Official Luthiers Forum!

A spruce splint over the open side of the x-joint is a LOT better than a piece of cheese cloth.

Sounds good to me, thanks Barry

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Absolutely agree on this point. cloth is nothing compared to a piece of long-grained wood.

On the subject of back joint, I don't do decorative strips in any of my guitars. If you can't get the joint tight enough for a clean glue line then you need to work out your technique for jointing those edges. This is not an overly difficult woodworking skill, whether using power or hand tools. I've done both on a 22" back joint and a 12' table top. You just need to know your tools and your abilities.

I do the decorative strip because I want it. I get perfect joins every time gluing tops and backs. My issue was trying to route one in after the fact and the box was closed. I'm sure I can do it with some practice but I'd rather build the strip in from now on. It seemed to work pretty well this time though clamping was a little more difficult then just joining the back halves with tape. I may try joining the 2 halves with tape which always work great on my next one and follow up with routing a shallow strip while it's still flat.

If I ever get a back set that has some color shift to white at the seam, then I may not add the strip.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I almost spent my morning watching YouTube but caught myself and headed on down to the basement. It's so much fun watching other people make guitars.

I got the braces carved and looking real good. Took the back to bandsaw and cut the shape close. Next up is make sure the cuts are correct on the sides and kerfing. I'm going with about 1/16" depth for the braces. I'm getting really good at making backs and braces. I'm determined that this guitar will be a player at the very least and structurally sound as well. Otherwise it's just firewood. It may even look good, I can only hope.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I wish I took photos but I'm so thankful that I can add wood now and then. I don't know what's going on with me these days, I built 3 F5 mandolins in the past but I can't seem to do this guitar. In shaping the neck, I shaped to far into the peghead and even took some of the fretboard binding, ugh. At least I'm able to fix the peghead and extra stock is glued on and I'll start reshaping it tonight. I don't think there's anything I can do about the thin binding near the nut so I think I'm just going to live with it and get this disaster behind me. I'm just trying to get to guitar number 2 now and I don't have a lot of love for this one. I'll make it a player for sure.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Aside from the binding mishap, I think I made a good comeback on this one. I added ears and reshaped the headstock. I had already done the right side and I was on the fence about the left side. I'm glad I bit the bullet.



All reshaped



I glued the overlay on without a caul at first to make sure it remained tight against the nut blank.



After a few minutes of letting the glue set up, I removed the clamps and added a caul and re-clamped it.
You may be able to see where I got the binding thinned out during initial shaping on the treble side. I don't plan to fix it unless I get some really good ideas from you guys.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Sounds like you had no troubles but made me think of something. Maybe my method will be useful for someone. Early on I had problems getting the overlay exactly where I wanted it so I came up with a way to lock it into place while gluing it.

When gluing the overlay I use my headstock template to mark out the outline and location of the tuner holes. I drill the tuner holes to 1/8" using the drill press to make sure the holes are perpendicular to the top of the headstock. Then I take my time fitting my overlay; I like to cut the angle for the nut (already selected and flattened) and then position and clamp the overlay so that there is only 20 or 30 thou to clean up to make the nut fit exactly. I drill two of the 1/8" tuner holes up through the overlay so that it is indexed in the exact position where I want it. Then I glue it using two waxed stainless 1/8" dowel pins and a caul that has a couple of 3/8" holes in it. Once the glue starts to set then I pull the pins. Maybe more trouble than others want to go through but it allows me to get my headstock overlay exactly where I want it and makes fitting the nut easy. I also use 1/16" dowel pins in fret slots 1 and 10 when gluing the fretboard.

Anyway, I'm enjoying following along, back to the regularly scheduled program

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I like that idea and will incorporate it into build 2. Thanks

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I just use wooden skewers in the waste area (then shape everything with a robosander) and put a waxed nut in place. Maybe you have things trimmed beforehand.
I use 1.2 mm pins in the fret slots and 4.5mm wooden dowels in the outside bridge pin holes to locate the bridge.

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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.

Yes, I have the headstock fully shaped before adding the overlay. Good or bad, I don't know but it works for me.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Looks like I'll need some black dye.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Why? I like a little light colored grain in ebony. Looks more like real wood.

I do too but this just looks like a mistake. I love streaky ebony.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Are you talking about the headstock veneer? I think that the texture in that is amazing. I wouldn't want to cover that up. I certainly wouldn't do anything with the fretboard; grain is grain.

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Why be normal?

Next step is to decide on an easy to cut inlay. I'm moving along.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Not feeling very creative. I think I'll build a bridge and drill tuner holes. Maybe something will come to me after that. I could just leave it blank like I did on my banjo and wait for inspiration.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

I've decided to go pro here and let the Depaule crew make it. I just ordered this.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Nothing wrong with that, I’ve been getting my inlays from them for at least 10 years.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Started the fret job today. You may remember I had a terrible time with my saw blade and my frets almost drop in. I tried CA on a couple and didn't like it. I'm going with titebond and using my 16# radius sanding block as a clamping call. I can install quite a few at a time using this method.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

That's Not a Banjo!

- Your fellow Rhodeyelunder.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Hey Don, no I don't even play banjo anymore. Fingerpicking guitar mostly.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

No wonder I didn't like using CA for frets. I just watched the SM video and the guy waxe the board next to the fret first. Doh! I still have some frets to do so I'll give it a try after I pick up a fresh bottle of CA. I have some nasty clean up to do from my first attempt. With my shaky hand I got glue everywhere.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!

Wax the board. After I carefully apply the CA next to the fret I give it a second or so to fully wick in then I wipe it with a paper towel and clamp it.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

After I did this with the CA, I switched to Titebond. With my caul method of clamping a bunch of frets, I think they'll be set in there pretty good. Problem is clean up, being the the slots are sloppy I have to hold down the center of the fret to clean up the squeeze out. This is why I ordered more CA and I'm going to try the wax next to the frets before applying CA. Maybe do this before I've had 3 cups of coffee. Also, I'm thinking that if had trimmed the syringe tip a little so it would fit inside the slot, I might have less squeeze out. Obviously, I never glued in frets before because I never had to except on the occasional lifting fret.

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Hutch

Get the heck off the couch and go build a guitar!!!!