Jolly Roger

I've covered boxes with heavy tooled leather. I used rubber cement to bond leather to wood. It's flexible enough to allow for the different expansion/contraction rates. I stitched all the corners with waxed linen. Tandy is a place where you can get most of the stuff.

To Brian with the Python top. Very cool. Bowmakers have use leather & snakeskin covers for many years. Like this. I'll bet your guitar looks fantastic.

Maybe there is more than one species of hackberry?

I have about 400 bf of the stuff. Some of the boards are very light and have a grain similar to some of the soft maples and some boards are medium weight and have a grain like ash. It seems to have a pretty high strength to weight ratio.

I kid you not, i came up with EXACTLY the same idea (less the rear cut out), so im obviously going to give you two thumbs up, but im curious as to how you broke into my house and stole my idea without my knowing

My God, Man! Where is your tin foil hat???

Dumb question from a guy who is just starting his first guitar:

What do guitar makers use a jointer for? I have one but I just use it for grunt work like getting rough lumber close to straight. For precise edge joinery and for flattening I use hand planes.

I can't say about purple heart but I've darkened cherry by setting it in front of a window for a few hours.

I'll document my progress with the kit. Since this is a first time, it could be interesting . I don't have any luthier specific tools so I'll be using some generic tools or possibly making some.

Here are some hand tool tips

1. Blades must be SHARP! Sharpening is the most important skill in hand tools.

2. Work coarse to fine. Hand tools must be very specific in their function to be efficient. Use a tool that lets you remove as much waste as you can without damage and use progressively finer tools.

3. Dedicate tools for specific tasks. For example, I have a brace with a countersink chucked in it and another brace with a magnetic bit holder. I have a wooden drawer bottom plane that is built to cut a 1/4" x 1/4" groove 1/4" from an edge. That is all it can do. When I am making drawers, I can grab this plane and groove the sides for a bottom piece without having to make any kind of adjustment.

I think the power tool that'll save the most work is definitely the router. Most everyone has a drill, so even if you don't I'm sure you know someone that does.

I have three routers, a drill press, tablesaw, scroll saw, lathe, jointer and most other power tools you'll find in a woodworking shop. I just don't use them much anymore except the lathe . I will buy a nice band saw, mostly for resawing.

For cutting grooves I use a plow plane.

For finishing flat surfaces, I use smoothing planes. I rarely sand. A planed surface shimmers under a clear finish as the wood fibers are sliced rather than abraded.

For curved surfaces I use draw knives, spoke shaves, carving chisels and scrapers.

For inlays, I use scratch stocks.

I can listen to music or the birds as I work and I don't have to wear a face mask or respirator or worry if I'll still have all my fingers when the day is done.

Hand tools won't replace power tools totally but they can add a great new experience to your work.

Instrument making will give me an excuse (like I need one ) to get some of those fantasic luthier tools like violin maker planes.

Thanks for the replies.

First, the neck is cherry, not poplar . It was so much lighter than the sides and back (also cherry) that I mistook it. Any opinions on the suitablility of cherry?

I suppose I can expose the neck to sunlight to get it closer to the same color as the back and sides before I start finishing.

However if you intend to build a neck it'd help to have a bandsaw, powered hand drill or a drill press, a belt sander, and a router.

I have quite a few power tools and I have access to just about anything. However a project such as a guitar neck is accomplished very easily and quietly with hand tools. After all, many fine instruments were built long before power tools existed.

Thanks again for the comments. Instrument making looks like a very exciting branch of woodworking!

Saw blades have "set" in the teeth, meaning the teeth are alternately bent to the right and left. This makes the kerf wider than the blade to keep the blade from binding in the cut. Using a saw set tool, you can change the amount of set to any kerf width within reason. For instance, get SM's .020 gauged saw and add .002" set to each side. Alternatively you could get the .025 saw and make a light pass down each side of the teeth with a fine stone.

First off, I'm a newbie to this forum and worse than a rank amateur as a guitarist. Mostly I'm a Neanderthanl woodworker (primarily use antique hand tools) and I recieved an acoustic guitar kit as a gift.

I'm not happy with choice of materials in this kit. The spruce soundboard, rosewood bridge and fretboard, I'm OK with but the neck is made of poplar. Poplar seems a pretty poor choice to me. My impressions are that it would be marginal for strength, poor for sustain, and I don't know how to finish it to hide the ugly grain. Am I wrong about that?