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I've been so busy with setups just haven't had much time so nothing cosmic but I did get another, properly measured, neck prepped.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Rosette is installed. Mad rose center with ivoroid. Some Naptha on the top to get an idea of the color.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

That top is. Beatiful. The rosette fits really nicely with the color.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

Haven't posted for a while but I'm making progress ribs are ready for linings and top is ready to brace. Got the back braced today

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Got the Koa head plate on and peg head cutout. Last year I used a simple S on the headstock of a mandolin and liked it so I made a slightly larger version from MOP for this one.


Ribs are ready so all the bus driving is done. Olive wood is hard! Top and back are braced and ready to carve.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Dang, I just noticed I put the tone bar on backwards - again. Now I'll have to change it even though I firmly believe it makes absolutely no difference.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Do what you want but I wouldn't change it. After all, that is part of you signature sound with this model. That is how you get the tone you're after (just make sure to do it on all the others of this model too. . .).

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

LOL...

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

What annoys me is that I keep reminding myself that the tone bar comes off the treble side of the X and I still do some of them this way. I guess because I don't really think it makes any real difference in the sound than I just must subconsciously blow it off.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I figured if I changed it I might remember next time. Took a whole 20 minutes.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Probably true. My memory key is that the tone bars run parallel to your picking arm when holding the guitar.

Looking good so far! I love olive wood.

I hate to tell you Steve but now it is backwards. I thought you were joking the first time.


Made you look

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

Ha ha. Nice try

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Dennis, I like the olive wood too. It's surprisingly hard and is very similar to working Bubinga although it seemed to bend easier.

One thing I noticed when I removed the brace on the redwood top is staining along the glue line and next to the braces where I had used a damp rag to clean up the squeeze out. When I removed the tone bar I scraped everything level but looks like the staining has soaked into the wood. I have not experienced this with spruce so forewarned is forearmed. Fortunately I've already put a coat of shellac on the top and I'll use more shellac after I cut the binding channels but before I glue in the binding.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

What kind of glue did you use for putting the braces on?

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

Titebond original

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Steve, stop and check your math on scale length and bridge placement. On the child size guitar thread, Ken second guessed your math on the 25.4" scale lopped off at the third fret then I remembered you having to make a second neck because the first was too short. It got me thinking that you may have miscalculated your scale length. You may have it all right but I would hate to not say something in time. By my calculations 25.4" minus the top 3 frets is 21.358" not tthe 22.something you quoted above.

Hopefully you have it right and I am worrying about nothing:)

BB

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

Nope, you're right and thanks for pointing it out. I did it in my head and put it down wrong. It's 10.66" to the 12th or 21.32" scale more or less. I'll cut the fretboard and get it exact before I finish trimming the neck or glue the top to the ribs.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

The back and top braces are carved. Also got the fretboard slotted.



Bryan, I measured the slots - they're spot on.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Looks good Steve. Did you buy the fret slotting blade from Stewmac?

Thanks Chuck. Blade is 0.024" cut and came from High Mountain Tonewoods.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

My wife has named this guitar the Baby Bird since it is so small, hence the name change for the topic.

In honor of the name change I have a hummingbird inlay I want to use on the headstock and have several choices of how to position it both with or without my "S" logo. We have option 1, 2 or 3. I know which one I like but curious to see what all of you think.

Option 1


Option 2


Option 3

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Definitely #2 for me. Centering the hummingbird makes it the focus of attention and it leaves room for your S logo which looks nice. Second place is #1 for its simplicity. I don't care for #3 because of the blank space in the middle.

That's a nice inlay.

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

+1

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

Ok then #3 is out - that was my least favorite as well.

I prefer#2 but my wife likes #1 which was also my second choice. Since I plan to keep this guitar to perform with I think I'll do the version she likes

Oh, and the inlay came from DePaule - excellent work as always.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"