just acclimating the wood

[mktitan]

I received my Martin Jumbo kit today and have everything all laid out nice. I'm all ready to begin except of course the mold and all the tools...at least I have Bill's book. This is my first and hopefully it will go well. I am excited to get going and apprehensive about destroying a few hundred dollars worth of nice wood.

[tippie53]

If you don't have a mold make one from cardboard to hold the sides so they don't spring back till you make or buy a good one . Have fun with this and keep us posted . we are here to help

[David L]

Good luck, have fun, post often with pictures!

David L

[mktitan]

Thanks. I have made a temporary cardboard mold and will be buying a proper one tonight or tomorrow. If anyone has any rec's I'd appreciate it (Martin Jumbo). Also if anyone knows of a mold/spacer sold together as a package that would probably be ideal. I guess that the spacers are fairly easy to make and dont need to be as exact as the mold so maybe I dont need to purchase those.

I dont have any pics to post yet as dry-fitted rosette and my cardboard mold with dry-fitted neck block arent all that exciting. Well actually they're pretty exciting for me, but I dont get out much.

BTW - would you guys leave the rosette pieces in while the wood is acclimating or pull them out for a week or so. I dont plan on cementing them in (I believe that's what I'll use since they're plastic) for at least a few weeks anyways.

Thanks.

[mktitan]

After many long days on the shooting block I finally have joined the back together. It is decent to my biased eyes but there is about an 3 inch section where the joint is not perfectly flat...that is you can feel a little ridge on that portion. I am hoping that this will go away when I sand the glue off. What do you guys think?

[David L]

I had a similar problem, I used a scraper to remove the excess glue (I used CA glue) from the joint and ended up with a low spot or valley the entire length of the joint. I thickness sanded (using the strong arm method) the entire surface until the valley was gone (fun, fun, fun). I used a shooting board and a sanding bar made from an old aluminum two foot level with double sided tape and sand paper. It was a real pain in the buttocks, the rosewood loaded the sand paper very quickly and the oil in the rosewood caused those carbuncle thingies to form on the sandpaper and had to be picked out regularly. I started out with 120 grit, did some 180 grit, and finished it with a few strokes of 220 grit. Oh yeah, I had to do it to both sides. My back came thick enough that I had a little fudge room and the final thickness is around .100". It doesn't sound like yours should be near as bad as mine. Some pictures would help (hint, hint).

David L

[mktitan]

Oh man, I feel for you as that sounds miserable. I am hoping that that is not necessary. Its my first build and I think that I'll be able to live with it after sanding but we'll see.

[Ken Hundley]

Welcome, and congrats on deciding to build! I started with the exact same instrument (Click here to see the build: http://www.nocturnalguitars.com/Nocturn ... -Jumbo.php) I made a lot of mistakes, one on joining the neck so bad I almost didn't finish it. 6 years, 5 crack repairs later, it looks like its been in battle, but still sounds like the best instrument I have ever played.

You said you are joining the back plates, are you using some sort of decorative strip down the center? Will you be routing the channel for that? If so, any issues with the joint will be covered by the decorative strip, and will be covered by the center reinforcement strip on the inside of the guitar as well. Because of the reinforcement strip, there should be no compromise in strength. Good luck, and keep a camera handy.

[mktitan]

Ken,

Thanks. I have a decorative strip but I am not sure if I am going to use it or not. Its from Martin and its just a super thin black fiber.

Here's a possibly stupid question ... the strip is about 1/32 inch wide by 1/8 inch tall (or 1/8 inch wide and 1/32 inch tall). I am assuming that I am meant to install it so you see the 1/32 running down the back, but then I thought that if I routed the channel super shallow that I could install it in a 1/8 inch wide channel. the 1/8 inch would certainly remove any trace of my ridge although I dont really think that its going to matter much anyways. There are little 'teeth' running along each side of the strip when looking at the 1/8 inch orientation but I am not sure if they're there for any purpose (maybe easier to sand down or maybe to grip the back plates depending on the orientation of the strip).