spare bits L1 build.

[Dave Sayers]

For my first build of a body from scratch, including bending the sides, I'm using some spare sapele strips and a spruce top. Based around the L1 pattern from GAL I had ordered the side bending jig and pattern. This is a test run before committing some more expensive wood to the tools.
As you can see the Blues Creek side bending jig did a brilliant job, which surprised me as I'd expected to mess up a few bits due to my lack of experience. Highly recommended to anyone anxious about bending expensive wood.
The top and back were joined on my own design joining jig and thicknessed using a wide electric planer followed by a rotary sander. It was generally successful enough for them to be used. The hole cutter I tried for the sound hole was none to good, but I have a new one now. In any case I soon tidied up the edges of the sound hole with double sticky tape and abrasive paper on a long conical pot. In fact it was the long conical pot from a toilet brush holder, and yes, I did buy a brand new one for the job. The neck came from a kit that someone had started and left, so again it's one that has needed the neck heel cutting down. I think for any other L1 builds I'll just have a go at making the neck and joint and in any case the next will be ladder braced just to see what the differences in sound are.