Blues Creek 000 Martin Build from non-guitarist

[stevemac00]

This is for a christmas preset and it's only a week away. The bridge installation went without a hitch using the KMG bridge setter. This little thing was included with my bridge locating jig. It was easy to use and much better than trying to clamp the bridge in place.

I hope it's in the right position because it's pretty much impossible to back out of an error on this step. The location is something I don't have high confidence in because my scale measurements don't calculate exactly to a Martin scale. KMG thought I didn't have a true Martin scale but I ended up buying the Martin scale version of the jig. This is a huge deal because the guitar can be tuned with strings open but be sharp (or even worse, flat) as you play up the scale. I can't even play a G chord but understand the concept.

After waiting a day for the glue to cure I prepared to install the bridge pins and realized the taper won't fit in my 3/16" hole! I live in a rural area and there's no way to get a reamer in the next two days. I used a spiral screw extractor to get close but left the tapered hole undersized. Then I put some adhesive sandpaper around one of the pins and chucked it in the drill to get it very close but under-cut. This worked perfectly and quickly. I manually dialed in the sandpaper reamer so each pin would fit down in the same plane.

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Cory's book shows an unshaped bone slab but the saddle I received from Blues Creek fit almost perfectly and was already shaped. All I had to do was reduce the thickness by rubbing it on some sandpaper adhered to my table saw top.

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If only I had a guitar to examine as I build this one. I had to call John and ask which end of the saddle was treble! I've tried not to call John too much but he's always there to answer the most trivial question every time I've needed him. Thanks, John!

I had to do some touch-up lacquer on the headstock where I stupidly sanded off an edge so I'm waiting a few days before testing but unless something is wrong, I should be done in time for christmas. All that remains is scraping and polishing the fingerboard, rubbing out the bridge and polishing the guitar.

[stevemac00]

Strung up and it plays. For awhile we thought it was going to be an expensive wall-hanging. I tuned it using the ApTuner http://www.aptuner.com on my iMac/Parallels. First thing I did after tuning an open string is hit the 12th fret octave to see how far off it was. It was flat to slightly sharp so I think I'm going to be good.

Thank you everybody for all the help and support. I've still got to apply that plastic pick guard and fine tune the action and saddle down the road but this is great for a surprise christmas present.

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[tippie53]

looks great

[stevemac00]

Thanks John for all the help. We're already talking about the next one.
This guitar has great resonance!

Here's a short clip Bron-y-aur.mp3 http://www.sail-talisman.com/mp3/Bron-y-aur.mp3

[johnnparchem]

The guitar looks great, also good thinking on the last minute problem solving. Did you shape (intonate) the saddle? If not it might be in backwards bass to treble. Usually the B string second treble string is intonated to the bottom end of the saddle.

[Ben-Had]

Great first effort. You'll find it keeps getting better with age.

[stevemac00]

Did you shape (intonate) the saddle?

The saddle was nicely pre-shaped and I did no further intonation. I installed per my understanding from John in that the "low end" of the saddle is under the "high E". This made sense to me as I would expect the high strings have less movement than the lower strings.

I also checked with a great tuner to make sure my higher frets were still in tune and they were right on or slightly sharp which I think is a good thing as that would be easily compensated if desired.

[Ben-Had]

The guitar looks great, also good thinking on the last minute problem solving. Did you shape (intonate) the saddle? If not it might be in backwards bass to treble. Usually the B string second treble string is intonated to the bottom end of the saddle.

I see what you're saying John but can't tell if it is shadowing or reversed. If it's in tune -" keep on strummin' "

[johnnparchem]

I agree that it probably is shadows.

[stevemac00]

Usually the B string second treble string is intonated to the bottom end of the saddle.

Can you help me out a little on this? I'm not quite following. I simply put the lower side on the high E string. Below is a closeup of the saddle.

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