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Looks like it's going to be a cool rosette.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

I got back down to the shop for a few minutes and sanded and cut out the rosette ring, ready to inlay. These photos were with my phone so not great quality.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Yup. It's pretty cool!

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Thanks Tony. I'm not sure about the combination of BRW and bubinga but I will press on regardless.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Finished the rosette and the tail graft. Not my best rosette - I used a 1/16" carbide straight bit because it had a 1/4" shank but didn't get as clean of a cut as I would like and got a bit of tearout. Fortunately the tearout will be covered by the pickguard so I didn't bother to fix it. Would think I'd know by now to go straight to the down spiral bits but won't use that straight bit again.


Got to use my new Caruth scraper - it works even better than I expected.


Got the sound hole backing glued on so I can cut the sound hole tonight and start bracing the top.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Looking real good can't wait to see this one finished.

This garage remodel sure has crimped my style but tomorrow I'll get the epoxy top coat on the floor and the rest is pretty easy. Just install cabinets and such.

I did get to the shop tonight and get the bindings thicknessed and bent.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Got the top about half braced (finished steps 1 and 2) and cut and fitted the remaining braces. For falcate bracing, it's a 5 step process, at least for me, (1) laminate the sound hole plate, (2) fit and glue main braces & bridge plate, (3)glue secondary and tertiary braces, (4) fit and glue the transverse brace, and (5) Carve braces and epoxy carbon fiber on top. I'm hoping to have the top done in a few days. I left the camera in the shop so I'll put up some photos later.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Glad to see you back on track! Look forward to the pics . . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Here's some photos:
Bindings bent


Primary braces and bridge plate glued on. Other braces are fitted and ready to glue

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Braces are carved and graphite epoxied on top. Should be able to get the transverse brace fitted and glued by Friday night. Sucks having to wait for the epoxy to cure between steps. Top is not near as neat and tidy as I like but I'm going to have to work more with the epoxy to develop my chops.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I don't even want to think about the glorious mess I would make trying this. I'm looking forward to hearing the sound clip of this lady.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Since I used a 24.9" scale I had to re-calculate the numbers for neck width and such.


I rough shaped the neck, fitted it to the body, put in the inserts and cut a bit of a rebate to make it easier to do the final fit.


Did some measurements and all the bits fit where they're supposed to. I was a little worried about positioning the bridge before the box is finished but the location came out to within 0.030" so I can do a final adjustment when I glue on the fretboard.


Seems like I've been working on this top a long time but it's finally done. Hopefully things will go more quickly now. Here it is with the neck joint completed.


Also started on the fretboard. I think the Bastogne walnut will look fine when it is oiled. I've decided not to ebonize it using the steel-wool/vinegar solution.


As soon as I get the fretboard fitted and marked for the extension nuts then I can close the box. Starting to get excited to see it come together.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

It's looking great - I love the soundport. Why does the bridge have to be positioned so early on falcate bracing? Is it just so you don't drill through one of the braces?

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"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
Pablo Picasso

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Thanks Peter. You're right on the bridge - the primary braces run between the pin holes in the bridge so there is only about 0.050" clearance on each side of the brace. I was pretty worried about this part of the process but now that I've done it once it's not that bad if you're just careful.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

It's shaping up nicely. I think the walnut FB will look great. What finish are you going to use? The clock is ticking. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Finish is going to be the new Behlen Gloss Rockhard Table Top Urethane Varnish - yet another first for me on this instrument.

The clock is indeed ticking. As soon as the fretboard is done and fitted then I can close the box, do the bindings and shape the neck; all of which is pretty straightforward. I expect to be ready to start finishing the week of Dec 3 which should give me enough time to meet the deadline.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Like Jay I also did some more work last night and this morning.

Geometry lines up good, not quite touching the bridge.


Fretboard is indexed to neck and ready for radiusing and frets.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

No photos but got the compound radius on the fretboard this morning and sanded it to 320. Also made a fretboard caul for the 24.9"scale. All of the work on the box is done so it's ready to close up - I'll start that with the back tonight.

The major tasks I have left are fretting, binding and neck carving. All so should go relatively quickly and I hope to start finishing about the middle of next week.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I'm trying a bolt on fretboard extension this time that connects to the top of the neck block. Using 8-32 T-nuts.


Got the back glued on.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Interesting. Are the t-nuts epoxied into recesses it the bottom of the fret hours? I wonder if just one would be enough. I might have to steal this idea.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Yes. Right at the fret hours. ???


Posted using letters to form words, sentences and thoughts.

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http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC

Assuming hours means board the answer is yes. I needed a shallow flat bottom hole so I took an old 3/4" forstner bit and re-profiled it, put some tooth on the wood and the T-Nuts, then epoxied them in. There are two nuts because the truss rod runs between them so I suppose one nut would work if you adjusted the truss rod at the nut. Personally I prefer having no truss rod cover on acoustics (although I do have a cool way to attach them without having hardware showing).

James Condino recommended I use this method when we had a discussion about a butt-joint neck at our last luthier's meeting. I was not pleased with my earlier graphite-reinforced floating fretboard extension since the notes played up there were pretty dead. I figured that the notes were dead because the node was allowed to vibrate since there wasn't enough solid structure under the extension. I mentioned it sucked that you had to glue the extension and wouldn't be able to just pull the neck like I could on my other bolt-on design (Doolin-type adjustable). So James recommended bolting the extension on with something like T-Nuts.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I'm not sure how autocorrect got hours from board.?. I hope my woodworking is better than my typing/proofreadig. I had forgotten about the truss rod. I guess when I steal this it will be two T-nuts. . .

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Hours, board, who cares! It's a cool method of attaching the fb extension so that it is removable.


Posted using letters to form words, sentences and thoughts.

_________________
http://www.CostaGuitars.com
PMoMC