Andyjr1515

Love this build. Ticks all the boxes in my personal list of likes....

As one of my former bosses once said to me, "Well, Andy, we've made very good progress, in spite of your help."

So, inspired by @ScottR and looking at the kind of thing owner Chris was after, I decided that it MUST be possible to make a half-decent job of binding. The plan was to use the Stewmac Dremel guide for the bulk, and then chisels for the two areas near the neck that the guide would not be able to reach. The Stewmac guide is....how can I put this kindly...better than nothing : I've used it before and, while it WILL do the job where a conventional precision base won't, it does have to be used with care - mainly that of trying to keep the Dremel perfectly upright at all times. This was the rout: The chiselling at the upper neck join was straightforward: The chiselling at the other side was a bit more tricky: The binding has to actually go into the neck to end up flush The guide follows the top surface and, at the lower horn, this rises then drops again. As such, you have to level off a small hillock on the bottom shelf of the rout I then spent a lot of time with some scrap binding ensuring that all of the routs were level and square. Any lack of squareness leads to twists and if, for example, that happens where the binding curves back on itself, this would lead to gaps. All done, I got a tube of UHU hart glue and stuck it : ...and that brings the project pretty much up to date other than to confirm that the stick has indeed stuck and initial scraping bodes well:

I always make a right untidy mess with trying to wire multiple earths onto a pot so nowadays often use a little bit of veroboard to group earths together. Also makes it a LOT simpler to disassemble when you need to!

This is the kind of carve I always aspire to...and rarely get near. Beautiful job. ....and is that sunshine ??? If it is, give it my regards and ask it to pop in my way sometime...

Ah....but you're talking to someone who's seen what @ScottR was able to do on a mandolin.... ....after that, faux seems so....well...faux

Mine is 8cm diameter tapering down to 7cm over 12cm long and a 17cm handle

I hadn't had a close look at the LPJ's before - I had always assumed the finish was like a satin-finish Studio - and was quite surprised JUST how thin this finish appeared to be: Now I've been tricked before...where you take off the easy and flaky top coat off only to find a clear and impenetrable primer coat underneath. Having stripped out all the hardware, I got the sanding block out: Could that be WOOD? ALREADY???? It was Pretty nice grain pattern too. The dark patch is definitely a colour variation in the wood and not a burn or dirty mark, but given the intended 'old' finish wasn't going to be a particularly bad feature. The back is - as also suspected - quite variable in colour for the three sections. However, again, with staining this is not likely to be a huge issue: Next to tackle - the binding...

Something like this (without the flame): Or like this: As you can see, no pressure then...

Hi All I've recently kicked off a refinish mini-project for Chris P, the m/c of an open mic night that tolerates me and our old-gits-band's bassist, Pete. At these events I, who am not the band's vocalist, sing and Pete, who is not the band's guitarist, plays lead. I think the pub treats it as 'care in the community'.... Anyway, Chris P has been going on a while to me to have a go at refinishing his Gibson LPJ. He likes playing it and its sound but is a bit underwhelmed by its utilitarian look: I gave all the normal 'why not sell it and get a fancier one.....you never know what the paint might be hiding....you want it binding? That can be tricky with a set neck and could go wrong..." advice, but he wants me to have ago, whatever the result. First thing I did was look at the wood as best as I could while the paint was still on: There was one mark visible on the top - you can see it just above the neck volume in the above photo. The back was clearly multi-section and with quite marked colour variation: ...but the figuring on the maple top looked interesting: So - nothing for it but to strip everything off it and then see what is under the finish!

The carve is looking great I invested a whole £10 on one of those most unlikely shaped but wholly traditional wooden carpenters mallets recently. Revelation! Takes all the effort out and, against all of my expectation, added significant control. Do you use something similar?

Stunning skills on show all round and this is looking really attractive. I'm surprised how light it's coming out to be, although it is always impressive just how much bulk a 'good carve' removes. I shared the fear of the epoxy but it probably looks much thicker than it actually is. In terms of thin application of epoxy, do you thin it and, if so, what do you use?

It looks beautiful @kmensik

It's looking great. I actually can't see what the issue is with the bass horn even when I look for something... I like the slightly unorthodox method ref the middle binding. It really works! In terms of bridge placement, wiser folk than me will give you advice, but I don't think the saddle will ever be placed shorter than scale length, so I would have thought wind them all fully forward, then place them with saddles at scale length. If there is less than 3mm backward movement available, the bass strings may need to go a touch further back even than that. Any views, wise folk?

I hadn't registered that this would be the case, Scott. Is that how the conventional wisdom goes?

Yes - I tend to agree.

Ah..that explains my confusion. Just for completeness, here is my OM and newly completed 'jumbo' dreadnought side by side: Not only is the physical size of the dreadnought bigger (the lower bout is around 1" wider) but the body is also around 3/4" deeper. In Martin Terminology: their 000 size is pretty much the same as a standard OM (Orchestra Model) their D size is basically the same as the generic dreadnought In Gibson acoustics, their equivalent of the dreadnought is the Jumbo - more like the shape of an OM, but with the physical size of the bouts and body depth are the same or bigger than a dreadnought. The Jumbos and Dreadnoughts kick out more volume and more bass, but the string definition merges more in the process. This actually enhances the smoothness of strumming but compromises slightly the string to string definition and balance when fingerpicking. By the way - look how much the OM has darkened - same wood, same finish. The dreadnought will eventually go the same way.

Fabulous.....completely lost for emoticons

Hi, Carl In that case yes - definitely go for a jumbo / dreadnought. They are much better for strumming and yet are still perfectly good for fingerpicking. If I built myself another one, even though I am a fingerpicker, I would build another dreadnought rather than another OM (even though I am delighted with my OM). In that case the J 200 is fine, but is - even for a Jumbo / Dreadnought type - a very big beastie indeed. And there is no reason at all - with enough reading, thinking and asking - why the first one shouldn't be a great instrument...

By the way, your title is J 200 or OM.... That depends what you actually want to play? As I categorically proved to myself with my OM build and Dreadnought build - with pretty much everything that was going to matter equal except the size and shape - the conventional wisdom of "OM excellent for finger pick and OK for strum; dreadnought excellent for strum and OK for finger pick" is certainly true. When I play the two next to each other, that's exactly how it is.

Ooooh! Looking forward to this mucho, mucho, mucho

Superb! I also agree...part of the skill of this game is knowing when to stop and I think, for this, that is now

Seriously, though @birch, I keep looking at those photos. It is so organic. The carve is a delight. The texture and colours are perfect. Bravo!

You can't fool me.....that's what ALL the sirens say!

No, definitely the work of the dark side... Damn, I'm bewitched! I want that guitar......I NEED that guitar!!! It's calling to me. QUICK - SOMEONE TIE ME TO A MAST!!!!!!!!