Andyjr1515

One of the nice things about doing stuff on a small scale is that I've been able to experiment a bit - and some things will now be incorporated if I build another full-size one sometime

One thing on full-sized ones I've struggled with is on the backs -  getting the traditional back brace and centre strip arrangement to hold the spheroidal shape after I take it out of my 15 foot radius dish.  What I find is that the radius-bottomed cross braces hold the curve in one direction, but the traditional cross-grain centre strip has no chance of holding the lengthway radius and so what I end up with is a section from a lengthways cylinder and not a sphere.

Surely what it needs is proper radius-bottomed lengthways braces??

Like these:

To my admitted surprise...it worked!!!! 

So today's job, after I've added a label, is gluing the back on

On 10/7/2023 at 4:09 AM, curtisa said:

I recognise the first two in those photos - what was the third one I gave you?

I'll find it next time I'm rummaging in my bits box.  It's a small, bookmatched piece that you sanded to a polish and has some lovely browns and hints of red.  I can't remember the species. 

Congrats!  Amazing build

That looks the dog's whatsits.  I look forward to sound clips!!    

35 minutes ago, Bizman62 said:

That tape thing is utterly clever in its simplicity!

It's the 'conventional' method.  For acoustics, the traditional method is that the body is actually finish varnished before the bridge is fitted (yes, I know...seems crazy at first look).  And then the same method is used to protect the varnish around the bridge from any squeeze-out...but you have to razor-blade remove the varnish within that tape outline so that the bridge glue is wood-to-wood.

It seems mad at first glance, but that really is the standard way it's done but is done so that the bridge doesn't interfere with the application of the top finish (especially if brushing or wiping on)

If ever there was a 'measure 15 times and glue once...it's fitting the bridge' 

I am using a couple of pieces of cocktail stick to use as positioning pegs:

And then masking tape over the whole area, bridge positioned with the cocktail sticks, scored round with a scalpel and peeled off where the bridge will go:

You can never have too many clamps! :

And - here is the voice of experience - a peel off of the tape once all the squeeze out has squeezed out but before it hardens!

Ref @curtisa's comment about the scale - those are my small clamps 

Next job in the sequence is the bridge.  Usually, on an acoustic you fit the bridge once the top and back are both fitted.  But to do that, you have a special long-reach clamp that fits through the soundhole.  And this soundhole is just too small.  And so I will fit the bridge while the back is still off.

So to get that ready, I need to cut the saddle slot.  

On a nylon strung acoustic, you generally don't have the intonation issues to the same degree as steel string and so the bridges on classical guitars are generally square to the centre-line.  For good measure, though, I will use a 3mm thick piece of bone to give me at least a modicum of adjustment if my understanding is wrong! 

I made a small jig out of some scrap wood to use with my Dremel precision router base to cut the slot:

Yup - that will do

Next task is prepare the surfaces and glue it in place

3 hours ago, curtisa said:

I don't post on here nearly as much as I should, but just wanted to note that this is a fascinating build, Andy. I have to constantly remind myself to look for references in your photos to verify that this thing is about the size of a box of matches. The little person is certainly lucky to be inheriting such an exquisite gift.

You are very kind, Andrew 

I've recently fitted the bridge plate.   I went searching for some thin, hard, sheet wood in my bits box for it and found the perfect thing.  It's a piece of Tasmanian hardwood given to me by a genuine Tasmanian whom I met, along with his delightful wife, in a pub in deep, dark rural UK a few years ago.  'Here!' he said, rummaging in his bag, 'I gift you these three magic talismans.  They will bring you joy - but you MUST secrete them into special objects.  If you do NOT, then over time you will go grey, wrinkled, start forgetting where you put your car keys and probably start dribbling a little!'

Well, I have so far only secreted two of them:

- and only just in the nick of time!  Because everything else is as was predicted.  But I don't think I'm dribbling    Hmmm.  Well, maybe not.   Well, maybe not yet. 

And there's still time.  Just one more talisman to secrete!!!

50 minutes ago, ADFinlayson said:

Looking good, what size bolt are you using on the neck there? I've just switched down for the latest build from M8 on the previous to M6, I figured the difference in strength is probably negligible but the smaller inserts would lead to less stress on the heel. I'm tempted to try a pair M5 bolts if I can find inserts for them. 

This is an M4!  But, then again, it is a tiny guitar.  I generally use M6 for a fullsize but I suspect an M4 A2 stainless would actually be fine strength-wise.  It's the inserts I'm not so sure about which is why I go for the M6.

One of the jobs before I can put the back on is to sort the fit of the neck while I have easy access.  It will be a glued joint but I will also use a bolt and insert, for additional security and to ease these next steps.

Having got a 'starting' neck angle and fit, I double-sided-taped some emery cloth onto the body to improve the fit by loose-fitting the neck and raising it and lowering it a small distance to sand down any high spots.  The sanding marks show you where there is contact and whether all surfaces are level or not:

Next job was to fit a bolt hole in the neck block and an insert in the tenon:

Then, bolting the neck on, I could work out the neck angle fretboard alignments and fine tune with some 'flossing' strips of emery until:

- the neck angle lines the fretboard up OK with the bridge

- and the side fit lines up the fretboard dots with the centre line of the body:

A final bit of flossing for a decently tight fit:

And so, with that done, I could glue the fretboard onto the neck:

Hmmm - not sure for strat.  Folks round here might know whose you are thinking of.

3 hours ago, mistermikev said:

seriously tho.. that mahog with the ebony looks lovely.  did you black grain fill that mahog?  looks really great

No - it's as it was cut from the tree.  I'm looking forward to see what it looks like when it's varnish is on

Progress is a bit stop start at the moment with life's many distractions, but a few steps forward this morning.

I got my 'I can't remember where I bought this and it's not perfect but actually does a pretty decent job' purfling/binding router jig out and attacked the top:

Both channels done and just waiting a razor-blade trim of the whiskers:

For both the purfling and binding I will use my preferred method - a la veneer - of PVA on both surfaces, left to dry and then iron them on with a small travel iron.

The purfling didn't need pre-bending and I just went ahead with ironing it on - I'll take photos of the method when I do the binding.

The binding is ebony (or was it rocklite?) with a teeny white stripe:

I won't actually fit it yet, but I have started pre-bending the binding for the top as the bending pipe was still handy:

I've also started sorting the end graft - it will be a simple one, really just joining the top and back binding and thin white lines.  I have sawn and chiselled the end graft slot:

The top and bottom binding won't be fitted until the back is on and channel routed.  Then, all being well, the end graft will tally up both sides something like this:

That tailpiece is very chic !  Lovely job all round 

Turning my attention to the bridge plate, I only then remembered that, to minimise the stretch for little arms, I'm joining the neck at the 12th, as with a classical, and not at the 14th that the X-brace pattern is based on.  As such, my bridge will be further back than a standard steel string acoustic - and therefore one of the two diagonal braces is in the way!

Easily sorted - a hot iron along the length of the brace soon softened the glue enough to remove it:

With the bridge plate being where it will be, I don't think I need that extra brace repositioning - I'll just leave it out.  Paper template done and I'll use that to cut a slice of maple or similar for the plate in the morning:

And tidied up:

Next jobs will be fitting a bridge plate, doing the first rough-fit of the neck angle and pondering on whether to add a side sound hole or not.

Well, not overly sure just how thin to make stuff, but at least this is now ringing out with sub-harmonics and definite bass /treble tap notes from the upper and lower halves respectively.  Then the linings relieved where the main cross braces will go that will lock the main strength-critical braces to the sides:

Quick check fit, looking for gaps:

And the old adage that you can never have too many clamps 

After a few days child-minding the said little people, I'm back in the cellar

For the bracing, I am using my home-made 25 foot radius dish although, for this build, will dispense with the Go-bar deck - I should be able to get away with just clamps and cauls.

The bracing pattern is going to be pretty basic X-bracing with the standard-recommended tightly vertically-grained spruce.  I've taken a bit of a guess at how much to scale them down.

I started with the X-brace with gluing the cruciform and then sanding the bottom curve on the radius dish:

This was glued to the top with a long caul keeping the curved brace bottoms pressed against the radius dish while the glue cured :

After that was set, it was time to add the other braces and sound bars.  All of the braces will be  chiselled to create the nodes, etc, once it has dried overnight:

And here it is ready for tomorrow's chisel and tap-tuning work :

You are doing really well with this build.  There are some advanced features to the design and you are coping admirably with the challenge of making them happen!  Nice job

It looks splendid.  And yes - purfling makes all the difference Great job.

2 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

So I had a go with my gramil, but it was fairly useless so I just went back to a sharp chisel

After similar trials and tribulations, I now just use a 30mm x 10mm piece of 10mm ply with some 120 emery cloth stuck to one of the faces with double sided tape, and razor cut flush with the bottom face. I can then run that bottom face of the ply  along the ledge of the rebate and sand off any imperfections square

I'll be using it for the dinky acoustic if all goes to plan.  I'll see if I can document it

15 hours ago, ADFinlayson said:

Had a go with the iron, worked pretty well to soften the glue and I was able to push the binding into place, so I wrapped it up again and left it for a few hours. 

Got it all scraped flush and it came out pretty good, I've still got a couple of hair lines which I've filled with blacklimba + titebond as woodfiller. I'm especially happy with the joint on the back. 

Will have a go at the front binding channels tomorrow. 

That looks good. 

I think I've mentioned in some of my build threads that after bending to shape, I use a hot iron to  actually glue the bindings.  I do it like I do my veneering - I apply a decent PVA to all relevant surfaces, let it dry and then use the iron to melt the joint progressively round, holding in position with a leather-gloved hand as it cools.  The advantage is that I know it's spot on before I move to the next inch or so and therefore don't suffer from accumulated positional error.  And it's quick...

2 hours ago, Dward13 said:

Andyjr1515, have you by chance ever used the GraphTech system alone without any magnetics?

I'm installing all the switches etc. just in case someone wants to add magnetics in the future.

Also, now that I've got a working drum sander I stated playing with my stash of top woods.

 

Beautiful wood!

I've always used the graphtec set up with magnetic pickups too because I used to find that the blending of the piezo emulations with the standard passive pickups added depth and/or cut-through power to the sound in the mix, especially with the acoustic emulator. 

  That said, the 3 way toggle allows mags only/both together/piezo only and so also used to often play with the piezo emulators only.  I ran the hexpander through a Roland Guitar Synthesiser (G35?...may have mis-remembered the model designation).  That gave a stunning range of effects, designateable to each individual string.

On 9/17/2023 at 9:35 PM, henrim said:

Little time consuming perhaps but not tricky, if you have proper crimping pliers. With regular pliers it’s painful job. And of course you need correct size crimp connectors too. 

Personally, I wouldn't.  Having fitted this combination in a number of my own guitars I class it in the 'great idea but much too hard' category.