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Sunday was an AARRRRGGGG day for sure. I was going to just tweak my sides and get theme to fit the top profile more closely. I would find a gap, go to the bending iron, tweak the bend, go back to the Solera... Could not get some of the gaps to go away, no matter what I did. I worked at it for over two hours. I was so mad I forgot to see how long it was taking. Then came the Forehead Slapping Moment. I was pushing on the side trying to force it to the top. It was not budging, and I was pushing hard. Hmmmmmm, the side wasn't moving and neither was the top. Interesting. I took the sides off, and checked the Solera. Apparently, springing the top into the shaved out lower bout had pulled the edges in just enough that the raised portion of the lower bout was sticking out just past the edge of the top sitting on it. You really couldn't see it it was so close, but I took a chisel and shaved the edge of that part down, and the sides just fell into place. I felt like I had wasted the whole day. Anyhow, here are a few pictures of what I have done since my last post on progress.



Here, I'm trimming the side at the tail. Neck end has already been done.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

It looks really nice, don't get discouraged. You can do it. You are a lot farther on your first than I am on mine (I haven't even made any shavings yet).

I'm sorry I can't help you, but I figured a little encouragement would never hurt. Good luck.

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-Rob Eckert
Ann Arbor, Michigan

OOPS! Hit the submit button too soon.

Here's the side sitting in place in the solera. Both ends trimmed.


Now it won't let me enter my next picture. I'll do them one at a time.

Here is the tail match up in the solera.


And here is the Neck in place, one set of wedges in place. Not glued yet. Just a dry assembly.


Figured out the problem.. The files were just too big, and I didn't notice the error message. I had to resize them again, and reduce the quality to get them to go.

Thanks for looking. Much faster process than the old version. Also, like that you can click on the attachments and see larger pictures. Very cool.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Goof grief that's clean work...so what, are like trying to become the new King of Clean like Hesh or Lance?

When can I come visit to smell the shavings????

Bill

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

Hey there Waddy.
Nice guitar.
I can't to see more progress pics.
Looks like the Romanillios design.
Let us know how it turns out.

Cheers,
Claire

Take it easy, you might finish it before I finish mine Not a chance, these days i am doing the final cleanup and will post some inthewhite pics and a sound clip

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Build log

Thanks folks!

Bill, only the guitar is clean, and I don't know how. My shop is nothing like Hesh's. I think I told Bob Connor that I didn't have any white carpet in my shop. If I did, it wouldn't be white any more. Also, you don't want to smell the shavings of this stuff. Have you ever worked with Zebra Wood? When you saw it in a band saw, or use a power sander on it, it has sort of an earthy smell. Not terrible, but not particularly pleasant either.

Claire, thanks, it is the Romanillos design. I seem to be at a slow spot right now. Since it's my first, I want to make sure it's right before I glue any of this stuff together. Hopefully, this weekend I can get all that done, and you can be guaranteed I'll post pictures.

Hi Alex! No way I'll beat you getting done. Seems like every time I go work on it, I find something else that needs to be tweaked before I can go ahead. Tonight I worked the neck down a little more at the heel. It was still a little fat. I made a tail block too. I had not done that. I'm also still fiddling with the neck joint. I'm not sure I like the way the sides meet it at the top. I may have rounded the edge of the slot. Nothing that can't be fixed, just something else to get right before moving on.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Do you plan trimming that foot a little more? You can make it a little wedge shaped. it does not need much thickness at the end. You gain a drop of box volume and shave 10 grams. 1 gram here, another there and so on, the only way to get a light guitar.

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Build log

For sure, Alex. The foot is still too tall, and I didn't want to do any more trimming until I have everything right. I need to take nearly a quarter inch off of the sides, which will make me take some off of the foot too. then I'll take the neck out and trim it from the other side before I glue stuff up.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Waddy it is looking fantastic!!
Please keep posting pictures. I am beginning to get the idea on how these are built....completely backwards to what I am used to.

Lookin good!

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Reguards,

Ken H

Exactly, Ken. Once you go to the Solera, you don't see the top again until you close the box. just need to make sure you can get your soundboard clamp off from the back of the solera.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Just keep slappin that forehead Waddy, it seems to be working for you. Nice job.

Cheers

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Horton, MI

Excellent work Waddy. Thanks for sharing what you learned about posting pics too. What is the file size we are shooting for now?

I especially like the close up clicking feature. One of your photos was 36K or so, clicked it took more space than my screen and was 100K size.

Great looking guitar. I'm like Ken, just seems strange to put the neck on as you are building. Lining it all up to a line on the solera I'm guessing? And hoping and prayin' the action works out. These must be flattops? What about the backs, any curvature or dome?

No, Bruce, not flat tops. Upper bout is flat, but the lower bout is domed at about 25', and bows up a little in the solera, which results in a drop off of the edges on the top(You can't see that, because the sides extend below the surface of the top, and will be trimmed back to the top when the gluing is complete.). The back does have something of a radius, but less in the lower bout and a little more slope to the heel from the waist to the heel. The neck is negatively sloped away from the surface of the solera about 2 - 2.5mm at the nut. Supposedly, when you put it all together, and attach a tapered finger board, it all magically comes together perfectly. We'll see about that part.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Bruce, I think it told me that 256K was the largest size that could be entered. I used the Windows resizer, which really reduced the number of K from 270 to around 100K, without reducing the actual size of the picture much. I guess it lowers the quality to a reasonable level for internet posts. I did notice in another thread just now that the system is limiting that type of attachment to three per post. Maybe that's why I couldn't get them in. That, and I probably didn't know what I was doing. It won't take long, though, and we'll all have lots of experience with it.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars