Blues Creek 000 Martin Build from non-guitarist

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Very nice job so far Steve. Are you having fun?
Thanks for sharing with pictures.

Kevin

[tippie53]

Maybe you will learn to play . it is looking very good.

Best advice
guitars sound better with the strings outside

[stevemac00]

Thanks for the encouragement. Starting each build segment is worrisome having never attempted this before and the longer it goes the more time and money is invested. Now the dovetail neck. Can anybody tell me what the mortised hole in the body's neck block and the brass threaded insert in the neck is for as they don't line up? Apparently unused in this kit.

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I slowly sanded the dovetail tenon but I found that I also needed to pare the mortise with a chisel as it was a little rough. I was afraid to work on both the mortise and tenon because it increases the risk of error. I don't know if it's right but:

• Top fits flush
  Neck makes symmetrical contact with the body
  The chalk looks evenly distributed on the mating pieces
  It feels solid without any wobble from side to side

However, there is minimal friction on removal. I have to tap with the mallet but once it moves a tiny bit it just pops out. Maybe that's the way all sliding (compound) dovetails are but I would have thought more force would be required. It bothers me because there's so much stress on this joint and there's no mechanical reinforcement.

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[tippie53]

you may add a small shim , a plane curl ironed flat may be all you need

[stevemac00]

I watched the dovetail videos again. Specifically #4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mokxzeYOd_0 about 6:50 in where you cope the rim to the neck. While I thought mine was flat when I hold the body up to the light with a straight edge, I can see there's a sliver light at the back and top. I'm flattening the rim for better mating and now my dovetail goes in a deeper so I'll definitely have to shim. (I didn't think of this at the time until I'd already sanded to bring it flush.)

As a side bar, when the top of the neck is flush, the heel of the neck extends about 1/4" below the back. Is this normal? I imagine I'll just cut it off so when the heel cap is attached it's flush with the back.

[tippie53]

yes it is normal and you trim the heel. Sounds like you are getting the process down. Looking forward to the end result

[stevemac00]

I'm worn out from the neck fitting exercise and decided to work on something different and started the inlay on the fingerboard. I went with pearl dots because most Martin's I've seen do the same and they're easier than diamonds.

I watched John's 3 part youtube videos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nPpLjxT4do) and got confused because the layout was different. I think diamonds must be different than dots. I used John's recommendation and laid it out like this:

• Fret 5....5/16"
  Fret 7....1/4" (double)
  Fret 9....1/4"
  Fret 12...3/16" (double)
  Fret 15...3/16"

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I used brad point drills slightly larger than the dots and drilled to an eyeball depth of 1/16". A couple were too deep but I threw a little sawdust below the dot before gluing and held it flush with an exacto knife. I used Stew Mac's Medium Black CA glue.

I used small pearl dots 1/16" diameter for the side markers. Here I put one on the third fret since I had a package of ten - about $3 from Stew Mac. I was surprised to see they look a little uneven in the longitudinal photo because they look fine looking straight down on them. I marked with an awl but must've had some bit slippage. Unfortunately I don't have a 1/16" brad point bit. If you know where to get one, let me know.

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I wanted to try doing an inlay on the head stock. I decided to do my son's initials "RAM" but in a more western motif so I turned the "A" upside down and joined with the other letters. I drew it out in Google Sketchup so I could scale it to the exact size I wanted. This complicated things a little bit because it became difficult to hold while cutting and a break anywhere meant a couple do-over.

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This is my second effort which I will use although I'm not satisfied with it. I may buy some round needle files to smooth out the holes in the letters. Now I have to get the guts to carve up the headstock.

I plan to use a Dremel with downcut 1/16" spiral bit. What happens if it fails? Can you sand off the ebony veneer and replace it? I think I'll sleep on this awhile before cutting.

[Jim_H]

If by Ebony Veneer, you mean the headstock over, no there is no need to sand it off, assuming you used an aliphatic/white/yellow glue of some kind. Heat from a household iron will allow you to carully spatula it off.

I know this, because I've installed about 4x as many headstock overlays as I've built guitars :p

[stevemac00]

It turns out routing the headstock with the veneer attached was not difficult at all and I'm thankful I didn't attempt to remove it first. I decided to drill the tuner holes before inlaying the logo to assist me in location.

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I tried the logo in some scrap wood first and it determined it was nearly impossible to maintain wood where the "holes" in the letters are located. It was much easier to cut out filler from some scrap ebony veneer to glue into the logo.

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I tried gluing the logo onto the headstock with Titebond but it broke free as I was scribing. I was afraid to use CA and ended up just holding it with my thumb while scribing around it with an exacto knife. Some chalk dust made the outline stand right out.

I was too cheap to buy the little air pump for the dremel base but I found out I could just put a length of tube in my mouth and blow when needed.

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I used the 1/32" down spiral bit exclusively.

[stevemac00]

I took my time to cut the mortise and carefully checked placement for high points frequently. I was afraid of using pressure to fit the pearl in because I don't know how much stress it will take before breaking. The result is I probably over cut a little. I clean it up with a 1/2" chisel and knife.

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It now drops into the hole. Note the little scrap piece in the "A". I gave up on trying to cut a piece of ebony for the "R" because it was too small to hold and will just fill it with dust.

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I used black epoxy because of it's viscosity.

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