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Pressing on with the neck carve. Finished up my jig for the pin router. It worked out well. Next time I may try a bigger radius bit, as the 3/4 one I have left about an inch of flat at the bottom. Still happy with the result, much less work than the last time. Cleaning up transitions today at heel and headstock.. Carve, carve, carve.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BNpzhlhB8EC/

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Here's a pic of the neck jig. It worked out well and left me with a nice straight neck, with some meat left to blend into fingerboard. It alligns on the tenon slot and has a wedge to clamp the headstock in place. Simple, but it works. For the overarm router, I replaced the motor in an old Dewalt radial arm saw with a 1/2 router.

I got the idea from watching Ryan Martin's vids (over and over) and this one:

[youtube] https://youtu.be/HAoT4IUrdjs [/youtube]

This project got sidelined for a bit when my brother asked me to build a uke. I'm back at it now (uke is almost done) and hope to complete before the deadline.

Glad to see you're back in it. Looks like you and I are the late bloomers of the bunch

_________________
Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Sounds great.
Hurry up and git 'er done.... We need some more finished guitar builds...

Thanks Steve, this one has been a challenge to stick with. But, I think there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

O.K. - I got this guitar bound and that's where it sat for a few months. I started finishing my uke build and figured that I should at least make it shiny.

With that done, checking the neck angle gave me an unwanted surprise - the neck was slightly OVER set. So, today I spent some quality time with a chisel and cleaned up the joint with strip after strip of sandpaper...

It's looking pretty good now - I haven't checked yet to see if my bridge needs to move further back.

The bridge went on last night. Reamed the bridge pin holes and working on frets today.

Yehaa! You're closing in on it. Strings on in no time.

_________________
Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Right on Jay! Frets are cut and ready to go. Taking a break.

Hoping for strings tomorrow.

I managed to get the frets installed yesterday. The fingerboard was super hard...I'm not sure what type of Rosewood it is, but it sure is hard. Some spit in the slots was enough lube to make the frets seat much easier. The retired luthier that I got the wood from said is was from an old bureau that he had dismantled years ago. I did the headstock veneer from the same wood. It's got a nice shine to it.

Made some more progress today - got the string guide cut and slotted, zero fret and the tuners installed. My phone decided to go AWOL for most of the day today, so I'll post some pics of today's progress tomorrow.

And it's done. Well, almost... are they ever completely done? It's playable. I like the tone. It is definitely different from my ladder braced parlor. More chime to it and a bit more even sounding, better strummer... This one was built as kind of an experiment to see if the bracing on such a small guitar would make a noticeable change. It does.

The plan was to leave the braces full height for now and scallop later to see how much scalloping would affect the tone. I think the tone is pretty nice now & top has started a little belly, so - I may just cut the saddle and leave well enough alone with the bracing. But, you never know.

The cutaway on this one almost beat me. I couldn't get it bent tight enough...I tried to force it into place and it didn't like that much. With some creative clamping it worked out and the neck ended up straight to the bridge. While I don't see this one taking home any prizes - I'm happy with what I've learned in the process and pretty satisfied with the end result.

The zero fret worked out nice - super low action and no sharp notes on the first few frets. I may raise the action a bit with a taller fret for a bit more grip room. I shave the barbs off, so they pop right out - making height changes a snap. String tension holds them in place and I haven't had any problems with buzzing or movement.

Hey chuck, any chance you have a video or audio sample of this beaut?

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

Bumping the finished entries up to the top. . .

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

I can give it a shot. May have to get my 12yo daughter to help me figure it out.

OK - here's a short vid, sorry for the bad sound quality.
https://youtu.be/3yXvXkwZ4xg