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It is amazing work , Are you planning on binding the side port ?

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Thanks everyone!
Clinch, yes the neck isn't quite finished yet. I'll probably take a lot more off that corner.
Wud, I don't have a clue how I could bind the soundport! It would take some clever work with a bending iron. Instead, I've just rounded over the edges and think it looks ok.

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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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First coats of varnish going on. I decided to go with a natural, open pore wiping varnish finish. Mainly because finishing is the part I like least and this is easy! I sanded everything to 240, then just wipe on 50:50 poly varnish:white spirit. I'm trying out a different method that I found here: http://www.hardwoodlumberandmore.com/Ar ... rnish.aspx. Wipe on 3 coats with half an hour between each, then let cure for 12 hours, lightly sand and do another three. The coats are so thin they dry really fast. It's almost like french polishing!

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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

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Finishing time here too!! Just tried zpoxy for the first time. Looks like we are on the same schedule. Yours is looking fabulous

I just caught up on this thread. Wow. Amazing work. I like so many of your design elements. Outstanding job so far!!

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Thanks Tony and Zeke! 15 coats of varnish later and it's nice and shiny. I still need to buff it and make the bridge. I've also noticed a slight twist in the neck/body joint. If I fix it, the heel won't be flush with the cutaway anymore. Can I just put a wedge under the fingerboard extension?

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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

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Outstanding, I wish my execution was that nice. Dry fit one and see, It should work.

Thanks Clinch! I glued a sliver of veneer in there and it seems to be fine now.
I've got the bridge done (I think it's padauk, but not sure). Just need to buff the varnish and glue it on. I hope to have it strung up by next week.

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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

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

It's getting close! Tuners installed, fingerboard glued down and bridge glued on. It's slightly neck heavy, but not too bad. I couldn't be bothered to do anything fancy with the bridge in the end - maybe next time! I tried buffing the finish as well. It's not perfect, but not bad for doing it by hand.

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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

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

I think we are going to be running out of superlatives pretty soon, Peter!

Alex

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Crazy good, and very well done.

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Get some strings on that! Very sophisticated well executed build.

Thank you! I strung it up this afternoon It sounds wonderful. Apart from the higher tuning, you can hardly tell it apart from a big guitar - lots of bass and sustain. Intonating it is driving me crazy, though . I'm trying to do nut compensation and I can hardly get my head around it. I've already messed up one nut and broken a high A string .

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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

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Yay Congrats on a most impressive second build!

The nut compensation ramps should run parallel to the saddle ramps. That is, the low string is shortened the most at the nut and lengthened the most at the saddle, and high E is shortened the least at the nut and lengthened the least at the saddle.

Put another way, the low E shouldn't need much filing on the nut, but the high E will need to have the nut filed back a long way.

And you did cut the nut closer to the first fret than normal, correct? Nut compensation never makes strings longer than normal. Always shorter or equal.

Also, nut compensation really only affects the open strings. So you can intonate the saddle by comparing the frequency at the first fret to the 13th fret (don't capo the first fret, that would add more stretch sharpening than fretting the 13th alone), and get them precisely an octave apart. Then work the nut until the open string is precisely an octave below the 12th fret.

Thanks for that explanation. I've been going on a post by Al Carruth where he said bringing the nut closer to the first fret lowers all the pitches at each fret, and filing back the saddle lowers the pitches of the higher strings. So I plotted a graph of cents out for each fret, each string before filing anything, but it's all over the place and most of the pitches are flat. I was using APTuner with a samson microphone - is that accurate enough?
The nut is about 1mm closer to the first fret than normal.

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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

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Nice build. thats a very cool guitar.

Fantastic work there, Fenske! I can't wait for the sound clip. You've now made me want to build one!

Thanks Jay and Dave! Ok, here are the final pictures. I'll wait for it to settle in a bit before doing the sound clip.

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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

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

And a few more:

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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

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Very nice work Peter!

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Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

!!! That looks great, Peter! I love that you used a top with a few pin knots. They give such a natural look to your guitar. I can't wait to hear it!

Alex

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

Crazy good, Peter! Unbelievable features. It's so much fun to see something so far outside the usual box (yup, I did say that).

You should be disqualified. Cause you're too good

Finally got around to recording something on this. It's being played by a friend of mine. The recording is almost unedited, just with a little compression and volume adjusting to make it actually audible. The strings are about 3 months old...

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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

https://www.facebook.com/FenskeGuitars

Fantastic, Peter!

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Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement.