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Anyone use one of these?

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Sorry Colin, to what do you refer...?

Dave

Sorry, trade name for this type of adjustable workboard for guitar construction, Mega Mold was made and sold by Kenneth Michael Guitars, KMG
Also see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sy7ieraU-Ns

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

That's pretty much a fancy version of what I used up at Charles Fox's school in Vermont in the 70s. I used a similar arrangement for years and still do for one-off type stuff. Works great, but on "standard" shapes, a regular outside mold and radius dish sanders have an advantage for me. Being able to get to both sides of a rim assembly at once is great if you're using continuous linings of some sort. If you're gluing the top with Tentellones, this kind of adjustable mold is great.

Dave

Ken's build forum is acousticguitarconstructionforum.com. It's still being maintained by John Parchem since Ken's passing. I'll bet there's lots of info in it's archives. I've got no personal info about it 'cause I build with an outside mold.

I built a Fox adjustable mold a long time ago, and recently started using it again, but not as a mold. It just holds the completed body for some stuff. I keep thinking I want to build a really good version of an adjustable mold, but when I start thinking my way through it, I keep coming back to the things that Dave mentioned above. The dedicated molds I make really work well for me, and I like what I can do with them. I love the idea of one mold that can do all body shapes, but in practice, it feels less practical for me than just building a mold when I need a different one. But I remain curious, so I would love to see/hear how an adjustable mold works well for others.

I used a work board with adjustable dowels a number of years ago, but found setting the dowels in the right position rather tedious. I still use the board, but screw "Ls" in where I need them. I also use it for gluing on backs sometimes.
I recently ran into a video of Pablo Requina showing the molds and work boards he uses:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJSDS2e0As4

I have built with an adjustable Fox style mold since I took the Fox course in 2004. I have developed jigs and techniques for all assembly processes that are compatible and work well for me. I sand with radius dishes and use go bars for back and top assembly among other things. Fox had refined the mold design and worked out assembly procedures that made it work very well.

176E1239-2AAB-4EC3-967F-526FB04CF66E by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr


F9283C8C-6C15-4CF0-B8C7-D6B751EB8849 by Terence Kennedy, on Flickr

For my archtops I decided to use a solid mold so I am familiar with assembly techniques for those as well.

The adjustable mold has some things I like a lot and I am comfortable with it but if I was advising a new builder that only wants to build standard shapes I think the solid mold would probably be my choice.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

My first build was a KMG and I purchased the mega mold with the kit. It’s well made, versatile, and works as advertised. The center post and rotating radius bar are well thought out. Having said that, I only built one guitar and moved on to my own outside molds. I sold it to another builder recently and I’m looking forward to see what he thinks. Lots of ways to reach your goal.

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Brad Hall
Mystic Dawg Guitars

I've got one, used it on two guitars a couple of years ago and i found it great for sloping the upper bout of the rims to get the correct plane for the neck to give me the desired clearance at the saddle position, can't remember how i worked it out now but it was different than the guy in the video, same principle though, used it for putting the radius on the back aswell,works great. When doing the top of the rims upper bout to get the correct plane you have to work out how much to tilt the upper part of the mold to give you the desired clearance at saddle position i think i went for around 1/8 inch clearance but like i say i can't remember how i worked it out.There must be some kind of math you could use to work it out,if any one out there has any idea i'd be interested to hear as i will be using it again soon on another build.Great peice o kit if you can get your hands on one. All the best Rob.

I have a copy of Ken's success kit instructions. I cleaned it up a bit removing most of his store links. I had permission to copy and post all of this from his spouse. It is on my website as a forum was not the best place to store it. http://harvestmoonguitars.com/kennethmichaelguitars/index.html

I also have the link in on Acoustic Guitar Construction Forum that I was asked to maintain. http://acousticguitarconstructionforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=3053. There is also information on the forum from others using the processes. I have the permissions on the forum rather loose. One can search on the forum without a membership. As best I could I opened up everything to non members except posting.

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http://www.Harvestmoonguitars.com

I bought a MegaMold from Ken not much before he died. I've used it to make five guitars. All these comments make sense to me. Next project, I intend to make an outside mold so I can do all the kerfing without taking the rim out of the mold and flip it over. It'll save a bit of time. The mold, and Ken's explanations and reasoning, wonderfully took the magical incantations out of establishing neck angle and replaced them with trigonometry.

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Peter Havriluk

Ken’s Passing?
Oof