Official Luthiers Forum!

I've been working on this one for a while, and its got a few interesting features, so I thought I'd share it on here in case anyone's interested. It's a quilted maple/alpine spruce guitar with my own body shape - slightly wider than an OM with the waist shifted up to give more vibrating room in the lower bout. It's also got an adjustable neck, floating fingerboard extension, carbon buttress braces and carbon reinforced neck and heel. Its been challenging to say the least...
Thanks to Todd Rose for the inspiration and advice (If he uses this forum?)
Anyway here's where I am so far...

Joining the top


Rosette beginnings...






Success!

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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

Starting the neck. You can just see the ends of the 2 carbon tubes going down into the heel to stiffen it


The neck side of the adjustable neck system


Carbon rods and truss rod


Neck carving




A bit of a different heel...

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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

Side bending... I bend by hand on a hot pipe. I used supersoft 2 and it went ok - there was a bit of rippling here and there, but it should scrape out afterwards


Installing the carbon butress braces


A shot with an identical rosewood guitar I'm working on at the same time. You can get an idea of the headblock here... Basically, the heel is inset into a pocket in the guitar, so it can be adjusted without leaving a gap on the outside. There are 3 set screw in the block which correspond to the 3 metal inserts in the heel that adjust the angle of the neck up and down and side to side. The neck gets bolted on as normal.


Fretboard routed for inlays


And they're in...






A mockup with the neck and body


Looking like a guitar

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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

That's looking great Peter!

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Lovely

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久保
美智え

Made a bit of progress on this. I've finished the headstock overlay - I inlayed my name on it which was the first really intricate inlay I've done and it went fairly well. Thankfully it was in ebony, so it was easy to fill the gaps! I've also got all the linings on and started bracing the top. I'm using the same bracing pattern I used on my first that I copied from a picture of one of Somogyi's guitars. It's a very light X brace with lattice bracing on the lower bout and A frame upper bout bracing. The top is wonderful - master grade alpine spruce and rings like a bell I took it down to about 2.8mm and a bit thinner on the edges and lower bout and it still feels really stiff!

My logo before inlaying


Headplate being glued up


X brace getting glued up in the go bar deck


Random curly shaving!


Bridge plate gluing and a few other braces laid in place


More to come soon...

_________________
"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

So the top is braced and glued to the rims, and I'm just waiting for the LR Baggs Lyric pickup to arrive before I glue the back on. I want to test fit it beforehand so its easier to install.






My ramshackle homemade spool clamps!




Test fitting the neck...


The back inlay - spalted maple and rosewood. I haven't finished the twisty lines yet.

_________________
"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

Please ignore the mess by the way - I'm not the tidiest of workers!

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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

Hey, you are not the only "messy" builder. Much prefer these kinds of photos to the "Guitar on Velvet with organized shavings" kind of photo...
There are times when building is messy, and times when it's time to clean the bench and get out the nice soft, clean rug.
Not my style, but looks like you are doing a fine job!

Thanks Haans!

_________________
"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

Petr, I love your aesthetic!!! I think your guitars rock

Some real nice design elements there. Keep the progress pictures coming!

Can't believe I missed this! Looking great, Peter!
I always get a bit jealous when I see your work!

I'd love to know how you put that neck blank together!

Thanks guys!
Nick, the neck blank is made up as normal, but I left it as long as the whole fretboard and glued the heel block on where the 14th fret was going. I cut the tenon on the heel block before gluing it on. I then bandsawed out the taper in the end and chiselled out the corner bits next to the tenon. Then rout the truss rod channel till it pokes out the bottom and continue the channel on the other side with chisels... Simple
I adapted the idea from Todd Rose's guitars - he's got a thread on the AGF somewhere showing the whole process, only I used 2 smaller carbon tubes rather than one massive one to support the heel.
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/foru ... 710&page=5

_________________
"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 absolutely love the looks of the rosette and fret board together. How do you cut out sections of the sound board for the rosette?

Thanks Jim! I use a dremel in a homemade router base/circle cutter and cut the ends of each section with a knife and chisels.

So its been a while since I updated this. The back is on and end graft inlayed. I had a few delays trying to find a method of binding that would work for me. I tried all sorts of different types of tape and roping before finding out about fibre reinforced strapping tape - works amazingly well! So far I think its the best binding job I've done - not a single gap
On a bad note though, I have to re-do the fingerboard. I slotted it myself with a japanese pull saw and mitre box and I think the saw was too flexible or something because the slots aren't perfectly vertical and the frets are tipping slightly leaving gaps underneath. I can't think of any other reason for the gaps anyway - they're definitely deep enough.
I bought a pre-slotted board in the end in frustration and will be starting on that soon...
Oh and I've also roughed out the bridge.







My simple binding router jig. It works pretty well...

_________________
"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

Oh I forgot to show a picture of the back bracing. Its something a little different I got from looking at Tom Doerr's guitars. It seemed like it would help against the neck pulling upwards and flattening the back.

_________________
"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

So its been rather a while since I updated this. I've been away and having a lot of trouble with the frets, but I've managed to get past it thankfully and its on to a new stage. I've got all the frets in, the fingerboard glued on and have been sanding the body for hours.
Those who look carefully will probably notice the fingerboard looks different and thats because I made a new one There was a problem with the fret slots on the old one, so I bought a preslotted board and did it all again.

_________________
"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

Still watching and enjoying, Peter. Bit jealous of those Florentine binding chops!!!

Finishing time!! The first zpoxy pore fill coat has just gone on and it looked so good I had to put some pictures up!

_________________
"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

Wow....chatoyance!!!!

I'll keep the verbage to a minimum. WOW!

Alex

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

Super-Duper!

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Really like it,totally beautiful!!!

Thanks very much I was a little hesitant using such expensive wood at first, but the results are totally worth it!
A couple of coats of zpoxy later and the lacquering can begin...


In my ultra high-tec spray booth... I'm spraying Bolgers nitro lacquer using a preval sprayer. So far (2 coats in on the neck) its going ok, although I don't have any other spraying experience, so I don't really know what ok is! Its leaves a fairly rough surface finish because it doesn't atomise the lacquer as well as a proper spray gun, but for the price, a little extra level sanding is well worth it. A unit costs around £15 here in Wales and you need about 2 refils (£8 each) to finish a guitar. You can also fill it with whatever finish you like and thin it to just the way you want it which makes it a lot better and cheaper than rattle cans.

_________________
"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