My first scratch build, a J45.

[John J]

While doing the finish on my maple 00, I started in my first scratch build (except for the neck and fretboard). I've already glued the back and top and thinned to size. Sides were thinned to .078". I pre bent he waist curves on my pipe bender. Went quite well. I then misted them with distilled water, sandwiched them between parchment paper and topped by an aluminum slat. Into the preheated bender. Lined up the matching waist caul with my marks and tightened down. Slowly finished the ends and let it sit on heat for about a half an hour. Let it cool for an hour or so and then moved them to the mold. Both sides developed a small crack in the upper bout near the waist. I used ca glue and clamped. Hope they will be stable. Glued a tail block of half inch baltic birch plywood.

[John J]

More pics.

[John J]

First attempt at a rosette. I had a pre made rosette that I was going to use but I routed the top too big. Got ahead of myself. So anyway I just went ahead and made one. Turned out pretty nice. Layed out the size on paper and divided the circle up. I glued some abalone strips to the paper with ca, added some maple strips on either side and then fit wedges of wenge. I then routed the size ring I wanted. Adde some purfling to finish it off. Ran it through my drum sander to nearly level then used a palm sander to finish.

[John J]

Kerfed linings going in. I used reverse mahogany. Spanish cedar for the side bracing.

[MaineGeezer]

Nice job on the rosette. You installed more side braces than is typical -- any particular reason? (Or maybe that number of side braces is typical for a J45, I wouldn't know.) Those, and the reverse kerfing, should make a strong guitar. Its looking really good. Is the tail block plywood?

[John J]

Nice job on the rosette. You installed more side braces than is typical -- any particular reason? (Or maybe that number of side braces is typical for a J45, I wouldn't know.) Those, and the reverse kerfing, should make a strong guitar. Its looking really good. Is the tail block plywood?

I did add more side braces because I was worried about potential cracking. When I bent the sides I did have a longitudinal crack in both sides. I glued those with ca and hopefully the extra braces will stabilize it. The tail block is half inch Baltic birch plywood. I used it on my 00 kit I just finished.

[John J]

Finally getting back to this. Building a retaining wall in front of our house took me about a month. Whew! Got my braces cut and finished the contouring and top glued on. Changed my binding and back strip design from original concept. Was going to go with wenge for both, but I liked the way the blood wood looked with the maple and wenge I went that route. Back finished and glued up so my box is closed. Right now I'm working on sanding the sides prior to binding.

[John J]

More pics

[John J]

Working on the bindings. I wanted a little contrast on the side edge of the bindings so I came up with this method. It may not be new, but it's new to me. I laid the blood wood strips up against a ruler clamped on a packing tape covered surface. Laid the b/w wood purfling up next to it and pinched them between the ruler and my straightedge. I ran a line of thin ca glue down the joint. Ran them through my drum sander (a nearly indispensable tool!) and bent on my form. Routed and installed the back and am very pleased with the results.

[Diane Kauffmds]

It's looking great. You're doing a good job. I'm going to put bwb purfling in the sides too for the first time, as well as the top and back.