#3, my first 'scratch' build

[Jcolvin]

Then I got to thicknessing the back pieces. I first attempted a procedure with the router on a special base, to 'machine' the piece down to thickness. This didn't work too well, creating a lot of very uneven lines, and so I aborted that mission pretty quickly and used the bench plane instead. (Also I lost a chunk of my thumb nail due to picking the thing up without looking to make sure it was unplugged...lesson learned, always unplug tools before moving them) I picked up the plane at harbor freight for about $8 with a coupon. The blade sharpened up nicely. I was very happy with how it performed! Then I sanded down to a final thickness of .1, using a sanding stick I made. I'm hoping to end up with a .095 thickness, so I figured with finish sanding I'd achieve just that.

[Jcolvin]

I then set up a little shooting board. 5 passes with the bench plane, a couple runs with a sanding stick, and ended up with a great no-light-coming-through seam. Then I set up a board to join the halves, much like kinkade demonstrates in his book.

[Jcolvin]

The next day I profiled the back, braced it up, routed and installed the rosette, and cut the sound hole. I had heard that redwood was brittle. Now I know it as a fact haha. Notice the little chip in the upper left of the sound hold. Im hoping the fingerboard will cover it...
I'm also wondering how it will go when routing the bindings. Im kind of scared of that.

[ruby@magpage.com]

jcolvin

Looks like you are having fun! The color of the redwood looks great with the colors of the rosette. That would be a very easy little chip to repair so it could bot be seen.

Before you do the binding channels, try wiping a couple of quick coats of shellac on a piece of scrap to see if that will help prevent the chipping.

Ed

[johnnparchem]

Looks like you are moving along. Looking good

[Diane Kauffmds]

It's looking really good. I like your choice of woods. What's happened with the neck wood? Don't feel alone in having the router accident; I managed to rout the center of the nail, on my right middle finger.

[Jcolvin]

I've had a bit of a delay in working on the guitar. My brother requested I build him one, and he chose Bubinga and Engelmann Spruce, OM. So my hope is to work on the two side by side.

As for the neck wood issue, I've returned the two un-usable pieces, and am waiting for a refund. I suppose I'll use the refund to purchase a mahogany blank. I'll go with what's tried and true. I might use curly maple for the neck on one of the two guitars, whichever I think it'd look nicer on.

More photos coming soon.

[Jcolvin]

All right, I picked up a couple mahogany neck blanks and went to work on the new set of wood for my brothers guitar. I'be got the top and back braced up and got working on one of the necks. I don't have access to a band saw, so you can see in the photo how I cut the scarf joint. It worked well! Now I plan to order a heat blanket soon and build a bending form. It'll probably be a week or three before I actually get to bending the sides.

[Jcolvin]

A few neck shots.

[Diane Kauffmds]

Wow, they're really coming along, especially with building 2 at once.