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STEP 4: Final rim recovery...

Much to my dismay, I discovered my rims were slightly cocked once I resolved the neck block issue. I didn't catch it right away because everything was sitting firm on the workbench (no rocking) and the 1x4s I was using to raise my form level off the table hid the problem. Next time I will use 4 smaller pieces of 1x4 in the corners so I can better see what I'm doing. After a quick email to John, I joined 4 sheets of 80 grit sandpaper, taped that to my workbench, and re-trued the top of the rim. It's now much, much better. There is still a slight rise in one spot, but I will take that down when I radius sand. I tried to make sure I did not take anything off the top of the neck block. The top of the rim is now far closer to level, the neck block is true on all planes, and the angle of the top of the neck block matches the neck angle perfectly. I will handle truing the back of the rim with the radius sanding bar.

Seems I learn more from having to fix my mistakes than doing the initial step. :-\

Mistakes are great teachers. Building guitars involves a steep learning curve. They seem simple, until you try to build one. You're doing fine.

It's only a mistake if you can't fix it

Ed

So far I've been lucky...learning a ton to boot. Who says you can't teach an old dog a new hobby?

STEP 5: Glue in ribbon braces and prep for next round of recovery.

I'm pretty confident I can glue in ribbons without screwing up too much. I did notice that cutting ribbon at a perfect 90 degree angle takes some practice. I marked the spots on the rim to brace (didn't see much in terms of instruction on this step as to where the ribbons should go, so I guestimated based on looking at ribbons on rims in other vids.) Used Titebond to glue in. Cauled and clamped, though I'm not sure that was absolutely necessary. Glued ribbon seemed to stick pretty tight to the rim without help. Will glue up the second half in a few hours. A couple questions on the next step will follow shortly.

QUESTION for next step.

I have a gap at the tail I'm going to fill with a rosewood wedge (see pic 3). I also have a slight gap where the top edge of the rim does not sit flush to the top of the neck block at the cutaway, due to my previous mishap (see pic 2). No big deal if I was going to use binding, but I don't want to if I can get away with it. Since this is right where the two rims meet at the neck (on the adjacent edge from the mistake), I'm thinking of adding a single piece of "decorative" rosewood at the rim joint to hide that gap and perhaps make the rim joint look nicer. I could do that with a small piece of rosewood cut with a "swoop" (see pic 1). I could shape the tail wedge with a similar "swoop" to match. The rosewood neck piece and tail wedge would then match the rosewood neck butt piece and the headstock. --OR-- I could put in a regular tail wedge and simply try to fill that slight gap at the neck with a mahogany filler piece. Its quite small and in an area that is not too obvious. It will ultimately get stained a dark dark cherry (not sure if that makes it better or worse.)

Thoughts or suggestions?

Next time do this and there will be no finicky fitting. I brushed the backs with Titebond, stretched them a bit as I pinned them, rubbed the length a couple of times with my finger, when they were dry ran a piece of 120 grit sandpaper over the ends to get off any boogers, then put the lining right over them. You can do this before or after gluing the end block on.

Also, and very importantly, prevents a hard spot where the brace meets the lining. I have seen a couple of guitars on forums (fora??) that had a crack right there where the two meet.

Ed

ruby@magpage.com wrote:Next time do this and there will be no finicky fitting. -- Ed

Ah....good to know! That looks a lot easier. And cleaner.

STEP 6: Glue X-braces to top

I put together a small press from some scrap wood and picked up five turnbuckles from the Depot. Bought some 1/4-20 hex-head blots to replace one end of the turnbuckles. Glued on some rubber over the hex-heads for protection. Under $20 and works like a champ with my radiused sanding bar. I glued in the bottom X-brace first (see pic). Got great uniform squeeze out because I could control the pressure on each turnbuckle. Squeeze out came right off, while wet, using a plastic straw cut at 45 degrees. Very neat and clean. Glued in the second X-brace after the first had set for about 17 hours. (see pic)

The X-braces came radiused. After gluing, it has put a nice arch into the top. Now, the other braces are *not* radiused. The next brace I'm putting in is the number one brace above the soundhole.

QUESTION 1: Should I clamp up the number one brace flat (i.e. not using the radiused sanding bar) and let the top flatten down to the brace? I assume I'm not supposed to radius the number one brace to fit? (see pic. when I lay the brace on the top there is a radiused gap beneath)

QUESTION 2: I'm using Titebond on the braces. How long should leave a brace in the press before unclamping? I read or heard somewhere that joints under pressure should be left for 24 hours. While the press works great, it is *slow*. Would be nice to speed up the process as much as possible.

Nice! Interesting little jig.