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My last post here was in 2016, and lots of stuff has happened since then, but no progress on my first guitar build. I bought the wood in 2009, a nice bear claw Sitka top and EIR back and sides, but life got busy, and the project went on the back burner. Now I’m retired, so I’ve finally got time to work on it. I’m building the steel-string from Cumpiano’s book. I’ve got the link to his site where he describes the updated bolt-on neck design, so I’m good there. My previous progress was to get the neck done to the point of getting the headstock and heel glued up, routed the truss rod channel, made and installed the truss rod (upside down…oops!), and there I stopped.

So now I’ve removed the truss rod, and checked my previous work on the neck (it’s good), so I’m ready to continue the project. I had the back and top sanded to thickness years ago (the local wood shop has a drum sander), and cut to rough outline (I jointed them myself, and obviously did a good job, they’ve held up all these years). Currently waiting for delivery of a bunch of stuff from Stewmac, among which is a circle-cutting jig so I can rout the rosette channels and cut out the sound hole. I tried to order some nice abalone from them, but they can’t ship it to Canada (and apparently abalone is not available anywhere in Canada), so it looks like I’ll be making the rosette out of wood veneer. Went to my local Lee Valley yesterday and got a box full of various veneers, both domestic and exotic, and my current thinking is to make the rosette from a really nice flamed veneer from the box, stained amber, with a line of purfling on either side. My previous project (2007-2009) was a violin, so I’ve got lots of purfling. I’ve also got a big block of flamed maple from which to make the bindings.

So that’s where I’m at currently. I’m sure I’ll have a lot of questions as I move forward, but I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube videos on the subject as well. Wish me luck!

Welcome back, I will enjoy watching your progress!

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Laughing out loud, literally! I just noticed how the site turned the word “pizza” into an emoji. Lol!

Welcome to retirement, enjoy!

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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.

My wood:


The grain on that back is so gorgeous, I’m thinking of not using a (not sure what it’s called) back stripe inlay. I think it would be a shame to hide the way the grain comes together like that.

Collen,
You can do anything that you like! At least on cosmetic things. I wouldn't mess with that back. Making instruments is a lot of fun, and good for the brain. It has to be, you have to use it all the time.I

Welcome back.

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Why be normal?

If you really want an abalone rosette and appointments there is plenty on offer on eBay - free shipping from China.

Welcome back Colleen.

I wonder just how many times this story is repeated! I bought the timber for a classical then carried around through many house moves, jobs that got more involving and only on retirement was able to first make some furniture and finally start seriously build guitars.

It has been and still is a fantastic learning process which one certainly needs to keep the brain going.

Hope you enjoy as much as I do. Dave

Speaking of activities that stimulate the brain, I also write music (singer/songwriter, cinematic/orchestral, etc.) and paint. Hope to live a long and productive life!

Have fun!

Yay! Welcome back!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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Good going to pick up the project again. I didn't start building until a couple of years into retirement. It's been a fun ride, still at it. For the last ten years I've always had a project going on the workbench.

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Peter Havriluk

I agree that back looks just great as it is.
How thin are the veneers you are planning to use for the rosette? If too thin it is easy to sand through it while trying to level it and the purfling.

The veneers are quite thin, (I haven’t measured them yet) but I think I can glue up enough layers to avoid this issue.

I've used veneer to make rosette rings. As long as you sand the top smooth before hand and make the depth of the channel the same as the thickness of the veneer You should be O.K.
For making back and side sets I have glued up sequence matched veneer in the same order it was cut. Minor "sand throughs" and thin spots are almost invisible when the grain lines line up perfectly. It rarely happens these days.