Engelmann/Honduran Mahogany Dreadnought build

[naccoachbob]

After a week of fooling around trying to decide what to do for the tail wedge, I spent last night and today working on it. I had to order a jeweler's saw to make this one, and it finally got here yesterday.

I had one piece of gold mop left over from inlaying the fretboard, and cut a 1/8" x 1" piece.



I then cut a pocket on a small strip of ebony to receive the mop.





I had earlier cut the tail wedge shape into some cocobolo to match the binding, and drew in the ebony/mop inlay location.



The ebony and cocobolo were the same thickness, so I used a couple of passes around the rim of where the ebony would sit.



A little fine tuning and they all came together. I guess I hadn't thought all the way thru this, but the coco and the ebony are both pretty dark. I'm just hoping after putting on finish that the ebony will show up well. I wanted to set the mop in the center, but if I want to put a strap on this guitar, it might have been destroyed by the hole for the pin.



Next I applied the bwb purfling to either side of the wedge with some CA.



Routed out the channel for the wedge, and glued it in with white glue.





Tomorrow I hope to start routing for the binding and purfling channels. And I have a question - If I want to miter the purfling at the wedge with that of the horizontal purfling below the binding, what's the best way to go at that?

Thanks for looking.

[naccoachbob]

I have 4 pieces of cocobolo for the binding, and 4 strips of b/w/b that will be mitered at the tail wedge. I tried using b/w/b before on the side without bending them because I didn't have the equipment. That was extremely hard to do as I had to use CA glue all the way around. Now that I have the bender, it's all much easier.



Now the bent binding and purfling sitting in the mold waiting for me to get to work.



Now I had a chance to use the binding tower that John Parchem sent to me along with the carriage that I had built. I'm going to tell on myself now. My understanding is that the sides need to be vertical when using the tower. I used my square to check the sides, and found that there were some places that just were not straight up and down. So I had to adjust the carriage several times to get the binding cut.



Even though I had inspected the channels thoroughly, I discovered after installing the binding that there were 2 places where the router had cut that were lower on the sides than they should have been. Part of that was because the b/w/bloodwood/w/b purfling was so wide that the router just barely sat on the top. So I went to my hand held binding jig. Somewhere in all that, I had those two places. I can take two pieces of very thin mahogany from my cutoffs and glue them in. It will be mostly, if not totally, hidden when I'm done.

This picture is the top being bound.



And some shots after the glue dried. I very carefully went over the binding edges with a chisel to pare down where the binding and purfling were proud of the top. I'll do the back later. It'll hopefully save time when trying to flush everything up.







Other than the two mistakes along the side (treble side), the binding/purfling is pretty well seated. Now it's just a matter of getting everything flush.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

That looks real nice Bob, Cocobolo is a lovely rosewood.

Kevin

[naccoachbob]

Thanks, Kevin.

Finallly some progress. For some reason, I was skittish about using Zpoxy on a guitar. I watched Todd Stock's videos on it. I know people who use it and swear by it, but I was finding it hard to pull the trigger.

But I finally got started. Here are some pics of how it stands after one coat of the Zpoxy. I am really liking how this looks. Tomorrow I need to get some bolt inserts so I can clamp the guitar down. That will make the 2nd coat much faster to complete. This stuff really does make the wood stand out so well.





I'm skittish about spraying this as well, but unless it rains or the humidity whacks out this weekend I'll start doing that.
Bob

[johnnparchem]

Wow, the guitar is looking great. I love the contrast of the cocobolo with the Mahogany, The bwb purflings add a real sense of class and elegance.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Mighty Purty! I too like the contrast.

Kevin

[naccoachbob]

John and Kevin, thanks much on your comments. I was blown away by how the back and sides looked when I got that first coat of Zpoxy on them. I'd heard folks talk about the wood "popping" and finally understand what that means.
I'll put some shellac on tonight or tomorrow morning, and start to "finish".

But now I really need some help on how to fix this issue that came up. Last night, I took the cover off of the top. I had poster board taped on the top for several days so that no Zpoxy would get into the top. Realizing that having tape on it for a couple of days might cause problems in tear out, I used the least adhesive tape I had, and I took a hair dryer to the tape as I was very slowly pulling it off. The pictures below show the only place on the top where it tore. As soon as I saw it, I stopped, realizing that I was going against the grain. So I came back to it from the lower bout. But still some fibers have lifted, and there's some that came out.

Anyone have any suggestions? I'm hesitant to sand as deep as that thing is, the top is about as thin as I want to go until I do my final sanding. I did not pull the fibers off, but I honestly don't think there is much to do to save them. Would putting LMI glue or any other glue on the location and pressing the fibers back in their original place be an option? It's frustrating after taking such good care of the top on this guitar. That was my goal anyway.





Thanks for any thoughts on this.
Bob

[johnnparchem]

How thick do you think the thickest fiber is? I have never tried to repair pulled fibers that small. I would try to use LMI white glue to glue them down. You will have to sand or scrape a little if you glue them down to clean the top and level the repair.

The one thing I learned is if you do use sand paper, sand with a block or felt pad so you do not sand a low spot where the damage is. I did that once it really shows up after finish.

[ruby@magpage.com]

If this is the worst spot I think you have no problem. Sand a bit to get rid of the visible splinters, then when you finish, drop fill the cavities a little - I bet you will remember exactly where they were.

Ed Minch

[naccoachbob]

John and Ed, thanks for coming in on this. It turns out that the tear out was way less than I thought. I got a razor blade and went with the grain and got it all to disappear. Then, one more stroke and I raised another curl. But a tiny dab of LMI glue and it disappeared. Then I went back later and scraped the glued area down. It went well.
Much ado over nothing thank Heaven.
Bob