Official Luthiers Forum!

I still haven't finished my first so I would like to enter the contest. I just got settled in my own shop/house with my lady here in Alaska. I'm still finishing up my first (tons of errors) but this is just what I need to get back into the groove. So this will technically be my second build regardless which I finish first.

I just bent the sides tonight. It will be my own OM design which is 11.5" at the upper bout, 9" at the waist and 15" at the lower bout. I kept it a bit small at the lower bout to accommodate several sets of Dalbergia Cultrata that I mistakenly bought as BRW. I also have a bunch of really nice, but narrow curly redwood and several other tops and backs of similar measurements. I'll post pics tomorrow or later in the week. Here are the materials.

B&S- Quilted Maple
Top- Curly Redwood braced with Sitka Spruce
Neck/bracing- Honduran Mahogany
Head plate/Fretboard/Bridge- Gabon Ebony
Binding- Gabon Ebony with BWBW or BWB or BW purf depending on the location
Rosette- Gabon Ebony

I got married and I sold my beloved Webber custom baritone with Miniflex 2 Mic to pay rent. The scale of this guitar will be 27.5" baritone to replace it. Pickup will be the Anthem. (full)

Great wood choices, Joey, but I was really hoping to see you use the coco set in your avatar! Did you use it for your 1st?
Anyways, glad you are settled and joining the challenge!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Actually the coco sides are still in NY with a bunch of my other sets. I bought too much stuff when I was deployed and never really slowed down when I got back. Anyways that set is reserved for a special build for myself. I want it to be a baritone multi scale decked out in Paua Abalone, but that's just too much ambition for me right now. Once I get a couple under my belt I'll give it a go. Well I'm off to work now, can't wait to get home and get back to work!

I've got the quilted maple sides bent but I had some bad grain raising in a couple parts. One in the upper bout and one in the lower bout. The one in the lower bout is the worse of the two. It's so bad that I do not believe that I can get it out by sanding without sanding through the side.

Is there anything I can do to fix it? I've been thinning them to laminating some thin mahogany on the interior. Not sure if that will work or not. Any suggestions?

Ouch! Maybe try wetting it again and clamping it in your mold with a caul to flatten it out.

I've found that a clothes iron with steam is pretty good at flattening humps. I have a form the shape of 1 guitar side and I place the side on this form and iron away.

How thin are they? What are you using to bend? If a hot pipe, try mashing it against the pipe with a hunk or 2x4 or something and see if it will bend flat

Dennis- I l eft them relatively thick (.090) and actually I grabbed the wrong side initially which was waaaaay too thick (.120) because I had a pile that was all mixed up and my shop wasn't as organized as it is now. It turned out that it didn't matter. Both sides bent well at both thicknesses and both sides have potato chipped on me. Maybe I used too much water? I was worried about scortching it. I hand sanded the other side down to .90 with 60 grit by hand so they are more even now. I use a side bender to get close and then a hot pipe to make fine adjustments. So far I've done the following-

1. Initial bend in the jig
2. let sit overnight
3. Fine tune on the pipe
4. Put back in the bender re-heated and let sit overnight again
5. Started sanding out the bumps

I made some turnbuckles and got the Tailblock in still working on the head block

....also an aurora storm last night

Wow that must have been amazing! I would love to see the northern lights in person.

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

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

I can't recommend it enough. If you ever get a couple free weeks in March or October that's the time to go

Joey, I just showed my wife the A.B. pictures, and she pointed out what looks like a face looking down in picture #2. Can't tell if it is J.C or V.Mary or not! Wonderful pictures!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Hahaha. Yeah I didn't notice it at the time but I can see it now. At the time I was waiting for the freaking aliens to land!!!

Finally back to work on this thing. Since my last posted I moved again and re-set up shop, and took a trip to NY. Not sure which category I belong in but if I do finish this, it will be my first completed build, second attempt.

MDF radius dish warped and I threw out the last jig (it sucked anyways) built a new one and routed this guy this morning out of leftover birch ply. Gonna shellac it later.

These were in some other threads but were never posted here in the build thread.

I decided to give this a try. Glad I had some eye protection on. Won't be doing that again.

Looking good, It will interesting hearing a baritone guitar.
Actually drove through Fairbanks once, I spent most of 1992 on Kodiak Island sitting on a weir on the Uganik River as a volunteer for Fish & Wildlife. Lots of fish and bears......

Thanks, I love baritones. I actually prefer them over regular guitars these days, hence this build. I still haven't been to Kodiak, it's on my short list of things left to do before I leave AK.

Spent most of the night sanding and scraping ripples out of the sides.

Made some shellac.



Shellacked the body to raise the grain and protect. I think I've decided on glossy try oil on B&S, headstock front and back. Matte tru-oil neck and FP top.




glued up purflings/binding. We'll see how it goes in the bender tomorrow.



Old lam trimmer died. Fitting the new one for the bushing on the binding jig.



Tapped.


Good to bend, route and bund in the AM.