Official Luthiers Forum!

if you pull off a bridge like that you are going to way ahead of the rest of us come voting time. Haha. Good luck with it, it's way beyond my skill level!

Well, I tried to design a fancy bajo quinto bridge, but I couldn't make it fit with the style of the rest of the instrument. Instead, I'm thinking of tying it in with the rosette somehow. Not that I'm trying to over-complicate things!
Now that I'm home again, things have been moving on. The bracing is finished and the top is on. I've also slotted and bound the fretboard and glued on the headstock veneer.


Finished bracing.








As I sanded the rims flat, I had to put a slight bevel on the linings with a radius sanding beam.


Top clamped up.

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

My simple fret slotting method from a tutorial on the ANZLF. The razor blade registers in the knife marks on the board and a couple of layers of tape give clearance for the saw. The set square is then placed against it and clamped in position.


You can then run the saw along the edge of the square. Luckily my Japanese saw had exactly the right kerf.




Maple binding.


And the headstock. The wenge is raised a couple of mm above the maple. I got that idea from a Doerr guitar on the AGF.

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

I love that head stock!

Great stuff... Have to say, really admire your approach and design. Someone will have to go some to steal my vote from thsi this build!

Thank you very much! I feel that if I'm going to make the effort to build my own guitars, I might as well make them different to any others. I also really like the 'art deco' style, so everything I design tends to end up like that!
I'm still not too sure about the headstock. I just hope the mahogany will darken under finish. At the moment there isn't enough contrast between it and the maple veneer.

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

If you want that 'old' look on the Mahogany, try a mahogany grain filler... you end up with that 'aged' or old mahogany look as teh grain filller is like year of dirty hands! Sounds awful but I think looks nice - I used it on teh neck of my first and it comes up like the Pre war series by Santa Cruz - look at the '1st build' thread, as can just about see the effect on the neck.

I used rustins mahogany paste grain filler on my last guitar and didn't really like the look. It muddys the grain too much for my liking. The varnish I'll be using has quite an amber tint to it, though, so it should be fine.

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

And I have a guitar!!
Closed the box yesterday and just trimmed off the excess. It feels great under my arm - so much more comfortable than a big guitar!

With the top glued on, it sounded rather dead when I tapped it, so I did some drastic brace carving. It sounds great now - hope I haven't gone too far.








I've also radiused the fretboard and sorted out the frets. I got a bit of a shock when inspecting them. For some reason, Touchstone Tonewoods cut them exactly to length already, which is actually slightly short even for a standard guitar. As my fretboard starts at the fifth fret width, 3 of them are too short to use altogether so I have to make do with the leftovers from the last one which are slightly larger. Hopefully I can file them down to the right width.


My high-tec fret organiser!

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

I am really liking the looks of this build , may have to steal an idea or two

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Please feel free - I stole most of the ideas from other builders anyway!

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Hello Peter,

May I say that you are doing a grand job, given the lack of recources. Living proof that one doesn't need all the gizmos that are available now
(although they do make life easier - and faster). My first guitar was started thirty years ago (and it is still not finished and all the perfling and binding channels were cut with an improvised hand tool. The circle cutter was also home made. I can remember chiseling out the soundhole black white black white black ring with welding rod that had been flattened and honed

May I ask the reason for setting the rear block off axis? Many thanks in advance.

Regards....Dick......Also in Wales, but further up.

It appears to me that the whole neck alignment is off center axis , am I correct in that assumption ?

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

Thank you! I can say it certainly would make life easier. I seem to spend 70% of my time thinking about how to work around not having the right tools. OTOH, I think I've spent around £250 so far on materials for two guitars and the tools to build them with.
Nice to see another Welshman! (Actually, I'm not Welsh - just studying here. )


No, it's simply because I didn't have any wood long enough for the sides to meet in the centre! The double cutaway would have made the bass side much longer, so I split the difference and put the neck block over the join.
You might be looking at the truss rod hole - that is off centre, because I stupidly didn't take enough time to set up the router properly and the rod is slightly closer to the bass side of the neck

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Hi Peter,

Thanks for the answer; I wasn't expecting that one now there's practical.
As it happens, I am not Welsh either, just another 'proto Welsh' import after retirement.

Regards..Dick.

No , Im looking at the end block and the centerline of the guitar from the neck block back .

4th pic down the end block looks totally off center , 6th pic down it looks off center but appears to line up with the neck block

_________________
The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

I think the 6th picture down (from the top?) is just taken at a funny angle. The tail block is not centred, but the neck is. Actually, looking at the titebond bottle in the next picture, I think imageshack has squashed some them.

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

So, on to the long and boring job of binding by hand. I've finished the back. I hate all those mitre joints! I've also drilled the tuner holes, but they didn't turn out so well. The drill bit caught on one of them and pulled it up making an elliptical hole. Now I have to try and plug it and do it again. Luckily the bushing will cover it up.

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Forgot to say I've also done the end graft. Don't know why I did it that shape - just seemed like a good idea at the time!

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Nice Peter! Doing all that by hand must make for quite the challenge. How do you cut the binding channels? There has to be a better way than chiseling it all.

Oh, I'm sure there's a better way, but I don't have a router or jigs to use one. So I'm making the cuts with an ibex purfling cutter borrowed from a violin-making friend, and chiseling out the waste. It's actually not as hard as it sounds, but it is tedious!

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

The end is in sight! The binding is finished and it turned out pretty good. I used the tape method this time instead of trying to wrap it with rubber strips and it was so much less stressful. There are only a couple of slight gaps. I then started scraping and sanding the sides and flossed the heel, which now flows nicely into the cutaway. I remembered to do it before the fingerboard was glued on this time - much easier!
I've also installed the last few frets and glued the board to the neck. Now, after some final neck carving, it's on to sanding and varnishing.


Even plane shavings can be useful!

_________________
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Wow, Peter, Wow!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Very very nice! I can't wait to hear it!

Thats a nice one for sure. Little more work on the heel? I really can't tell from the pics.