Dr. Rick Gets a StewMac Kit for his Big Birthday

[Srick]

I've been a woodworker for many years. Couple this hobby with my 40 plus years in dentistry and you have a great basis for luthiery.

As a dentist, you have to:

• work with natural materials
• be detail oriented
• learn how to correct your errors
• deal with the frustration of things that are beyond your control
• order all sorts of specialty tools to do the job right
• you are always working in small dark spaces with a light and mirror
• and you have to constantly be a problem solver

Sound familiar?

I have repaired and setup my own guitars for several years now. I even repaired a large hole in the side of a 1935 KayKraft this last year and achieved a really good repair!

Building a guitar was not quite where I wanted to go, because I knew about the extra level of complexity and all that would be needed to get to the finish line. But my wife had faith in me. What prompted me to start this building blog is that I had immediate success and then was handed some humble pie - and of course, fixing errors is one of the best teachers. (whether we like it or not)

[Srick]

The Stewmac kit strikes a nice balance between easy and overwhelming. It is well-documented, and supplementing the written instructions with their supplied video (and many other independent YouTube videos (shoutout to John Hall!)), makes this project achievable.

First step: Attach the neck and tail block to the sides. A straightforward task, but nonetheless, one that needs to be done just right. The tail block was a home run - I knew what I was doing!




Nicely clamped right? I had this one down


When I removed the clamps, it looked great from the bottom...


(7.24.2023 continues...)

[Srick]

7.24.2023 continued

and here's the top part of the joint (You're looking at the neck block at one side of the dovetail)...whoa... what's this?

]



One side of the neck block was glued well. But on this side, there was a separation large enough to fit a palette knife into. There's solid glue throughout the joint, but a thick glue joint is not a strong glue joint. Glue is strong in a thin section. In this case, the glue is Titebond.

I could almost get away with this since this is in the dovetail area, but...

Coming up next: A trip to Home Depot to get a new heat gun! What a great a chance to learn! ;-)

[TEETERFAN]

Great to see you jumping into a guitar build!! You are absolutely right about the advantages provided by your dental experience. Good thing is, wood doesn’t feel pain too easily.
Be cautious with your new heat gun. I used a hair dryer for years to heat things up and when I got a heat gun I cooked a few things before I got used to the way higher level of heat they put out. Wood can char in the blink of an eye, so be crazy careful starting out. I wish I did.
I know we all look forward to seeing you progress on your new adventure. The folks here are very knowledgeable and super eager to help!

[Srick]

The Heat gun has arrived - the credit card balance just kicked up a notch...

Thank you Kevin! Wisely, I opted for the higher end Wagner heat gun that has a temperature sensor incorporated into it. And we'll find out how that works in about an hour. If I can get this joint heated to about 160-180, I might even be able to close it with a couple of clamps. I'm early enough in the build where I can take a chance. I may also take the path of heating the palette knife with the heat gun.

One hour update… the ability to increment heat in ten degree steps is very handy. 350 degrees (coming through the nozzle I presume) melted the glue just enough to close the joint. It’s clamped right now. Today, looking at the joint, it was not as bad as I had feared- mainly just the one side of the dovetail needed to be reglued. So we’ll see if the Titebond will re-form just a skoche. Definitely worth the try as opposed to removing the entire neck block.

Two hour update… it worked!



After photo

In medicine, they call this 'revision surgery' - they never call it an 'oopsie.'

Rick

PS - When Kathy presented me with the kit, I knew that I would be buying a lot of tools and jigs, I may have to take the heat gun and destroy my credit card within a few weeks.

[Srick]

It's hard to explain how much easier it is approaching a build with these two tools close at hand. Jus' Sayin'

[Srick]

Plug for HF - they have improved their quality a lot over the last few years. Instead of clothespins securing the kerfing, check these out:


22 spring clamps for $5.49 AND.....

WAIT FOR IT.....

They have a lifetime replacement guarantee!!!!

[Srick]

IMPORTANT- Don't skip this step

In the video and in the kit manual, they say to round the waist clamp. They could do a better job of explaining it. Besides the vertical aspect of the 'forks', rounding the leading edge is vitally important!!

[rcnewcomb]

Plug for HF - they have improved their quality a lot over the last few years. Instead of clothespins securing the kerfing, check these out:

I have those same kerfing clamps. They work better than clothespins.

[Skarsaune]

Plug for HF - they have improved their quality a lot over the last few years. Instead of clothespins securing the kerfing, check these out:

I have those same kerfing clamps. They work better than clothespins.

Same here.