Second Build - All Mahogany Dred

[turnertj]

All...

Started my next guitar a few weeks ago, but just started taking pictures (posts are boring without pictures!) My plan is a Martin D-14 Dred all made out of mahogany--sides, back, AND soundboard!

I finished the top, soundhole, rosette, bracing...I'll have to post pictures later. But I also profiled and bent my sides. I started a little thick on my sides, with about 0.12" that I received as part of a 6-part wood set (got a great deal on it!) But that was WAY too thick, which I discovered after breaking a set! So I found another source of wood for my sides, and I got them thicknessed to 0.070". That inspired me to try the double sides out, with the idea of getting a nice rigid rim. We'll see how that turns out. But at seventy thousands of an inch, it's a dream to bend! I built some solid bending forms out of MDF, and then I'm going to use my bending forms, with another piece bolted to the side, as a laminating jig!

I also built some custom fit waist and cutaway rams to exactly fit the profile of the side bending jigs...

[turnertj]

Here's a few shots of the cut-away side laminated up. I use my custom fitted waist and cutaway rams to help me in those areas. And the bending form does double duty too! I'm using Tim McKnight's method for clamping everything together.

[johnnparchem]

Nice work on the forms. If I understand your process, you first bend the sides and then laminated them together.

[turnertj]

Yes! I guess I forgot to mention that! I have seen a few people just laminate without pre-bending, but my sides were too thick for that.

[turnertj]

I'm starting to get the rims together now. I built a new sanding fixture to use my radius disks with, this one being more sturdy than the version I used last time on my first guitar. Made all the difference. I mount the mold into the fixture by bolting it down, which makes everything VERY rigid. Then the addition of the toggle push clamps to push on the neck/tail blocks works well too to lock everything in place. Then I trued up the top rim without the blocks glued in. I'm trying solid linings (0.1" maple strips I harvested from a 3/4" board and then planed down to thickness) this time, so I cut them to length glued them up. My blocks still aren't glued down yet, but I'll get to those after I dome the top and then flatten the fingerboard extension. I really like the look of the solid linings, and in truth, I think they are just as easy as the kerfing to install.

[johnnparchem]

Cool use of clamps for holding the rims in the mold.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Looks really good. Is that a bender you made, along with the cutaway attachment?
I like some of the ways you are doing things too, thanks for sharing, it spurns on new ideas for the rest of us.

Kevin

[turnertj]

Thanks Kevin...I got the bender from our own illustrious John Hall. It works great. I wanted to build the custom waist and cutaway cauls to see if I could get the rims to fit the mold a bit better if I had a perfect match. It seems to work pretty well, although I still have some gaps at the cutaway section. But really I'm not too worried, once I get the neck and tail block in, with these solid linings and the double sides, I won't need the mold for the rest of the construction.

[turnertj]

A little more progress...

I finished installing the top linings, and then trued up the rim, installed the neck and tail blocks, and then put in the 1.5 degree neck angle with my dandy sanding jig. Then I moved onto the back where I got all the linings in, and then "trued" it up with the 20' radius disk.

The maple linings look nice, but they are definitely a bit more of a struggle than kerfing (I know, I changed my mind from a previous post...). I have some small gaps that were impossible to get them completely flush with the inside of the rim everywhere. Most like due to some variations in bending the linings. But once I got the rim out of the mold, holy cow is that thing stiff. I'll fill the little gaps with hot hide glue.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Looks pretty nice from where I'm sitting.

Kevin