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enalnitram · June 3rd, 2009, 04:09 PM

As I'm nearing completion of this guitar (I'll drop it off to be finished by a pro on June 14), I'm thinking back on the many mistakes I made working on this one, my first. I've learned a lot. I've felt pretty stupid pretty often. Anyway, maybe some of this may be of interest for those that have yet to get knee deep into an acoustic build.

I trimmed the bottom of the neck block, when I should have left it way proud and then sanded at an angle to accomodate the angle of the back. I wound up using a shim under the block.

my external body mold made a small crack in the top, near the tail block when I glued the back on. I had a piece of wood glued to the mold that kept the mold even, when it was sitting on my work bench. and the overhang of the top touched that piece of wood. the pressure from the rubber bands on the back pushed the top into the piece of wood, which I didn't see right away, as it was upside-down. to make matters worse, I super glued the crack and sanded it with a sponge-sander rather than a block with sandpaper on it, making a divot in the top near the end block. I may still glue a spruce cleat under that divot, for insurance.

another thing that happened when I glued the back on the first time, was that my neck block was resting on my back's internal center strip. if the neck block had been tall enough, I would've noticed that before it was too late.

my bridge plate doesn't butt up right against one of my cross braces. I read about how it should do that after I had closed up the box.

I used a two year old bottle of titebond to glue on the back braces, before I heard that it should be fresh. so I went out and bought a new bottle to use to glue the braces on the top and for the rest of the build.

The cantilever on my neck block sat on top of my popsicle brace when I put the top on. so I had to chisel out a space in the popsicle brace so that the neck block wouldn't rest on top of the brace.

I didn't plan out the peghead holes for the tuners well enough, and chose to re-do them. (my kit didn't come with a peghead template.) here's a template that I found after the damage had already been done.

I didn't get a good fit the first time I glued the back on, and re-did it by first removing the back with an iron and a pocketknife.

I sanded the guitar throughout the process, making surfaces look clean, but I probably could/should have done this all at the end.

I glued the back binding on with epoxy, which was messy. masking tape doesn't hold down very well over top of epoxy.

The maple binding on the back is getting pretty thin. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the finish sanding doesn't wipe some of it out altogether.

when I installed my herringbone purfling, I joined the two pieces near the end block off center! I was able to cut it, and rejoin it, making it look like it was centered, but if you look closely, you can see the cut.

my soundhole is just a tiny bit not in the center of the top. (between 1/16" and 1/32").

my back strip doesn't exactly line up with the point on my neck's end cap.

I think those are the major mistakes, unless my unconscious has selectively forgotten another. in addition to the mistakes, I also redid several things, in order to get them better. this being my first time, I had to do this, in order to "practice," to get a good result. but it often felt at the time that I was just having a hard time because I am an idiot!

I made four tail wedges, installed them all, and removed three of them, before I got a result that I liked.

I wrecked the nut that came with my kit, and am currently working on the second one, although I won't finish that one until I set up the guitar. so we'll see how that goes.

I removed the back 2 times, and re-glued it on. after that, I partially removed part of the back (near the lower bout) and re-glued that portion of it.

It took me two tries before I got the dovetail right. (about 30 hours went into that alone). the second time, I relied on a combination chisel-chalk and angled-sandpaper-wedge technique. the first time I let the neck get too far down into the mortise without realizing that my fit wasn't very good at all.

I was unhappy with the way my braces fit into the notches in my kerfed lining. so I removed all of the sections that had notches, glued new ones in, and re-cut the notches.

There are some good elements to it also, so I'll be really excited to string it up.

I did a pretty good job on the fretwork. I've done that before.

a luthier friend says the body has a very good tone to it. i spent a lot of time on the bracing and located pictures of bracing on guitars that I liked, and tried to make mine look like them. then, I solicited professional opinions and made alterations based on those.

the neck's center line points right at the center line on the top, near the bridge. my lower bout is exactly 15" and the center line at that point on the top is exactly 7.5" away from each side.

my saddle and my second nut look really nice so far. the neck angle is even on both sides of the neck and is just about perfect.

my binding is really clean.

the peghead inlay looks kinda cool. and probably the best thing it's got going for it, is it's going to be finished by Joe White. I'll learn french polish for my next one!

I used to set up guitars for a job, so I felt that if I got the box to be tight, I was home-free after that. little did I know, there was so much more to it, than that.

hopefully with a mixture of both good and bad, it'll be a nice guitar, but yet have that whole necessary life yin yang duality thing going on, as well.

enalnitram · June 3rd, 2009, 08:16 PM

So anyway, I've got the spaces for the bridge and the fingerboard extension of the neck masked now, so that the body can be finished. I measured for the bridge about 100 times ...from every angle I could think of, and using various different rulers, tape measures, straight edges, etc.

RickG501 · June 4th, 2009, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enalnitram

Sorry about having to plug the headstock....but, I doubt if any layman would ever notice, once it's stained and finished you probably won't even see them for the washer.
The inlay looks fab. I like it. I think you've done a great job and have certainly learned a lot for all of us.

still_fiddlin · June 4th, 2009, 02:12 PM

You're finishing the body and neck separately? Is that to completion, or just initial coats?

And, why use epoxy for wood binding? I always used "Duco" for celluloid, and just more Titebond for wood.

enalnitram · June 4th, 2009, 02:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by still_fiddlin

You're finishing the body and neck separately? Is that to completion, or just initial coats?

And, why use epoxy for wood binding? I always used "Duco" for celluloid, and just more Titebond for wood.

the body and neck will be finished separately to completion, because that's the way the guy does it. in fact I thought that was the way everybody did these.

I had plastic purfling on the back and I didn't have and duco cement. I did have 30-min epoxy and I knew what to expect with it. I thought the long set-up time on the epoxy would give me a chance to make every thing be pretty tight, and it pretty much worked out that way.

the top was wood-to-wood. so I used titebond there.

enalnitram · June 5th, 2009, 12:06 AM

Holes all re-drilled and patched up. I'm really happy with the spacing now. The angle makes things maybe look a little crooked, but trust me, they are all dead-on!

I spent all week working on this...

I also made a trip to go look at a new 000-28, and bought a new 1/4" bit with a brad tip. That helped. I used the rosewood from when I trimmed the length of the sides of the guitar, to patch up the holes in the peghead.

enalnitram · June 8th, 2009, 11:37 AM

Gluing the fretboard to the neck. There is debate about whether to use epoxy or wood glue, or something else to do this. I used titebond (wood glue). For a while I was leaning towards epoxy, but in the end I was worried about my clamps squeezing out too much of it (creating a glue-starved joint), which wouldn't happen using titebond. I clamped it to a 2"x2" and got good results.

If you ever need to glue a fingerboard to a guitar neck, use RV multi cam clamps! They're about $2.50 each at Dyer's RV Supplies (dyersonline.com). Stew-mac sells the very same thing as "Fingerboard Band Clamps," and charges $4.34 each for them!

I bought this case today. It's a guardian case. It's kinda in-between budget and quality. And it's a vintage sorta style. I like that -- the price and the look.

The back of the neck in this area was kind of rough, so I smoothed it out and made it more comfy to hold on to.

I (very carefully) belt-sanded it first, then used a file, a scraper, and finally sandpaper.

The fingerboard is on, and it cleaned up pretty well. I had a lot of squeezed-out glue stuck to the sides of the neck, which I just chiseled and sanded off.

enalnitram · June 8th, 2009, 11:39 AM

I put the side dot markers on the fingerboard today. I've used wood instead of plastic everywhere I can on this guitar. These were tiny dowels in the craft aisle at the grocery store.

It was pretty hard to make the holes be even with my hand-held battery-powered drill. The two holes at the twelfth fret are sorta crooked. Oh well. It's handmade...

The guitar is ready for finish. It's going to go to Joe White's shop on June 14th. Joe gets work solely due to word-of-mouth. He doesn't have a website, or advertise or anything. He started his business last year, so therefore his wait list isn't too awful long. I'll be happy if I get it back within a couple of months.

Guitars finished by Joe:
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v82/getgo/

edd677 · June 8th, 2009, 11:25 PM

The inlay is outstanding, great work. Planned your next build yet?

enalnitram · June 8th, 2009, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edd677

The inlay is outstanding, great work. Planned your next build yet?

Thanks, but I must admit I didn't do the inlay. A friend of mine helped me with (er, did) that. I did choose the design, and screw up the first attempt, though. i woulda kept trying, I'm patient to a fault. I think my friend just couldn't bear to see me spend weeks on it. it took him a couple of hours.

the same friend routed for the bindings. i did everything else though.

for my next project, I'm gonna work on restoring my marriage...

enalnitram · June 15th, 2009, 10:40 PM

Here's the Greven Tor-tis guard, it came in the mail this weekend.

I've heard lately that people think they're too thick, or that they're brittle, or that the design runs out before it gets to the edge and looks strange. Mine is none of those things. I couldn't be more happy with it.

enalnitram · July 8th, 2009, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by edd677

The inlay is outstanding, great work. Planned your next build yet?

ok, my next guitar is going to be an OM but with a 1 11/16" nut. it'll have a sitka spruce top, and mahogany back and sides. I'm going to brace it like an early 30's OM. mahogany neck. indian rosewood fingerboard and bridge. tortoise binding, tail wedge and heel cap. glossy nitro on body. satin nitro on neck. I'm building it for a friend. it'll probably turn out to be the guitar that I wished this one was!

enalnitram · July 22nd, 2009, 12:34 AM

So Joe White has gotten started doing the finish for me. Here the pore filling is being done, using epoxy.

enalnitram · July 24th, 2009, 07:40 PM

Here's the second pore fill, and a little better picture.

Rich Rice · July 24th, 2009, 07:52 PM

LOL.. Looks great! Your thread gave me the itch again.... I have a 1/2 built acoustic sitting here, waiting for me to make the bracing, top, back, and neck.. No Stew Mac kit this time... Another dread, this time for myself.

After looking through your thread, I was reminded of another kit I want to build- so I called Stew Mac this morning and ordered their uke kit. I ordered some black binding, too, as their uke is not bound.

Anyhow, I'm so glad you are doing the kit, and hope you have really enjoyed it! The dread I did was a fantastic experience, and has affected the way I build electrics, too. All in all, a wonderful, rewarding experience.

Your guitar looks great, I'm sure you will enjoy it for a long, long time.

enalnitram · July 24th, 2009, 10:59 PM

Thanks! Your first build thread, as much, or perhaps more than anything else, got me really inspired to do this one. I had been thinking of doing one for about 12 years, but I just didn't have the courage to try it. Now I'm really glad I did.

The uke and the acoustic project sound great. is that the same acoustic from the tail end of your long build thread?

I've got it bad. I've been acquiring tools for a makeshift shop. my father-in-law has a barn full of aged maple and black cherry. I've got a friend that can resaw the cherry. I'm dreaming of building an OM from scratch and carving the neck with his wood. I may just buy a spruce top for it, though. Probably start on it this winter.

Here's more progress. Pics from Joe today. The guitar has been sealed with a catalyzed sealer called Rosewood Sealer/1704.

enalnitram · July 28th, 2009, 10:46 AM

Here's the final poly coat. It's a McFadden polyester finish.

Stuco · July 28th, 2009, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BottyGuy

I have no stills in fine woodworking, but your neck fitting problems reminded me of a video I saw of the Martin factory, I was amazed that even in a pretty large volume production facility the neck fitting was a labor intensive process with lots of chisel skill required. Look at the end of this video:

Look around 6:20 at the neck joint. It looks like it has the same little indentations that yours had.

enalnitram · July 28th, 2009, 03:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stuco

Look around 6:20 at the neck joint. It looks like it has the same little indentations that yours had.

Thanks for posting that. I was thinking that this must have been a screw-up and that's why my block got used in a kit. It seems they do this so that the blocks can be used for either a dovetail or a bolt on.

Buckocaster51 · July 29th, 2009, 03:02 AM

Mighty fine.

Mighty fine!

That should be quite a nice guitar.

enalnitram · July 31st, 2009, 12:56 AM

Neck finish is done.

enalnitram · August 1st, 2009, 01:19 AM

The poly finish on the body was leveled and buffed today. All done and ready to be picked up. I'll have it back this Sunday.

enalnitram · August 1st, 2009, 01:20 AM

enalnitram · August 1st, 2009, 01:22 AM

Stuco · August 1st, 2009, 11:56 PM

It's absolutely beautiful!

enalnitram · August 6th, 2009, 10:49 AM

Thanks, Stuco!

After getting the guitar back, I sorta got ahead of myself and installed the hardware on the peghead, even though the neck joint isn't glued yet.

I also put the Greven pickguard on. The pickguard had adhesive already on the back of it. I put it where I wanted it. Then I placed scotch tape on the side of it, making a little "hinge." I lifted up the guard, removed the backing, and *voila* flopped it back in place.

enalnitram · August 6th, 2009, 10:49 AM

I still have yet to glue the neck to the body, and I'm having problems getting it to fit perfectly. I don't yet know what the problem is, but it's just a teeny bit loose. I got my dovetail joint fitting perfectly before I sent it to get finished. when I pressed it in, it "gripped" and held. when I layed a straight edge on top of the frets, it landed right on top of my bridge, 3/8" above the soundboard.... but now the dovetail doesn't fit as well as it used to. It doesn't "grip" anymore. the fit is pretty tight, but there is a slight side-to-side shimmy, and once I do this, the neck comes loose. I wasn't sure what to do, so I sanded the sides of the tenon, and glued on slim pieces of mahogany, and I did it over, re-chiseling the sides of the tenon using the chalk-and-fit-over-and-over technique. it was going really well. as the tenon sank down in the mortise, I had a good, tight fit. but as the tenon got lower and my fingerboard extension got closer to the top, the fit got looser.

maybe my heel cap, the way it touches the finish is preventing a good fit? I am stumped. Probably another shim will fix it.

Hopefully I'll have it strung up soon.

Buckocaster51 · August 10th, 2009, 12:42 AM

That looks VERY good.

Have you ever snooped around at Frank Ford's How to Replace a Martin Neck?

frets.com is most excellent!

Buckocaster51 · August 10th, 2009, 12:43 AM

Are those tuners Grover Sta-Tites?

enalnitram · August 10th, 2009, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckocaster51

That looks VERY good.

Have you ever snooped around at Frank Ford's How to Replace a Martin Neck?

frets.com is most excellent!

Yep, and thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buckocaster51

Are those tuners Grover Sta-Tites?

They are. they're the 18:1 ratio.

enalnitram · August 24th, 2009, 10:38 AM

Here's what it looked like when I glued the neck and the bridge to the body ...

enalnitram · August 24th, 2009, 10:41 AM

Next I shaped the nut and the saddle. (uh .... I did that BEFORE I put the strings on!)

My father in law has a sanding drum attached to his drill press that was wonderful to use for this purpose.

And here it is ... finished ... except for leveling the frets and recrowning 'em. I couldn't wait to string it up. but I actually only have one bad buzz, on the A string at the 13th fret.

enalnitram · August 24th, 2009, 10:42 AM

enalnitram · August 24th, 2009, 10:43 AM

enalnitram · August 24th, 2009, 10:44 AM

enalnitram · August 24th, 2009, 10:44 AM

The audio in the clip is me playing it (into a $15 radio shack microphone and using a seymour duncan booster pedal as a preamp)

Buckocaster51 · August 25th, 2009, 01:08 PM

Looks like you should be very proud of your accomplishment!

Great job!

RnB · September 3rd, 2009, 01:19 AM

Barring all the mistakes you say you made, I think it came out looking fantastic...Congratulations! I love the look of the Pkgd. How does it sound & play?

enalnitram · September 8th, 2009, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RnB

Barring all the mistakes you say you made, I think it came out looking fantastic...Congratulations! I love the look of the Pkgd. How does it sound & play?

thanks, it sounds and plays great. it's turning into a great guitar. it's had strings on it for about 2 weeks, and I swear it sounds better every day. I have had experience setting up a lot of guitars, so I was able to engineer some well-intentioned things in that regard. and in other regards, I feel I got pretty lucky. the top is an exceptional one. my luthier friend that made the suggestions about how to shape the scalloped bracings told me (it seems) exactly the right thing. it really has a lot of sustain, and is loud as heck. when I hold it in my lap I can even feel it vibrating from the sound of my voice. I was able to A-B it with a bunch of other guitars over the weekend (including some newish Martins) and it blew them all away. a friend of mine played it in a duet with a "the heritage" mandolin, and the mando was being completely drowned out. it kinda has a pre-war sorta open-ness to it.

i'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. but i still want to make another. the next one will be lots better! i'm going to build a kind of replica of an early 30's 00-17 for a friend of mine. i'll do the finish myself for that one -- maybe a french polish.

RnB · September 17th, 2009, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by enalnitram

I was able to A-B it with a bunch of other guitars over the weekend (including some newish Martins) and it blew them all away.

You gotta love that! Congrats, mission accomplished...

June 3rd, 2009, 04:09 PM	#81 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	As I'm nearing completion of this guitar (I'll drop it off to be finished by a pro on June 14), I'm thinking back on the many mistakes I made working on this one, my first. I've learned a lot. I've felt pretty stupid pretty often. Anyway, maybe some of this may be of interest for those that have yet to get knee deep into an acoustic build. I trimmed the bottom of the neck block, when I should have left it way proud and then sanded at an angle to accomodate the angle of the back. I wound up using a shim under the block. my external body mold made a small crack in the top, near the tail block when I glued the back on. I had a piece of wood glued to the mold that kept the mold even, when it was sitting on my work bench. and the overhang of the top touched that piece of wood. the pressure from the rubber bands on the back pushed the top into the piece of wood, which I didn't see right away, as it was upside-down. to make matters worse, I super glued the crack and sanded it with a sponge-sander rather than a block with sandpaper on it, making a divot in the top near the end block. I may still glue a spruce cleat under that divot, for insurance. another thing that happened when I glued the back on the first time, was that my neck block was resting on my back's internal center strip. if the neck block had been tall enough, I would've noticed that before it was too late. my bridge plate doesn't butt up right against one of my cross braces. I read about how it should do that after I had closed up the box. I used a two year old bottle of titebond to glue on the back braces, before I heard that it should be fresh. so I went out and bought a new bottle to use to glue the braces on the top and for the rest of the build. The cantilever on my neck block sat on top of my popsicle brace when I put the top on. so I had to chisel out a space in the popsicle brace so that the neck block wouldn't rest on top of the brace. I didn't plan out the peghead holes for the tuners well enough, and chose to re-do them. (my kit didn't come with a peghead template.) here's a template that I found after the damage had already been done. I didn't get a good fit the first time I glued the back on, and re-did it by first removing the back with an iron and a pocketknife. I sanded the guitar throughout the process, making surfaces look clean, but I probably could/should have done this all at the end. I glued the back binding on with epoxy, which was messy. masking tape doesn't hold down very well over top of epoxy. The maple binding on the back is getting pretty thin. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the finish sanding doesn't wipe some of it out altogether. when I installed my herringbone purfling, I joined the two pieces near the end block off center! I was able to cut it, and rejoin it, making it look like it was centered, but if you look closely, you can see the cut. my soundhole is just a tiny bit not in the center of the top. (between 1/16" and 1/32"). my back strip doesn't exactly line up with the point on my neck's end cap. I think those are the major mistakes, unless my unconscious has selectively forgotten another. in addition to the mistakes, I also redid several things, in order to get them better. this being my first time, I had to do this, in order to "practice," to get a good result. but it often felt at the time that I was just having a hard time because I am an idiot! I made four tail wedges, installed them all, and removed three of them, before I got a result that I liked. I wrecked the nut that came with my kit, and am currently working on the second one, although I won't finish that one until I set up the guitar. so we'll see how that goes. I removed the back 2 times, and re-glued it on. after that, I partially removed part of the back (near the lower bout) and re-glued that portion of it. It took me two tries before I got the dovetail right. (about 30 hours went into that alone). the second time, I relied on a combination chisel-chalk and angled-sandpaper-wedge technique. the first time I let the neck get too far down into the mortise without realizing that my fit wasn't very good at all. I was unhappy with the way my braces fit into the notches in my kerfed lining. so I removed all of the sections that had notches, glued new ones in, and re-cut the notches. There are some good elements to it also, so I'll be really excited to string it up. I did a pretty good job on the fretwork. I've done that before. a luthier friend says the body has a very good tone to it. i spent a lot of time on the bracing and located pictures of bracing on guitars that I liked, and tried to make mine look like them. then, I solicited professional opinions and made alterations based on those. the neck's center line points right at the center line on the top, near the bridge. my lower bout is exactly 15" and the center line at that point on the top is exactly 7.5" away from each side. my saddle and my second nut look really nice so far. the neck angle is even on both sides of the neck and is just about perfect. my binding is really clean. the peghead inlay looks kinda cool. and probably the best thing it's got going for it, is it's going to be finished by Joe White. I'll learn french polish for my next one! I used to set up guitars for a job, so I felt that if I got the box to be tight, I was home-free after that. little did I know, there was so much more to it, than that. hopefully with a mixture of both good and bad, it'll be a nice guitar, but yet have that whole necessary life yin yang duality thing going on, as well. __________________

June 3rd, 2009, 08:16 PM	#82 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	So anyway, I've got the spaces for the bridge and the fingerboard extension of the neck masked now, so that the body can be finished. I measured for the bridge about 100 times ...from every angle I could think of, and using various different rulers, tape measures, straight edges, etc. __________________

June 5th, 2009, 12:06 AM	#86 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	Holes all re-drilled and patched up. I'm really happy with the spacing now. The angle makes things maybe look a little crooked, but trust me, they are all dead-on! I spent all week working on this... I also made a trip to go look at a new 000-28, and bought a new 1/4" bit with a brad tip. That helped. I used the rosewood from when I trimmed the length of the sides of the guitar, to patch up the holes in the peghead. __________________

June 8th, 2009, 11:37 AM	#87 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	Gluing the fretboard to the neck. There is debate about whether to use epoxy or wood glue, or something else to do this. I used titebond (wood glue). For a while I was leaning towards epoxy, but in the end I was worried about my clamps squeezing out too much of it (creating a glue-starved joint), which wouldn't happen using titebond. I clamped it to a 2"x2" and got good results. If you ever need to glue a fingerboard to a guitar neck, use RV multi cam clamps! They're about $2.50 each at Dyer's RV Supplies (dyersonline.com). Stew-mac sells the very same thing as "Fingerboard Band Clamps," and charges $4.34 each for them! I bought this case today. It's a guardian case. It's kinda in-between budget and quality. And it's a vintage sorta style. I like that -- the price and the look. The back of the neck in this area was kind of rough, so I smoothed it out and made it more comfy to hold on to. I (very carefully) belt-sanded it first, then used a file, a scraper, and finally sandpaper. The fingerboard is on, and it cleaned up pretty well. I had a lot of squeezed-out glue stuck to the sides of the neck, which I just chiseled and sanded off. __________________

June 8th, 2009, 11:39 AM	#88 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	I put the side dot markers on the fingerboard today. I've used wood instead of plastic everywhere I can on this guitar. These were tiny dowels in the craft aisle at the grocery store. It was pretty hard to make the holes be even with my hand-held battery-powered drill. The two holes at the twelfth fret are sorta crooked. Oh well. It's handmade... The guitar is ready for finish. It's going to go to Joe White's shop on June 14th. Joe gets work solely due to word-of-mouth. He doesn't have a website, or advertise or anything. He started his business last year, so therefore his wait list isn't too awful long. I'll be happy if I get it back within a couple of months. Guitars finished by Joe: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v82/getgo/ __________________

June 4th, 2009, 02:12 PM	#84 (permalink)
still_fiddlin Tele-Meister Join Date: May 2009 Location: Texas Age: 59 Posts: 161	You're finishing the body and neck separately? Is that to completion, or just initial coats? And, why use epoxy for wood binding? I always used "Duco" for celluloid, and just more Titebond for wood.

June 8th, 2009, 11:25 PM	#89 (permalink)
edd677 Tele-Meister Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Ontario Age: 19 Posts: 227	The inlay is outstanding, great work. Planned your next build yet?

June 15th, 2009, 10:40 PM	#91 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	Here's the Greven Tor-tis guard, it came in the mail this weekend. I've heard lately that people think they're too thick, or that they're brittle, or that the design runs out before it gets to the edge and looks strange. Mine is none of those things. I couldn't be more happy with it. __________________

July 22nd, 2009, 12:34 AM	#93 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	So Joe White has gotten started doing the finish for me. Here the pore filling is being done, using epoxy. __________________

July 24th, 2009, 07:40 PM	#94 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	Here's the second pore fill, and a little better picture. __________________

July 24th, 2009, 07:52 PM	#95 (permalink)
Rich Rice Friend of Leo's Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: In a dream world.. Just ask my wife. Age: 54 Posts: 2,744 11 Photos	LOL.. Looks great! Your thread gave me the itch again.... I have a 1/2 built acoustic sitting here, waiting for me to make the bracing, top, back, and neck.. No Stew Mac kit this time... Another dread, this time for myself. After looking through your thread, I was reminded of another kit I want to build- so I called Stew Mac this morning and ordered their uke kit. I ordered some black binding, too, as their uke is not bound. Anyhow, I'm so glad you are doing the kit, and hope you have really enjoyed it! The dread I did was a fantastic experience, and has affected the way I build electrics, too. All in all, a wonderful, rewarding experience. Your guitar looks great, I'm sure you will enjoy it for a long, long time. __________________ Please visit my website! If you are driven to play, you will find a way.

July 24th, 2009, 10:59 PM	#96 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	Thanks! Your first build thread, as much, or perhaps more than anything else, got me really inspired to do this one. I had been thinking of doing one for about 12 years, but I just didn't have the courage to try it. Now I'm really glad I did. The uke and the acoustic project sound great. is that the same acoustic from the tail end of your long build thread? I've got it bad. I've been acquiring tools for a makeshift shop. my father-in-law has a barn full of aged maple and black cherry. I've got a friend that can resaw the cherry. I'm dreaming of building an OM from scratch and carving the neck with his wood. I may just buy a spruce top for it, though. Probably start on it this winter. Here's more progress. Pics from Joe today. The guitar has been sealed with a catalyzed sealer called Rosewood Sealer/1704. __________________

July 28th, 2009, 10:46 AM	#97 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	Here's the final poly coat. It's a McFadden polyester finish. __________________

July 29th, 2009, 03:02 AM	#100 (permalink)
Buckocaster51 Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Iowa USA Age: 57 Posts: 8,398 1 Photos	Mighty fine. Mighty fine! That should be quite a nice guitar. __________________ "If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all." - Thumper the Rabbit "An awfully lot of time can be wasted waiting for the right time." - Gunsmoke's Doc Adams

July 31st, 2009, 12:56 AM	#101 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	Neck finish is done. __________________

August 1st, 2009, 01:19 AM	#102 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	The poly finish on the body was leveled and buffed today. All done and ready to be picked up. I'll have it back this Sunday. __________________

August 1st, 2009, 01:20 AM	#103 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	__________________

August 1st, 2009, 01:22 AM	#104 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	__________________

August 1st, 2009, 11:56 PM	#105 (permalink)
Stuco Friend of Leo's Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: GA Posts: 4,225	It's absolutely beautiful! __________________ -"You do not merely want to be considered just the best of the best. You want to be considered the only ones who do what you do" J. Garcia

August 6th, 2009, 10:49 AM	#106 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	Thanks, Stuco! After getting the guitar back, I sorta got ahead of myself and installed the hardware on the peghead, even though the neck joint isn't glued yet. I also put the Greven pickguard on. The pickguard had adhesive already on the back of it. I put it where I wanted it. Then I placed scotch tape on the side of it, making a little "hinge." I lifted up the guard, removed the backing, and voila flopped it back in place. __________________

August 6th, 2009, 10:49 AM	#107 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	I still have yet to glue the neck to the body, and I'm having problems getting it to fit perfectly. I don't yet know what the problem is, but it's just a teeny bit loose. I got my dovetail joint fitting perfectly before I sent it to get finished. when I pressed it in, it "gripped" and held. when I layed a straight edge on top of the frets, it landed right on top of my bridge, 3/8" above the soundboard.... but now the dovetail doesn't fit as well as it used to. It doesn't "grip" anymore. the fit is pretty tight, but there is a slight side-to-side shimmy, and once I do this, the neck comes loose. I wasn't sure what to do, so I sanded the sides of the tenon, and glued on slim pieces of mahogany, and I did it over, re-chiseling the sides of the tenon using the chalk-and-fit-over-and-over technique. it was going really well. as the tenon sank down in the mortise, I had a good, tight fit. but as the tenon got lower and my fingerboard extension got closer to the top, the fit got looser. maybe my heel cap, the way it touches the finish is preventing a good fit? I am stumped. Probably another shim will fix it. Hopefully I'll have it strung up soon. __________________

August 10th, 2009, 12:42 AM	#108 (permalink)
Buckocaster51 Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Iowa USA Age: 57 Posts: 8,398 1 Photos	That looks VERY good. Have you ever snooped around at Frank Ford's How to Replace a Martin Neck? frets.com is most excellent! __________________ "If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all." - Thumper the Rabbit "An awfully lot of time can be wasted waiting for the right time." - Gunsmoke's Doc Adams

August 10th, 2009, 12:43 AM	#109 (permalink)
Buckocaster51 Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Iowa USA Age: 57 Posts: 8,398 1 Photos	Are those tuners Grover Sta-Tites? __________________ "If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all." - Thumper the Rabbit "An awfully lot of time can be wasted waiting for the right time." - Gunsmoke's Doc Adams

August 24th, 2009, 10:38 AM	#111 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	Here's what it looked like when I glued the neck and the bridge to the body ... __________________

August 24th, 2009, 10:41 AM	#112 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	Next I shaped the nut and the saddle. (uh .... I did that BEFORE I put the strings on!) My father in law has a sanding drum attached to his drill press that was wonderful to use for this purpose. And here it is ... finished ... except for leveling the frets and recrowning 'em. I couldn't wait to string it up. but I actually only have one bad buzz, on the A string at the 13th fret. __________________

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August 24th, 2009, 10:42 AM	#113 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	__________________

August 24th, 2009, 10:43 AM	#114 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	__________________

August 24th, 2009, 10:44 AM	#115 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	__________________

August 24th, 2009, 10:44 AM	#116 (permalink)
enalnitram Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Michigan Posts: 285 2 Photos	The audio in the clip is me playing it (into a $15 radio shack microphone and using a seymour duncan booster pedal as a preamp) __________________

August 25th, 2009, 01:08 PM	#117 (permalink)
Buckocaster51 Poster Extraordinaire Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Iowa USA Age: 57 Posts: 8,398 1 Photos	Looks like you should be very proud of your accomplishment! Great job! __________________ "If you can't say something nice... don't say nothing at all." - Thumper the Rabbit "An awfully lot of time can be wasted waiting for the right time." - Gunsmoke's Doc Adams

September 3rd, 2009, 01:19 AM	#118 (permalink)
RnB Tele-Meister Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: SF Bay Area Age: 62 Posts: 290	Barring all the mistakes you say you made, I think it came out looking fantastic...Congratulations! I love the look of the Pkgd. How does it sound & play?