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Made it to the spray booth for a coat of isolante. Will be pore filling tonight. Don’t forget to clean your guns.




Brad





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Here are two short clips of applying and curing pore filler. With any luck we’ll be at the buffer this weekend!






Brad


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Sprayed the topcoats and cured. I’ll let the finish rest until tomorrow. All set to try Assilex sanding sheets tomorrow when leveling. Finish looks pretty good right off the gun!







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That's going to be a really sweet instrument.

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Leveled and buffed the first two compounds, I’m going to leave it for now and work on the bridge. I do have to say the Assilex worked really well. I only sanded up to 1200 and then went to the buffer. I was able to skip the heaviest menzerna compound because it wasn’t needed.









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Neck is attached and ready for fret install tomorrow.










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Making the bridge on an Axiom CNC




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Something I’ve been doing on my own builds is cutting and beveling the fret ends on a proxy made of plywood. This keeps the nippers and file away from the already buffed glossy finish on the neck, but let’s me press, level and dress on the neck. I level the fretboard with 220, then 320 with the leveling beam. Then I hit it with maroon, grey and white scotchbrite. Frets are pressed with Jaws up to the neck heel. I squirt fish glue in the slots using a bottle with a needle tip. BTW - the Summit fretting tools are great!











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Finished up the fretting and a “Nemo” sighting! The jig to fret over the body I learned about from Dave and Hesh at the fretting workshop at Ann Arbor Guitars.













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Bridge is fitted and on, could be making music this weekend!











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very nice documentation of a great looking baritone. Interesting clamp for over the body press.

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Thanks, John. I’m hoping for strings this weekend. I’m not sure what to expect with the V bracing.


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We have strings! Still needs to be setup but was able to play a bit on it. It’s got a lovely tone. I experimented with making a highly accurate compensated saddle on the CNC. Will be interesting to see the intonation after final setup. I used the Mottola compensation calculator to calculate compensation for each individual string.










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Here are the last few process shots before the glamour shots. When making the nut I rough shape it on the belt sander first. Then cut the nut slots. To test the slot depth, fret between the 2nd and 3rd while tuned to pitch. Then tap over the first fret. There should be just a small visible gap and an audible tink when tapping on the string. Once the slots are 90% of the way there take a sharp file and file the top of the nut away. I keep going until the file reaches the strings. Sometimes it breaks them. These are sacrificial strings anyway. I then use 220 & 400 paper along with 3M polishing papers on a surface plate to finalize the shape and polish it up.










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Here are the final glamour shots of the koa baritone. It was a fun build. I plan to build a few more and have started on the next one which will be ziricote and spruce.












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Gorgeous! I have not played a baritone but I think it would be a fun instrument to play.

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Here is a quick video with details about the instrument and a sound sample. The body shape is based on an L1 so naturally I had to do some Robert Johnson. The second video is my ham-handed attempt at From Four Until Late.

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Thanks for posting the videos. That's a great looking instrument all around. It sounds really good too and if that's what a ham-handed attempt at playing sounds like, sign me up.

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Great build thread. Your build style is completely different from mine. I could build without electricity! Although I did cut a bunch of blocks out for 3 violins yesterday on my 10" bandsaw, in half an hour or so; and it was SO EASY. Your style is probably much more popular.

My biggest problems are always small details, and finish. I just don't even notice most of them! That's the core problem I guess. I like the plywood fretboard idea. Fret ends are a problem. My next one might have tied on frets, but some others won't.

The Assilex paper sounds interesting. I have a couple instruments that I'd like to do super smooth. I've never done that. Did you buy the kit? Is it the backers, the paper, or the combination that makes it work well? Having a paper that is made for a backer seems like a good idea.

I used Z-poxy as a filler on my arch top. I liked the look of that; just a light amber cast, that can be colored darker with a tiny bit of paint. I used Aquacoat, and although it was easier to use, and seemed clear, it gives a bluish cast that I don't care for at all, and my varnish didn't look good over it at all.

Your finish looks very natural. Like wet, shiny wood.

None of the videos even show up on my Mac; but they are there, and work fine on my Kindle. I have no idea why.

Well done.

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Thanks, Ken!

Regarding the Assilex papers, I used them both with their block / interface pad as well as my own cork lined plywood blocks with the same results so if you wanted to try it out without going for the full kit you could. I have a friend who owns a business related to woodworking that sells individual sheets so you could make your own kit of sorts. His site is - https://www.turningwood.com/store/category/ASS

The plywood fretboard proxy worked really well. One thing I had to do was keep track of the fret ends when moving from the proxy to the real neck. That’s because I trimmed the tang so that the end closet to me was slid all the way over against the end of the fret slot. So when moving them from the proxy to the real neck I put them in the little numbered holder so that the end closest to me was facing down, meaning that end went into the pocket. Words are failing me but I hope it’s clear.

Thanks!
Brad


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