January Guitar

2012-02-11T16:34:00.000-08:00

2011-10-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

Finished

2010-11-20T11:41:00.000-08:00

hopefully more pictures soon. really sounds great

Fitting The Saddle

2010-11-09T10:42:00.001-08:00

slot and holes were milled and drilled on the drill press

positioned, glued and clamped

ready for the strings

Applying The Finish

2010-11-04T12:40:00.000-07:00

the finish is a waterborne matt finish (KTM 9). applied with a foam pad. another big learning curve. foaming was a problem but these bubbles can be removed in the rubbing out stage

Setting The Frets

2010-11-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

Setting and Gluing the Neck

2010-10-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

solid steel truss rod inserted

the neck shaped and glued to the body

Edge Binding

2010-10-09T10:29:00.000-07:00

the relief for the edge binding ready for the rosewood binding. the binding was bent to the shape of the sides over the bending iron

edge binding is applied with glue and taped to the body then wrapped with cord

Guitar Body

2010-09-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

top and back glued to sides with recess carved out to take the edge binding, 10 minutes with a router or many long evenings with a 1/4" chisel.. the latter of course

A Fleeting Glimpse At Inner Beauty

2010-08-08T11:52:00.001-07:00

sanding down the bridge to its shape

fitting the braces

shaping the braces so that the top keeps its arch

fixing the kerfing so that the top and back have a surface to rest and adhere to. some braces to prevent the sides splitting as well

top back and sides ready to be put together

Soundhole and Braces

2010-07-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

the soundhole cut out. not sure how the rosette will look when it's all done. but it's worth a try

getting the braces ready for the top

Rosette

2010-07-29T04:49:00.000-07:00

7 weeks later. took a while to figure out how to do it. eventually carved out the design and filled it with black milliput epoxy putty. not ideal but i got the effect i was after. now i can move on

2010-07-27T13:01:00.000-07:00

still searching

Designing The Rosette

2010-06-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

a series of photos of naked trees were taken in january. local inspiration for a different approach to the sound-hole motif

2010-05-30T15:39:00.000-07:00

drawing the arches for the top and back braces. The back has a 15' radius and the top 25'. these arches will add strength and give greater volume to the guitar.. so they say!

the back almost fully braced

the pau ferro fingerboard blank

the fingerboard sanded, tapered and fret slots sawn. patience, patience, patience

2010-05-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

Sides Set

2010-05-09T01:37:00.000-07:00

sides turned out really well. once they were sanded down they looked great

Bending The Sides

2010-05-02T04:42:00.001-07:00

the bending iron. don't run out of gas!

the wood starting to relax. at this point i ran out of gas..

first side bent and clamped in the mould, took quite a while as you only get one go, slow and careful..

the two sides bent and clamped, amazaque i would agree is not too easy to bend, but it's only the first try

Joined Back

2010-05-02T04:38:00.000-07:00

the back was joined with a strip of maple down the middle. i couldn't see how to book match them

Channel For Truss & Joined Top

2010-04-11T11:08:00.001-07:00

Starting The Neck

2010-04-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

No short cuts. the neck of cedrela was cut on the temperamental band saw. The rough cut was sanded true. Important to get it right. lucky to have two lengths for the neck! cedrela tastes very bitter too

Joining The Top

2010-04-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

the top halves of red cedar were jointed and then sanded on the poor man's belt sander. used belt sander paper was glued to the surface of a flat piece of mdf. one half of the guitar mould waste was used as a fence as it was planed true and perpendicular to it's front. proves pretty effective with patience

the two halves were then glued and wedged together on a flat bit of ply. the back is another story. humidity an invisible foe

2010-03-28T12:44:00.000-07:00

Thinning the sides

2010-03-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

between learning how to sharpen, set up and use the jack plane, the sides took all the livelong day and a couple of manly blisters to plane down

starting with 2 rough 4mm or 5mm thick blanks (right), the sides were planned down to just under 2.5mm (left).

the shavings are testament to my joy of tedium

Materials

2010-03-21T14:52:00.000-07:00

the majority of the materials needed. red cedar top, amazaque back and sides, mahogany and spruce bracing, cedrela neck, rosewood bridge, a pau ferro fingerboard and a selection of bindings and purfling.. depending on the mood

Finished Guitar Body Mould

2010-02-28T11:36:00.000-08:00

the finished mould. only took a day to sand smooth! i don't think you can use and master a band saw in one day. being obsessive over those fingers you're so familiar with slows the process

Making The Mould

2010-02-27T03:34:00.000-08:00

two stacks of ply, laminated five layers high. this took a few days as the layers were glued one at a time and took a day each to cure in the clamps. one has only so many clamps but many days

when finished, each stack was jointed using a long hand plane with a right angle guide

the shape of the body was scribed into the ply stacks ready for the saw. it's going to take the shape of a dreadnought, big on body, big on bass, nice

the two sides of the mould were cut with the band saw, you only get one go, hear it sing..