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I'm taking Sergei deJonge's building course right now and I thought I'd pass on one of the many neat ideas I've learned in the past couple of weeks.

Before you cut your binding ledges, it's standard practice to sand the sides to get rid of any irregularities. A neat technique before you get to work with the sanding block (not the ROS or similar) is to use your binding router to make a shallow (0.5mm?) cut into the sides, at less than the full binding height. This will also trim off your protruding brace ends (if any)at the same time.
The shallow cut serves as a good 'warning sign' if you are getting too enthusiastic with the sanding block, by letting you know when you are sanding off too much.

Cheers

John

Good tip!
thanks

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

[QUOTE=Hesh1956]
You mentioned in passing that a ROS or similar is not what one should use for truing up sides. I use a sanding block too even though it takes a lot longer and I always thought that the sides would be straighter. I take it that this is what Sergei teaches as well?
[/QUOTE]
Hesh:
Sergei explained that only a hard sanding block will flatten ripples in the side; a ROS will follow irregularities. A flat block for most of the sides and a half-round block for the waist are used with 80 grit paper, before making the binding cuts. He taught us to be particularily aware of cupping/rippling across the side as well. Since we were expected to do a good job on the side bending (aarrgghh), there wasn't too much sanding required in most cases.

I didn't even bother asking about using a pneumatic drum sander, which seems to me to be an invitation for curved sides.

Cheers

John

Good idea. That and droping the ROS could have prevented me from a small sand through on my side. Oh well, just another of my unending learning experiences.

Philip

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aka konacat

If you think my playing is bad you should hear me sing!
Practice breeds confidence and confidence breeds competence. Unfortunately, I'm stuck in practice.

[QUOTE=ToddStock]A 6x48 belt sander does a nice job of flattening out the sides. Even on mahogany, the belt cuts slowly enough for good control.[/QUOTE]

I have a question about that.  Isn't the wheel on one of those belt sanders slightly convex, to keep the belt lined up? I know it's not much, but seems like any on sides could be a problem. Maybe the 6'" ones are different, but I know the wheel on my Delta 4x24 is slightly convex.  Just wondering.  I know you know more about this than I do.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

How about a spindle sander @400 grit?

I've used that Grizzly tube sander several times now. It's the cat's meow, and worked flawlessly. Wouldn't want to be without it. Didn't curve my sides at all...none. In fact, you can adjust the air pressure to make the tube as hard or soft as you'd like. I simply adjust it to straight, with little to no flex, and then take my time. Works great, and the sandpaper that Grizzly sells with it seems to be fairly high quality, and lasts a decent amount of time.

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I use a drill to power my Grizzly drum sander. I think a pneumatic motor would have too many RPMs.

[QUOTE=ToddStock] Bill:

Are you running it with a drill motor or a pneumatic drive for go-power? I'm considering both the large and small sizes to handle trimming duties on the sides and speeding up bulk stock removal on the neck.

Todd[/QUOTE]

Todd I use it in my 18V drill only, so far. I've used mine to clean up the inside of the rim, take the sides down level prior to binding, and then this weekend used it to sand the freshly glued binding down flush with the sides (didn't have a scraper worth a flip). The thing is great, really. I thought it would be difficult to control, but it's nothing. The variable speed on my cordless drill lets me take as much, or as little, off as I want to. Very easy.

Now, to be honest, using it to take bulk off the neck might push a cordless drill, but maybe not with some 60/80 grit paper. I don't know.

Bill

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.