jammy

That's mad as a fish. Love it! The half fretlessness is a great Idea, I'm considering doing that at some point - just up to say the 5th fret or something. I also love the headstock, but that's down to caparason

To do that my thoughts would be to make your glue and veneer sandwich, wack it on your mould and vacume it up, not one piece at a time. I could however be totally wrong....

A couple more pics, as promised The heel - it's still rough, but you get the idea.... Hung on my wall next to the strat http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/acoustic/18.jpg As for the binding and such... The stuff I used is maple, but with an ebony strip running through it (with another mm or so of maple underneath) I just ran it straight past the end strip, no mitering ot anything, and that's how it looks

Right - After a day of fine tuning with chisels and files I've got the neck glued on. It's a great tight fit 8) The heel cap's also in place, and the heel is shaped up, expect pictures of that tomorrow, but for now have this one from my camera phone....

I've called David Dyke and it's sorted me out. Cheers everyone.

Can anyone help me out with a nice peice of rosewood for my next guitar?

I've not finished the joint yet. Most of the work is done by the router, but the final fitting it done by hand - little adjustments on the male part of the dovtail will make it drop down and lock right into place, I'll then trim some off the base of the heel before gluing it on.

Thanks Godin, that means alot, as it was just what I was working for. Simple but clean...

Cheers EIR?

I've started on the neck joint, and also cleaned the body up to 120 grit stage... That's the tapered end strip, it's a bad photo - but it's actually made out of the same flamed maple as the neck. click

Painfully beautiful. Slotted headstock *drool*

Sharpening is easy - flatten one edge of the scraper on an abrasvie stone (wether it be water or oil) and lap the sides. The idea is to get one perfectly flat, 90 degrees straight edge. You then need a burnisher (a file with it's teeth ground off will do, anything made of hard steel with smoooth edges). With the scraper held in a vice with the level edge up, you apply a firm pressure and draw the burnisher along the edge with it tipped to about 10 degrees off perpendicular to the face of the scraper. The idea is to "roll" the corner of the scraper over slightly to provide a cutting edge. It takes me about 30 seconds to re-edge a scraper, and it makes ALL the difference.

Great, actually. She's going to be a bright one but that's what I wanted - I've shaved down the sides of the top somwhat and it's got a great rich sustaining "thud" (for want of a better word) to it now Cheers!

Pic1 Pic2

It's fully bound I'll plane it all level today and a take a photo or two

That's exactly is Mattia, The curve on that brace brings the soundboard to just the right place to take the fingerboard without any humps or dips It's the way of determining that curve that's difficult.... First the neck block is planed to the correct angle: The top is dropped into place and pushed down so it's sitting on the block (as It will be when glued up) A straight edge is placed on the soundboard at the neck block end...The striaghtedge will be slightly off the soundboard where the bridge will eventually sit. The block is planed untill the gap between the straightedge and soundboard at the bridge position is about 1.5-2mm. We then know the block angle is correct. the straightedge is left in the position, with the soundboard held down. A piece of MDF with a notch cut in it (to bridge the straight edge) is then placed over at the position of the top transverse brace. The soundboard is then pushed flat using this piece of MDF and a gap appears under the straightedge at this point - this gap is measured and then provides the curve for the brace. In my particular case it was 1mm. Well, the picture's a load of shite but here's the first shot of the body... As you may notice I've done the first pass of routing (that's for the purfling), and I'll be doing the binding routes tomorrow. It *should* be all bound by the end of tomorrow

My God myka that's wonderful. You've outdone yourself.

That's looking great indeed! I'll be doing one when I've got my home workshop sorted

Right - a couple of answers first... Yup, the top's radiused; 3mm curvature on the x braces and tone bars. As for leaving off the main top brace the reasonig behind it is to ensure that that area of the soundboard ends up at the right height and angle, allowing a smooth, seamless transition between it and the neck - it's a compicated procedure to get the curvature, and I'm having a hard time putting it into words - but I'll get back to you on that one. The reason it's left untill just before the top's in place is that the bracing must be notched into the sides to allow some of the required measurments to be taken Either way, the top's on! Heres a couple of shots of the shaped up bracing... http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/acoustic/8.jpg And everything glued into place http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/acoustic/9.jpg

It's the for plane indeed, and the low angle block plane. I sharpened/used them today for the first time both BRILLIANT!

Well look what turned up today... http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/TAS2.jpg http://www.solar.myby.co.uk/misc/andy/TAS3.jpg I'll be giving them all a tune up/first use tomorrow, so expect a report - all looking good so far though

I will indeed be doccumenting it, yeah. I'm still a little unsure on it too, but as i learn about it I'll pass it on Those acoustic's you've made are beautiful, alot more like what I would like to do if I were left to my own devices, but with learning this stuff in a course I've got to stick to what I'm told to do really Reverse cut kerfed linings look ace, I think I may be doing those on my next instrument!

The upper transverse brace goes in just before fitting, as it's curvature is pretty critical and measurments need to be taken off the top to ensure it's right. As for the block of manogany with "wings", it's main purpose is to add mass under the fretboard extension, meaning that if you were ever to play that high up over the soundboard the notes wouldn't sound shite. The wings just add a little more support to that pretty in-active bit of soundboard.

This is where the top's up to. To get all the bracing glued on there's 4 seperate glue up stages hence it takes AGES, but I've started to scoop/scallop them now though, so I'm happy The soundhole purfling's also in, but I've not got a picture of that.

Certainly an amazing guitar hyunsu! I'll start using posher woods like that when I can be sure that I'm not going to mess things up Bending the sides of a £300 set of brazillian rosewood must be a scary process! Cheers for the kind words guys. A minor update - the top's jointed and thicknessed, and I've routed out for the soundhole purfling. On to bracing next week