Juntunen Guitars

Thought so. I remember seeing an old video from Dan Erlewine where he used a random orbital sander with buffing pads attached to that. You really can use anything, you can buff by hand too if you want. Last time I tried that I left like my right arm was about ttwo times the size of the left though

Have you tried the binding jig from LMI? It's basically a laminate trimmer on really good quality drawer sliders. It works great for acoustics.

Grizzly used to make a good variable speed pedistal buffer but I'm not sure if they still do or not. Otherwise I have used the foam pads you get from oriellys. They work just as good but I have had more issues with burning through the finish than with the Grizzly, probably just because they heat up a little faster.

I'm still confused, what do you mean by water decal? Is it just that it's like a plastic that sticks to wood when wet? That doesn't make much sense to me. If you have a company near you that makes things like window vinyls for cars you could bring in your logo and have them printed off in sheets so you would have a lot on one page and just take them off and stick them down when needed.

I mean what did you use to attach the decal to the headstock? Did you use super glue or what? Or it could be a problem with the poly you sprayed. If you used cross linking poly it has to be sprayed onto the guitar within 5 minutes of it being mixed usually or it doesn't cure or bond right. I'd say stick with nitrocelulose it's a lot easier. The brand Cardinal sells some good nitro lacquer.

If you want to look into tuning braces read these articles

How did you stick the decal down?

Was a toss up between Andyt, Verhoevenc, and Demonx but I had to choose Verhoevenc. It was pure artwork to me.

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.

First coat of sealer on. Wait an hour and a half between coats. Here I am about to scuff sand.

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.

Hell yeah... I have a Ducati and a Mesa Mark IV w/4x12 and 30 or so bad ass guitars (most built by some hack). Emotions... *** are they? Wish I had a Ducati but I'm fine with my Mustang for now.

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.

+1 to that. The first guitar I built that I sold was to an uncle of mine when I was 15with very little knowledge of what I was doing and everytime I see it now I remember all the mistakes I made on it but it's kind of nice at the same time because you can look at your current progress and see th improvment. The first three guitars I sold were to family members so it's fun to line them up and see the areas that I did better on or worse at as I built more. But yeah if it frustrates you give it time. I was once told that we are "paid problem solvers" and I have learned that is very true. With my current acoustic build I clamped the neck wrong and when using hot hide glue you only have like a minute to spread the glue and get it clamped before it gels and I rushed it being paranoid that I was taking to much time and when I came back the next day a clamp had fallen off and the heel didn't glue down, I found out the dovetail was fine so I just took scrapers and sandpaper and fit it back down until I could get glue in. Learn to hide mistakes and no one will know. I do agree though that some builders hold a higher standard for guitars and the guitars we built. I usually only remember mistakes and when people look at my guitars and say they are great I always catch myself about to say "yeah but look at this dent here or scratch here or gap there" Just bite your tounge because they will probably never notice if whatever part is 1/64th inch off or whatever. I've had to shelf a couple builds out of frustration, burned one and almost took my 12 guage to another but I just take a break if I get pissed.

Tom Anderson Guitars does the kerfed way. They route the channels where the bend is but they don't glue the top down first. They route then put glue across the whole glue surface and screw the top down with wood screws into where the pickup cavities will be and use a vaccum sealed bag for the clamping pressure across the top. Something about even pressure and no where for the wood to go keeps it from breaking I believe is what he said in the video I saw of it being done. I would still put some heavy sand bags on it to be safe.

A buddy of mine just put a Tesla in his epi les paul, I think it was the VR-60 Classic. I was really impressed with the tones you could get from it.

They do follow the curve of the body.

I started useing 0000 steel wool with wool lube for satin finishes and have really liked the results. To me it feels smoother if you use the wool lube too instead of just the steel wool.

I've heard of Somogyi before. I'll look at those websites. I tried doing some google searches but kept coming up with next to nothing or people saying don't do it but never a reason why. Thanks

Don't take more than 1/32"-1/16" in a pass and you will almost never have tear out unless there is a defect in the wood. I like using routers with a half inch collet instead of a quarter because they can handle more.

As long as something is centering the template slot it's fine.

I was talking to another luthier a few months ago and he was showing me an acoustic he was working on where he put an X-brace on the back as well as the top. He was only doing it for support since he doesn't radius his braces other than running it over a jointer while holding up one end of the brace so he couldn't share much on how it affected tone so I'm wondering if anyone here has done this or heard of it being done before and can shed some light on it. Another builder I talked to said he didn't believe the back bracing really affects the tone at all but wasn't sure since it's not really a topic many people work on compared to what can be done with top braces. I know I had heard of one maker using an X-brace on the back but I can't remember who it was, I believe this was back in the 40's or something around there but I could be wrong.

Agreed, I just finished doing the woodworking part on my first acoustic and am onto finishing now. I used Padauk for my first, it bent like butter and sanded really easily just be sure to clean the sandpaper before it clogs since padauk is a little oily. I built mine along with about 16-20 others. There were sides made of mahogany, rosewood, padauk, black walnut, myrtle wood, koa, some wood called ovangkol and a few others. Most of us had never built an acoustic before and we only had one side break out of everyone (indian rosewood) and it broke because the guy bending them went to fast on the upper bout. The first side I ever bent was white oak and I bent it on a pipe and the side cracked a few times on the cutaway but for my padauk one I used a bending jig and heating blanket like what LMI sells and had no problems so how you bend them will be an issue too.

I wouldn't consider a $500 guitar a cheap knock around guitar. I tried to push it down with the end of my x-acto knife but the raised parts won't go down at all. I'm a little nervous about sing CA for this since it discolors wood sometimes but I may have to risk it. I think I will just take the top off then like Dean mentioned.

You are going to bend the fingerboard regardless of what you do. It's essentially the kerfing inside of the guitar but has metal filling the slots so as soon as you pull it off it will back bow. The last two fingerboards I removed I did with the frets on and with out them on. The one with the frets was an acoustic and I used a cross country ski iron for waxing skis and just put it right on top of the frets, this one went off easily, my guess was the heated frets helped heat the wood more and softened the glue. I used a sharpened paint scraper about 3-4 inches long to remove the board. Just remember if the scraper has to be forced in the glue isn't soft enough yet and you will ikely take a chunk of the neck with it and if you hear cracking stop right away. The board that I took off without frets was on an electric and I just put a black T-shirt over the board and used a regular clothes iron with the steam setting on medium. The black T-shirt was becasue the board was rosewood and I didn't want to risk colors bleeding from the shirt onto the wood. You will have to refret the guitar if you pull the board. Why do you want to pull the board anyways? An easy way to remove frets is to heat them with a soldering iron and spread solder across them. You will probably see some of the oils in the wood start to bubble on the edges of the fret, that's when it's ready to pull, it could be pulled a little before that too but I usually wait until I see the oils to reduce chip out from the frets slots. I wouldn't refinish the guitar, it could kill the value and then you will lose the look of a vintage instrument. Edit: Forgot to mention that if you pull the frets remember to drill two small holes in the fret slots so you can line the board back up when you reglue. I drill a hole in the 1st and 12th fret usually each on the opposite side of the truss rod and then when you reglue rub the bits in some parafin wax and put them in the holes and clamp the board up.