Padauk Acoustic Build

[demonx]

This is coming along great. Good work as always

[Juntunen Guitars]

These are all I have on photobucket now for where it sits currently. I have a bunch more on my phone of the final sanding of the back, sides, and neck and a few other pictures of the build process. All it needs now is final voicing of the top and it's ready for the finishing stage. I'm not really liking haveing to wait until the end of april to start finishing though. It's taunting to have it just hanging on the wall as is.

Fretwork time. Here I am leveling the frets, it's just a fret leveling bar from stewmac with P320 grit self adhesive sandpaper from Grizzly, I use that for leveling frets no higher grits are used.

Then I use the diamond fret crowning tool from stewmac until there is a slight shiny line left over down the length of the fret. You want that there, don't completely round over the top of the fret. After that I use garnet 500 grit sandpaper from 3M to bring that shiny line in closer to the center so it's smaller and to get rid of the crowning scratches. I ran out of 500 grit during this and switched to 600 wet dry.

I using this file from stewmac to round the ends of the frets, press really lightly while using this file. I used to just use a sanding sponge but decided to give this a try and it works better if you can get the touch for it, I screwed up a couple fret jobs my first couple times.

After everything I use 0000 steel wool and polish the hell out of the fingerboard and frets until all scratches left over are gone. No pictures of the completely finished frets sorry. Just pictures from during the buffing step.

[Juntunen Guitars]

Ok so I'm back to working on this. I did a final voicing on the top last week and got it sanded out and the fingerboard and bridge location taped off. I'll put some pictures up next week once I get it sealed and pore filled. In the next two weeks it will be sealed, pore filled and all the build coats on and be ready for buffing in four weeks. I will describe the finishing process too, it's different from what most people do I guess.

[jaycee]

Great build. Reminds me of my 12 string acoustic build a few years ago, I really enjoyed it.

[Juntunen Guitars]

Ok so finishing pictures.

The way I finish an instrument is to ...

1. Spray sealer

2. Scuff sand with P320 grit and I literally just take two or three passes down the first coat of sealer just to knock off the raised fibers

3. Pore fill, brush the fill across the grain then blot it down with the brush, wait until it is about 70% hazed over then wipe it off with a rubber squige at a 45 degree angle to the grain then I rub it with burlap across the grain so I don't have to sand as much later but be careful because the burlap will pull the grain filler out of the pores.

4. After waiting overnight sand the pore fill then spray another coat of sealer and scuff sand again

5. Spray 7-8 coats of gloss lacquer until I have a 5 dry mils thickness on the lacquer

6. level sand after all the gloss coats with P320 or 216U. I like 3M paper because it doesn't clog as much with finishes.

7. Spray 3-4 coats of 35% reduced gloss.

8. Wait a week then wet sand with 1000 then 1200 grit and buff.

I see a lot of people who sand between each coat they spray and you don't need to do that. As long as you are spraying even coats and have the gun set up right you don't need to worry about it. If you get a lot of orange peel then yeah sand that down a little but otherwise you should be fine.

Sanding the top out to 240 grit with a felt block.

Make a tape template that is 1/8" smaller all the way around for the bridge.

When you place the template mark the scale length then mark up 1/8"-5/32" towards the neck and center the template there.

[Juntunen Guitars]

First coat of sealer on.

Wait an hour and a half between coats. Here I am about to scuff sand.

[Juntunen Guitars]

Making the bridge. I just printed the full sized outline off and stuck it to the blank with spray adhesive.

I still need to sand the edges to 600 grit then I can do the rest of the shaping.

[Untitled_Project]

This is a beautiful build!

[le.meneghini]

very beautiful, congrats dude.

[Juntunen Guitars]

Finishing is done for now. I just need to wait a week or so until I can buff it so I spent the day making the bridge and glueing it down. Tomorrow I hope to have it strung up and playable, just need to route the saddle slot, make a nut and saddle and we are good.

I will put up pictures tonight or tomorrow.

[Juntunen Guitars]

Finishing up the bridge.

Shaping the wings

Beveling the back edge

And bridge shaping done and sanded to 600 grit

[Juntunen Guitars]

Glueing the bridge

Tape removed, when you do this cut through the lacquer with an x-acto blade. so you don't peel the lacquer with it.

Mark the scale length on the top then measure 3/16" up from that mark and you have where the bridges front edge goes. You use different measurements for smaller bridges and pyramid bridges. Then using masking tape I taped down three layers of tape to help keep the bridge from pulling forward when glueing from the clamps. Remember to stick the tape to something and peel it up a couple times first to reduce the tack of the tape so you don't risk peeling off fresh lacquer.

Clamping caul, it's just the top profile of a bridge cut out on a bandsaw with cork superglued on.

I had to make another clamping caul for the inside of the guitar. I took a piece of plexi glass and laid it out on my guitar plans and traced the bridge plate and x-brace then double stick taped some plywood cutouts that were taller than the braces to the plexi glass and taped cork to the top of that. This way you have something for the clamps to sit on instead of denting the braces on the top.

And clamped up.

[Juntunen Guitars]

Out of the clamps.

Marking for the saddle. So what you want to do here is measure out the scale length then on the high e side make a mark 1/32" back from the scale length and on the low E mark 5/32" back from the scale length so you can intonate the guitar eventually. I marked 5/16" out on each side for the overhang on the saddle I think.

Saddle slot routed.

Drilled the bridge pin holes. Drill them to the size of a ball end of a string then use a reamer to ream the holes to the taper of the bridge pins. Once they are fit use files and file slots down the front of the slot and up onto the top of the bridge for the string to sit in. I forgot to take pictures of this so I will try to explain it. When you are fitting bridge pins the string will not sit in the hole with a string in it if there isn't these slots filed so I just use needle files and file notches into it stopping constantly to check if it is a tight fit yet, you just want the pin to be all the way in and not super tight but make sure the ball end of the string is pulled up flat with the bridge plate on the inside of the guitar too.

For saddles I put a .090" shim on the 12th fret at the low E and a .060" shim on the high e and using a straight edge mark the saddle blank.

After marking it I use a radius guage and draw the radius of the fingerboard between the two marks and sand down to the line on an edge sander and finish it up to 600 grit. I then push down the 1st fret and measure the string height at the 12th fret. You want it at about .090" if you need to lower it take the difference and double it so in this case I had .130" in height so I had to take .080" off the bottom because there was a .040" difference of where I wanted it. You can only do this after making the nut.

For the first several months at least don't make an intonated saddle because of all the settle in the instrument does. I've heard of people waiting a year to make an intonated saddle.

[Juntunen Guitars]

And now it's done! I just need to wait two weeks now to give the lacquer plenty of time to cure before I buff it but it's a pretty decent "off the gun" finish as is.

If anyone is interested in my setup specs here they are.

String height off the first fret: .003"-.002" measured by fretting the 3rd fret and measuring the distance between the 1st fret and string

Neck bow: .007" Measured with 1st and 14th fret fretted and measuring the distance between the string and 7th fret.

String action height: .090" measured using the stewmac string action guage. Fret the 1st fret and measure the height of the string off the 12th fret.

If anyone gets the Flat Pick Guitar magazine this guitar will be in an upcoming issue. I will also try to get a video uploaded of it's sound. I was really impressed with the sound. I have one recording of it being played along with a mandolin but the mandolin is so overpowering it isn't even worth putting up.

[Workingman]

This has been a great build thread with a great guitar at the end. You should be very pleased.

[Juntunen Guitars]

This has been a great build thread with a great guitar at the end. You should be very pleased.

Thanks, I was very pleased with the end result and the sound is great. I would say it's a mix of the depth you can get with rosewood but the clarity you get with mahogany. And it's been fun to hear the differences since it's still changing as the wood breaks in. If you have any questions on the build ask. I know I missed explaining a few parts.

[demonx]

I'm glad this guitar is finished - I'm sure you are too.

Looks great all up. You should be proud.

[ScottR]

I agree that this has been an excellent build thread ending in what looks to be a great guitar. Congratulations on a job well done.

SR

[Juntunen Guitars]

Thanks. I put it in GOTM for june, I haven't seen many acoustics in it before so hopefully more people like it.