GoodWood

Ok, I have a backset that is misaligned at the top 1" of the seam, the rest was fine. The back is thinned already, .90, and is slightly off on the seam, so you can feel it stick out a bit when you run your had sideways.

Can I reheat the HHG to a low temp, and redo just this small area? It will be under the neckblock, so Im not to worried about it.

I dont have a picture, but I use home made clear plastic bags (duct tape and 4mil poly drop cloths) and dessicant bags (ebay) when the humidity get too high, or when it WILL get too high I should say. This chart is fairly accurate and predictive:

http://merv.metr.ou.edu/weather/run12z/zz_usa_rhum.html

I wont be building anything for a few days at least.

You need to clamp down the sides to the steel bending form so it can't cup, that may be the issue. Ues metal clamps.

I've seen this before on my first bend, when the wood was not clamped to metal to stabalize it when heating. Same deal long groves in the wood. It may be from bending and you just noticed it?

Ive noticed with most of the good books out... i own both cumpiano and kinkaid's book... alot of the processes are kind of dated and people have found more efficient ways of doing things.. These forums and the internet cover much more than any of the said books... and you get a more realistic insight because you see how people struggle and how there processes evolve unlike in a book where the writer isnt making mistakes or modifications, he just shows how it is done and for the most part, doesn't acknowledge common pitfalls... MIMF (register to get to the library.. it took me a year to realize that) is an excellent resource. If you Google acoustic guitar building, you will find a bunch of people's projects from start to finish.

You never listed the tools you have either, or how you are going to thickness the tops, etcetc. Kinkead and Cumpliano books don't mention radius dishes. Tools are the other half of building. And its like a mile long, ughhhh.

Try OLF there is a good tutorial on neck angle over there.

Ah, humidity is too high to work in the garage today, stuck the guitar in some plastic with a hygrometer, -so I decided to practice my jointing skills on some test top sitka. I have an old Stanley #6 or 7, its about 23" long, I put the new HOC blade in it. (My 'new' 5 1/4 is not square on the sides) But this plane is perfect square.

Ok, had some issues with the table top squareness or something, figured it out, grrrrrr, then I hit it pretty good, I kept taking the blade down on successive passes till almost nothing came out.

First time I did the light test, BOOM Nuthin commin through. Did it with the worklight, nothing. no shipe nothing but wood!!

Glued er up, now to do a 1.5 hour weight test, see how much it can take before she pops.

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I got it up to 35 Lbs, without problems, creaking or anything. Im always a little leary about hand bending, but I'm worried about cracking the board when I bend this joint. 1 hr 50 minutes after glue up HHG.

Looks like I've got 2 or 3 years backsplice there!

Plywood for molds Hide glue? Bottle with nuts for hide glue, or just the RED standard wood glue bottle.

How are you doing the router?

Yea, but it friggin rocks, right?

Hmmm, go to the OLF, its a good first start. Its a more active forum. Google.

Go to youtube for some guitar building videos. This guy is good.

Many people recomend Kinkead or Cumpliano, but they are a bit outdated. For backs and tops, most use dishes for example.

Figure out how many tools you have. And how many you will need. There are lots of specialty tools you will need. I am closing in on $2000.00 Drill press, and the little specialty tools, small planes, large planes, reamers, drill bits, it is *#)@#)*$% endless

If you don't or can't make a longterm committment on tools (and woods) you could get LMI to do a KIT guitar, they can slot your fingerboards, and bend your sides. etc.

If your gonna make one or 2 do that. (Do a practice braced top first)

If you KNOW your gonna love this as a hobby, then start investing, get some cheap tops and start there. Do a test top first. Get the video on tap tuning (search luthier forums) One guy did a video series on that, it may help.

Do you have access to a thickness sander (cabinet shop-Call for price per hour.)

Nothing is simple at all, nothing is cheap (for the most part) I make mistakes all the time,

I need a little help... I have a tele on the bench about two weeks from finished and an acoustic is next on the list. Where I need a little help is, this morning I was able to side by side compare a Breedlove Focus and an Alvarez Yari. The difference in tone was amazing... My concern is as I'm planning and building my acoustic (right now walnut back and sides, top one of the spruces, neck either maple or cherry) how do I adjust for things like fullness of or lack of bass, or other tonal variables? Though the Breedlove sounded great... it is distinctive in the lack of bass. I just want to know before I end up with a guitar I don't like. Thanks

Rubin

You will have to read up on guitars. You might get away with a good first build. But that level of tuning will depend on alot. Thin the top near the edges to .90 will help. Scallop braces will also help.

Wow, what a day. I got a 'new'-old plane, an 11" 5 1/4. It's in great condition, and the blade was nice and sharp, these are the ones to look for. It's worth the extra $10.00 to get a plane that was taken care of.

I am using this to thickness the tops way down, so the sanding machine is minimum. The plane was pure joy to work with, taking off nice shavingss of wood. The corners on the blade are rounded, so it really glides nicely on the wood, with little or no tear-out.

I would say that thickness sanding takes the fun out. This is really the way to go, you just need to be scary sharp. I am looking at a thicker blade, and I may tooth this one.

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SOLD!! Hi all, I just received 2- 12mm Ibex planes, was going to use one for a dedicated toothed, but thats not necessary. These are used for brace carving, makes it much easier, and yes they work great at this.

Anyone interested in one? $39.00 with shipping insured, regular blade! SOLD!!

Ok, got one top done with HHG, man, no more brush, I need a bottle for this. Took 47 seconds and went to the last drop of glue. We'll see if its a good joint in a few days.

The blowtorch and pipe looks like it will work for a first timer, but be careful, have a fire extinguisher nearby.

Is anyone in the UK able to help me out with some side bending work? I have two sets of maple (one quilted, one flamed) which I need one of bending roughly to a RG shape in four pieces – two for each cutaway and two for the main outer curves. I don’t normally need to do this kind of work, otherwise I would purchase a blanket and the other accessories to do it myself. The cost however, makes it uneconomical for me to do so for this one job and I don’t want to risk losing the pieces by messing it up bending on less reliable equipment like a hot pipe.

Give me a shout! Most appreciated.

A blowtorch and some 4" fencepost section. See this video, about in the middle, if you cant get aonyone to do it.

Rosewood thins to about .85 I think, and flatsawn, man, this is going to be a pain. I think you may be looking at hot hot water, steam, clamps etc. ..

I had my first paduk side go silly because I did not clamp it to a form when it was wet and getting hot, that caused the warp. It has to be clamped to the steel spring before you heat er up...

excellent, looking forward to seeing your progress... Everyone uses those bending machines except me huh?

Steve's Guitar Making Part 4 - Sides 2 of 4

This guy used a piece of fence pipe, for nothing, and a blowtorch for a side bender, you gotta find it though, he has a lot of good tutes...His kerf jig sucks though.... I would also pre cut my sides.....

oh here it is

.

Ok, for those who live vicariously, ( including me:rolleyes: ) I have started a new build, (yes, just for you!) Maybe I can finish this one. I have some secret weapons: Thats a Martin Seconds guitar neck and neck block. Im also possibly using a Martin bridge. Im just looking at boxes for the next couple of years I think. These are standard dreds (Stewi Mac plans) but I'm sloping the shoulders a bit. Thats 10 mahogany sides, ready and waiting, and waiting, and waiting....

One Red Spruce top (maybe adi?) and 2 White Adi tops.

The (new) mold needs some redoing, its too narrow for the steel on top. Grrrrr

That guitar looks great! 2 days...man that movin. Looks like you have quite a nice stash of black limba leaning in the background there. I can't wait to see what thats for!

I bought all that form Rich (Thanks again!). You won't have to wait long to see those turn into guitars.

So it gets pretty fast once you've done a few, how many hours are you looking at for this one?

are there any good tutorials for doing bolt on necks? It looks pretty straight foward and im sure i could figure it out, but i just like references.

Try OLF....they have lots of good tutes.

so i am about to tackle the neck joint situation.. Im not sure which type of joint i should use, and am even less sure on the best way to do each. I have noticed that some people do all of that stuff before the block is even glued to the sides... But the kinkaid book (this book keeps steering me in the wrong direction it seems),

Yup Kinkaid does it the old fashioned way, or the English way, or the other way...

You are about stuck with dovetail at this point I think...You cant drill out for bolt ons...

ill have to keep all those tips in mind for future builds. Unfortunately, i didn't get that post until after i closed the box.. but its all a learning process so if the whole thing collapses when i string it up, at least now ill know why. So bascially what your saying is if the brace isnt inlet into the kerfing, and it is too thick.. it will have no flexibility and if the soundboard changes shape due to string tension or humidity, the brace could pop loose? Is this a guarenteed thing? the only braces that arnt inlet into the kerfing are the really small ones and that one that the kerfing broke more than i planned on when i was trimming it (how do you trim your kerfing for the braces.. chisels?) Anyway, here is a shot of the closed box.. now im just a little concerned as to wether i should continue my journey or not with a (fatal?) design flaw. Oh, and the center of the x-brace is about 5/8 i believe. Whatever kinkaid's book says to bring it to.

Hey, you can always practice taking your bad ones apart and fixin them, I figure. It that baby a jumbo??

Yea, Im gonna get my new dred going. Got the basic inside mold made, but I have to redo the dowls .

Im doing standard Stewi mac dred design with the 49-50 degree/ forward bracing, red (adi?) top, on Hondo mahog. Martin seconds Neck/fretboard so I can maybe get the dang thing done this year. Slight rounded slope on the upper bout, so its not like everyone elses .

Got a pile of sides that are seconds, for cheap, and 9 sets of them are really good, one little knot here or there, one little wormhole.

Bot Eeet is always some-ting to keep me from going faster is it not?

Fryovanni, yes I use it to keep the back in shape You could make a jig to support a weight on top of it I suppose, for better air flow. I just don't think its a good idea to have the back flopping around for a month while you ding around getting everything else done.

But now I will have the top kerf and back kerf READY to accept either side as soon as the sides are done. My first side set inlet was a disaster. From now on I will put side extensors off the X braces so the kerf stops exactly where I need it.

I use a sandbag ankle weight to hold down the back or top to the dish.

I am going onto building a standard dread (slight sloped shoulders) at this point, Red /adi? top, maple burl rosette, Hondo mahogany, Working on the molds still. Nothing to take pictures of yet,

I think I took too much off my first (second) top.

I would do a cheap wood top and brace it all up and tune that first to get a good feel for this. It really helps.