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G'day OLFer's,

Jonathan Kinkead's book seems to get very positive responses from people and so for my first I figured it would be best to follow this book fairly closely.

While progress on the soundboard is going well (inlayed the MOP rosette yesterday), making the mould is proving to be a lot of work. The bloody thing is taking ages and not looking like it will finish anytime soon . Since I got hold of Robbie O'Briens DVD I am tempted to scrap (sigh!) the half built Kinkead mould and make Robbie's simpler one. However it does seem that his is designed around a process that uses radius sanding dishes, so I guess I will be transferring jig work from the mould to dishes.

Has anyone completed the Kinkead mould (with accompanying clamping and side profiling attachments) who would recommend to keep going with it ?

WP

Hi William

It is a good design and to a certain extent all singing and dancing.

The downsides of it is it is quite complex and I don't like the fact that by the nature of the muld a lot of the clamping is done blind, this is an issue especially on your early builds. It works for John Kinkead and his guitars are exceptional.

If it where me I would make a solid mould (Simple is beautiful), a go bar deck, and some dishes, the later two can be used on guitars of all shapes and sizes.

The other comment I would make is the book is very good, but in many areas it lacks real detail, so consider getting Guitar Making Tradition and Technology by Cumpiano and Natelson, which is highly detailed and a great source of reference.

Thanks Russell,

Good advice.

I have Cumpiano, it was the book that first got me into this idea when I
picked it up maybe ten years ago. I will go back and read through it
again, its a great book.

I have decided to make some dishes and have ordered a copy of Micheal's
plans from Lance.

Cheers,

WP

What little I've seen of Kinkead's book, I liked;

Me, I use simple, solid molds (2.5" tall or so), go-bar decks, dishes, bolt on necks, works a treat. I learned the basics from Cumpiano, but many, many of the jigs, tools and techniques I use come from the MIMF library and discussions, and latterly the OLF discussions (built my first before discovering this place, see?)

Thanks Mattia,

Looks like the dishes are the go.

Do you use the Cumpiano bolt on neck design ? I have also seen that LMI sell
a bolt on neck kit with threaded inserts rather than standard hardware cross
dowels.

Hi William

William Cumpiano came up with a bolt on system using cross dowels that many of us use, there is a piece on how to do it on his website, he said that if they revise the book, he will use this instead of the pinned system in the book.

Post if you can't find it and I'll sort out a link to it.

What I meant in my original post is you could follow Kinkeads book but use the Cumpiano book to provide some additional detail, if you liked, and adapt using a solid mould, dishes, and a go bar deck.

     Depending on what style you will make the open molds are more versitale. The body of guitars will have parabolic contours and the open molds allow for this. you can also complete the body in the mold to assure the correct shape , symetery and square.
     There is more than one way to skin a cat or build a guitar.
john hall

John

What do you mean by an open mould, do you mean the style you make ? This is what I call a solid mould.

Hi William,

Like I said in the pm, Kinkeads mold may be more trouble than it's worth, mine was. (our)John's molds are the way to go. They even take up less storage space.

Of course, for fellows like us stranded out here in the antipodes, we can't afford to have them shipped here (unless we own an oil rig), so we gotta make our own. Have a look at John's pictures on his website, it'll be pretty obvious how to make your own. If not pm me and I'll fill you in.

Also, I've built and used Michael's radius dish jig thingy, so if you want I can shoot you some pics and fill you in there too.

Cheers,

Paul PaulB38810.3912847222

I built one of the molds from Kinkead's book for my first (A dreadnought kit from LMI), but have since built solid molds from four layers of 3/4" Baltic Birch plywood. These are indexed at the tail and neck centerlines with 1/4" dowels, and held with a draw catch at each end. The Kinkead style mold works fine, but I like the look, feel, and functionality of the solid molds better.

-Mark

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Pullman, WA

The more I know, the more I know I don't know.

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I use the Mario bolt-on method: butt jointed, inserts, non nonsense! I'll test out a few different systems in future, to see what I like best, but it works just lovely.

I use bolt-on, neck inserts, butt joint, bolt-down f/b extension and have a couple of shop made solid molds, and a couple from John Hall...I'm content with all this...I say this though, just taking one of John's molds or tools (I have his bender and binding jig also) out of the box inspires me to build my best guitar ever! His stuff is just great, and not for the $$, but great for twice the price! Besides, I just cleaned my shop of all scrap plywood and such from my furniture days, so buying John's molds and forms will be standard practice for me!

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http://www.presnallguitars.com

William, welcome to THE forum. I use Kinkead's book and Cumpiano' book. They each supply what the other falls short on. I really like Kinkead's guitars. I did make a solid mold, though, and use a go bar deck for clamping the top and back. The only thing from Kinkead's mold that I used was the dowels around the inside perimeter to raise the guitar in the mold, because my mold is about 4" tall.
There is full support for the sides while fitting neck and tail blocks and kerfing, then I elevate it, via the dowels,
when it goes into the go bar deck and when I'm using the radius dish for sanding the contour. Works great.

Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

Hi William. I haven't tried Kinkaid's method, but I have taken Robbie O'Brien's class 1.5 times (I'm halfway through my second semester right now ), and I can say that his method is very nice and simple. I don't see any reason to diverge from it in the future. Sorry I don't know about switching to it mid-build, but I'd at least recommend trying it on your next one. Good luck whatever you do!

Mike

_________________
Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Thanks guys for the feedback.

WP