First Build - 12 Fret

[turnertj]

I'll take a picture tonight. The neck block is designed for their truss rod, and comes pre-drilled. It is maybe a 1/4" below the fretboard, or maybe a bit more, like a 1/4" below where the soundboard will come in once glued up. I should have set it up with the truss rod access in the headstock. Lesson learned. And again, I'm not thrilled with the StewMac setup overall. Another lesson learned!

[turnertj]

Drum Roll....new Transverse brace!!! I got home, mounted a few straight poplar pieces across the soundboard as a guide for my palm router, and routed away the old transverse brace. It worked well, leaving behind nothing but a popsicle style brace. I didn't want to take it right down tot he soundboard. But then I made a new brace to go on top, and got the hole for the truss rod right this time!

[johnnparchem]

Looks good to me.

[turnertj]

Got a bit more done. Seems like the weekend is the only time I manage any time in on the build. But...I made a jig so I could use my palm router to cut out the wedge on the bottom of the rim, and cleverly enough the jig works with my razor saw to cut the wedge for a near perfect fit. The wedge is Koa to match my bindings and rosette, and I didn't account for the fact that the wedge material is a bit thinner than my side set. So it looks good, but when I run my finger over it I can feel the dip because of the thinner Koa. Oh well, another lesson learned. With the router I should have just cut the channel to thickness. I forgot to take any pictures of that part of the process or the wedge, but I'll get some and show you guys later.

After that I was all ready to attach my soundboard. I moved my glue up setup downstairs to the best humidity controlled environment I have, and then I remembered about an old cart my grandfather built which was perfect for mounting my go bar deck. It was great to be able to walk all around it to get the clamps on. I made a halo caul to account for the radius of the back and front, and mounted foam (the green stuff in the pictures) under the caul. Then I just clamped it all up! Hopefully that works. I went ahead and tried the Titebond extend, especially after the discussion that someone forwarded from the titebond product tester himself. I just didn't think I was skilled enough to get the top on with regular titebond. T urns out I probably could have pulled it off, but the reduced time pressure was nice.

[johnnparchem]

That is a very cool glue caul

[turnertj]

Thanks John. It was actually really easy to make, took about 1/2 an hour. It's actually split in two, which is why there are two clamps at the neck block and tail block, but that area needs extra clamping I would think. I put in the counter-sunk holes just to make sure that I had no slipping with the go-bars. It seems to work.

[turnertj]

I finished the trimming of the excess! I think I need to clean my shorts, but it went okay. I have a Fleishman binding machine from John and it works great. Nevertheless, the pucker factor is high anytime I have a spinning thingy near my nice soundboard!

I did get one little tearout, but I believe the binding and purfling will cover it up easily.

[turnertj]

And all together!

[Darryl Young]

Looks good TJ.

[turnertj]

And then the back goes on...