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"When things are going well, you have obviously overlooked something."

When I cut the fingerboard to size, I very carefully laid it out, I figured 1/16" extra on each side for the binding, I drew the lines to account for the binding in the total width, all looked good.

Last evening I started making the nut. I measured the width of the fingerboard at the nut. It's 1/8" too much. Somehow I must have miscalculated the allowance for the binding. Or something.

I see two options. Maybe three.

• Take off the binding and just have an un-bound fingerboard.
  Convince the guy I'm making this for that he really wants a neck 1-13/16" at the nut instead of 1-11/16" he asked for.
  Take an axe to it and throw the whole thing in the woodstove. I'm not quite that disgusted with this guitar -- yet.

Are there any other options?

Is it fretted yet? Can you make a jig and rout the binding off and make the channel deeper? Maybe use a modified binding rabbet jig?

I've decided that the most straightforward way to deal with it is to take off the binding, shave down the neck, and just have an un-bound fingerboard. The width is correct without the binding.

All I lose is having a bound fingerboard, which is purely cosmetic. I'm a bit disappointed, as I personally like the look of a bound fingerboard, but it's not any kind of requirement for this guitar.

I peeled off the binding last evening using a couple of short steel bars roughly 3/4 x 3/4 x 3 that I heated on the kitchen stove and held on the binding to heat it up while I pried with a thin blade. It didn't take long.

I still need to install the pickgjuard and tweak the action a bit more, but this thing is finally together and essentially done. I set the neck yesterday, and the alignments came out exactly as I wanted them to. It sounds pretty good. I personally dislike the narrow neck (1-11/16" nut, 2-1/8" bridge pin spacing), but that is what the customer requested so that's what it is.

That's a thing of beauty - well done, and congratulations on getting past your unexpected hurdles.

It's beautiful Steve. You did good, my friend.

Handsome, classic style. As good as it looks, one would never know there was any stress in its birthing. What's next?

I'm not sure. My Parlkinson's disease is getting more annoying and making the process of building a guitar more difficult...and I'm sure we would all agree it's difficult enough already!

However, I'm not about to let some stupid disease run my life if I can still manage to things, even if they are more difficult. I'll doubtless build something, but I don't know what. The instrument tally in the house is currently at 6 guitars, 4 dulcimers, 4 banjos, a mandolin, a bowed psaltery, a hammered dulcimer, and an autoharp. I don't really need another instrument!

MaineGeezer wrote:I'm not sure.... The instrument tally in the house is currently at 6 guitars, 4 dulcimers, 4 banjos, a mandolin, a bowed psaltery, a hammered dulcimer, and an autoharp. I don't really need another instrument!

A nice little soprano lute might be fun to try. ;-)

I've been cleaning up the final details. I attached the pickguard. I've worked over the nut and saddle to get the action where it ought to be. I've shaved a bit more off the neck to smooth out curve transitions, especially at the heel, and to make it feel thinner overall. Now I'm putting finish on the neck (again). I also need to touch up the finish in general.

When it's "done," if it ever reaches such a state, I'll post a final picture.