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Gifted tonewoods and sides

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 11:05 am
by jread
Been talking up my Blues Creek Guitars kit to friends was gifted this East Indian Rosewood back and sides in progress along w/ 4 sets of Englemann Spruce and one Spanish Cedar. These are all circa 1980.

What a gift! My kit is a D18 style so here is my rosewood baby when I get to it. Not sure yet what type of guitar that cedar will go with but will be fun learning.

Quick question: the sides are about .5" wider than my D28 plans. Thinking I'll be driving the bus (sanding discs) downtown and back a few times to bring it down. That seem crazy or just leave it wide?

Re: Gifted tonewoods and sides

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 11:44 am
by johnnparchem
A D18 is wide enough without the extra 1/2".
I am not sure of your prosses but I would mark out the desired side profile on the rims and go at the 1/2 inch with a block plane. There are a variety of methods to mark out the profile. Since you mention driving the bus I assume you have a radius dish. On the back side of the rims and using your back radius dish, mark the desired height of the heel and tail blocks on the center line inside. Put the rims in radius dish, as square as possible (same gap at the waist on each side. Set the compass from the radius dish to the mark you made on the heel block. Shim up the tail block such that the compass will span the radius dish to the mark you made on the heel block. Carefully scribe around the rims keeping the compass square, following the radius dish and marking your rims. Now you have a line that you can use a plane to take down the excess. Given that you are inside the blocks you will still need to drive the bus to your desired thickness.

Re: Gifted tonewoods and sides

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 12:42 pm
by jread
right! I didn't think of that. I'm a noob but I understand your advice there and feel I could pull it off. By the time my kit is done, I'm sure I'll be able to come back to this rosewood side and get it to martin style spec. Thanks for posting.

Re: Gifted tonewoods and sides

Posted: Tue May 14, 2019 1:26 pm
by carld05
I mark the sides using the same process as John describes, but remove the major part of the excess using a small circular saw blade in the dremel. Quite a bit quicker than a block plane.