Martin Style 00 12 fret guitar now with strings!

[johnnparchem]

I am not sure that the more boring bobinga sides work with the fancy waterfall back. The color looks OK, but what can one do; I cracked one of the fancy sides when I started many months ago so I grabbed another set of bobinga sides that I had. It is noticeable enough that someone could think I made it as a design choice, albeit a poor one. I am sure my niece will like it and the overall look of the guitar is going to be good.

Here are some pictures after 2 regular coats of zpoxy sanded back and a thinned (10% added alcohol) zpoxy wiped on with a cotton rag.

[B. Howard]

Oh I don't know if its that bad. I have a back set that is flamed crotch mahogany, its stunning. I have it paired with some very vanilla sides. Even if I could have gotten matching sides, bending them would be darn near impossible. I personally don't mind.

[Darryl Young]

I have a similar situation on the 00 I'm working on. Ribbon figured back and more plain sides. I think it looks fine.

[johnnparchem]

Thanks for the positive feedback,

I am at that point in the process where I am seeing everything as if I had magnifying glasses on; focusing on details instead of the whole.

john

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Most Sweet John!!!

Kevin

[johnnparchem]

I am still getting ready to spray. With everything together I checked the neck angle again and found it was angled back a bit more than I like. I was too high at the saddle and I had a gap at the end of the fret board. I had the body angle checked before I glued up the box. I was pleased to see that the gap to the body at fret board end corresponded to the extra height at the saddle.

I used a straight edge on the fret board and measured the gap at the bridge and decided I wanted to lower it by 1/8". So the heel is a about 3.5" and the 12 fret to the saddle distance is about 12.5" so I calculated that I wanted to remove about 1/32 of an inch of wood from the cheeks at the fret board end. (1/8*3.4/12.5).

I placed some tape to closely mark out what I wanted the neck angle to be placed the neck in my parrot vise, sharpened my chisel and very carefully remove the wood on the cheeks to the line I wanted. Cleaned it with a sharpened very small scrapper and tried it on the guitar.

I was very close with the angle but slightly off center. I used a scrapper to take a bit off of one cheek to bring the neck back to center, checked the neck on the guitar and breathed a sigh of relief.

[johnnparchem]

I finished spraying the guitar with EM6000 water based lacquer, but I need to wait until next weekend to buff it out. I am really glad to go back to EM6000 after my Em7000 disaster. This water base lacquer is a lot easier to spay, it really levels well, basically really forgiving. Also it is not so blue. I did take the time set up the sprayer each and every time with a film thickness gauge, a little metal card you scrap on a test spray, to assure I was spraying around 3 mils. It is nice to get almost no orange peel and no drips.

[johnnparchem]

I wet sanded the finish with 800p and buffed it out. I am quite happy with the way it looks, I need to glue on the bridge make a nut and saddle ... Still I am excited to show the progress.

[johnnparchem]

With strings. It sounds great. I need to make a real saddle, I had one in a drawer that was close but the action just a touch low on the high E string.

[darren]

She's a beauty John. Share some sounds when you get a chance. Nice Job.