Sunday_luthier's Om Wanna-b

[sunday_luthier]

After a long hiatus, I was finally able to get some work done on the soundboard bracing.

Glueing in progress. I still have to glue the two "X" braces and chisel it all into shape (photo from May 2):

Chiseling the glued X-brace into shape.

... and the braced soundboard :

Next weekend, I should find the time to bend the sides.

Cheers!

[Xaromir]

Best of luck with that one mate.

It's a thing i still have to do, but i'm also very scared of that,

so much stuff is going on in the body of a acoustic, it's a lot to learn.

Make us a sound-sample when you are done!

[guitarnut]

It's a thing i still have to do...

Me too, but I think mine is coming up this year.

Best of luck on the build sunday_luthier!

Peace,

Mark

[sunday_luthier]

Moving on slowly :

The headblock and tailblock glued to the soundboard :

The neck will have a bolt-on attachment. The bolts will be secured by two nuts behing the headblock. I think this is the system Stewart McDonald uses on its prefab necks :

After bending the sides into shape, I clamped to the mold overnight. I had to make some touch-up bends. My two sides still aren't exactly identical, but I think that's acceptable.

Bending the sides was a real test for my patience. I had made a few test pieces and was happy seeing that I could actually bend them, but I didn't actually try to bend them to an EXACT shape, which is a different story.

Anyway, here are the finished sides :

Checking the sides on the soundboard before trimming the X-brace ends and Upper face brace ends :

Glueing the kerfed linings to the sides. I wish the clothes pins could put a little more pressure on the glue joint, but I have to contend with them.

Cheers!

[sunday_luthier]

The weekend's work :

Glueing the sides to the soundboard :

Getting some work done on the back plate. The braces have yet to be chiseled into shape :

An overview of what I have so far :

Still need to put it all together.

Cheers,

[Our Souls inc.]

If you can put something ( another clothespin leg ) in the tail of the clothespin , it'll add more pressure.

Beautiful lookig work so far ! I'm sure this'll be a beaut!

[customguitar]

From what I've seen, people will typically put rubber bands around the jaws of clothes pins to give them extra clamping power.

Edited May 25, 2010 by customguitar

[RestorationAD]

The weekend's work :

Glueing the sides to the soundboard :

Getting some work done on the back plate. The braces have yet to be chiseled into shape :

An overview of what I have so far :

Still need to put it all together.

Cheers,

Sharpen those chisels and get to work! Those back braces will not carve themselves.

Glad to see the update.

Cheers!

[sunday_luthier]

If you can put something ( another clothespin leg ) in the tail of the clothespin , it'll add more pressure.

Beautiful lookig work so far ! I'm sure this'll be a beaut!

From what I've seen, people will typically put rubber bands around the jaws of clothes pins to give them extra clamping power.

Thanks guys, those both sound like great ideas. I'll put them into practice when glueing the back!

[sunday_luthier]

On the agenda this weekend : closing the box. This is the last chance to take pictures of the inside of the guitar.

I glued the kerfed lining strips with clothes pins with an added rubberband. Worked like a charm!

I also finished the back bracing and chiseled small pockets in the lining for the brace ends.

Since this is also the last chance to have access to the soundboard bracing, I made clamping cauls for glueing the bridge and fingerboard later.

The clamping cauls in place :

Glueing the back with Cumpiano's roping technique. Thanks to my local bicyle shop for the old inner tubes. The technique works very well, but I broke the "rope" a couple of times when making a test run, so it's really important to stretch just the right amount to have enough pressure, but not too much to avoid breakage :

I hope I didn't forget anything inside the box ;-)

Cheers !

[sunday_luthier]

Had to take a couple of days off due to illness. I'm taking this opportunity to upload some pictures of these past couple of weeks' progress.

After routing the binding channels on the body, glueing the plastic "tortoise" binding strips with cyanoacrylate glue :

Scraping the binding flush with the sides :

Sanding the sides and binding with 150 grit paper :

The finished endgraft and binding work. The end graft is a tapered strip of Macassar ebony. The same as the fingerboard :

The binding junction at the back of the body. It is made of a strip of mahogany, like the sides of the guitar. The neck heel will have a Macassar ebony cap :

Fitting the neck after adjusting the heel for proper alignment and neck angle :

I still need to tidy up the neck heel so that it is flush with the body, glue the bridge, final sanding and tweaking, then finish and setup.

Cheers!

[sunday_luthier]

OK, so it's time to start finishing.

I like a shiny gueetar as much as the next guy, so the box will be finished with clear gloss lacquer.

The neck, however, will be finished with teak oil and carnauba wax, to keep a natural wood feel.

Before applying the finish, the bridge is located on the soundboard, and its exact location covered with masking tape. Pictured below is the box with 2 coats of sanding sealer, grain filler, and 3 coats of clear gloss.

After levelling the frets, and glueing the bone nut, the fingerboard is treated with Lem-oil, and the neck covered with teak oil until it's saturated (the wood "sweats" oil)

Cheers,

[sunday_luthier]

Finished!

Some pictures :

I just stringed it up, so I'll let it work overnight and set the action and trussrod tomorrow.

Sounds like a charm.

Cheers,

[Johny]

!

That's a good looking guitar!

I really like the headstock and inlay work.

Great job and great thread.

[sunday_luthier]

Okay,

so I made a sample.

It's an acoustic cover of an '80's French disco song by Dalida... No, I'm not kidding.

Mourir sur scène

Enjoy !