Official Luthiers Forum!

Here's mine.

I don't run top and back brace ends through the sides. More work, but on a purely gut level, it seems to me like the right thing to do. I locate the plate on the rim, then mark each brace where it intersects the lining. Then I mark each brace a bit less than 1/4" (about .220") outside of the lining mark, then cut the brace to length.

Well, on a dread back, I carefully made the proper marks, went into the house for lunch, came back to the shop and cut ALL of the braces on the wrong mark, about 1/4" short. So, I re-braced the back, marked, cut and all's well.

Then, a few days later, started on the top bracing. Guess what I did.

Anybody want to make me feel better?

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

fighting breaking some very curly bindings during bending and going through a dozen before realizing that it was the under slat spring back causing the issue at removal[headwall] [headwall] [headwall]

Oh I cut, thinned, radiused, and carefully notched my x braces to a nice squeeky tight fit , locked the two together , was admiring my handy work only to notice the radius arc was on the top side of one brace and the bottom of the other brace ! DUH ! I had cut the notch out of the bottoms of both braces ! a small thing but humbling none the less ! LOL Jody

Pat my friend I doubt if I can help make you feel better even though I would hope to.

My father used to tell me that the difference between dumb and stupid is that when you are dumb you make a mistake and when you are stupid you make the same mistake again, twice.

One day I reminded him that I was his second kid and he promptly dented my head. That was a mistake that I never made again.......

I completely scorched a set of beautiful sides of curly koa. I didnt think too much of it and thought it would sand out when I got the guitar built. It didnt sand out.

I got real creative and stained the guitar, which almost completely hid the original problem.

The guitar is looking beautiful, but a strange color for koa. Can you tell whee it was scorched?

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Reguards,

Ken H

Ken - I can't see any....! Great save and we will be praying tomorrow! You will have an even better recovery than this guitar!

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Steve Walden
Aspiring Builder,
Bartlesville, OK

Good save Ken!
Looks GREAT!

Sometimes it's difficult to get color tone right on a computer but I see no problems at all!

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Billy Dean Thomas
Covina, CA

"Multi famam, conscientiam, pauci verentur."
(Many fear their reputation, few their conscience)

After bending a mahogany side, I placed it in the mold and the spring back pressure (gotta love mahogany) caused the side to split along the edge of the mold..........

Good grief, where to start? Let's see...beautiful thumbprint in my nitro, routed a rosette completely through the top, left big gaps in a rosette (different one), had a dremel run amok cutting the sides out of the neck pocket, drilled my side dots into the wrong side of the fretboard, glued in a neckblock crooked...I could do this all day you know!

But my favorite was this: After carefully hand bending my two sides to a perfect dreadnaught shape, I promptly sandwiched them together and delicately planed the side profile into them...both of them...so I had two exquisite left sides.

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

I once told my wife that she really DIDN'T look good in that shirt.......once.....

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There is no difference between the man that thinks he can....and the man that thinks he cannot.

Yeah that and there is that famous old question - does my butt look big in these......? ALWAYS answer "no honey - you look beautiful..."

Bill my friend now you just need to make two exquisite right sides and you are good-to-go.

Thanks, guys! I feel better already!

Ken, I'm going to guess that the scorched spot is on the lower bout there, off to the right, just 'cause I can't see anywhere else that might be darker. Good looking box!

Yup, Jody, I've also done the x-brace thing with one profiled edge up, one down, broke bent bindings with the inside slat like Michael. They were my first wood bindings, so I thought they weren't hot enough. Had to burn one to find out. Haven't profiled two sides the same yet (knock on uhhh.... wood!), but I did completely assemble and finish a body with one of the bookmatched sides flipped end for end. Fretboard side markers, yup, done that one. Fret markers in the wrong place too.

Didn't have the purfling seated in a rosette, so after levelling it, a portion of it looked like it sort of faded away.

I feel like once I goof something up, I gain some kind of deeper understanding and bonding with that part of building.

Keep 'em coming!

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

As I write, I am down from letting the boiler in my steambox run short of water. I thought that there was plenty in the reservoir, having just filled it, but I guess not. More than I expected must have run down into the boiler. As a result, the heater element burnt out, and I am without means to get to the hardware store to replace it right now, which is when I need it.

Actually, I needed it not to burn out at all! So now I can't continue steambending the ribs on my current canoe build. I guess that it will have to wait until tomorrow.

I guess that I'll go do some shop cleaning.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

My second build was a Martin dread kit - IRW with abalone purfling which I extedned to the back and the end plate. It was what you'd expect from a second guitar, but I was VERY proud because, to me, it was a great accomplishment and it looked pretty darn good. I had it hanging up about 5 feet off the concrete shop floor while spraying it with nitro and finished the third coat for the day and went for a walk to let it dry before taking it down for the night. I came back about an hour later to find it ON the shop floor - the cord I had it hanging by came unraveled and the guitar dropped 5 feet to the floor. I was very lucky that it only made one small crack in the top and I was able to fix it so that only I know it's there. That was a very humbling experience and taught me several things - the most important being that it is an incredible gift that we all have to be able to do this wonderful craft and none of these mishaps really mean a hill of beans.

Chuck

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"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

... of course other than to give us all a good laugh!

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"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
- Joseph Chilton Pearce

Thanks guys! Makes me feel better if you cant see it.

The scorched spot was/is in the lower bout about mid way in the side. It is about 4" long and just to the right of the "shiney spot" in the picture.

I stained all of the wood surrounding the spot, but not the spot its self. I kept adding colors until everything was all the same color. Started with antique amber, then added some red, then some tobacco brown and finally some black. I think it looks pretty good now even though it is a funny color for koa. It reminds me of the moonscape mahogony that uncle Bob has. What you see in the picture is with one coat of z-poxy on it.

I think I kinda like it

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Reguards,

Ken H

Pat, it sounds like that guitar wanted to be smaller than a dread, by about a 1/2". Used to building OM's?

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Aoibeann

Lillian,

It really seems to want to be an OM, but this one has to be a dread.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Well, I just found out today that a second guitar of mine has had a fretboard to neck glue joint failure. That's two guitars, back to back builds. I blamed the first on the possibility that I overclamped the joint, but now I'm beginning to suspect the glue (Home Depot generic slow setting epoxy).

Thanks, John Hall, for selling just the right heating blanket. Looks like I'll be using it again real soon

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Jim honestly i wouldnt trust anything from home cheapo. most of the products , even ( what used to be good) name brands, are making a " special" quality of products that you can only get at the home cheapo, that they can sell at their almost wholesale prices . .. Jody

Same thing with Walmart. Name brand outside, cheaper parts inside. They even have special Walmart serial numbers. Ask your local repair shops.

Use "real" epoxy. Mix it properly, ratio, stirring time, etc. Prep surfaces properly. Don't over clamp, prime the wood and use appropriate fillers. Epoxy is not like regular glue.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
http://redrivercanoe.ca/

With my fretboard template....cut the slot for #1 at the end of the board instead of the nut slot.

Not the first time either....

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

The Wal-Mart thing is everywhere. There's a book, "The Wal-Mart Effect" that covers it pretty well.

"Not the first time either".
Don't you think we'd learn? Especially when we have those "I think this isn't going to work" moments just before disaster strikes.

Awhile ago I was hammering a workbench together with a framing hammer (meaning pretty big), with my thumb near the nail. I thought, "I'm going to hit my thumb if I'm not careful." No sooner than finishing that thought, I hit my thumb square on my thumbnail. It wasn't pretty. It was a week before I could get back to that project. Same nail, same thought. Hit it again in the same place. I can't describe the pain. Or how dumb I felt. Now I use a nailgun, but - in the words of Paul Harvey - that is another story.

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

This has been a great post....

Im glad I make the same mistakes and glad for the warning ahead of time not to make others!

I think every step I do is a mistake just about exept for one or 2, so it just depends on where I am on the build. (First guitar, ....second top, side set. )

I was smart enough to get 2 sets of wood.

Latest mistake: I used HHG to glue up the back braces and kerfl-in. I just tested a while ago and about 10 inches of kerfl-in poped off, and some back braces were loose. A big WTF moment ?????????

Oh, and I was redoing some home made kerfl-in with the small plane, and my HAND. - went right through the top of the nail. It didnt get to deep though....

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

Forgot to line my mold with some short pieces of wax paper at the neck/tail block area. Proceeded to glue the blocks in, clamped it all down, went to bed. Woke up in the morning to find the body securely glued to the mold.

Lucky for me a couple short whacks with a fretting hammer loosened it all up!

That's what I get for having a TV in the workshop, I guess! Distractions, distractions....sheesh, I better not start leaving my SHINY tools just laying around, either!