'nother L-OO

[darren]

I started working on my next guitar, another L-OO. It is East Indian Rosewood with a WRC top and Madrose trimmings. I think this will be a gift for a friend... So this will be the first guitar that will leave my house permanently. It's already tough to think about (this is my 4th scratch guitar).

Here is a shot of the bindings, with a maple side purf (glued on with ca)I think this was shown here before...

purfs-001.jpg

Bent by hand and resting in ½ of John’s mold.

bentbinding-001.png

I’ve thicknessed the fingerboard to 8mm, marked the frets out (2x…nut end wasn’t square…grrrr), and slotted and tapered it. No pictures, I must have been in the groove. It will be bound in Mad Rose with a thin Maple purf. Waiting on the purfs so it gets set aside...

fretboard1.png

[darren]

I started on the bridge while waiting for the rest of the wood to come in. Started by squaring out the bridge blank, and it looks like I can get two of the small, square Gibson bridges out of this blank.

It gets cut in half

bridge-001.png

And squared again

bridge-002.png

Marked out for the slot and pin holes

bridge-002b.png

[deadedith]

This is fun to watch - thanks for posting :-)

[darren]

Slotting with my Laminate Trimmer setup

bridge-005.png

The blocks to the left and right of the trimmer act as stops and the edge guide holds the trimmer against the 'rail' closest to the camera (above). There's nowhere for the trimmer to go except where I want it to go - if everything's clamped down right!

bridge-003.png

I do not have a 'well equipped' shop. everything does double duty as something else, except very specific jigs like my slotting jig. At one and a half guitars a year, I can afford some set up time here and there. (Hopefully this one will be done by Christmas, though.)
Anyway, Here they are drilled and slotted.

bridge-007.png

The next step is to contour the bottom and carve the ‘wings’; I need to have the body and neck constructed first to know what height this one needs to be at. I have a target height but I think it’s safer to wait. I’ll flip the bridge over, plane/scrape to approximate height, and then set the contour. Which one to use? Straight or angle pin holes?

[darren]

This is fun to watch - thanks for posting :-)

Thanks Dave, We all have different ways of doing things, and I agree, it's nice to see these come to life. I don't build from kits, but some of these process might help someone, somewhere, try make their own bridge or what-have-you.

[johnnparchem]

Darren,

Thanks you for posting such detailed photos, I love seeing how other build their jigs and use their tools.

John

[darren]

Darren,

Thanks you for posting such detailed photos, I love seeing how other build their jigs and use their tools.

John

Mostly I build my jigs from scrap laying around, so they aren't too pretty! A lot of old bunk bed pieces were 're-purposed'. And you can see those stops were used a few months ago to test a binding ledge depth... so I'm not kidding when I say everything does double duty.

[David L]

Sounds like some good wood choices. Like everyone else mentioned, superb documentation, well appreciated!

David L

[ColestineGuitar]

Here, here, excellent post! Very informative for those of us (those of me...) still on build #1.

A silly aside; I have a bunk bed, too, which my dad made for us many, many, years ago. Now my bother and I (former users of said bed) are building guitars, and I plan a "bunk bed guitar" made from our old bed. Dad will enjoy seeing the wood repurposed in this way.

Continue, Darren!

[hummingbird]

Thank for the post Darren. I like your bridge jig. I can't wait to see this L-00 come together. I'm going to build some small guitars soon.