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I wasn't able to do much for the past few weeks - too busy at work. However, I found time last week and this weekend to get on with my first guitar build (a scratch OM-ish thing). Here are some pictures. I decided to tackle making the ebony fretboard first. I used the StewMac fret cutting blade in my table saw with the StewMac fret scale ruler/pin. It worked like a dream - very smooth with no tear out.



Fret slots cut nicely:



Then, using a jig that I designed a while back (to cut perfect miter corners on my marquetry pictures), I cut the side tapers on the fingerboard. This jig really made this task easy! I will probably make another version of my jig, tailored for fingerboard taper cutting, later.



...et voila!



Then I bent and added some RW trim to the end of the FB:



Then some more RW trim to the sides:



It came out quite well, not bad for a first attempt IISSM:



Closeup shot - the FB hasn't been radiussed yet - the small scratch marks will go away when I do.



Next, I jointed and planed a nice quartersawn 3" x 4" x 3' honduras mahogony neck blank and board of "some other wood" (all I know about it is that it's hard, dark, and from Mexico!), and resawed them to make a 5 piece neck:



Glue up was a bit messy, but fun, and a chance to use a few of my clamps:



After the glue up was dry, I marked out two neck blanks and cut them out on a small bandsaw:



That's where I'm at right now. Next jobs are to tidy up the neck blank, route the truss rod channel, make the neck tennon, shape the neck, do the headplate etc. Then, make a compound radius routing jig (for which I have a set of 4 spherical bearings and stainless steel shaft all ready to go) for the fingerboard and shape that. This is really getting fun now

While I was taking pictures, I shot one of my stash of cocobolo. I got several nice large billets from Global Wood Source, a local place where the owner goes on world tours and finds/buys the logs personally and imports them for me to use (nice of him, doncha think?!).



That the show for now folks. More next weekend (hopefully!).

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Man that's just terrific...great photos, terrific explanations. A good read. You've got it goin' on for someone on their first guitar. Obviously your woodworking experience is paying dividends. Looking forward to more.

Bill

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

I remember all these steps.

Congratulations, looks great.

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Dave you do really nice work and your threads are a pleasure to read.

Be careful though, the black mats that you have in your photos, that I use too, will get you grief here on the OLF when our bro JJ see them...... When ever he sees one in my photos I hear about it in the thread....... The fear is that these mats may be silicone impregnated...... Personally I could care less who the father was.......

Anyway just watching your back my friend and if you want to join me I always try to use these mats in every picture that I take just for JJ.......

Great Progress Thread! Good work. What I see looks really first class.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Nice post Dave...I like your clean, neat and exacting work. You're well on your way to becoming addicted to the passion of guitarbuilding.

Man...all those Bessey clamps!!! We can never have too many quality clamps.

Those billets are impressive! Looks like you have a good start.

Since Hesh already commented on the mat, I need say no more. I believe my last comment to Hesh went something like this..."Ok, if you don't believe that these rubber mats leach plasticizer and silicone then you can impregnate YOURSELF with the bleeping mat, Dude!"...or something to that effect ...I may be paraphrasing.

Thanks for posting!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Holy Smoke Dave,
You have done an Excellent job on your first getbox. Nice job of photographing too. Just nice everything.....lol

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

Holy Smoke Dave,
You have done an Excellent job on your first getbox. Nice job of photographing too. Just nice everything.....lol

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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

Great! That's a nice a nice looking mitre gauge. Looks kind of Jessom like. I think a lot of people use sleds but looks like that would do the job just fine.

Thanks,
Danny

Great, clean work!

Is that light lamination in the purfling around the rosette natural wood?

Dave:

Be sure to post pics of your radius jig. I'm looking for a good jig to do consistent compound fingerboards.

Also, the RW binding on the fretboard is a nice subtle touch. I like it a lot!

Danny R. Little

Thanks for all your wonderful encouragement folks! It's so nice to be part of a community that "gets it". My wife and family really have no interest in or appreciation for my hobbies. Thank goodness for the internet!!

Bill - I've had some good woodworking mentors over the years. Like luthiers, they are very willing to share ideas, and help and encourage newcomers. I've learned my woodworking skills from some of the best....just like I'm learning lutherie from the best there is (that's YOU LOT!!) right now!

Bruce - Do you still use these steps? Hope so!

Hesh & JJ - I've heard the warnings about leeching from these mats before, but I've been using them for years for sanding my marquetry pictures on and I've never had any finishing issues (spots/fisheye) that I could attribute the them. I may as well finish this first guitar using the mat now, and see if it affects the finish at all. If it does, what are the alternatives? Carpet? That leeches chemical too, right? What else?

Waddy - What you don't see (in the pictures I didn't use) isn't so 1st class!

Chuck - Ta! I've not heard the word "getbox" before....but I instantly understood nevertheless!

Danny V. - I love the Incra stuff. This is an Incra 3000 miter guage. It's adjusted to fit in the TS miter slot perfectly, so it's as accurate as any sled. I guess I might make a double-miter-slot sled at some point to make things just that little bit more accurate, but I will have to watch how "tall" I make it - the little 6" blade only raises so much in my 10" table saw!

Sam - The b/w/b stuff around the rosette is just normal purfling (you know, I just checked the spelling of this - I was sure it was spelled "pfurling", but I was wrong!!) - it's ordinary 20/20/20 mil stuff. The white is maple, but the black is "fiber". It fits snuggly into a 1/16" routed slot (1/16" = 62.5 mil). I tap it in firmly with a soft-faced hammer. This spreads it just a little so it fills the slot perfectly.

Danny R. - I plan on doing that. I had my youngest son (who, at 14, is already a computer graphics/art genius) make a fully-functional 3D model of the compound radius jig I have in mind, using Google SketchUp. It took him just 10 minutes to do - amazing - it includes all the physics of the bearings/shaft and you can see exactly how it swivels - it's fully animated!! I wouldn't have known where to start! This will all be in my next episode....stay tuned. The RW binding, and the whole 5-piece neck for that matter, is more-or-less an exact copy of the one that John Mayes showed me how to make in his excellent 12-DVD series on building guitars. I would have been lost without his help!!

TTFN,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Great Job! I have to agree with everyone that your woodworking is amazing.

I really like the RW on the ebony fretboard. I'm working on a neck with an ebony fretboard right now, I wish I had seen this earlier or I would have copied you. It looks amazing.

Great job, can't wait to see more.

By the way, that Coco is really nice. Good score.

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-Rob Eckert
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Big favor, can you make the Sketchup drawing available? If you just upload it to the Sketchup library we can download it. Or if you don't want it on the library, would you be interested in emailing it?

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Wes McMillian
Santo, TX
http://www.wesmcmillian.com

Nice work on the fingerboard Dave. It's going to be a
nice guitar,I can tell!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755