GoodWood

Just wondering if there is any structural effect from tucking in the lower bout X braces, as I read some luthiers dont do this and smooth the lower bout ends flush before they hit the kerf. Does this 'make a difference' in strength or tone?

ALRIGHT!! And lets hear some MP3's of these. Ill post some pics if my plane blade comes in Saturday. Top is X braced, and the sides will get matched this weekend for a top glue up next week hopefully. Then on to the neck!

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userp...+Detail+Scraper Ok I fished out my old pro-prep paint scraper from my painting days, and man, its perfecto-rama for scraping glue, as it has a trapezoid blade that allows you to dig in to any corner and control how much surface area of the top you contact. These are nasty scrapers designed to scrape paint etc and get into ANY tight corner. Nice handle, but I dont see the trapezoid blade. You might check your local major paint store for these. But you want the trapezoid blade. I think it may be called the PAC-101 Flat Blade. * Im doing the Kinkead style truss rod, does anyone know were to get the end screw nut thing to adjust the tension with from inside the box? Ive got the rod, and the brass end covered. I know stewi mac has em, Im looking for a hardware source. Thanks

Well, in a pinch, you can make your own one way truss rod, but the stewi mack thing is welded etc..

RG man, I know how that is, what you have to do is set aside an hour here and an hour there. Fridays and Saturdays are my main luthier work days. Believe me, its a little here and a little there, order more of this, wait, redo this that etc.... You have to do a little bit at a time, then you get inspired to do more.

I had to redo my HHG on my X brace, man didnt use enough water or something. Tried it 'from a squeeze bottle', man, no way, it doesnt work for me.Jelled up really really quick... Maybe it was too thick. Anyway, its back to the brush and jar. Got one x side glued up, and I ordered a 12mm plane blade for a home-made Ziricote plane to scallop the braces with, so its gonna be another week or so, as I dont want to scallop with all the finger braces and bass bars in the way. (Doing a practice top really helped me figure that out, as well as how thick thin to go!) This is great stuff though, just as good as woodcarving. Well, some of it is woodcarving! My next guitar will be a Padouk and Adi Dred!! I hope it will go much faster, I cheated and got a martin factory neck for it.

Where are all the acoustic builds going on??? Ive got the bracing going on this week, and carving/tap tuning next week. Whats going on out there??? I did a practice top and got some tap tones on MP3 if anyone is interested. Been busy also.

Thanks, Yea it should be, its from a luthier supplier. He keeps his humidty at the requesete 45-55%, so I'm probably too concerned.

Im getting some bracewood, and was wondering if it will help adjust to my climate if I cut the braces out, (its a solid chunk) and if I should wait to cut them out for a week, and then wait 2 more weeks for it to adjust to my climate. Its comming from Hegins, PA to Colorado, so its about a 15% difference in "Martin Country" to the wild west near perfect humidity (40-50%) Im doing a bunch of kerfing for the next guitars while I wait fo my brace stock. Also, I have been using my old brace wood (Engleman) to practice carving on, and get those lines perfect, etc..., Looks do-able!! Got some cheap tops, but they are near 3/8 thick! This is for backspliceing but I wanted to do a test top or 2 to just go through the numbers so to speak maybe retop another guitar.

Hmmmm, Im not sure, but it sounds like they might have put in the radius for the back, so this is a whole different animal. I dont know what your gonna do to get that into the back unless you brace it just right? There are a few people at OLF who have made these kits. That may be your best bet/

I sanded my sides in the dish a bit first, to get it close to where it would be before the kerf is glued in. For the tight waist, I would recomend going with the reverse kerf, for that 5 inches or so.

Just got my kerf cutter mostly done fryovani! Thanx for the link at OLF!!!! Do you actually use one of these? I thought you surrendered and went for the LMI premade, or something.

Man. talk about tortise and the hare. Im getting all muddled gluing the neck block in. I have to radius it to the top, but I dont know how to make sure its perfect vertical so the neck top will be at 90 degree angles. And Im not using my Engleman spruce for the bracing, so I have to do that over..... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

You need to get the top flat, and if its a flat top guitar, perfect flat. Use sandpaper 80 or 100, and a plane and a light and a mold fixture to hold it steady and sand it on a flat table top ala cumplianos method (for the back)-. How far off is it curved? The 2 sides should have been planed flat together (on the dvd), but depending on the mold you use, or how strait and 90 the sides were that could have messed you up. A kit is fine for your first guitar shaped object! Its just as much a pain to build from scratch or more. Just toss the plastic binding as he did !! Oh, your talking about the back, are you using a radius dish? Do you have cumplianos book?

That was fast! That will be one heckova blanket side bender! - I still get hothands with gloves using the blanket and mold (I dont use the thermostat) !

If I was doing a cutaway, I would be tempted to do it like a cello, with seperate piece for the tight bend. Then maybe bind it on both sides of the tip. But I suppose anything is possible, I would practice that a couple of times though.

That is really exellent! Show some gutiar wood! What kind of saw/blades do you run?

It should also be mentioned that places like LMI and Stewi mac and others offer just about ALL the services, thickness, neck, side bend, etc etc so it would cost more upfront, maybe $550, but some the hard work /cutting etc would be done. Ive seen people talk about that. Yea, there not 'real' woodies yet, but they may not have taken the first steps without the premade services. Just a thought. I know Kinkeads book scared me for all the tools, but Im almost there! Just another $XXX

This is a post for all the wood be Luthiers who want to get in on the cheap. I know for some even $500.00 can be an issue, but thats ok, you can still get into it, you just maybe cant get your dream Brasilian/Italian Spruce better than a $3000.00 new guitar just yet though. Ebay is your best friend, as posted, there are student level sound boards for nothing, 3-4 apiece + shipping, etc... I got into it wanting to build nice nice guitars that sound better than what I can 'afford' *Ive spent enough to get a nice guitar for all the tools etc already..) This looks real nice, and could be done on the cheap. It may sound like a step down, but really, if you did 10 of them and sold them (and they sounded good), you could buy enough to get into the biz....or something like that, mainly. I know its just a rant, y'all want to build the next great geetar, but you never know! CLICK ON LINK, IT WONT ALLOW TO BE POSTED AS JPEG http://www.mimf.com/cgi-bin/WebX?50@149.mg...xbo.1@.1dcfad0e

Ok, now Im worried, but we can always dream of this outcome: http://www.mimf.com/cgi-bin/WebX?50@168.Mg...q.0@.1dcfaf2e/0 Hi Clay My thoughts exactly, its sounds better than any factory I own. It has quickly become my favorite guitar. And you know I can't stop at one , I've always enjoyed woodworking but thought building a guitar way out of my league. Can't wait to start the next one.

The cheapest thing to do would be to build a few tops, compare them, compare the bracing, and then replicate them on real guitars when and if your ready. That would give you a good comparison. As shown, today its doable for like about $12.00 a topw w bracewood. The cost per guitar may be minimum, but thats using a small plane and pocketknife to shape it. You need lots of tools, molds $$$ etc, unless your above aberage inovative, which would mean your trying to retop an old crappy guitar, or making cigar box guitars already. If you have no woodworking experience tool experience, this would be even more difficult to get into. Doable, but man....

Acoustics are actually very inexpensive compaired to electrics(well unless you use Pink Ivory back and side, Snakewood binding and fretboard, and a master grade super fantabulous Italian wonder spruce soundboard, with all heart MOP purfling and a healthy load of inlay ). Oh, yea, thats gonna be my second one! Ill have it all down by then... Hey, I'll be in the market for honduran sides if you have any. 5X34? (I may also have a Tahoma something for $60.00! ) Guess no one knows Tahoma in my area.

I cant argue with what your saying, but I would just add that you can take the nut off the neck and/ or redo the fretboard using a cheap LMI ($22.00) pre-fretslotted board. (Thank you LMI!) So you could do the top, the nut/saddle, bridge plate bridge, and fretboard for about $100.00 -fine! BUT, now you "need " a good straitedge ($100.00) etc etc for just doing a top?? Honestly, cheap tops and bracing will run $20 at the very bottom right now(Sitka, ebay) and I would get 2 sets minimum of the sitka brace stock ($2.00 +shipping). Actually, for all those concerned, I would get some tops and just do tops and braces if you have no dough. Just make some sawdust. Some people are not going to be good at woodworking, and this will not be for them. I dont know if other people are hiding there mistakes, but Im a 'woody' of sorts, woodcarving mainly, and every thing I do needs to be done twice in this lutheri biz! Yea, Im braintired because of the job, but this is not that hard, and man, I almost just blew a bridgeplate... Lol

GW, Just a thought on re-topping as opposed to building from scratch. You are going to miss out on the experience gained on all your other tasks. Maybe a suggestion if you are looking to experiment with you bracing(voicing). Place a removable ispection cover on the end of one of your practice guitars. You can play with adjustments in bracing, and sanding the thickness of the top to see how it effects performance. I understand what you mean, but I keep telling people on other boards to try it to get into this art form cheaply, and I think alot more people could get into this for, $100.00 dollars or less,and maybe retop a crappy guitar and get a good guitar out of it. Also, even though I am a woodcarver, carving braces to perfection will be a chore the first few times. I like lots of fudge room. Just missed a $60 dollar Tacoma on Craigslist. Dang I guess if I didnt mess with molds and all this would go pretty quick once you get through your (my ) first big mistakes. Most of my time was in the jigs, molds etc.

Go-bar deck is done, and working. This is just a test run. Im looking at cheap tops and bracewood right now, wondering if I should do a test top. I am definetly going to retop 2 or 3 crap guitars, and back one or 2 before going on after this guitar! Why sweat the good guitar wood?