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I decided I would like to build a dred since I've never built one. I was resawing some bubinga today into back/side sets so I decided I'll probably use one of those with a Lutz top from Shane. The bubinga board was $54 and I got 3 sets out of it plus enough for some bindings and headplates so I'm at $18 for the back/sides/bindings and $22 for the top. Bridge and fretboard will be Bastogne walnut that was $50 for the billet and I got 8+ fretboard/bridges from that so there's another $6. I may try to ebonize the walnut, depends on how it looks. EVO fretwire I have in bulk so about $7 for a guitar's worth.

Edit: Needed to trim some prices so I decided to use a neck blank that was given to me, it is rift at almost 45 degrees but I'll put CF reinforcement in it and hope for the best.

I should be ready to start on the 1st.

OK so where am I at:

Bubinga back/side $18
BRW bindings/headplate/tail wedge/heel cap $5.33
Lutz top $22
Bastogne walnut bridge/fretboard $6
Fretboard dots -$3
EVO fretwire $6.50
Bone nut/saddle-ebay $4.96
Bone bridge pins-ebay $4.99
Purfling - $5
Finish - Shellac and EM6000 $12
Tuners - Grover open back 18:1-ebay $29.99
truss rod, Allied - $18
CF neck reinforcement - $9
Mahogany neck $free
CF Tow (maybe) $ 0.34
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Total $145.11

Edit: went and bought some parts off of ebay - prices were lower. Also added the cost of the truss rod.
Edit 2: added cost of BRW appointments

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Well, I'm going to have to recalculate or something cause I forgot the truss rod - that's about $18. Hmmm, where to trim the fat

edit - got it sorted

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Frustrating today - trying to get tap frequency data to apply Trever Gore's methods to determine top and back thickness. The iAnalyzer app I got for the iPhone apparently will not read below about 100 Hz, may be due to the mic in the phone. Anyway spent a few hours with no progress. Figured I'd use a better mic with the shop computer. Tried to download Audacity to the shop computer and after about 15min downloading, and almost done, the computer restarted for some reason - I think I hit the power cable cause I had the computer pulled out. After all that I just came back up to the house; some days are not meant to be shop days

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

The dancing boy?

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Made some progress. Got the sides bent using my hot-rodded Ibex bending iron; the extra heat makes a huge difference. Cut up and thcknessed some poplar that was leftover from a construction project for linings and also made some bindings out of bubinga cutoffs. Unfortunately I thicknessed the bindings to 0.070" so I may make some more - I have just enough wood left for one do-over. Also got the tail-block glued in.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Finished up the neck block and got it glued in tonight.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I've never used bubinga before and thought the scorching I saw during bending would be easy to sand off but that is not the case. Not sure what I'm going to do except I'm not going to redo it since this is an experiment anyway. I may have to put some color on it which is not something I like to do on acoustics - not counting some amber shellac.

Any suggestions from anyone that knows bubinga?

Edit: I thought I wasn't gonna redo the sides but couldn't stand it and redid them anyway.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I'm startin to feel like Tony - nobody gives a poo

But in the interest of documenting this thing I've learned one thing for sure and that is that bubinga is really tough stuff. I did a Google search and saw where somebody said to "go out and sand your concrete sidewalk for a while if you want to see what it's like to sand bubinga". I have to agree.

After trying to hand sand the scorch marks like I would on normal wood I broke out the finish sander; that wasn't much better. So I decided to go for broke and took it to the oscillating spindle sander. At this point I was at the "fix it or destroy it" stage. The spindle sander actually worked pretty good. I think I might be able to use the sides if a bit more sanding gets rid of the rest of the scorch marks. I've thinned them down pretty good, they're probably around 0.050" so, if they survive, I'll put in some full-width side stiffeners with the solid linings.

Hard to get much done in an hour or so each evening but should have a bit more time this weekend.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

don't take my lack of experience with bubinga as a sign of disinterest. Glad you're getting it sorted out. I assume that the scorching on the outside (show side) is in the waist. I could be way off but it seems to me the tight bend should offer plenty of strength at .05 especially with stifeners. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Thanks Brian, I just don't want to end up like Tony

After grinding (a more appropriate term than sanding for bubinga) most of the scorch marks off the thickness in some areas is approaching 0.030" - too thin for my taste. So, fortunately I had several sets I cut from that board so I thinned another set of sides and will try to re-bend them without scorching them this weekend. I will post in the main section and get some advice.

The messed up sides with neck and tail blocks attached has been hung on the shop wall and added to the collection guitar art (screw-ups) decorating the shop - ha.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Good looking work so far . I need to do more work on the neck block like you do before glueing it in . Some reason I always forget that step lol

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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/

Yeah Steve, that sounds pretty thin. . . good luck with the new sides.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

End up like me how? Listen, I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want.if your looking for sympathy I don't have any. What I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills honed over a lifetime. Skills that make me a nightmare for someone like you. If you answer my question now, that will be the end of it. But if you don't, I will hunt down your thread, I will find it, and I will kill it with a goat pic.


Deja vu? Seems like I'm looking for a reason to type that until I get it right.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

We are in danger of running outa goats around here !

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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 like goats - they're pretty good barbequed.

A few shots of tequilla helps to cut the grease

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

A few shots of tequilla helps to cut the cheese.

there I fixed it for you

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Bryan,
You are so helpful!

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Made some more progress. I've been trying to measure the plate frequencies using Trevor's tap method and a spectrum analyzer. The problem I've run into is that I just don't get consistent frequency readings so for this build I'll go back to my deflection testing with a 5lb weight to gauge my top thickness. I still want to try Trevor's methods but am going to have to work on it some more.

I did get a second set of sides thicknessed but haven't bent them yet.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

No photos for last night but got the wings glued on the 4-piece back and finished shaping the neck block. I also worked on the form I need to laminate the linings. If I have time tonight I'll probably try to bend the sides - for the second time.

Sometime soon I need to change out the resaw blade on my bandsaw for the general purpose blade so I can finish cutting out the neck blank and shaping some other things. That 3/4" blade cuts good but doesn't have much of a turning radius

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Looking good! Keep posting pics. I like bubinga, This is the 4th time I have used it, a little difficult , but fills and finish's nicely, I used bubinga for the solid lings on my olf build and had to heat an bend twice to get to shape, 1st the thin pieces used for the laminates, then again after laminating the pieces.

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MK5acoustics.com

Went down and made a bit of progress - got the 4-piece back sanded down, I think the match on the wings came out ok. That photo was on top of my downdraft table - I just finished that a few weeks ago and I love it. Can't believe I waited over a year to finish that after I built the bottom part.


Finished shaping the neck and tail block. No reason for the scoop other than a bit lighter and I thought it looked better. Ever since my first sound port I've been sensitive to how the neck block looks.


Didn't have a maple dowel so I epoxied a maple block a bit over 1/2" x 1/2" into the neck to reinforce the area where the inserts will go.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Got some more done tonight. Got the second set of sides bent without scorching.



I put a piece of cotton towel over the bending iron and sprayed it with water to keep it from burning too bad.


Prepped the neck for the CF bars.


Got em glued in.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

More progress the last several days.
Trimming sides to length. Rough cut on the bandsaw.

Finish up on the sander.

Miniature router works great for cleaning up truss rod slot.

BRW and maple laminate for bindings.

Squaring up the edge of the binding.

Ended up with enough bindings for 4 guitars along with a few extras. Also made 5 backstrips with maple/BRW/maple

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Side set #2 with neck and tail blocks installed. The little spreader works ok and should come out of the sound hole if I want to leave it in while I glue the top and back which was why I made in the first place.

Back strip installed.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"