Bizman62

A campfire cello... We talk about "campfire guitars" meaning an instrument of less value that can be abused - you know, spilling your beer into it, roasting it too close to the fire and forgetting it in the rain... Don't know if my word to word translation is correct or not but you get the idea.

After having read @curtisa's comment that seemed like the best option to me as well. You've got plenty to do even with the tasks on your list. Post some pictures of your progress!

For what I've seen some top luthiers do on acoustic tops is that they're trying to get as many different notes as possible. They do that by honing the braces. A laminated strip may or may not be stronger, it depends on the wood used. On acoustics the center strip is there mostly to keep the halves together and the grain direction is perpendicular to that of the bottom for the same reason. And it's not very tall, only a few mm. And it's often made of several short pieces. That ridge looks way taller so it should stiffen the bottom sufficiently compared to those.

I've looked to a few hundred Rosa String Works videos where Jerry fixes cracks like that on all kind of stringed instruments. And the sound post should be on the treble side, that's another tidbit I've learned there. Based on those vids and common sense I'd say try to get the longitudinal cracks simply glued as they don't seem to be under stress i.e. they stay closed and level. That glue joint should then be stronger than the surrounding wood. For the soundpost area I'd first try to use the post to my advantage, trying to get glue to every tiny crack with a brush and maybe compressed air. And as I said, getting the bruised ends meet is the hardest task. Then when that has been stabilized level I'd put a large cleat made of some good hardwood like padauk underneath. Or maybe rather three veneers so that one is along the grain and the other two slightly angled - like an elongated star or snowflake. And then finally shorten the sound post to the new length. If you make it a lefty the sound post should then go to the other side. But will the landlord's daughter learn to play a lefty?

That's a valid point too! Now that you mentioned it, I don't like it either. On my Ibanez FG100 they're pretty high. Seems to be common with other jazzy boxes.

Yet another way to skin the cat! I've done it the hard way and the even harder way and it's doable. But your method both adds an interesting detail on the top and keeps the lines straight - the latter obviously becoming hidden under the fretboard but we know it's there!

For the kid it's a lifetime. For you... Precious times indeed but you'll soon find out that the kids have grown up to adults without you actually noticing it and you start wondering if they soon grow older than you!

Hi and welcome! As @mistermikev said different woods shrink differently. Wood is a living creature and even pieces of the same trunk may not behave similarly. Properly dried and seasoned is an obvious criterium. Quarter sawn or not, well... If you turn a quarter sawn piece sideways it's pretty much slab sawn... Humidity certainly plays some kind of a role but for such a small piece not too much. I'd choose a piece that matches the grain direction of the body and is of similar type of wood, preferably the same although I've managed to patch alder (soft-ish) with maple (hard-ish) pretty well. One important thing to consider when filling the trem holes and cavities is that there's a lot of end grain joints. Not that big a problem on the bottom side as there's a large flat bed and long sides for the glue to stick properly. But on the top side the slot is mostly end grain where glue doesn't want to hold. I would do the filling with three pieces: One large plate to fill the cavity, a small block to fill the hole between the bottom cavity and the top and another small block to fill the top opening. A filler is recommendable especially if you're going to paint it. No matter how tight you make them there will be a minor gap and even when the paint shrinks the gap will more or less show. A solid colour allows for better filling and priming than just a clearcoat and for what I've read even regular car/carpenter fillers work just fine. Sanding is the most crucial thing to do properly! Even with a solid colour paint every scratch will emphasize and when the paint shrinks over time, even more so. So use filler, sanding primer and elbow grease to get rid of every scratch before painting!

That. Is. Clever! The thinnest possible control cavity which also serves as a common ground and part of the shielding.

Neat screws can be as attractive as a clean surface. Those hex screws look like they won't deform as easily as Phillips heads which easily get a bit rough and pull threads off your pullover...

Simple tasks like a straight groove may not take any longer. Agreed, with a router you can carve a truss rod channel in a couple of minutes, three or four shallow passes will take care of that. But. It's not that straightforward. First you'd have to fetch the router, unwrap the cord, find the wrench, find the fence or collet if you're using a template which is missing, adjust the fence or template, double check, make a shallow test pass, readjust, connect the vacuum if applicable, find your earmuffs, dust mask and glasses, do the 2 minute job, wait until the dust settles, wrap the cord around the router, put the bits, wrenches, templates etc. to their places, vacuum the entire space,

Hi and welcome aboard! I'm no electrickery wizard but that one seems like a straigthforward process - or then not! I had to study those a bit to figure out what type of inputs and outputs there are and the results aren't too encouraging. The Pignose has two outputs but no input, the Vox has a plug for input and a jack for headphone output. And that's a problem you should solve! See, the headphone amp most likely isn't powerful enough to drive the speaker. Thus you should use the Pignose amp as your power amp and the Vox as a preamp similarly to an effects pedal. But how to connect them that way? Basically the signal comes from the pickup through the volume pot to the amp so there's your input and you should be able to just connect the Vox plug to the volume cables and connect the headphone jack to where the volume cables originally went. BUT: The headphone signal is amplified and the pickup signal isn't. That will overdrive the sound of the Vox. I don't know if that's how overdrive pedals work i.e. will that cause major issues other than a distorted sound. Anyhow, for a clean Vox sound through the Pignose amp you should tear the amplug apart and find and make the connection before the amplifier circuit. Something like that... And the end result may still be something else than expected. I've tested a Pignose amp and for what I remember the sound was far from clean which doesn't make it an ideal power amp.

You should make a short video/picture tutorial about how to carve simple slots with inexpensive hand tools! Every time I see something like that done I can't help wondering how helpless and uninventive many budding builders are. Every single task requires a routing template made by someone else, preferably computer aided for exact accuracy - which then is ruined by poor power tool skills... A luthier doesn't need a ton of templates, they need a basic skill set with tools like pencils, rulers, chisels...

There's more options than those two (three) although I guess they're the most common ones. You can radius a fretboard with a hand plane. Or, should I rather say that it's a valid method if you're good with a hand plane. My skills aren't that good, neither are the planes at the public workshop. But it can be done and the result is both smooth and accurate. That's shown in early Crimson Guitars videos quite often. Basically you could use a long sanding beam in a similar manner. Also, if memory serves me right, I've seen a long sanding block equipped with plane type handles... A big belt sander can be used to knock the bulk off. However it's also easy to round the edges too much... At the workshop we are allowed to use the milled steel blocks of our Master. They were originally made for mass producing Flaxwood fretboards but the idea didn't work as such so now we clamp the blocks between the dogs of the bench and rub the necks/fretboards against them. A long aluminium block sounds like a good alternative to that plus it's lightweight enough to be used like a hand plane. Last, wood can warp as you've seen with your sanding block. That said, aluminium blocks can also suffer from bumps and nicks, Even the milled steel blocks may deform when dropped on concrete. At that point they're defective and should either be fixed or discarded. If they're intact when you buy them you should get a replacement. Good quality tools are worth their price in the long run. I'd vote for the aluminium block unless you know a machinist who can mill you a full length solid metal block with a radiused groove.

Yepp. Loose strings, less stress on the top. This is going to be an interesting journey!

Ouch! What did he do, sit on it? The bass side cracks don't look too bad but the soundpost poking through the treble side isn't that easy to fix! The soundpost makes it easier to get glue into the crack but fixing that bruised endgrain isn't going to be easy.

I already said that the f-holes have a traditional vibe, now I must say that your colour scheme really fits that mood! That looks like a vintage body waiting to be restored. That colour and figuration reminds me of some sideboards from 1940's or so, flamed maple dyed brown and lacquered shiny, worthy to store your silver cutlery even in an upper class parlour. That looks like young Charlie Christian would have wet dreams of!

Why have I never thought about making the cover before the ledge?

In that case think of the biggest truss rod you know and you'll be golden! Or, if it's a Ricky, two of them...

Your accuracy with the angle grinder is a pleasure to watch! Not saying that there's anything wrong with the other tasks you performed. But that was the only thing I can compare my skill level with yours - no doubt about which one us can do it better!

Me neither, although my store bought guitars have a thick clearcoat on their necks. Sanding the neck matte helps a lot! Just last summer I took my acoustic and abrasive felts of 400 and 1200. Taped the ends and sanded wet. The result doesn't show any sanding directions and it really feels different. And it can be redone several times as it only knocks the shine off without actually making the finish significantly thinner. Hmmm... A lot of "clumsiness" of a neck may not be because of the actual thickness, it can be about the shoulders as well. A "U" is both thick and wide on the palm side, a "D" is similar but thinner. Both work well with your thumb in the back in the classical style. But if you want to wrap your thumb over the bass strings you may want to knock the corners off. A "V" shape of sorts still has all the meat around the truss rod especially at the bottom side so the overall strength remains but the diameter is significantly reduced. This highly simplified picture illustrates some of the options:

I can see hints of - something... At least it's already obvious you're not just carving the right foot of Bigfoot!

Baby seals learning to swim and catch fish in the shallow waters in the center, sharks lurking for an easy meal in the depths... Saw that on TV just a week ago!

Shaving the neck with strings on can be most satisfactory! (No, I'm not talking about spending some quality time in the bathroom wearing minimal undies with a razor in your hand...)* You already know how you feel about the current profile and having the guitar ready to play you can easily test your success. Oiled necks are very forgiving for that method as re-oiling blends with the existing finish seamlessly. Thus you can apply some oil after shaving and if you feel like you'd like to shave some more all you have lost is a tiny spoonful of oil. Although hands truly can find all bumps and humps better than eyes I've found out that after a while the fingers get numb of scraping and sanding and you really can't tell anything for a fact until both your hands and the wood have settled, *What has been seen can't be unseen... Bleach doesn't help!

Thanks @ScottR for helping me make that decision. I was already leaning in that direction, it's good to hear others share that line of thought.