An EIR Dred in the D45 tradition.....

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Okay so I am finally going to start my next project since completing my last one in September.
This is going to be a dreadnaught built similarly to a D45.
It will be EIR back & sides
Sitka top
EIR bridge
Bone nut and saddle
EIR Headplate, probably only on the front
Curly maple bindings instead of white plastic
Abalone top and back purflings
A maple neck - non traditional but that is what the recipient wants.
Madagascar rosewood fretboard
Probably abalone dot fretboard markers
Bracing as close to the D45 as I can get it
Probably a pick-up but don't know what it will be yet

I am hoping to have it done for a late summer, early fall 2013 delivery. This one is a gift to my wife's cousins husband who plays in a band.
I will be starting out slow with a 2 month gap in March and April in the process while my daughter, husband and grandkids are visiting from India.
Then I will hit it hard again in May. I'll try and not post too many boring photo's but for sure will show how I am doing things with my tools, jigs, etc.
So............here we go!

Kevin

[Ben-Had]

WooWho!!! Can't wait to see the inlay.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Inlay Inlay!!!! Did you say there is suppose to be inlay????? :>)

[Darryl Young]

Beautiful set of EIR Kevin. This should be fun to follow.

I look forward to the detail on how you handle the abalone purfling. Will you use Ablam?

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Hey Darryl,
I probably should say that this will be adorned more like a D41 as I wasn't planning on doing the purfling around the fretboard extension, and no side abalone purflings. I may change my mind on the area around the extension.
I have strips purchased, and I will be putting a .010" black line on either side of the abalone rather than the traditional BWB. I don't want my overall purfling to be that wide. As I have it planned it will be around .210" wide plus the binding.
I practiced a little bit with the scheme and it worked pretty well. It will be my first time doing abalone purfling, but I'm not afraid..........nooooooo, not ascared at at all!!!!
I'm actually looking foward to that part of the build, and hope I do not feel rushed when the time comes to do it.

Kevin

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I've gotten started. Spent a couple of hours yesterday and about 3 hours today pitt'lin around mostly.
I cut up some African Mahogany heel blocks, which I also use for my neck blocks by gluing two together. I bought a 8" x 13/16" x 36" long board, ripped a 3" wide neck blank off of it and cut the rest into heel blocks. I paid $18 for the board, nice ribbon figure, good enough for back and sides. If you purchase heel blocks, you will usually pay $5 each for them. I got 12 from the board, plus a neck blank. You can see the economy of this move, yes?
Okay, so I made the heel block and the neck block (not quite done yet with it). My maple neck blank was 1" x 3" by 36" long. It was slightly warped so I had to hand plane the concave side flat, then run it through my drum sander to flatten the other side. I ended up with a 3/4" thick board. There is also some staining on this blank that did not completely come out as I removed stock, so little bit might be showing up on the underside of the neck shaft up by the nut. I will see how it turns out......may not use it because of this.
So I laid out the blank, cut the scarf joint on my band saw and cleaned it up on my 12" disc sander....Whoppie!...did that work out nicely for this. I should have taken a picture of this process, but I'm sure you can all get the picture in your mind.....wood against a rotating disc!!
I cut off the pieces on the other end for the stacked heel. Then I thicknessed the scarfed piece down to 1/2" on my 4" belt sander and glued it on the neck shaft, and glued the stacked pieces together. When dry I'll glue the stack to the neck blank. Because my plank ended up being 3/4", to get enough height at the heel, I have to glue up 4 pieces to the shaft. This gives me about 3 3/4", just enough. I am hoping the stacked heel seams don't show too much. This may also be what causes me to not use this neck, so we will see.
So that is that for now. I'm going to work on the neck a bit before I start work on the sides.

Kevin

[Kevin Sjostrand]

more pics.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

and more,

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Well the maple neck just isn't going to make it. I started the layout and shaping, but I just can't stand seeing the glue lines, so I won't burn it, but I'm not going to use it on this guitar. I'll cut out a solid one piece honduras mahogany neck. I guess I really like the solid necks.....no laminations showing, no graining running in the wrong direction.
Here are some pics of the maple neck as it is.
I also thicknessed the sides to about .085" and profiled them. They and the curly maple bindings are ready to be bent, so time to get the light bulb heated fox style bender out and put it to use again. Exciting! Oh by the way, since incandecent light bulbs are being outlawed in California, and the over 100 watt ones are already off the shelves....before they disappeared, I bought $100 worth of 150 and 200 watt bulbs so I can continue to use my bender for years to come. When my bulbs are gone, I may have to go for the silicone blanket, but for now, the light bulbs get plenty hot.

Kevin

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Kevin