Semi-commission build - my 7th build

[Rag Thumb]

I have built 6 guitars to this point over a span of about 4 years, having given all of them away to friends and family (and even kept one for myself). I was running out of excuses to keep building but luckily a friend in the neighborhood rescued me by saying he would pay for the materials if I built him one. So this one I'm going to be a little more nervous about for fear the finished product won't cut the mustard, but the worst that can happen is that I have to keep it, so what the heck.

The plan is to build a D41-ish cutaway. Some of the finishing details are still to be determined or are flexible, but this is the thinking as of now:

EIR Rosewood back and sides
Torrified Adironack Spruce top
Abalone D41 style rosette and purfling
Mahogany 14 fret dovetail neck
Mahogany neck and tail block
EIR head plate
Hummingbird inlays on the fretboard and head plate
Ebony fretboard
Ivoroid binding
Grover Tuning Machines
2 way truss rod
French Polish finish

I'm going to attempt to have a second build going for myself - a 000 with Evangkol back and sides and a torrified top, but I may have to put that on the back burner due to my small shop.

This will be my first shot at using bending equipment I bought from John, but if I can remember what he taught me when I visited him in PA a while back I should be okay.

Get ready for the mistakes (correctable I hope) to follow!

[tippie53]

call me if you need to I am here to help

[Rag Thumb]

My friend has a kick butt thickness sander that he graciously lets me use, so I was able to get the back and top joined and rough sanded.

https://ibb.co/4NZLQSt

I also have put a wash coat of shellac on the top before starting the work on the rosette. Prior experience tells me that will save me a lot of headaches, especially when it comes to sanding around the rosette.

[Rag Thumb]

This is my first time using the side bending machine I got from John. I find myself to be a little perplexed sometimes when it comes to proper orientation of things that need to be visualized and then turned upside down, so I need to take it slow when it comes to orienting the sides in the machine correctly. When it comes to doing that for a cutaway it is easy for me to get it wrong, which in this case, I did. So I ended up with a cutaway side that was bent wrong. John has said it is not hard to re-bend sides, but I didn't want to take the chance of bending anything as hairy as a cutaway the other way, so I set that set of sides to the side and got a new set of back and sides.

I later DID re-bend that mis-bent side as a conventional side and it went off without a hitch. So now I have another set of rosewood for my next D build (yeah!).

I then proceeded to bend the new set of sides and this time I got it right (whew!).

https://ibb.co/wrKWNhy

[Rag Thumb]

I've also started working on the rosette, which will be a D45 style with .063 abalone. I routed it out using a Dremel attached to a circle cutting jig. I used advice from Diane and John on this forum to determine how deep to rout the channels. That advice was to make the channels .015 to .020 deeper than the thickness of the pearl IF AND ONLY IF the starting thickness of the top allowed that. In my case it did as the top is at .135. By doing it that way it allows me to sand down to the pearl rather than sanding off the pearl. Thanks to both of you!

https://ibb.co/HX2wfCw

[MaineGeezer]

Good luck with it. I know exactly what you mean when you talk about being nervous building a guitar for somebody else. I built a guitar for my wife's brother and was a nervous wreck about it. It would have been a lot easier if I had built it with nobody particular in mind. But, it came out well, and yours will too.

[Rag Thumb]

I have glued in the tail block and neck block, leaving each one a bit proud on the top and the back.

I did a good job of cutting the side of the neck block at the proper width and angle to match up with my fretboard, and then somehow convinced myself that the way I had cut it was not quite right to allow for the block to be perfectly centered. So I trimmed my cut further, thinking that I was getting the neck block aligned on the center line perfectly. Long story short I over-corrected and had to shim the side of the neck block. I used a piece of solid maple and left it not as wide (deep?) as the neck block because that area of the neck block is the only place it is glued to the cutaway.

neck block with shim 2.jpg

[Diane Kauffmds]

I was a nervous wreck with my first commissioned build. You'll do just fine.

I've found that a simple checklist helps tremendously. It keeps me focused, on track, and I don't forget some small detail. You can make one using a dry erase board. I keep one on the computer that I print off and checkmark as I go along. At the end I make a "punchlist" of anything I think needs attention.

I sign and date it and include a copy with the guitar.

[Rag Thumb]

That's a great tip Diane and one that I will definitely employ. I get myself in trouble when I try to squeeze in short bit of work rather than planning a session. A checklist should help tremendously.