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I'm going to turn this plank of purpleheart into 3 guitars... I need to resaw them as soon as possible and sticker them to stablize them before actually starting work on it. I am however short some materials, most notably the top, braces, and various odds and ends. I got some sapele that is going to become a 4th guitar as well.

I want to try some new things with them... like forearm contours, more creative inlays, etc. so I can have a guitar that I can show people that I've made.

I am waiting for some bandsaw blades, because the stock ones (and ones sold by the manufacturer) obviously are made of substandard steel and is dull after resawing Sapele ONCE. That and the thrust bearing on my bandsaw self disassembled, and I managed to replace them (had to do a little machining to do that, the bearing was pressed in and the manufacturer did not leave any provision for removing them at all, means I had to drill holes in order to press it out). I replaced it with some NSK brand bearing of the same size. I hope it will not crap out on me again. I like to use bimetal blades, but the only bandsaw blade of quality sold in Taiwan are Amada, a Japanese company. I have used them before and they are SHARP out of the box, sharper than even Lenox. They however do not carry any bimetal blades that are coarser than about 10 TPI unless you get into 3/4" blades, as they are obviously intended for cutting metal. I had a few made, I'm just waiting for them. I will not risk the purpleheart until I have some quality blade that will not wander around on me. I also need a taller resaw fence.

I am using bridge blanks as stickers because I simply do not have any scrap wood at the moment. I may visit a neighbor and see if they have some. I can bolt some wood pieces to the existing fence as a resaw fence so I'm not making all kinds of guesswork to get consistent thickness when I cut it.

Honestly, I'm hoping to see if I can farm out the resaw work... that way I don't have to worry about it.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

If you have the bandsaw that can do it you may as well put it to use. In my beginning I farmed out resawing and it sure is nice to pick up a bundle of perfectly resawn wood and not have to do any work for it. I have a dedicated resaw now though and in the end I like that a lot better. Saves a lot of money too.

I have had a board of purple heart for like 20 years now. My original intent was to make a harlequin purple heart / maple guitar and then I learned that purple heart will just turn brown over the years anyway so I put it aside. I do want to build with it some day though.

After 20 years, you should have a good idea of what color that particular purple heart board will end up. That will make it easy to pick woods to go with it.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

Some purple heart stays purple for years.

Yep, it seems like some goes brown more than others. Assuming his board has not been totally buried away from light and air, 20 years should tell the tail.

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

It actually does have some purple to it. I have kept it out of sunlight all these years so perhaps that helped. I do remember though when I first got it, it was incredibly purple.

I don't know about 20 years, it's a long time to see how it will turn out.

But I had a piece of purpleheart for years and it stayed purple.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I finished resawing the backs and sides.

I broke a 10mm 4T blade during the resawing because I was just resawing a side that was too thick but too thin to make 2, so I figure I trim it to size. Prior to this I had sharpened the blade with a pencil grinder because it kept dulling after about 2 cuts (as in the wood would start to burn rather than cut). It broke in 2 places. I do not know if it's because the saw wheel is too small (14 inches) even though the blade is only .025" thick.

One of the back is junk because it came out too thin at one end. I didn't put pressure in the right places to guide the blade and it would drift if I didn't keep pressure to the side of the board as I am feeding. There was also a section of rot around that end too and if I trim out all the thin places, there wouldn't be enough back for even a ukelele.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Tai, the late Ken Cierpilowski describes a technique of resawing where he cuts the slices off the outside of the blank rather than up against the fence. I tried it the last time sawing some WRC and Redwood tops and it worked great. Here's a link, http://acousticguitarconstructionforum. ... f=7&t=1819.

I'll keep this in mind... I hate using 4 TPI because I can hear the saw bog down. When I had the 18 inch even though it had the same motor power, but because I could use Woodmaster CT type blades where there's 1.2 TPI, the saw takes almost no effort to cut.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Sawing up some purpleheart and making neck laminates. I have to glue up the purpleheart in 2 pieces because the widest piece I can find is 75mm. I need about 100mm.









Neck blank ready to be made (I will need to use my milling machine and a fly cutter to plane it), and some inside the box blocks are made as well.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Here's some updates... sorry for not updating for a while.







Rosette being made. I had to screw the rosette down because the POS double sided tape kept releasing by itself. You'll never know how much force the end mills are putting on the workpiece until you have it fly off on you. By the way there were gaps in the rosette. I went back and closed them by cutting the joint apart and truing them, then gluing it back together. It eliminated gaps in the abalone strip too.



Laminated neck blank glued up and cut out. I will have to true it up before I can use it (making sure the laminates are square to the top of the blank)



Back being joined. I actually had to redo it. The bwb strip was too thin to be inserted during joining so I joined the back with the white maple strip and the BWB strip is later milled in and inlaid.



This is top and back joined



Ready to receive a backstrip. I ended up thinning the back to an average of .09" - .08". I had to, because while routing in the slot for the purfling strip parts of the joint came apart, so I had to sand it back down. The part at the very end, toward the tail went down to .065". But at least it will be reinforced with the heel block. I've seen a guitar with much thinner back. I guess someone tried to refinish it and went too overzealous with a sander. I wanted this guitar to be lightweight but strong because it's for a customer who invested in my business. I want her to have a great sounding guitar.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Back thickness is fine. I'd be a little worried about the thin section if it was at the neck end, but at the heel I wouldn't worry.

coming along now!

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

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

Another reason why I got it so thin was because the back and side set was given to me by another luthier. It had sat around for years, and the pieces have kinda cupped. It was also not very thick to begin with which presented difficulties joining them. Thinning the part down actually fixes a lot of problems with the piece wanting to cup on me.

For the record, the curly mahogany set is going to an OM. The side (which is NOT a match for the back at all) will have to be re-bent for a cutaway because it was bent for a dreadnought.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Nice work. That's some of the nicest purple heart I've seen.

Here is the work done to it so far:



Truss rod routed in



Router/circle made for the rotary tool





Rosette installed



Rosette completely installed (purfling ring was routed in separately because the joint was not 100% gapless)





Side re-bent to OM cutaway shape (side was originally bent for Dreadnought)

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com