Ted's Guitar

15 Posts in 2008

2009-02-21T13:05:00.003+09:00

Not really a great achievement, pretty poor effort in fact.

I could blame moving to a new role in work, the girls, that I am learning Indonesian and trying to get fit - but all those things shouldn't have stopped me from find one or two hours a week... I used to find a couple hours a day.

Anyway, I gave up on joining the plates and bending the sides. Tim from Australian Tonewoods is going to bail me out again and take care of some of those moves. Now that is cheating according to the plan for this build - 100% scratch - but I was really having no fun... I have the greatest respect for those people that can make musical instruments without precision power tools... How did they do it before sandpaper?

So I can't promise a sudden surge in my performance but summer is about to subside here in Perth and I've been thinking more and more about guitars again - so there may be some action soon.

I am still here

2008-06-22T22:56:00.002+08:00

Firstly thanks to those of you that have commented below, offering support. I have not thrown in the towel. I have infact been in the Eastern States for the last week or so with work. EVERYTHING is calling for my attention at the moment and unfortunately the pieces of wood in the shed are not being heard at the moment.

Still, when I get back to the shed I will have a fresh outlook.

Thanks again.

I give up

2008-06-08T20:27:00.002+08:00

I have lost count of the amount of hours I have now spent trying to sand the edges of the plates, trying to get them to line up. Frustrating to say the very least. I can not work out where I have gone wrong... This is no fun.

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :

Getting there... slowly

2008-05-18T17:37:00.005+08:00

I think I am getting closer. I just needed to put a little elbow grease in apparently.

Firstly, here is my set up. On the Triton work table I lay out an MDF work board and to that I clamp a piece of plywood to raise my plates slightly. I also used the clamps to also make a surround/frame of sorts around the plate - to hold the plate still so I can push against it.

Then I laid a think piece of MDF over my plate and weighing it down with a couple of bricks. Simply, only the edge of the soundboard/back plate is protruding so I can sand away with the straight edge.

So I am getting close, as you can see below. On the other side of my plates is my bright spotlights, you can see where the light is just coming through at the top.

After an hour or so, I worked out that for each sanding session I did before checking the joint, I was not getting much sawdust. Frustration lead to anger which lead to furious rubbing, lots more dust and the slow closure of the gap.

Time taken : 2 hours
Tools used : as below
AU$'s spent : Nil

Joining the Plates

2008-05-17T21:19:00.002+08:00

I have made a start on joining the two halves of my soundboard and back together. I know that everyone says "take your time", but this is getting ridiculous. I thought it would go together a lot easier than this.

I am using the plane and shooting board method and I think I am getting the right results - sort of. One minute the ends are too high and then the middle is high. I don't understand how it can change considering the straight edge can not sand the ends without doing the middle section as well and vice versa. I will endeavour with this system and post some photos tomorrow.

I defy anyone to be able to physically hold two 3 x 600 x 300 plates together and then hold them up to the light to ensure there are no gaps. I have been using painters tape to act like a second and third pair of hands.

Time taken : 3 hours
Tools used : spirit levels (straight edged shooting boards), sand paper, clamps, hand planes, pencils, rulers.
AU$'s spent : 1200mm spirit level $30.00, painters tape $10.00, sand papers $15.00, Contact adhesive and super glue $8.00, Methylated spirits $3.50

Photos of Wood

2008-05-17T15:41:00.008+08:00

Well, I thought I should show you the wood I am about to destroy... I mean, turn in a fine musical instrument. When ordering my kit from Australian Tonewoods, I told Tim that I was more interested in learning the steps and rather than having the best pieces of wood in his shop, I wanted to keep the costs down where I could. Having said that even though it may not be the most eye pleasing pieces you have ever seen, I think they are nowhere near boring and they will make a great looking guitar.

I like the effect of having the really light grain running down the centre of the soundboard. Tim advised me to straighten the grain up a little when making the joint to increase the strength.

Alternatively, I could have the grain constant across almost the whole soundboard. That might make the center joint a little less visable from afar.

Here is the back in its naked beauty. I think it is nicely divided into sections

and the sides, with a little spirits to highlight.

the close up of the figure in the Tasmainan Blackwood

Time taken : 5 minutes
Tools used : Camera and gravity
AU$'s spent : Nil

What have I done?

2008-05-11T23:15:00.003+08:00

It occurred to me tonight that I better change the minor heading at the top of my page. I am really doubting my skills and I wouldn't want someone surfing in and thinking that kit guitar building was this hard.

I went down to see Tim from Australian Tonewoods tonight to collect my soundboard, back, sides, fretboard and neck wood. I had asked Tim to service these parts in sanding to width and making the scarpe joint cut on the neck wood. Even still, I am faced with a neck that looks like four blocks of wood and other bits of wood that really don't look like a guitar to me.

Tim has been great. He is clearly running out of clean space on his work bench, having used it to sketch out a dozen diagrams to illustrate what he is showing me.

I am really starting to worry.... It took me ten hours to make dishes... that is one tenth of the time that it took me to make the OOO. What have I gotten myself in for?

It's late - I will post some wood photos tomorrow night.

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :

Clean Clean Clean

2008-05-08T22:17:00.004+08:00

I spent about 4 hours in the shed today and really did nothing but clean. I have sorted it all out, everything has a place and now I have so much more room. I have tomorrow off work and then the weekend ahead of me - so I might actually get to make a start on things.

2008-05-01T21:46:00.002+08:00

I am really happy with the way that the dishes have turned out. Without wanting to blow my own horn - I think they are accurate and I am really pleased. I could certainly produce them for less than US$100 (if you consider postage) - but I doubt I'll be starting an AU business in the near future.

Anyway I reflected on an old post tonight and read where I set myself some challenges,

- Learn to sharpen tools, in particular chisels
- Buy a band saw and consider buying a sanding station
- Order wood and supplies
- Construct a side bending machine
- Construct a mold
- Make a go-bar deck
- Make sanding dishes

So I have checked off three of those things. I tried to sharpen the chisels tonight... they are better, but I still miles away from shaving hairs off the arm.

Now that I have worked out I can mount the jigsaw in the Triton table, I don't think I need to buy the bandsaw this week. I bought a :WASP sanderso I have a basic setup. The gobar deck should be easy enough... so I am somewhat on my way.

Oh and I've been to LMI and ordered up. KTM-9, white glue, inlay spiral bit, radius sanding block for the fret board, fret file... US$130.00 + US$45.00 postage...geezz

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent : US$175.00

How I do it

2008-04-28T20:39:00.009+08:00

I made a start on the 15 foot radius dish this evening and took some photos of the setup. Firstly, my dishes are made of two 600mm square pieces of MDF that I glued together - giving me a total thickness of 32mm. I then used a jigsaw set in the Triton table and cut the circle using a centre point.

I then used another square of MDF as a base board and partly drilled a hole at the center point. I put a drill bit or screw through the centre of the disc and then down into the base board. The MDF is smooth enough that it is fairly easy to spin the disc on the board below.

I mounted the MDF rails that I had routed to the radus curve onto some pine boards - giving the curve some strength to prevent it from bowing when suspended above the disc.

I used the corner pieces that had been cut of when making the discs and placed them near the edges of the disc. On these, I places some biscuts t make a slight gab and then clamped down the pine boards.

I ensured that the two rails were only seperated just over the width of my router base, to stop the router moving side to side.

I made the rails so they extended well past the end of the dish and that the curve continued past the centre point, considering the width of my router base.

My router has the ability to have two metal rods fixed into the base - the rods are the only parts that come in contact with the rails.

On the last dish I moved the router in and out, taking small cuts. This time (and I am finding a better result) I am turning the dish to make the cut all around the outside and then moving the router a little towards the middle before making the next cut.

I did however slice the disc with a few cuts into the center, giving me a few finger grips to turn the dish with.

Dishes are done... almost

2008-04-27T19:31:00.006+08:00

Well, it may have taken me something like 15-20 hours of fiddling around trying to work out all the new equipment and develop some skill at using it, but I think I have worked out how to make a sanding dish - or at least a way of making a half decent version of one. I tried a few different methods - this is what I ended up using. I think it works best for me.

First of all I plotted out BillM's calculation of the given radius onto 30mm wide x 20 mm thick MDF strips. From that I used nails to plot out the curve, taking into account the width of my steel rule. I also cut the heads off the nails to try and keep it closer to accurate.

Most importantly, I introduced some form of dust management. If you are going to attempt to make dishes, this is a must. To give you some idea, I changed the bag in my standard household vaccum four times today. My shed is trashed from the previous efforts an I fixing up the old vaccum cleaner was well worth the effort.

Below you can see how the steel rule (flexible) is held up by the nails. I use a bearing bit in the router, usinging the steel rule as the guide. When I push the bearing against the ruler it in turn pushes against the nails plotting the curve. Below, you can also see my hightech dust management system in place.

Here you can see how the bearing runs on the ruler... the ruler is pushed back against the nails.

I got carried away and forgot to take some pictures through the process. I will get some detailed photos tomorrow when I make the 15 foot dish. Below is the 30 foot radius dish. I am really happy, some light sanding and I will be home and hosed.

Time taken : 4 hours
Tools used : Router, vaccum cleaner, pencils, rulers, screws, drill, jigsaw, eye/ear/dust protection, etcetera - all of it.
AU$'s spent : Nil

If I lived in the States - I'd buy them

2008-04-20T18:37:00.001+08:00

Last Sunday I spent about 5 hours in the shed. This Sunday I spent about 8 hours at it – MAKING DUST.

I have been trying to make a set of 15 foot and 30 foot radius sanding dishes and I have come to the conclusion that it would simply be easier to just buy the darn things. I won’t go into the numerous different hoops through which I have jumped, but here is the basics of how it ended…

I used a piece of scrap 5mm thick board to make a template. After plotting the points of the curve I used small nails to mark the curve – then used a steel rule to form the curve, which in turn became a router guide. I ended up with a templates that was reasonably happy with.

I glued two 600mm X 16mm thick square boards together and then cut and routed these into circles.

I used my template to make two rails on which I made a carriage to hold the router. The idea being that the router bit, at its highest point just touched the edge of the circle and the carriage rolls down from there. Hey – it works but it is slow, tedious and messy.

So at the end of all my efforts, I have a one dish that is about 20% complete.

Time taken : 12-13 hours
Tools used : Just about everything
AU$'s spent : Nil

Mold Making

2008-04-06T19:05:00.001+08:00

Okay, I am officially back at it again. I spent all afternoon in the shed, making myself a OM mold… or at least starting one.

First I cut a sheet of MDF into 600 mm squares with a jigsaw and on the Triton. My plan being to make sanding dishes, go-bar deck and the form from the same sized pieces.

To make the form I cut these squares to make (near enough) 300x 600 mm rectangles. I used oven baking paper to trace the OM plan that I got from Australian Tonewoods and then stuck the baking paper to one of the rectangles with tape.

I should clarify here that Tim from Australian Tonewoods does not draw up his own plans. With his kits, he supplies plans from the popular Stewmac or LMI ranges. The guitar that I am making now is the from the OM LMI plan, which suits me as I can follow Robert O’Briens DVD that came with my last kit. It was comforting for me to know that the plan I would be follow was tried and proved.

I used a Stanley knife to scribe the outline of the plan from the baking paper onto the retangles and then took my time to follow the line with a jig saw.

On one of the squared edges, I screwed the curve template I had created. This left me knowing that the centre line was square the curved sides – does that make sense?

I them used a router for the first time ever. After getting rid of the excess, I used a bearing guide bit, to follow the curve and created my final template.

Using the jigsaw, screws (to secure template to next section) and router I created 5 more copies of the template. So now I have six 16mm thick pieces of form which I can glue/screw together.

Making the form was a surprising easy step – One that I was too fearful off last time to attempt – I wish I had off. I don’t think that my wood working skills have improved that much on the last build. It really was not hard.

That said – It helped having my fathers Triton table saw and router at my disposal.

Time taken : 4 hours
Tools used : pencil, rulers, T square, baking paper, Stanley knife, Jigsaw, Router, Table saw, tape, drill, 25mm screws, sandpaper.
AU$'s spent : Pine wood $7.08, Alumminum tube $2.25, Threaded rod $4.09, Washers, .30, Wing nuts $2.96, Two 2400 x 1200 x 16 MDF sheets $27.00

What have I done?

2008-04-02T21:23:00.002+08:00

Well – I’m back!

At the beginning of every build, I am riddled with the question, “What have I got myself in for?” and this is certainly no different. I’ve spent another 100 hours on the LMI kit wizard and thought long and hard about what steps I can tackle, in an effort to challenge myself and those that I am just not prepared or equipped to have a go at – just yet.

As I mentioned below, I was lucky enough to stumble on an Australian kit guitar supplier. I went down and met Tim from Australian Tonewoods a week or so ago and tonight we put together my next kit.

It was a whirlwind experience, kind of like surfing the LMI kit wizard after having a dozen too many coffees. Tim was pulling out different types, sizes and shapes of wood from all over the place, feeding me the qualities, pros and cons for each sample as he handed me the product. I think he quickly worked out that my knowledge and ability is out weighed by my ambition – I’m sure the constant blank stare was a give away. Let me tell you that the choices are even harder when you are touching the wood.

My briefing to Tim was that I am more interested in the process of building rather than the cosmetics etc. Having had a look around his workshop, I am confident in saying he could have put together a kit serviced to the same standards of Stewmac and LMI but I really want to try a few more of the steps myself this time. Not having the equipment to do it myself, I’ve asked Tim to slot the fret board, thickness the top, back and sides – aside from that I think I am having a go at most of the other steps.

Anyway, it’s time I started making molds, dishes… learning how to sharpen chisels and the other dozen things I have on my to do list.

This one will be from the LMI OM plan. I chose this guitar solely because I have the Robert O’Brien DVD so I can follow his steps without making conversions.

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :

You be the judge

2008-03-31T22:40:00.001+08:00

I was checking out the kits on Australian Luthier Supplies by Hancock Guitars - http://luthierssupplies.com.au/

I checked with ALS and was told that the dreadnought and OOO kits are infact Stewmac kits which do not suit my needs today, but it raised my interest.

ALS list the OOO mahogany kits at AU$659.00, but this price does not include GST. Using ALS’s online checkout, to get the kit to my front door, using their cheapest post option, would cost me AU$756.44 – or on the current conversation rate US$680.46.

When I purchased my Stewmac mahogany OOO in July of 2006, the kit cost me US$365.00 and the postage and handling US$54.95.

Today, Stewmac sell the same kit for US$427.00 and I imagine the P&H has increased also… but even if one could belive that postage has doubled in the last 20 months to US$108.00 an OOO kit from Stewmac today will cost me somewhere around US$535.00, delivered to my door.

I am all for supporting the local guy having a go, but... buyer beware.

How did I miss this?

2008-01-27T12:57:00.000+09:00

I've been back on the Kit Wizard again, wasting another 10 or so hours trying to put something together... day dreaming. For sometime I've been thinking about making a guitar from local woods (jarrah, sheoak etc) and I just can not get over the idea that it costs me US$100 + in postage to get a kit out from the states.

I opened up my favourties and found right at the top of the list - Australian Tonewoods. How did I miss this? The business is based about 15kms away from my front door.

More soon.

Six months already

2007-12-28T20:55:00.000+09:00

I have to get back at it - I can not believe that it has been six months since my last post... and therefore longer since I was building a guitar. Money is not the issue, I'll make the time, it is just the "spark" and the inspiration that I need. Maybe I'll spend the money and "buy" the inspiration.

Hibernating

2007-06-22T20:44:00.000+08:00

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

2007-06-10T12:39:00.000+08:00

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

2007-06-09T14:27:00.001+08:00

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

Click on each photo for more detail.

Taking Photographs

2007-06-04T20:56:00.000+08:00

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

2007-06-03T21:05:00.000+08:00

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

2007-06-02T23:19:00.000+08:00

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.

Stupid Stupid Stupid

2007-05-23T23:24:00.000+08:00

David said: “I know I would be checking every possible thing that could cause it to move before I started changing the neck joint that amount.”

Note to self – When someone offers advice, TAKE IT

I headed down to the shed tonight and got started on fixing that neck set. I checked the side to side a thousand times before I started, I went ever so slow. Hours of sanding, checking, sanding, checking.

THEN the penny dropped – The centre line !

Before I applied the finish, I had a centre line down the fret board, I covered it during the finishing stage and plotted out a new one when I removed the tape covering the fret board surface. My neck set WAS perfect(ish), the new centre line was wrong.

So I was left with a new out of shape neck set that had to go back the other way. My fault, my mistake. A very stupid mistake which has left my neck joint looking a lot less visually pleasing than it was three days ago.

I’ll have to get the camera out again soon. I have been a bit tardy of late.

ARRRRRR - Guitar Making

2007-05-21T22:10:00.000+08:00

Today I headed back down to the shed and started fixing to finish this guitar. I put the neck on and roughly located the bridge. My side-to-side is miles (1 cm+) out. How is that possible? I have removed the finish (tiny amount) from the neck. How can this difference be caused by the smallest layer of finish. Frustration is the name of the day in my house. I started on a new neck set but I know that I will never get that good a join again - I got lucky last time, I know that.

Typical

2007-05-13T17:00:00.000+08:00

I still twiddling my thumbs for three weeks and when I the day comes where I could move forward, there are so many more things more important going on, keeping me out of the workshop.

A circle peg for a round hole

2007-05-01T23:26:00.000+08:00

I found this interesting. Today I surfed over my favourite luthiers site, Dan Dubowski and I noticed this picture.... which I must of looked at a thousand times.

To me it looks like Dan routes his inlay BEFORE he glues on the covering headplate. I got to thinking that using this method, if one made a few mistakes you could fill them in with expoxy or similar and make a second/smaller cut, and get a really tight fit. Then when the headplate got glued on over the top, as long as you had a template to know where to cut/drill/route, you could 'edge' you way up to the cut underneath and bingo - you'll end up with a neat and near perfect inlay slot.

In other news I received my hard guitar case from Marquez Music today. I won it on an Ebay auction and delivered to my door with insurance it cost AU$74.00 in total. It is a great product, really sturdy with clasps, hinges and stoppers etc that appear to be really good quality. The 41 inch case holds my dreadnought snugly and the OOO well but with a small gap all around. Sure, I won't be travelling the world with it, throwing it on to a different aircraft each night but, it'll more than service my needs until an international record label pick me up.

Typical

2007-04-29T12:53:00.000+08:00

I have had so much spare time this weekend - I have been so very tempted to move forward.

A confession

2007-04-23T18:27:00.000+08:00

Looking back, I don't think I have disclosed my stuff up...

When I cut the headplate for the nut, I made it miles too wide and was left with a gap. I used some black purfling to make a stack that I build up with superglue. The end result is the black line that you see in the above photograph. I don't think it'll be noticeable on the final product.

Waiting

2007-04-22T13:48:00.000+08:00

So my period of waiting has begun. I am leaving the KTM-9 for about three weeks in order for it to harden. I am thinking that a lot of my finishing problems with the OOO come from me rushing it. I have pencilled in the weekend of May 12-13 before I do any further work on this guitar.

and with all the waiting - the dreaming begins again. What do I do from here. I am 99.9% sure that now is the time I should try a scratch build. I am sure that I have now made enough online friends and contacts that I can source the information and assistance I would need if/when I ran into a hurdle.

The cost of kits will not fall the more I make and I don't think that I can justify spending that amount of cash I have to think of where all these guitars are going to go - or do I hang them on the wall and play them when I can?

Thinking aloud, before I move onto a scratch build, I need to complete or at least address these following points

- Learn to sharpen tools, in particular chisels

- Buy a band saw and consider buying a sanding station

- Order wood and supplies

- Construct a side bending machine

- Construct a mold

- Make a go-bar deck

- Make sanding dishes

Getting Close now

2007-04-18T19:48:00.000+08:00

By this time tomorrow, the LMI dreadnought will have the finish on and I will be counting down a few weeks to let the finish go off. That should give me sometime to clean up the carport - otherwise known and the luthiers workshop.

Finish goes on

2007-04-15T17:15:00.001+08:00

Okay, so I finished with the Z-poxy and I have worked out that I am most likely NOT using this product properly. Firstly, using a business card to scrape off the excess, as suggested in the Doolin instructions does not work. The card is not strong enough. I ended up settleing for a very flexible plastic card that I got at my last CPR refresher. It seemed to work well but clearly I didn’t scrape enough of and I had some leveling sanding to be between both coats.

I worked on the theory that if the sanding was producing a white powder, I was not rubbing off the Pau Ferro – Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?

Any way in some places I was left with a glass type finish, in others it appeared like a really smooth sanding job. In some of the nicks, there is still some shiny Z-poxy showing through. I could chase them all down but….

So this afternoon, I brushed on the first two coats of KTM-9 and the wood has again come to life. It is very pretty and from a foot or two back, it looks great.

My neighbor came wandering across the road today, “I see you’re making a guitar?”. Obviously he has not noticed me in the shed ever spare hour for the last six months – so much for neighbor hood watch. Evidently he is a guitar player – he liked what he saw and showed excitement when I told him about kits but seemed a little confused when I told him this one was a month away from being finished.

I too remember a time when I thought these things could be knocked together in a couple of weeks.

Let's Try that Again

2007-04-12T17:04:00.000+08:00

This morning, I went down to check on the drying results. It was all fine and I grabbed some 400 grit paper in order to do some leveling. On the soundboard I found a groove where it looked like someone had dragged a screwdriver across the wood, leaving an indented line.

I don't know - I imagine the pixies came into the work shop, just to keep me off balance.

I got out a lower numbered sandpaper and rubbed the mark out before starting again with the Z-Epoxy. I think I am using this product correctly I rubbed the back and sides down leaving the shiny spots only where the wood pores were. The surface feels smooth like clean glass.

At least I am Doing Something

2007-04-11T22:10:00.000+08:00

Today, I got down to the shed and I finished my sanding, masked up the fret board and then started on applying the Z-Epoxy. I really don't know if I am getting that stuff on properly. In the instructions, it mentioned weighing the two parts to ensure that there are exactly the same amounts.

The photos I took are no good but the colour of the neck seems to blend in well. It really blends in with the body and the fret board.

Tomorrow I will apply a second coat and then get into the finishing.

That's the plan anyway.

A weekend of music

2007-04-02T11:30:00.000+08:00

This is slightly off topic but I've just spent the weekend at the West Coast Blues and Roots Festival. Those of you (both) that actually know me in real life will know that I am a big fan of The Waifs. Yesterday was their first gig (anywhere near me) for over a year, due to a period of maternity leave. I am bias obviously but it was a great show.

Josh Cunningham is my favorite guitarist. He is not the best you’ll ever see but his use of structure and simplicity (at times) along with his command of dynamics and the use of silence caught my ear years ago. The fact that he has two great vocalists/musicians on either side of him obviously makes his job easier.

Those of you that were with me at the start will know that it was Josh's Dubowski that lead me down the path to guitar building.

Also, Josh now scratch builds his own guitars and ukes. Even though I’ve never had the chance to see his work up close, I’d say he is making some good gear, better than me at least.

They tour the states often, and I expect they will be out there later this year, early next. I tipped BillC into catching them at the Lyons Folk Festival, last August. but I don’t know if he did catch their set. Bill? Down Under, they’re doing some shows over the next month and then supporting Keith Urban on his tour. You won’t regret giving them a chance.

In a crossover, the Waifs recently recorded a CD at the Music Maker Foundation. I have just started reading Clapton’s Guitar (thanks Keith) and discovered that the founder Tim Duffy sold his Wayne Henderson OOO for US$100,000.00 (ten + years ago) so he could support needy musicians.

Other good shows I saw on the weekend were Carus and the True Believers, the Pilgram Brothers, The Cat Empire and The Custom Kings. Check them out if you get a chance.

A great weekend, I have one vent. I'm not going to be tolerant to another 7 minute long open tuned dobro solo for a while. Seems everyone is doing it these days with their wahwah, chorus and delay pedals working overtime. Maybe that's just me - the crowd seemed to like it.

Back to it.

2007-03-27T11:59:00.000+08:00

So a few of my old mates from the bush are in town and we're meeting for lunch today, which was a great excuse to tell the employer, “I’m taking the day off”. That gave me the morning to do some work, I hit the shed this morning and got a little re acquainted with my old friend.

I drilled the tuner holes in the head stock which seemed to work out okay. They are visually pleasing and using a scrap piece of wood as a backstop and gradually working up the bit sizes, I avoided any tear outs. I did have a “miss hit” with the drill press but the mistake will be covered up by the tuners.

The pearl piece as a heel cap has worked well, except the pearl is a lot hard to file and shape than the thin wood on the OOO. It took a while and keeping the edge straight where the heel cap meets the body was difficult. The over hang also effects the neck angle – Which has changed from last time I adjusted it.

A new hurdle was formed when I was taking the neck on and off. Somehow I have starved the joint between the neck and the finger board. Whilst “levering” the neck joint apart I heard my monthly “crack” sound. On inspection the fingerboard had detached somewhat from the neck.

I tipped the neck up in the vice and gravity fed some (heaps of) white glue down the edges of the neck. I hope that the tape I put in over the truss rod channel stayed in place and that the truss rod still works.

I have either sorted this quickly or caused myself a great big headache.

No real progress

2007-03-18T21:08:00.000+09:00

Another stinking hot day around here so I didn't get down to the shed until around 8:00pm. It has been a little hard to find my groove again. I am mindlessly tinkering, rather than moving forward in controlled steps.

Somehow, I have lost the maple that came with my kit for the heel of the neck. I've searched high and low but I have no idea where it has gone to. I scratched my head and eventually I gave up. I have used a piece of morther of pearl that I bought when I was trying to make my own inlay design.

I hope it comes up okay.

Work Work Work

2007-03-17T17:08:00.000+09:00

I've been working flat out this week and have not even made it close to getting into the shed. Maybe tomorrow, I will find some time for pore filling.

More sanding and reflection

2007-03-11T11:22:00.000+09:00

Okay, so most of the sanding to the body is now complete. I have sanded it to 400 grit all over. This guitar is not going to be as pretty as I had imagined. There are a lot of places that highlight my inexperience.

Below is a snap of the latest and greatest crack in my back. This is the one that I did not even see until the sanding began, now it is fairly obvious. I have highlighted the original crack by drawing the two red lines on the outside. Click to see a larger image.

The super glue and saw dust idea has not really worked. The dust has stayed lighter and and even after sanding off the superglue residue, the crack is still somewhat highlighted.

Below you can see where my routing skills let me down, that binding gets really thin is places. I am still yet to work out how you control the angle on the stewmac precision router. I think I might seek an alternative for the next one.

The sanding process was quite a bit longer this time around, there was a number of places where I had to work down a number of fairly deep machining marks.

None of the errors I have made are going to affect the way that the instrument plays or sounds, they are all merely cosmetic... but somewhat disappointing.

2007-03-07T22:25:00.000+09:00

Three days in a row it has been over 40C (104F) and that's outside the shed! The heat is stopping me from getting started and making me rush if/when I finally get to it.

The inlay is ugly, it won't really stand out too much but it is certainly not pretty. In other breaking news (excuse the pun) I was doing some final sanding and noticed that there was a fine crack, about 20cm in length running parallel with the cracks that came from the great drop of of 2007.

I've run a bead of super glue along the crack and try and get some more sanding in tomorrow night.

Inlay Done - Not Happy

2007-03-05T22:57:00.001+09:00

Tonight I tackled the inlay. It's a really rough job and I think it is going to stand out. The dark head plate on my OOO hides the bits where I went too wide. Let me tell you, this time I went wider and the wood is lighter. It's not going to be pretty.

I don't know. Obviously having the right inlay bit for the Dremel would have been a good start.

I feel a bit ill now. I've been wearing a headset with magnifying glasses build in and the constant changing in focal length has made me feeling a little off colour (there it is again David).

Tonight I am a little disappointed. Let's see what it all looks like when I sand it down.

Also started drilling the tuner holes. I have to buy a new drill bit... 9.5 mm - who owns a 9.5 mm drill bit?

Sanding and Bridge Location

2007-03-04T22:42:00.000+09:00

I’ve started sanding the body, I went over the body twice with 180 and 240 paper and I’ll finish up soon with the 360 grit. The ugliness left over from the fall is still there in some respects, there are lots of little chips out of the body everywhere. I’ve been filling the marks where I can but alas, it’s never going to be a masterpiece. The epoxy with saw dust has left a darker appearance but in most places it looks like the grain of the wood tapering into the bindings. In a couple of places it looks bad and I might go back and try superglue instead.

I have a big chip taken out of the top, right on the edge of the sound hole, but thankfully it is at the top and I was able to cover it over by not trimming the fingerboard and curving the end of it (with my dremel and a sanding bit) so that it has the same curve as the sound hole. I think it looks okay.

I am a little confused with where to put the bridge. You would think that there would have been something mention about this on the LMI plans. When I ordered the kit, I chose a “ WNCMT - Martin™ D-style, no Diamond, heel incl., inserts installed, 25.4 or 25.5 inch scale length Pre-Carved Mahogany Bolt-on Necks, Pre-drilled “ So, at what length do I put the saddle? I’ve asked the question on the forum, no doubt the crew will know the answer.

At the moment, I am working with the figures given on Robbie O'brien's DVD and I am setting the saddle at 647.16mm or 25.48 inches where the high E string will cross the edge of the saddle
slot.

There is about a 10 cm difference on each side from the bridge, in that the bridge is closer to one edge than the other.

I am thinking about leaving the neck set until all of the sanding has been completed. The sanding that I did a to the top a few weeks ago in order to keep the fingerboard flat has now all changed again. I am going to be suffering from the 14 fret hump.

BRAIN SNAP

2007-02-27T21:42:00.000+09:00

I strongly dislike my job and today was one of those days. Left late, drove home in the dark and then, even though I knew better, I took to my guitar with "passion"

The end result is that I have shaped my head stock. I messured and made out the shape on the headstock - The I hand planed the edges, down to within a few mills of the lines that I had drawn. I then cut off the excess at the top with a hack saw. I will "true" up these edges with a sander tomorrow - when it is a decent hour and the neighbours won't get angry.

So the end result is... not perfect and somewhat out of wack. I think that it has more to do with the centre line being out more than anything. A tiny amount make a big difference...

It's going to be very original

2007-02-25T13:35:00.000+09:00

The days are so busy at the moment, I have not been able to get down to the shed to put some hours in. My fellow builder, David, has braved freezing cold weather to overtake me... not that it is a race. It is just that you want to turn that box of wood and bits into something beautiful as quick as you can.

Maybe after dinner tonight, I will force myself to shape the head - once and for all. I've been putting it off for weeks now, thinking that I don't have the right tools...

Fretboard's done

2007-02-22T09:22:00.000+09:00

Maybe I should stop and actually blog a little. I forget that you all are not there when whilst I complete theses steps.

I've added the frets to the fret board, I've glued said fret board to the neck and then filed/blended the fret board and neck together. In all steps I used same methods as I did with the the Stew mac kit.

Starting to look like a guitar, isn't it?

There is some drop damage to the soundboard, right between the rosette and the sound hole. To cover it I am going to run the finger board right up to the sound hole - The plan being that the end of the fret board with have the curve in it - we'll see.

I'll post a picture later but I am on the hunt for a pau ferro bridge - the Rosewood is just too dark. Or perhaps it will blend more with the finish on. I don't intend to stain this one at all.

Not having a band saw, I have been too scared to cut the template for my head just yet. I can feel the credit card warming up...

Can you spot it?

2007-02-19T22:19:00.000+09:00

I think I've finished patching up my great big blue. After pressing the pieces back together, I ran superglue in to the joins and then used saw dust in clear epoxy to fill up some minor flaws that I caused with a razor blade.

Here is the results. I wiped the area with a wet rag, just to highlight what it'll look like once the finish is on. Firstly, here is area... can you spot the cracks?

Couldn't see them? Try this one. I have laid the rulers down on the outsides of the section that was previously raised.

From the side, you would never know.

I am happy with the results. I still wish it never happened but at least I know I (and you) can do it now.

In other news, the fret board went on tonight - frets included.

Back to it

2007-02-18T22:44:00.000+09:00

I've been busy over the last couple of weeks but I managed to get down to the shed tonight and address this problem with the cracked back. I made it worse before I made it better but I think I am getting back on track.

I just couldn't get around the problem of getting the raised piece back into place. I made sure that there were no splinters of other objects stuck in the groove. When I found there wasn't, I tried to trim the edges with a razor blade. That is were I made it worse. Although I tried to be delicate, I made the gap bigger.

I resolved the issue with brute force - a clamp - I force that bit back down and once it was down I fed super glue into the grooves.

It should sand up (or is that down) fairly well. I don't think an unadvised eye will find it.

Having said that, the drop and bounce has trashed the guitar. My shed floor is very rough and the sound board is peppered with marks that appear too deep to simply sand out.

Also tonight I continued with the fret board. I have used Robert O'brien method of placing finishing nails to hold it all in alignment however I am going to use the elastic band as a clamp, as with the Stewmac method. I am going to fret the board before I glue it on.

I have already put the truss rod in place and covered the channel with painters tape.

Here is a picture if the dents in the sound board - Arrrrgh !

Great Service

2007-02-13T22:54:00.000+09:00

Even in bad times - I really wanted to let you about the great service that I have received from Andy DePaule from DePaule Supply. I thought it better to give this subject its own post.

On my last guitar, I put in a letter W inlay into the head. Last week I ordered three more from Andy. When my order arrived, the letter W looked different. I got it home, took some photos and emailed Andy with my concerns - expecting that for the $7.50 worth of business, he'd fob me off, telling me that his supply had changed etc etc.

Here is the photo

and here is an edited version of Andy's reply.

Dear Ted,
Looks like I made a mistake on your order, Sorry.
Not sure what the heck I was thinking.
I will send out the right items today to replace those.
Please do not spend your money returning those other letters.
Perhaps you will meet a luthier who can use an "M".
Best wishes,
Andy

No hassles. Excellent service. Last week I would have highly recommend Andy for his product. Now I know he backs it up with service. If you consider his overheads along with the cost of sending two packages to another continent. Andy's made a loss on this sale - without blinking an eyelid.

It never occured to me that they were M's - not W's

Slowly slowly does it

2007-02-13T22:38:00.000+09:00

Tonight I have made no progress. I have settled on the fact that this can be fixed, but it is important to take my time and make sure I don't make things worse. I have been unable to get the raise piece of the back, "the splinter" to push down into place. The edges of the splinter are bracing it, holiding it above the back. I can't push it to the side and get it to slide back.

I came up with a plan. I thought about this most of the day and saw the process on Fret.com. Tonight I made a turn buckle with the plan of pushing the sides apart, ever so slightly, thereby increasing the gap and letting "the splinter" fall back into place.

As soon as I applied pressue I heard a new cracking noise. Ther pressure came off the turn buckle straight away.

Emotional Overload

2007-02-12T19:32:00.000+09:00

For some reason I am calm. For some reason I have not dropped to the ground and started bawling. For some reason I didn't even swear. I can not understand nor explain my emotions. I think it is an overload - most likely shock.

"What the ?!?" I can hear you all ask.

Very simply, I had scraped the binding and had started sanding the box. I had the guitar on my Black and Decker workmate, a stable enough surface. I turned to the work bench to change the sand paper and then as I turned back, I simply knocked the work mate and the guitar with my hip, in one small movement.

The guitar toppled and then "bounced" on the floor.

As you can see, the fall has cracked the binding along with the back. The back has cracked about 80 mm long and 30 mm across at it's widest. The cracked part of the back has lifted and in now resting, with a fair bit of force, on the main piece.

I don't know. Perhaps the tears will flow soon.

I've started to hit the web to find the best way to get this back into place and then disguise the muck up.

More binding and bright ideas

2007-02-03T14:52:00.000+09:00

Well those bindings did not work out that bad and therefore I have gone ahead and stuck on the top bindings. I didn't get my router nerve back, so I didn't put in any purfling. The back looks okay, the binding is quite subtle.

Below is the only place that the binding did not glue on as it was meant to. There is an ever so small gap. I should be able to either re glue (unlikely) or patch it up with some saw dust/epoxy in the near future.

I have also made an invention that might help others. It is very technical and worked well for me. I have two rolls of blue masking tape, one is a couple of centimeters wide, the other is about 5 centimetres wide. In the past I have used the 2 cm wide tape for my bindings. I implemented using the wider of the tape this time around when securing the binding, it made things a lot quicker and cleaner.

I cut a 10 cm length of the tape and then made two cuts up the tape, almost all the way to the top. Effectively I end up with three pieces of tape which which are joined together. When It comes to the rush of getting the binding on, it seemed easier and quicker to use this tape. I could still apply pressure where and as I needed.

David and I have started this little to and fro over who has the best (or worse) weather. I am amazed by my icicles hanging off the roof, he may find it hard to believe that I am desperately trying not to drip sweat on my soundboard. Over 40 C/104 F degrees here again today. Too hot to work in the shed.

Binding goes on

2007-01-31T22:27:00.000+09:00

Sometimes I think I am getting worse at this whole guitar building thing. I routed (is that a word) our the binding channels on the top and back. I think I am unhappy with the channels. I couldn't control the router as well as I expected, perhaps my router cutting blade is blunt. Nothing seemed to flow and in some places the cut going in one direction was a different depth that the other way.

I just felt clumsy and uncoordinated.

Initially I had planned to put a thin purfling line in between the maple binding and the soundboard. I don't trust my routing ablilties/equipment to make such a thin cut.

I used a chisel and made very small adjustments and a file to smooth out the edges. Then I went ahead and glued the binding onto the back. I used the LMI white glue. My blue painters tape seems to suffer an alergic reaction when it gets near LMI white glue.

I think it's on. I think the binding is in place correctly. I can't wait to get that tape off to take a look.

Either way, tomorrow I am going to the fabric shop to get that twill tape. I'm not taking the chance with the top.

Let the Pictures Tell the Story

2007-01-30T23:03:00.000+09:00

I took a lot of photographs of my progress tonight. I took a leaf out of Ken Michael's book and followed his process on getting the neck set. I don't really understand what I have achieved but I think it worked out okay. Don't worry, I'm confused as well.

But first, here is today's poser photo. It's starting to come together.

Okay, now for the neck set. I took a flat piece of pine and clamped it to the fretboard surface. The extension of the neck angle over the soundboard showed that there was a small gap at around the point where the fretboard will finish. I cut pieces of cardboard and stacked them up, until I felt some friction against pushing them in.

I then stuck these cards on the top of the neck's fretboard surface and lowered the neck joint so that the top of the cards were level with the sound board.

This is what it looks like once the cards have been removed.

Then I used a block which was half covered in sand paper to bring the soundboard down to the new level of where the neck meets the sound board. With me so far? Check out Ken's instructions if I am not making myself clear.

Any how, this is how it ended up, I sanded the soundboard down where the fretboard extension will come in contact with the soundboard and "blended" the area out to the soundboard. Obviously there is some final sanding to come still, you won't be able to tell.

So now when I return the original pine to the fretboard, the angle between the fretboard extension and the soundboard has been reduced. I can now barely get the cardboard underneath the pine.

Super Smooth Fretboards

2007-01-29T22:37:00.000+09:00

My mate just bought a kit of his very own. A wood fire pizza oven kit. He asked me to come around and give him a hand. Now his kit weighs in at half a tonne. My back is sore and I’ve got twangs in muscles I did not know I had. I think I will stick to light weight kits.

Tonight, before the heat in the shed got to me, I used some 400 grit sandpaper to level down the inlay dots on the fret board surface. I am happy with the result, smooth and slick, but I maybe I should be concerned that the radius on the fret board may have changed. I can’t see it, I can’t feel it so I am not too worried.

Maybe I should go to a higher grit and look at giving the surface a polish. Can your fret board be too smooth? I guess there has to be some grip to a fretted string. Can’t say I have ever seen a well polished surface – there must be a reason.

Oh yer - the 14th fret marker is not centered. Shhhh don’t tell anyone. We’ll see what it looks like with 6 straight lines over the surface.

More blood spilt

2007-01-28T23:27:00.000+09:00

I don't get to play any of my guitars enough these days. Somewhat because I am always building but of late my left hand has suffered a decent injury each week. Today I sliced my little finger open on the sharp fretboard edge. I can't play but I can build.

Breaking every rule of building in relation to humidity, I had an interesting evening in the shed. When the temperature dropped enough, I braved going down to the shed. As I worked a huge thunder storm rolled in off the ocean, lightening claps and thunder bolts followed by some serious rain and then - the power went out. I considered working under candle light but then thought better off it.

Maybe it was the lightening, but I am having some troubles with my digital camera, most of the photos I took today are corrupt in someway, they have squiggles across them etc and are no good. Only a few worked out.

I started on the fretboard when the power came back on. I marked a centre line and then used the neck to rough out the shape, as I did with the Stewmac method. Then I used a plane to work roughly down to the final shape of the fretboard.

Then I turned the fret board over and put tape on the 5th, 7th, 9th, 12th and 15th frets so I could mark the places for mother of pearl fret markers. I used tape as a depth gauge on a 5mm drill bit, drilled the holes and then glued the MOP in with a little epoxy. In hindsight, I should have gone with gold mother of pearl dots. It won't make a huge difference but I have gold tuners and a gold inlay in the head plate (pending).

I have (I think) repaired the blue with the neck block, I bought some 8mm thick dowel from the hardware store, sanded it down to 7.5 and glued it in place. I made a template of the tenon with masking tape on which I marked a centre line and the position of the bolts. I then put the tape into the mortise and bingo, I had the places marked where the new holes needed to be drilled.

Tomorrow, I'll be re-reading the information about sanding down the area where the fretboard meets the soundboard. I am getting confused as what steps I need to take here. Do I have to make adjustments as I did with the stewmac neck?

I found Andy. One of us is having trouble with our email but it is all sorted out now and my "W" will be here very soon. One question I am left with is, where are you Greg? You haven't added to your blog in almost a month. Hope all is well.

Time taken : a few hours
Tools used : rulers, glue, files, chisels, plane, sandpaper, epoxy, drill press and bits
AU$'s spent : $1.50 for the dowel

Happy Australia Day

2007-01-28T12:12:00.000+09:00

Sorry everyone, I've been busy celebrating Australia Day. I have received my reply from LMI;

Hi Ted,
I read your post on the forum and understand your concerns. We are going to change our packaging so that a large sticker on the neck block lets you know that you must trim it a bit prior to installing it. We could trim these ourselves prior to shipping the neck blocks, however that would limit those who would like a top thickness that is outside the norm.
At this point if you have already installed the neck block we recommend you dowel the holes and redrill them so that they align appropriately with the neck inserts.
Natalie Swango
General Manager
Luthiers Mercantile Int. Inc.

I am still left thinking that as I paid to have the top radiused as well as the for the serviced neck and block... I shouldn't have run into this problem. I am still just a bit sour over the whole situation. Still it is not the end of the world... I'll just have to move on.
At least the correspondence that David, I and others (I guess) sent has caused for the change that will help others that follow.

Where's Andy

2007-01-25T21:14:00.000+09:00

Has anyone seen Andy DePaul lately? On my Stewmac I ordered the pearl letter W from Luthier Supply.com and I wanted to put one on this one as well. I emailed Andy on the 9th and 21st of January. I tried again tonight and the mail came bouncing back.

I might have to find a new supplier.

In other news today, I received a quick email from Natalie Swango, the General Manager from LMI. They are looking into my plight and I look forward to hearing their comments tomorrow.

Like a Tail Chasing the Dog

2007-01-24T20:08:00.000+09:00

Well, I've found the answer and I am not happy. I was thinking of calling this post "I just saved YOU some money!" because those that read it, and tackle an LMI kit, will surely appreciate that I've given you the heads up.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with my measurements or block settings, in fact I would say they are about perfect and reflect the effort that I put into getting them right. There is nothing wrong with my ruler, the plans or even the mortise and tenon joint.

My down fall has been my patience. My ability to not jump ahead. I had the answer the day the kit was mailed, I just didn't see it.

Inside a little plastic clip seal bag, LMI have included the bolts and washers required to attach the neck to the body. Also inside this bag is a piece of paper... (click to enlarge)

WHY!?!

Why would you put instructions on the need to trim the block AND tenon in a clip sealed bag, containing items which logically the builder is not going to use until he/she has glued the box shut?

LMI left a loose piece of paper in the kit with warning in relation to the truss rod why couldn't they do that with this notice. Why wouldn't they put it with the neck block, one of the first things that the builder is going to reach for?

I guess I am plugging the holes and drilling new ones. I just have to work out what will happen with the truss rod?

I'll ask LMI

2007-01-24T17:41:00.000+09:00

Alright. I've taken my time, sat back and thought this through. I can not see anything that I have done wrong and I am starting to think that it may be an issue with the LMI neck.

Firstly here are the plans. You can see that they call for the over all length from the finger board surface to the surface where the heel cap is glued on is 97 millimetres, mine would be just a little longer than that, maybe 99 mill.

The plans give the length from the bottom of the fingerboard surface/top of the lid to the bottom of the back as being 100 millimeters.

Mine is 101 millimeters. Fine if you consider a good sanding of the top and back before finishing.

So as I did not trim or extend the neck block at all, I don't think that I have made any adjustments that would cause for the neck to be lower. It just can not be the block which has caused this problem.

That leaves the mortise and tenon and/or the location of the bolts (as it is a bolt on neck) that come through the neck block. Firstly the joint is very tight, there is little movement and the bottom of the the neck sits on the block.

Anyways, I have emailed the folk at LMI and they might be able to shed some light on what I of they need to do. As you can see, I am only a couple of millimeters away.

I need help - I've mucked something up

2007-01-22T22:00:00.000+09:00

I am lost. Stressing about neck sets again. I've mucked something up.

I have the box closed and I've lightly trimmed the sides. I am vey happy with the results. The box has a big, deep "BOOM BOOM" when I tap it. It's louder, deeper and more sustained that the OOO or my F40.

With the box closed, I turned my mind to setting the neck angle before I do the bindings and before I attach the fretboard. And this is where my latest stress started. Robbie O'brien's DVD is confusing as he is building from scratch and the written words of Ken Michael and Bill Corey are all blurring in together and I am confused. Let me try and explain...

I have routed out the mortise, to remove the sides that covered the tenon. When I install the tenon (as it would to align up with the bolts) the finger board surface (where the finger board will attach) sits lower than the top of the guitar.

The tenon is tight within the joint and it feels like it is in the right place. It'd like the whole thing is set too low, the heel cap is lower than the back but if I was to raise the tenon with the friendly plastic as mentioned by Bill, it would mean that the bolts and the truss rod won't align.

Looks like I have the same problem as over on Mind Clutter

I don't get it, I just know I have mucked something up? I can't get away from - "You were s'pose to trim the neck block" but I'm sure I measured that.Help me if you can?

A lesser concern is that the veneer and the head plate did not attach 100% to the head of the neck, it is slightly lifted on one side. I am confidant that this only applies to the first few millimetres so I won't show when I shape the head.

My happy moment for the last few days was getting mydaughters to sign the top - the pau ferro was a bit dark for lead pencil. I also managed to sign and date it myself.

Moving Right Along

2007-01-20T22:34:00.000+09:00

I've been down in the shed again, working away and making some progress. After these photos were taken, I cleaned up the braces with sandpaper and then I installed three braces on the sides. On each side, I put a brace above each of the lower bout braces and then one in between the two upper braces (does that make sense). There was no plan to where I put them, just basically where they went on my OOO. I looked inside my old Yamaha F40 and there were none of these side braces.

Although I went slowly in routing the channels for where the braces meet the sides, they are still messy. I improve my technique with each build so in another ten guitars or so, I will have have a decent finish. I am just glad that the bindings cover these joins.

I forgot to introduce to you my greatest invention, my patent pending, technical guitar holding device. It is a plastic flower pot. It holds the guitar up off the bench so I can work underneath.

As I was lazy with the mold, I need to maintain the 508mm length over the body. I set the distance on the back by trimming the centre back strip so when the blocks were pressed up during the gluing process the overall length of the back is 508mm. I am using cauls and a long quick grip clamp to pull the top end of the blocks inwards to 508mm. I marked the top and cut the brace channels with the plan that the top will eventually glue up at the same length. If the top and the bottom are both at the same length, then the blocks have to be somewhere close to square. That's the plan.

Lastly tonight, I made a simple start on the neck. I glued the veneer and the head plate onto the neck.

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :

About to Close the Box

2007-01-19T12:30:00.000+09:00

I am not spending as enough time on the computer of late. The brace work on the top is all but complete. I am up to the point where I take down the end of the braces that will not touch the sides and then a general cleanup.

One minor hurdle I did find is that the piece of wood supplied by LMI was not wide enough to cover the bridge reinforcement plate on the plan. In total there was only 5-10 mm different so I don’t think it is going to made a world of difference.

I’ve given up on this tapping idea. I can get the sound board to “ring” and then if I hold it in anther place, an inch away from the first point, the thud returns. I was thinking that I should hold it only where the cross brace would touch the edges as that will be a point where there will be little vibration at that point once attached to the sides. Then I thought, about how the tone would be affected by my fingers dampening the brace. At the end of the day, the braces are in the right location and they are somewhat visually pleasing. That’ll have to be the standard of my work until I’ve built a hundred or so and I can start to notice the changes and differences.

Let me say this. Sharp tools are definitely the way to go. I took the advice, researched scary sharp and did some work on the tools. I have definitely reached a better result than when I was using the oil stone. I can’t shave the hair of my arms yet but the quality of my work is a lot better.

At the end of my last build the note to self read, “Need more light”. At the end of this one, I think it’ll be “Need super sharp tools”

The back is appears to be sound, on the right curve and in alignment. I am happy. I have even started thinking about starting the neck. I will start the finish on the body as soon as I can, let it get real hard before I start working on it.

Time taken : A few hours
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :

I don't get it

2007-01-16T16:21:00.000+09:00

Tap tone? When I hold the top in the upper bout on the base side, I get a thud noise. When I hold it on either side in the lower bout, I can actually hear the ringing/vibration/sustain that everyone talks about.

Now, what is the bet? I will play around with the brace shapes and end up with a consistant "thud thud" everywhere.

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :

One Day

2007-01-15T15:42:00.000+09:00

One day - I will learn how to sharpen tools. "You'll never cut yourself with a sharp knife" they say. I guess that applies to chisels as well. This afternoon I drove a chisel into my left index finger. I can still build but I won't be playing any guitars for a week or so... which is a shame because I am starting to get really happy with the set up on the OOO.

Today I pulled all the clamps off the side/back and cleaned up some of that glue squeeze out. That is another thing that I will have to learn how to do one day - clean up glue with out leaving a "snail trail" along the joint.

I glued on the finger braces and the top brace, I drilled the truss rod hole into the shoulder brace and then began shaping the ends of that brace. That was when the bleeding started.

I've also trimmed up the back so that it is only a about 5 mm proud of the sides.

I have come to the conclusion that I am NOT allergic to Pau Ferro

Time taken : A couple of hours
Tools used : Glue clamps, chisels, bandage, tape, Betadine, rulers, Dremel, StewMac Precision Router Base, pencils, sandpaper.
AU$'s spent : Nil

Attaching the back

2007-01-14T21:48:00.000+09:00

I've been away for the last few days and I've been thinking a lot about the building process. Then when I returned home and read David's progress, I am thinking that I should have built a mold and dishes as well. I am limited to the tools that I have access to and really wanted to keep the cost of this guitar down (a little). Next time I will borrow gear or have someone construct these steps for me. Hindsight is 20/20.

Anyway, I moved forward today and the back went on this evening, the glue is setting as we speak. Fingers crossed.

I've been thinking a lot about getting making some step to ensure that the blocks were square to each other. I don't think that the internal mold is making sure the this is achieved. In making the centre back brace I measured it out so that the overall length would be exactly 508mm as the plan states. In doing so I simply subtracted the width of the blocks and edges and removed that amount. Therefore when I push the blocks up against the back strip, I will have the exact length.

In an effort to keep the blocks square, I ran some 1/4 inch steel rods through the neck block and into a piece of scrap wood which I pressed up against the end block. b adjusting nuts on either side of the neck block, I could the guarantee that when I clamped the guitar length ways, the over all length could not be pressed in further than 508mm and the blocks should be somewhat square to each other...

It did not work...

I made three dry runs at getting all the clamps on. I propped the structure up onto an empty pot plant container, giving me room to work underneath as well. Here is a picture moments before the glue went on. The clamps are all numbered and the distances all set. In total there are 30 wooden (spool type) clamps and 9 standard clamps ready for action...

And here is the final result. I hope it all works out

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :

More brace work

2007-01-08T21:24:00.000+09:00

Getting there. Slowly getting there. More and more brace work. I keep going sideways, just to get away from the brace work. This is where I am at at the moment, minus the finger braces which I have roughed out.

I acknowledge that it could be said that I am not blogging as well on this second guitar. I really appreciate the feed back that I have been getting from David and Greg as it reminds me that I might be not giving enough information to make an accurate record. Please shout out if you'd like to know something - or if I have missed a step...

Tonight, I started routing out the channels where the back braces meet the sides. I totally mucked up one of the back braces, hitting it too hard with the chisel and making it too thin. I also feel a lump around the blocks? I will have a look at that further tomorrow.

I flipped the sides over and glued the kerfing to the top rim, making a huge mess. Take note, the LMI white glue is thick when it is cold and surprisingly (not) much more fluid when it is warm.

Time taken : Five hours or so
Tools used : glue, chisel, Dremel, sandpaper... nothing new.
AU$'s spent : Nil

Am I doing this right.

2007-01-06T22:41:00.000+09:00

Let me tell you again, making braces take ages - you can quote me on that.

Yesterday, I spent most of the day at it. I have now completed the braces on the back. I followed Robert O'Brien's method. I glued the back strip in place and then placed my sides over the top, marking the blocks and measuring the lengths down to where the braces are. I used a T-square to mark where the braces go and then chiseled out the channels. Gluing them in place was not the easiest, not having a dish, I used the sanding curve as a support underneath - seems to have turned out alright.

I've been reshaping the cross braces. When I tapped the top, it was giving me a solid "thud" sound with no shape or life at all. When I compared my brace to the dreadnought brace that came with my Stewart Macdonald kit, I noticed that these current braces were thicker and taller... I shaved them down using a chisel, my Dremel and sandpaper. I've also worked on the shape of the longer braces in the lower bout. My feelings about the result are a little in different and time will tell. I am really starting to think that it is all hit and miss this brace construction. Even though I have spent hours reading, I still have no real reference point as to how I adjust or maintain a tone or sound. I some what blindly shape away, tapping the top and thinking "Does that sound brighter?" Time will tell.

Today I cleaned up the shed. It was cluttered and I was struggling to find things or have them at hand easily. I like my clean surroundings.

Time taken : a few hours.
Tools used : Chisels, Dremel, papers, clamps, knives etc
AU$'s spent : Nil

Cross Brace Done

2007-01-03T15:05:00.000+09:00

Last night I glued my cross braces together. Somewhere I had heard of firming the join between these tow braces with epoxy. Some people use a piece of fabric and others, like Robert O'Brien use a small piece of wood over the top of the brace. I simply settled for the expoxy, no great reason just that this way the joint is guaranteed to be solid.

Today I glued the cross brace to the top with LMI white glue. Simply process and although the brace slid around a little on the glue, the fact that they were already glued together meant I could control both at the same time.

I bruised the cross braces a little with the tension of the clamps, nothing serious that I won't be able to sand out.

Time taken : 20 minutes
Tools used : Glue, clamps
AU$'s spent : Nil

Never Again

2007-01-02T22:46:00.000+09:00

A word from the wise. Making all the braces takes ages. I spent most of today working away at making the braces and that's not even considering that I cut the brace blanks last week. For those that follow, keep in mind that you need to cut the two braces in the lower bout of the back a bit thicker than the plan suggests. Otherwise, by the time that you sand the radius into the brace, you'll have no thickness left over.

I think in total I have already spent about 6-8 hours on them. I mucked up the cross braces by trying to scallop them both... didn't click with me until I went to put the pieces together. Not all bad seeming as it is day one of the last Ashes test match.

Yesterday, I put in the end wedge. It wasn't really a hard process but I still managed to muck up my cuts. I don't really trust my saw work and the fence kept slipping, I ended up reverting to the old Stanley knife.

I'll show the end result once I have sanded the surface down - my scraper is now so blunt, I couldn't use it on anything.

So now I have all the braces radiused and the centre brace on the back glued in. I have the back radiused so soon I should me heading towards getting my soundbox closed.... then I can start stressing about the neck set, the head stock, the frets, the bridge and the... and the...

Oh yer. I also put the rosette into place. I was very disappointed with the channel that LMI had routed or maybe it was the thickness of the rosette itself. Either way, it took about half an hour of sanding to get the rosette to fit in. I am yet to take the blocks off, I hope it has worked out okay. I do think however that fo the money one spends on having "services" done, they should be accurate.

Time taken : lots-n-lots
Tools used : all the sharp things, all the blunt things and all the things that hold stuff still.
AU$'s spent : nil

Sanding, Sanding, Sanding

2006-12-27T22:21:00.000+09:00

Another day, I just don’t know if I am making the right steps. I made the curved sanding bars and began on the edges. I really didn’t like the pressure/vibration that this method put into the sides. Not using a full external mold, I don’t feel there is enough support.

I found that the sanding “rolled” up hill at the blocks, leaving a peak and that the sanding was uneven. I am not convinced on the curved board method. I did not

Next build I will take the time and effort to construct an external mold.

This afternoon, I glued the kerfing to the back, tomorrow will be the front and then I’ll start on the braces.

Time taken : 3 hours
Tools used : sanding curve, rulers, chisel, pencils, chalk, clamps
AU$'s spent : nil

Christmas catch up

2006-12-26T21:23:00.000+09:00

Today, I found some time away from the christmas toys and food and got down into the shed, listening to the cricket and working on the guitar. I am all over the place at the moment and all over that mistake I made on the end block. My end block was exactly 6mm too short, funny really as my saw has a 3mm wide blade and I made two cuts. I used a couple of pieces of mahogany that I had left over from the OOO to build up the height of the block. As you can see, my end block has slices all the way through it. I am not overly worried really, I have no idea what effect these "fault lines" will have on the final product, I hope none.

I also trimmed my sides. I found that I was not getting the results with a plane so I sharpened up the chisels and that made very light work of getting the sides down. My drama here was after working out the error on the tail block, I didn't trim the neck block. Had to chisel a few millimetres off there.

Time taken : 2 hours
Tools used : plane, chisel, sand paper, glue, clamps, rulers, pencils
AU$'s spent : Nil

Darn Hurdles

2006-12-20T10:28:00.000+09:00

This one was suppose to be easier. Although I am finding the step of brace construction and radiusing the sides quite difficult. am struggling.

During my planning phase, I settled on simply making a “slice” of a sanding dish, as used by Bill Corey, instead of buying a couple of sanding dishes ($US 150.00 + postage). I have tried using wire (metal memory-curled up), extension cord (too heavy), fishing line and string (stretched) all in failed efforts to trace a 30 foot and 15 foot radius to a length of pine.

One of my first efforts seemed to be working out okay – When I finished I had two curves which were basically the same and uneven.

I pulled out the dreadnought cross brace that was included in my Stewmac OOO kit and traced that onto the board and I and happy to use that curve for the top. That leaves just the 15 foot radius.

Anyone got ideas? Any mathematical wizards out there that can work this out? Any one know where I could download a template?

Time taken : a few hours
Tools used : items mentioned above, jigsaw, sand paper, wood file, scraper.
AU$'s spent : $6.00 for the pine

My Latest Mistake

2006-12-17T22:50:00.000+09:00

Well, I have officially started – and made further mistakes.

I simply used the curved cauls that I made for my Stewmac kit as sanding blocks and curved the face of both the neck block and the end block. The curve is almost exactly the same, certainly a better result than I would have gotten with my eye alone. I knew there was a good reason why I never throw anything away.

So at the end of the weekend, I get to the point where I want to glue the blocks to the sides. I glued on the neck block and as I was clearing away the glue squeeze out, I noticed that I had left the masking tape on the inside on the edge. Effectively, I had glued the block to the tape and therefore sticky taped my side to the guitar edge. Gotta love bright blue masking tape, if I hadn’t have seen the edge sticky out I might have made it days down the track before I found out. Obviously in the mad rush to pull everything apart again, I don't have time to photograph it.

Anyways, I have glued my blocks on and we're underway again.

Time taken : 3 hours
Tools used : LMI white glue, clamps, sandpaper, pencil, T square, wax paper, rulers
AU$'s spent :

The first mistake

2006-12-16T20:49:00.000+09:00

Well I made my first decent blue today... more on that in a minute.

Since getting the kit, I have bought some foam boards from Office Works and cut out both and internal and external forms, following the LMI dreadnought plan. I have decided to use the StewMac method as I don't think my little Dremel would stand up to all that routing.

So I have a waist clamp in place and I think it will all form something close to the shape that it is suppose to take.

Now, here comes the muck up. LMI do not provide and instruction manual, however they do supply a DVD created by Robert O'Brien in which he makes a LMI OM guitar. So I watch the DVD, I listen and I take note of the steps.

I follow Robert's instruction and cut the end block slightly taller than 100 millimeters. Then I work out that the Dreadnought end block is not to be trimmed to 100... I glued the piece I cut off back on the top. In I would have lost 6 millimeters because I may two cuts and the blade is 3 mill wide.

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :

It's Arrived

2006-12-11T22:29:00.000+09:00

It arrived. I am so pleased with the look of the wood however in hindsight, I would not have had a back strip put in as there was what appeared to be a nice light coloured feature in the back as it was. That feature looks kind of muddled up now – still it is beautiful.

In my opinion, LMI package their kits a lot better than Stew Mac. Tape is used in an attempt to hold the sides in place, each piece is well labeled and securely packaged.

I am also back to square one, worried that I do not have the skills to get this job done. Shaping sides, braces and end blocks worry me. Now I see why everyone recommends that beginners start with a Stew Mac, there are a couple of little fiddly steps that have already been taken care of. Still, I am up for the challenge.

The process begins again.

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :

It's Not Done Yet

2006-12-10T19:23:00.000+09:00

Turned my hand over the weekend to get this action down. It is now lower and near enough to being acceptable, but I do think that I have to one day reset the neck. I am a couple of millimeters out here and there but it all adds up. I think next time I will set the neck before the fingerboard goes on.

The finish - I just don't know about. I don't yet know if the KTM-9 handles sweat well. There is an obvious haze where my strumming arm rests on the body. I wash often (honest). Also, I don't think that my Martin Guitar Co. cleaner suits the KTM-9. Perhaps the Martin product is suited to a Nitro styled finish... might keep testing and see what results I get over time.

I was in the guitar shop the other day and really liked the raw Martins and Matons, with no finish, no bindings - raw. Might have already planned number three.... ooopss

Time taken : 1 hour or so
Tools used : vice, file, string winder
AU$'s spent : Nil

It's on its way

2006-12-08T22:19:00.000+09:00

Fedex have sent me an Email, letting me know that my new kit is on its way. I can't wait. I think I am just as excited as I waqs with the first one. I ordered the kit on the 27th of November so it only took LMI about 10 days to gather the material and service the parts that I needed. Obviously they couldn't just grab the box off the shelf like a prepared kit from Stewart-Macdonald

Things are getting better.

2006-12-01T09:02:00.000+08:00

The OOO is really starting to settle. More likely, I am getting used to playing the wider neck. I still have some adjusting to do and I need to glue in a piece of card or what not.

It appears that LMI have not yet sent my new kit. Somewhat my fault because I threw in a glue order at the last moment. I guess LMI also have to individually pack the pieces of the kit so it'll take more time than just grabbing a box off the shelve.

I am also now in panic mode that the maple binding will not match or suit the Pau Ferro back and sides. It is have to visualise what woods will actually look like at when put together.

Here we go again.

2006-11-28T21:59:00.000+08:00

I have all but finished the OOO. I've let it settle and slowly worked the saddle down, getting close to an acceptable action height.

The big news is that I have ordered my second kit, basically the drednought that I worked up on the LMI Kit Wizard. The plan is that by the time it arrives in the post, settles to my climate etc, I will have the OOO complete.

Still before I get too far ahead of myself, here are some photos I took yesterday. Warts and all, I haven't polished the guitar or worked the angles and lighting to have you belive I have a fantastic finish.

One day soon I will redo the finish on the headstock - it just doesn't rate in my list of priorities at the moment - Playing the guitar does.

Reflection

2006-11-22T21:05:00.000+08:00

Okay, so here is the rough enough answers. I had a count back and can tell you that I spent AUD $1,387.45 building this guitar. I still don’t know if I consider that to be extreme. Had I not been able to gain access to a lot of my father’s tools, this would have been a whole lot more. Then again, on the flip side, I bought a lot of new tools, expenses that I will not have to spend on the next guitar

From adding up the blog entries, I have spent 112 days and 89 hours on the construction the guitar so far. Rounding up and down I would say that it will take the average hack (like me) about 100 hours to complete their first guitar.

Food for thought.

The dust is starting to settle

2006-11-21T18:35:00.000+08:00

Okay so I got home today and worked out that my enthusiasm late last night was not really that warranted. I am still very happy but I still have a little way to go to get the instrument to settle.

My rant about the action being acceptable was purely a lie, it is not. The guitar is playable but still a long way away from being pleasurable. Not bad at the nut end but way too high at the saddle. Still that won't be too hard to fix up.

I have not touched the truss road yet and I have some reading on that subject to do. I have roughly sawed in the grooves into the nut and I have a nice distance between the strings.

Still, when all is said and done - I built a guitar.

Time taken : 1 hour
Tools used : saw, pencil, string winder
AU$'s spent : Nil

It's a guitar

2006-11-20T23:13:00.000+08:00

I've done it. I've played it. I've heard it. I am happy.

I've been flying tonight. I got home from work and took the clamps of the bridge, I drilled the bridge pin holes and then used a tapered file to seat the pins.

Then I roughed out the saddle and put on the E strings... and then I put on the other four strings... threw a capo on the second fret and roughed out the spaces between the strings.... tuned it up about 3/4 pitch and started to play.

I love it. It sounds just as good as my Yamaha right now. The action is just as good as my Yamaha right now. I am amazed how simple it was to play even through the strings were sitting on rough height saddles and nut.

Somehow I need to get to sleep. I would play all night but I sanded off the end of my fingers whilst rubbing down the saddle.

Time taken : 3 hours
Tools used : clamps, drill, sandpaper, clamps, vice, rulers, files, pencil.
AU$'s spent : $9.95 set of strings

Wow

2006-11-19T23:04:00.000+08:00

This is amazing.

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :

Mixed Emotions

2006-11-19T22:23:00.000+08:00

Today I did the sanding and polishing of the neck, added on the tuning machines and fitted the bridge.

For some reason, and I have no idea why, the KTM-9 blistered on the headstock. The finish is useless in one small spot. It is a cosmetic issue really but you can see it easily and it sucks up the "wow factor" when you look at the guitar. I think I can spot fix it later but I am going to push forward for now. I need to hear this guitar.

I stripped back the finish on the soundboard and glue on the bridge. The process was a little daunting but I think that I have it in the right position without too much trouble at all.

Time taken : 2 hours
Tools used : sand paper, polish, drill, buffer, rules tape, paint stripper.
AU$'s spent : Nil

Off comes the masking tape

2006-11-16T22:27:00.000+08:00

Tired of waiting. I've had the neck out in the sunlight (warmth) a fair bit and all looked hard so I took the masking tape off the fretboard tonight. Not exactly disappointed but I am sure I could have achieved better results with a better technique.

My only problem is establishing the angle were the finish ends and the fretboard surface starts.

I tried using a sanding block to rub back the edge of the masking tape but the fret edges were causing difficulties. I ended up sliding a razor blade along the fretboard surface. The final product is not that bad however I can really see were the masking tape fell lower than the fretboard even though it was only a couple of millimeters here and there.

Before I try that again, I will be seeking ideas how people mask, and more importantly, remove the masking tape.

Time taken : I hour
Tools used : scalpel
AU$'s spent : Nil

Tick Tock, Tick Tock

2006-11-15T22:58:00.000+08:00

I am tired of waiting for the KTM-9 to dry. I wanna keep going.

On Sunday I went down to Bunnings and explained to a staff member my needs in making a caul or three in order to clamp (and drill) the bridge into place. I was suggested to try Selleys Knead It. The product is basically a putty that you work in your hand, making it softer as you go, it will then from to any shape you want. Once left to set, it sets rock hard.

So, I protected the bridge with plastic wrap and went to work, making three cauls. I am impressed with the results. Clean and very hard

Time taken : 30 minutes
Tools used : Selleys Knead It
AU$'s spent : $14.95

Still fence sitting

2006-11-09T22:58:00.000+08:00

I just can't commit. There is no doubt that I want to make a dreadnaught next but after playing around with the LMI Kit Wizard, the end price (for what I want) is AUD$722.53... and that isn't really an "all the fruit" package.

Now compare that with the StewMac Mahogany Dreadnaught at AUD$467.21 (plus cost of tuners)

Should I have another practive or just start making what I want and hope that I forget about the AUD$255.32 difference?

Is 3/4 of a thousand dollars too much to pay for a hobby? I have December off work and wanted to have the wood acclimatised and ready to go by then.

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :

What am I doing?

2006-11-05T23:28:00.000+08:00

Should I be researching my next guitar before I have even finished this one? I haven't picked up a guitar (to play) in about 100 days, what would I do with another one? What am I going to do with myself over the next couple of weeks, whilst I wait for the finish to cure... I could have started on my next one...

What if this one turns out sounding like an elastic band stretched over a wet cardboard box?

Do I really need to spend all that money of building something flash or should I just try another basic kit.

Planning - Phase II

2006-11-05T14:08:00.000+08:00

LMI's Kit Wizard has become my own little dream factory. I've changed a dozen things a thousand times. Hours of unproductive fun. I wish they had more pictures of the woods and bindings etc, a true novice like myself can not picture the final product.

This is what I am leaning towards at the moment... Either that or a straight out Drednought kit from StewMac.

Click on the picutre and then expand - so you can read it.

What are your thoughts? Have I forgotten anything (other than the trus rod)?

Photos as requested

2006-11-04T12:07:00.000+08:00

Keeping in mind that I have not rubbed back and polished the neck at all, and the body needs a little more attention. This is the way she is looking at this time.

I am itching to keep going but I NOW think there is merit in letting KTM-9 harden over the following weeks... just like it explains in the instructions.

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent

Finish Finished

2006-11-03T13:51:00.000+08:00

Or at least I hope so. Four days of finishing have past. In total I have 16 coats. Thats four coats a day, a light 360 grit sand back, then start again. It looks good but this time I will wait at least two weeks before I start taking of the tape.

Any way, I have put the KTM-9 up on the shelf until I am ready to finish the next one. I reckon you could finish three guitars with a quart of KTM-9. I have no hesitation in using this product or recommending it to other first time builders. I know I have nothing to compare it with by I am getting a finish that I would never have expected.

Time taken : another hour in total
Tools used : KTM-9
AU$'s spent : Nil

Second Finish

2006-11-01T22:56:00.000+08:00

Yesterday I put on four thin coats of KTM-9 and then this afternoon, I gave it a very light rub back - to bare wood again. I added in a tiny bit of the stain to the effected area, hiding it well. Then tonight I applied another four coats.

Seems to be coming along okay.

Time taken : 1 hour in total
Tools used : Paint brush KTM-9 360 grit paper
AU$'s spent : Nil

Day 92

2006-10-30T21:38:00.000+08:00

That's right! I've been on this buid for getting close to a third of the year. And, I think I've been making fairly good time. Don't ever think that you'll wizz you way through the first build. I have no doubt that my second (and following ones) will be quicker as I will have a number of different processes going at the same time instead of following the pages in the manual

I'm feeling good about the buil again. Today I put on the two coats of stain again. Tomorrow I will start putting on the KTM-9 again. To think, I had planned to have this all done by mid November.

Still I am glad that I took the time and effort to restart the neck. I think it is better this time around. Practice makes presentable

Time taken : 1 hour
Tools used : sandpaper, stain, rags
AU$'s spent : Nil

Neck Setting - Again

2006-10-29T23:56:00.000+08:00

Well I think I might be back on track. It’s not pretty but I have sanded back the neck and started again. That silly Martin diamond – I almost sanded the whole thing off. Then I went crazy making new shims and resetting the neck again. This time I (finger) tightly bolted the neck on before I took any measurements. I also tidied up a few of those blemishes that I have been frowning at since I started finishing the neck.

I took to my beautiful finish with paint stripper so that I will one day have a gluing surface under the fret board.

It’s late now but so I have stopped, tomorrow I might sand a little fret board relief into the top, like Kenneth Michael suggests.

Time taken : 4 hours
Tools used : sandpaper, craft knife, steel rules, superglue, mahogany
AU$'s spent : Nil

I give up.

2006-10-27T18:28:00.000+08:00

Because I like to play with things I positioned the bridge today, taped it down and checked my neckset. It's out. The gap is about twice as much as I remember. What's going on? Angry Angry Angry

Time taken : Nil
Tools used : Nil
AU$'s spent : Nil

I don't want to talk about it

2006-10-26T21:24:00.000+08:00

but I will.

Once again I am reminded that I am a novice, a fool and a cocky idiot. As mentioned yesterday, I was on a high turning out this sort of result on the body...

So today, I start on the neck. Somehow, and I still have no idea how, I managed to sand through the KTM-9, it must have been so very thin. How did I manage to get through a dozen or so coats? I rubbed back the body fairly vigorously, trying to get out all of the shine, trying to make it as flat as possible and I think that I ended up with a great result. So today, I just took off mindlessly, following the same steps and then I look down and I see... light coloured mahogany.

THEN! I say to myself, "Self, you could hide that with a tiny bit of stain on a cotton wool tip, only you will know Self." - Drongo - Alcohol based stain EATS plastic KTM-9.

THEN! I notice that there are two spots on the fretboard edge that appear to have once been air bubbles under the KTM-9. I don't know, they weren't there/visable before.

THEN! I think "Let's try and buff that tiny spot out" so I start, following the same steps as I did on the body and... with a slip of the hand, I let the chuck of a high speed spinning drill drag along the neck, leaving two great big scratches.

THEN! I pull off the masking tape. No matter how slow, gentle or controlled I tried to be, I pulled the KTM away as well. Let me tell you - It is thick. I don't get it.

I have sort of calmed down - I can not find my memory card at the moment (honest) but I promise I will show you all the mistakes ASAP. That neck will have to be stripped back and done again... one day.

At the moment, I am thinking about moving on and coming back to it.... after I've heard the guitar - I CAN NOT WAIT. I can't foresee any steps from here on in that will prevent me from going back and re-finishing the neck.

Time taken : 1 hour
Tools used : drill, buff, wood polishing compound, sandpaper,
AU$'s spent : Nil

Gee. I'm good

2006-10-25T19:40:00.000+08:00

Now I am not saying that I am a pro but I am really impressed with my result. I rubbed the body back to nearly flat with 360 grit paper and then wet-n-dry at 1200 grit and then again at 2000 grit.

By that stage I thought that I was almost back to bare wood, it looked too my eye there did not appear to be any KTM-9 left and I started to worry.

Then I took to the body with a polishing compound and buff on the electric drill and up it came. Lovely flat shine. I'll show you the photos once I've completed the body and the neck. Stay tuned.

Time taken : 2 hours
Tools used : Electric Drill, cloth buff, polishing compound
AU$'s spent : $18.95 polishing compound, $28.00 cloth buff, $8.00 sand paper

Getting closer to the finish finish

2006-10-21T16:50:00.000+08:00

Craig has asked for an update about the finishing process so I thought I would post a few progressive photos. I am starting to get the hang on brushing on the KTM-9. I am confident that the thinking of less is best is the way to go. I was trying to get thick and well covering layers of lacquer on each time but I have found that the bubbles or drips that go along with the thicker coats are harder to deal with once they have dried.

I also found that the KTM tacks off rather quickly and touching the area again can result in disaster. The latest coats have been thin, light and imperfect but I no longer have drips or air bubbles.

I have now applied about ten or twelve coats now and rubbed back the higher points with 340 paper about every 3 or 4 coats. I’ve also noted that the sand paper doesn’t seem to last very long – which was surprising. I am most likely using the wrong type of paper.

The photos below I took today and I am thinking that tonight, I will sand the surfaces back until there is no shine left of the surface. Please keep in mind that with these photos I have tried to take images which show the flaws in the finish. I have turned the piece so that all the brush marks and thin parts are visible.

In general I am happy with my first effort at finishing. Those that have seen the guitar have all commented on how good the product looks. Maybe next time (planning is underway) I will spray but I think that brushing KTM-9 is suitable for the home builder to brush on.

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :

Closer to the end

2006-10-17T22:50:00.000+08:00

Another few coats of KTM-9 went on tonight but a majority of the evening has been taken up because I finally gathered the courage to add up the total $AUD I have spent whilst making this guitar. It is an interesting amount. I will report as to the cost, tools used and number of hours soon.

Time taken :
Tools used :
AU$'s spent :