Official Luthiers Forum!

There have been a few discussions about mistakes and having bad days, so I think I made the dumbest mistake tonight I've made in quite a while..

I was fitting the bracing the for the Cedar top guitar, had some awesome redwood bracing ready to go. Cut out the X Brace notches on the table saw, fitted everything nice an tight and it was all looking good.

So before I glued them on I wanted to carve out the basic shape on the sander (I use CF laminate in my braces and it likes to eat sharp blades), so I started shaping got the bottom ones feet done, looked great.

Did the top one and when I went to test fit them I realized I had done the feet upside down

So I have too basically start over on the X braces for this one, I was making good progress too but my real job has been crazy and I'm really having a hard time keeping any type of focus in the shop.

Someone wrote me a note not to long ago about some of my work and I was a little surprised because it's not been a smooth road, but they made it sound so easy like I just pushed a button and <!POP!> there it was. But it's not, and from talking to other big name builders and everyone here it's the same for all of us, the difference for the big one is they've made more mistakes than we have and know what to look out for.

So I have more CF on the way, I'll glue up new braces and THIS TIME, I'll actually draw out the whole shape so I can't make that mistake again. At least I didn't have to pull them off the top

So take heart if you screw something up, get mad, kick the fence, curse.. whatever.. and then LEARN from the mistake and don't do it again, THAT'S how we get better

-Paul-
Sprockett38372.9256828704

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Hmmm....
I know how you feel. I think the big thing is to learn from your mistakes and move on. I’ve made some big ones, but I have never made the same big mistake more then once.

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

I'll share one. I love making x-braces up ahead of time and have jigged for it. Cut the radius, taper the top of the brace including the scallop I use, oh yeah and notch the correct side of the correct part of the x.

Then, after I have the two slid together, I hit it with thin CA. Seven sets, all that' left is a ride in the dish sander until all pencil witness lines are gone.

My, how magnificent, seven perfect sets of Adirondack spruce braces. I grabbed a top I was waiting to brace and laid a completed x over the mounting lines draw on the top. OH MY. You can put the x together wrong, AAAAAAYYYYYHHHHHHH! I broke all but two sets getting them apart.

Step thirteen is now added, check to make sure the angle is going together correctly before gluing.   

Someone once told me that "mistakes are tuition". I try to remember that on big screw-ups. I have paid lots of "tuition".... but the ones I really hate are the ones where it was purely from not being careful or paying enough attention.

I once spent days installing binding and purfling on a fingerboard. I was fussy to obsession about the joints. They were totally invisible, the corners were sharp, everything looked great.

then I proceeded to install the fret markers on the 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 13th, 16th, and 18th frets.

I thought briefly that I needed a new hobby...      (But a new StewMac catalog came and I returned to my senses.)

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

On my first, I glued the neck block in upside down. Doh! However, it wasn't a total loss. I learned how to use heat, dental floss, and pallette knife to take it back apart. Took a little time as I was using a hair blow dryer as the heat source. I hadn't planned on learning disassembly during construction, but I now know how to go about it and it doesn't worry me.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Everyone makes mistakes, were human. I have made a number of mistakes over my years in woodworking. The real interesting part is to do a repair that nobody can notice. It teaches you to be a better craftsman. Make sure you record your steps so you don't screw up twice. Always mark pieces that go together and dry fit twice if your memory is bad. Sometimes if your life is stressful, it pays not to work on intricate stuff until you can keep your mind and body on topic. The neat thing is that we can always start over. The work project we are doing is only one small thing in our lives. (Even though it's the best made and most beautiful guitar in the world!)
We always can find much to be thankful for if we only look for it. Then it is much easier to work on those hard trying jobs. And the finished result is much better and enjoyed.

Thanks Everyone!

I am feeling better about the mistakes I make on a regular basis. It is good to know I am not the only one.

Just got done yesterday heating up a cocobolo fretboard to remove it from the neck I had glued it to 4 hours earlier. Bought it slotted from LMI, didn't realize I had to thickness it! Cooked it for about 10 minutes at 250-275 and got it loose. One thing I did notice, I think the high heat darkened the cocobolo. Hope I didn't ruin it.

Jeff

Wow....sorry to hear about everyone's mistakes.

Personally, I never make mistakes.
I live by the measure once, cut twice rule.



Paul, how do you like using redwood for bracing? The only reason I ask is I have tons of it from cutting all thses tops up, and I've considered using it for braces because it's so light and stiff.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."