GoodWood

It begs a question I had about using dishes, as this seems to input a bit of stress on the guitar. I was thinking the other night about molding backs and tops with heat, like you do the sides, so they dont have that tension built in. On the top that cant be a good thing.

Good question, well asked too

With it being one of their lower end models I'm not convinced this will be a HHG construction.

U2boy: As mentioned it could well be worth cleaning up the mating surfaces before the repair

Well, you should tell him how to clean the surfaces so they will have a better job of still matching when he glues it back. It looks like a "good" split, the glue joingt failed, not the wood.

Im thinking warm water, heat, and some type of scraper to prep the surfaces?

Also, dont over clamp it. Or over glue it.

i reckon the guild smells more because it has unfinished spruce inside, spruce does smell quite nice. The 335 will be maple laminates, i just dont think that smells as much as spruce.

as mentioned above cedar also has a nice smell but out of the hardwoods my favorite has to be imbuya (AKA brazilian walnut, Pheobe Porosa) - wonderfull and peppery and will easily fill a room if you have a body blank in it

My advice would be to pick woods known for a nice smell (avoid zebrano!!!) and leave the wood raw inside with some scent (sound) holes. obivously the smell will diminish with age

HEY its getting kind girly in here! :D

Daniel, how are you measuring the temperature?

There is a learning curve with the blanket, its not an automatic thing. Burning can be an issue.

Does anyone know if those router controllers would work with a hand drill? I have an old 2000 rpm drill, I would like to take it down to 600 to use for a strope motor.

I simply butt tightly. I don't want to mess with a perfect fit on an inlet bridge plate, because I figure if I make the inlet too shallow, I get suboptimal bonding of the brace on the bottom, and there's less surface area on the main structural brace in the entire instrument (ie, the X). Then there's the fact that bridge plates on pinned bridge guitars do wear, and I don't want to build a guitar that's a major PITA to repair. That, and I've yet to actually hear anyone complain about buzzing with a good butt joint. I glue the X first, then the bridge plate pushing it into the X. You could always simply chamfer the edges contacting the X. Should take all of 10 seconds to do, no risk of buzzing.

If you leave a gap, you want the plate to have less stress or spring, so you sand it to radius. Kinkead, Cumpliano. I have no Idea if it would effect a chiladni pattern with nodes and all. Why would you not radius? This craft is all about 1/100's of an inch and perfect joints. The radius gap on a 25' /bridge plate would be about 2 mm.

I also use thin flat gauges to test for a tight fit. Sanding to radius get me tighter than not sanding to radius.

Dish plus bars, close together.

Did you sand in the radius first? Use thin metal strips to give a gap from the braces, if you are going to leave a gap.

Nice job. Looks great.

Is that steel the same as this stuff?

Lol, now I just need it in 70 " rolls! LOL Thats about the same price as you find elsewhere online. I suppose if it was thicker you could make swords out of it.

Hey, is that the steel that bends back into shape? Where do you get that stuff?

I just tested out the back kerf lining, and I took some kerf off with a little applied pressure. Looking at the side wood, it didnt seem to get any glue on them. Wow,- I guess I need to look for more squeeze out? Will I ruin the kerf that came off if I try to take the glue off? Im thinking just heat it with aluminium foil and an iron. This was dissapointing, I thought I was getting the hang of HHG.

There seems to be little on the side wood that I can see...

What kind of wood for the lining??

Be that bass?

Well, i broke the 12th blade on my last bird. That sucks. Now I'm going to have to wait to finish this up. Ill probably buy 3 packs of fine blades and a pack of medium blades.

I buy blades by the gross. What size are you using? Normally I use 3/0 or 5/0. Most have rounded backs to make turning easier, but you should make sure that is the type you are using. Really as Mattia mentioned, a lot of it is in the wrist. As you get more used to cutting your blades will last a bit longer. Be sure you are in a comfortable position when sawing.

Peace,Rich

Have any of you ever considered scroll saw round blades? They cut in any direction, not sure if you can mount them in a jewelers saw, but you might be able to. Or use a scroll saw?

Im not doing inlay, maybe torquois in epoxy though.

I just re-registered with a different name, now it works, my old name was blocked or something.

Hey guys,

I'm just about ready to order some stuff for this and I'm wondering if I need a bridge pin reamer? also, in Kinkades book he shows a diagram like this

he makes the neck out of one 40x3 1/4thx 1" piece of mahogany glued together as seen in that diagram I made in paint. Is this the way you guys would go about doing this?

I think his angle is 10 degrees, you might want 15 if Im not mistaken. Im doing one neck that way basicly, but I ran out of wood, make sure its thick enough.

Scarf joints are best done on the table saw if you go that way.

Yea, Kinkead messed me up a bit, to be sure. He has his own way to do things, some are old (fashioned) But he makes great sounding guitars I hear.

Ok, I saw the regular forum for a minute, but the past 2 days its been down? Is anyone seeing the entire forum, etc...

http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/

Uhm,. I had the exact same thing happen, I had to redo the mold and build in a 'bend'. I was about 2 inches popout. about the same as yours.

Cut the difference into the blanket mold. I retried bending about 5X and it only helped to 1/2 an inch. You have to overbend them.

Also looks like you went with Kinkeads mold design, did that also, but you have to do all the stuff-the holding blocks etc or its just a pain later on. to plane the sides, glue up etc. Im going with 3 inch plywood build next. Welcome to the learning cure. Im revoicing an old alvarez, thats a leaning experience also for top braces and how delicate the balance is. Very ....

Good luck!

You should check in more often....its an upgrade of the forum software. They've been talking about it for months.

Yes I know that, and I didnt get an email. Is it the same forum? Is there a new addy?

I cant get in, its locked, no email from them. What is going on? Is there a fee charge now??

Yea, Im a bit worried about washing it in CA and then sanding, but I suppose ita a must do? CA is toxic when heated, it turns to cyanide-dyetholone or whatever if it gets too hot. So bending and everything should be done outside I guess??? How long does it take for the fume odor to go away???.

So, where do I put in orders for my Rich Fry custom? FWIW I too enjoy ziricote cough cough hahahaha

Chris

You gotta love the look of Zircote. It would be awsome if it didn't have that crack addiction.

Peace,Rich

Rich, are you using the 'martin' style cloth/glue for side braces to help stop the cracks? Do you use super soft for tight bends? Ive got some killer Zir I want to get to, it is not bookmatched, but it has really nice tap tone. Some of the stuff I got just sounds dead. But I suppose most of it sounds like that. Boingoingouingingngnnnngggggggwraaaa

what can i say... i want it!!

We are going to get some MP3's off this one,right????

I first thickness the top until it feels flexible enough, brace it, and install it.

I then thin the top's edges around the lower bout to "open up" the tone a little. I makes a noticeable difference!

Unfortunately both procedures are done to what feels/sounds right to me, so I can't really give you any figures I'm afraid

It depends on what kind of wood. Cedar, Engleman,Sitka,Euro Spruce, Adi, in that order of stiffness.

I have Carpathian Spruce top thinned to about 1.08 with adi braces. (Shoudl have gone to 1.12) I have to redo some finger braces. This is for a 15.8 lower bout, 25.4 steel string. I may use light strings on it, but to my hands, it felt stiff, I just did little bit off the lower bout brace. I probably wont sand much off the lower bout, its pretty thin for a first build.

I have also notice (I think) that the Sitka brace stock that I had was actually stiffer, but a bit heavier than the Adi brace stock, and darker in color. So the stuff out there can really vary on stiffness. The Englman I had you could feel the difference.

I am going to set up a brace stiffness gauge soon, for the next guitar.

YOu should be going by a book or by plans, and both are usually 'overbuilt' to some degree.

Great then, I thought you were out the whole enchilada.

So you mean UPS left it, and someone took the package?.

I modeled mine on this design, with some modifications. I would screw the dowls into the side, incase you need to adjust them later. I had to take wood off the basic body design to compesate for springback.

You can get .024 steel at any HVAC place, 10 bucks for 3

I use an on off switch with my heat blanket. Easier than the router dial thing, which takes forever to heat up the blanket. You have to be careful though, and use water to cool the wood down. ITs controlled insanity, use a practice piece first.

I will install them at about .08". I like to leave them a little proud, not too much though. I suppose it is worth mentioning that I leave the soundboard a few thousandths thick and final sand with the rosette in.

Rich

Fryovanni, do you do that with all that incredable MOP inlay you do? Don't you ever worry about tearout? Just looking at an old bad rosette, and it is way thin, thinner than 1/16 I bet.

Binding on an acoustic hides the braces that can show along the edge of the top.

It also bind top to guitar grasshopper... make guitar stronger.

There is a guy selling german binding tool on ebay, you can get it for like $22.00 plus shipping.