Hibernating

I’ve gone into hibernation. With winter setting in, I can not imagine spending cold nights down in the shed, it is barely warm enough in the house – I know that David will be calling me a sook right about now.

I think my next attempt will be a scratch build with the cheapest local wood I can find, I’ve added up the costs and the project and it will still work out the be around AU$250.00 + and to get started I will need to buy a band saw at least. Then I have to learn how to use a router properly to make dishes etc.

I need to find some time. I’ve put aside a lot of other things over the last 12 months in order to research and make guitars. I still have the passion but I can see it waning in the cold weather.

In short – things might be a little slow around here in the immediate future.

If you want to get in contact with me in the mean time put this email address all together - teds online @ gmail . com

Bragging Rights

I forgot to have a really big brag about this. David has asked how I recovered from this;



Well, I am pretty pleased to announce that it is looking good. It totally depends on the light and if you know what you are looking for. The crack in the binding is obvious because I glued it shut without cleaning out all the dust.

but looking at the back, you have to study it quite hard (even I do) to find the cracks. I've highlighted them for you by putting a yellow line on either side.

Photo Upload Day

More photos. Trying to get the right one for Bill.... and showing off.

Click on each photo for more detail.

Taking Photographs

Bill Cory from , the guy that got me started on this guitar building journey in the first place, is about to publish a book on building kit guitars and has asked for photographs of completed kits to dress up the back cover. I got home after work during the hours of darkness tonight so I tried to set up a photography studio in the shed. The hallogen lights that I have, the camera, the backdrop - It all worked against me. I won't be sending these ones to Bill, I will be having a go under the natural sunlight.

Strings are on

I have heard it! The strings are on!

The nut and saddle are miles to high and I snapped a tendon on my ring finger trying to fret a note but it is now officially a guitar - an instrument for playing music. I now have a few weeks of trial and error in setting the actions and playablility.

Now I get to play the lower = buzz.

I think I left the saddle a little too tight in the slot, I splintered the end trying to pull it out with a pair of pliers however, taking into account that it is so high, the surface will be smooth again by the time I have sanded it down.

I also learnt another great lesson - don't use the buffing wheel on a Dremel in an attempt to clean up the fret board. The metal fret stains the buffer, which in turn stains the fret board - keeping in mind that mine is pau ferro and not ebony - Also one little slip and that buffer makes a hugh burn mark on your new finish.

My glue tidy up on the bridge was a bit sloppy, I have some delicate work to do during the final clean up stage.

The Grover tuners were easy to install with a little touch up from the reamer. Having said that, there is so much to be said about keeping that centre line - there is a good reason why everyone goes on and on about it. Obviously my peg head centre line was a little out as well. I keen eye will notice that the tuners are not 'balanced'. I am not really happy with the way that the strings seem to be cramped up on each other around the tuners.

Getting Close Now

Getting closer to the finish line now. I have rubbed back and buffed the finish to a shine. I am much happier with the KTM-9 finish on this one - less errors made by the user (me)



The photos are taken under the workshop lights and don't really show the true finish.

I've started on the nut and the saddle, roughing out the shapes. The black line is the repair job I made. It is actually very snug.