Guitar #2. 00-12 Fret with Engelmann/Cherry

[Diane Kauffmds]

I spent the last couple of days shaping the headstock and gluing the overlay to it. After gluing the overlay, I decided that it would look better with some kind of framing, but something very thin, not the usual binding. I went to the local store and picked up some very thin maple and black dyed maple. I got it glued into place and taped yesterday. Today, I continued to shape the headstock, which was huge and required a lot of chiseling and sanding.

I'm going to finish this guitar the same as the OM, so I'm using glossy polyurethane on the overlay, satin polyurethane on the neck, and the box will be shellac. I put the first coat of poly on the overlay:

peghead cap with taped edging.jpg

peghead first coat poly.jpg

[John J]

Very nice. I like where you positioned the inlay with the space above. It suits the shape.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

The headstock came our really nice Diane. Nicely done!

[Diane Kauffmds]

I've managed to get the top and back glued, planed and sanded. I sealed them with a thin coat of shellac to protect against dirt. I'll cut out the top and back so that I can glue the braces. I'd better get busy on that mold too.

top being planed.jpg

top joined and completed.jpg

back joined and completed.jpg

[MaineGeezer]

The grain of that cherry is incredible, especially for cherry!

[Diane Kauffmds]

I got the top and bottom thicknessed and roughly cut out on the bandsaw. I'm working on thicknessing the sides today, and I'll cut out the braces. I should be able to get the back and top braced either today or tomorrow.

I'll probably have to send the sides off to get them bent since I don't own a bender. I also have to make a mold and I'm toying with the idea of making an "adjustable mold". I think that if I carefully drill 1/4" holes around the perimeter of the desired size of guitar, I can use sufficiently long oak dowels to hold the rims. I can color code the holes for different guitars.

I'll post photos if it works out.

The top may look blotchy because the thin coat of shellac was in the process of drying.

cut back.jpg

cut top.jpg

[MaineGeezer]

Having tried the dowel idea when I made my dulcimer...I don' recommend it. I found that the dowels had to be surprisingly close together, there is nothing to attach the end blocks to, you can't simply flip the mold over to get at the other side, and clamping is more difficult. You also have the problem that the sides taper in width, and when you have the top edge of the sides up, the sides will have to be raised up at the neck end by the amount of the taper to make the top edges level with the mold.

If you do decide to try it, I'd use at least 1/2" dowels.

[Diane Kauffmds]

Having tried the dowel idea when I made my dulcimer...I don' recommend it. I found that the dowels had to be surprisingly close together, there is nothing to attach the end blocks to, you can't simply flip the mold over to get at the other side, and clamping is more difficult. You also have the problem that the sides taper in width, and when you have the top edge of the sides up, the sides will have to be raised up at the neck end by the amount of the taper to make the top edges level with the mold.

If you do decide to try it, I'd use at least 1/2" dowels.

I understand and your right.

[Diane Kauffmds]

I made the rosette. This is the first rosette I've ever made, and it took me twice to get it the way I wanted. I wanted the grain of the wood to radiate from the center, rather than go one direction.

I wanted to use my new compact router to make the rosette, since my Dremel is 20+ years old (and I wanted to play with it), so I adapted the Dremel circle cutter to use with the Ridgid. It wasn't ideal, but it got the job done. I'm going to make a proper circle cutter for the Ridgid.

I used a 1/4 to 1/8" bushing from Lee Valley Tools, and a carbide end mill bit from Blues Creek, to cut the rosette, and inlay the 3mm wide abalone. The rosette is 15mm wide. The width is based on the size of the abalone ring, which I wanted centered. I used black purfling on the inside and outside of the abalone.

The first set of photos show the creation of the rosette. The second shows the completed, and gives you an idea of how it will look with thin bwb purfling, which I'm putting inside and out. The difference in color is due to naphtha, which is on the first photo. My husband is helping me hold the purfling in place for the photo.

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[John J]

Very nice.