At first I tried using big rubber bands to clamp it but that didn't work very well. Looks like I'll be able to start finishing next weekend if all goes well or sometime next week. laying out neck: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted February 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 I cut the tenon and cut out the neck, routed for the truss rod, trimmed the soundboard, glued on the back, and glued on the headstock veneers. Neck cut out and truss rod routed: gluing on back: gluing on the walnut veneer with a thin maple one under it: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted February 10, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 The whole bodies messed up the sides aren't straight and the mold put a big dent in it so it's unsavable at the most I could get the braces from it. At least I've learned a lot from it. Soon I'll have a cherry triple 0 with a slotted headstock and 12 frets to the body. I'll save the neck for a dreadnaught whenever I do one again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shredforbread33 Posted February 10, 2009 Report Share Posted February 10, 2009 That sucks man. So much effort down the toilet. Atleast you have a good outlook on it. Good luck when you decide to build another acoustic. -Marshall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted February 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 11, 2009 That sucks man. So much effort down the toilet. Atleast you have a good outlook on it. Good luck when you decide to build another acoustic. -Marshall Yeah, I'm going to make it into a table lol. I'm already buying the parts for the next one so it should start soon. I could just start this over but I'm gassing for a triple 0, classical, and a 12 string kind of what is making me keep going at it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpm99 Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 Bummer! What do you think happened? Did you take pictures? I'd be curious, from a learner's perspective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar_player Posted February 12, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 Bummer! What do you think happened? Did you take pictures? I'd be curious, from a learner's perspective. I didn't take pics, I will when I bring it home from school since I turned it into a woodworking project there. I'm pretty sure that it wasn't touching all the sides of the mold closely enough and I wasn't careful enough about that because where it wasn't touching the mold on one side I think it was on the other causing the whole thing to be twisted I think it wouldn't have been too bad except when I glued the back on I'm pretty sure it got worse. In my current build I'm planning to use sticks to hold the sides against the mold until the top and back are glued on and I'll take them out after. I may have to use a small saw to cut them to get them out but it should fix the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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