www.KitGuitarsForum.com

Good afternoon everyone!

I’m attempting to build my first kit and unfortunately I’m already running into some issues. Since I’m planning on building more than one, I opted to get the 000 mold they sell, thinking that would be better than working with the cardboard mold and waste clamp. Problem is, using this mold is causing problems. Whenever I first tried putting the sides in, it didn’t seem like they wanted to fit at the neck block area. After loosening the mold and prying a little bit I heard them “snap” into place. At that point they seemed to be lined up, so I tightened the mold the rest of the way and started working on a dry clamp up. I started noticing pretty quickly that something seemed off. I am attaching multiple pictures hoping you’ll see what I mean, but the sides now seem like they’re in somewhat of a bind. Whenever I put the tail block up to the sides, it isn’t sitting flush. There are small gaps around all four corners. I can add their center spreader and it will close up the gap on one end, but then it seems more pronounced on the other.

I’m assuming trying to glue up the tail block with it like this will just cause issues down the road, but I’m just not sure what to do. Should I glue up the rim outside the mold and then put it in? I’m just worried the shape will be even more off that way. Is it that the sides need trimming? (Didn’t think that was the case with Stew Mac kits)

I’ve tried reaching out to SM and realized pretty quickly that I’m not going to get good customer service or clear answers from them. Any help from this forum is greatly appreciated. I wish I would have found Blues Creek Guitars and this site before buying, but it’s all good. There’ll be a next one.

Thanks a lot!
Allen Keith

You have to sand the neck and tail blocks, so that they lay against the sides. They should stand a little tiny bit proud (taller). After gluing, you'll need to radius sand the top and back sides, which will bring those blocks into the right height.

If you look through the forum, you'll find a discussion on this, affectionately called "driving the bus". Also, I route out a area down the center of the tail block, and I glue a piece of wood into it. I make it 1" wide, 1/8" deep, right up the center. I inlay a piece of wood into this area. I've had to repair tail blocks that have completely broken due to falls. This inlay prevents it.

I'll try to upload photos. I have a new phone, so my gazillion photos are on the old phone.

The neck blocks and tail blocks already have a radius to them so that the sit flat in those areas. What the problem seems to be is that where the sides meet at the tail block, they’re bowing out slightly due to the amount of pressure it took to get them in that shape.

To address your glue up problem, I think you should get a bunch of clamps to pull everything together. I use 4 small 6" ratchet clamps to pull the corners of the tail block to the sides. Also a couple of F clamps to reach in and pull the center of the block into the sides and mold. You should also put a small sheet of waxed paper between the mold and sides at the joint to keep from gluing them to the mold, DAMHIKT. Harbor Freight is the best source for these clamps and get twice as many (or more) than you need. Be careful not to split the sides at the edge of the mold. I've sometimes backed the joint up with a small piece of aluminum flashing between the sides and mold the height of the sides to prevent that from happening, again DAMHIKT.
Also you might sand a little off the ends of the sides to get them to go in the mold easier. The milling of kit parts need some fudging to work most of the time.

Hey Allen
Congrats on starting your kit.
Diane and Carl pretty much covered the things you need to do. If you are going to put in an "end wedge" whether taper or straight, your end joint does not need to be tight since you'll be cutting that area away for your end treatment. This will relieve some of your stress on trying g to get perfect joint fitting.

About "driving the bus" Diane is mentioning, this is done using a radius dish, which you may not have at this point.

My first build was a LMI kit and I needed to radius the sides; top and back and I didn't have a radius dish. So I made a radius sanding stick. one for the top and one for the back. Then I mounted a rod in my bench that a hole in the center if each stick could fit over. Then placing your rims...in the mold with the rod in the center you can "sand" the sides down to height and put you radius in by rotating the stick around and around. Simple, low cost and it will work. Remove most of the side material with a block plane first...less sanding to do.

You can strike a radius in your driveway onto your sanding stick with a string and pencil stretched out to the radius needed; like 15ft for the back and 30ft for the top. Sounds complicated but it's not if you just think it through. I used this method for at least my first 4 guitars and then I made my own radius dishes, a bigger task but easy enough too, and cheaper than buying them if you have simple tools and a router

Anyway hope we are all some help. We've all been there!

Kept us posted. We are all rooting fir you!

Kevin

Thanks everyone for the replies! Whenever I apply clamps, it does seem to pull everything flush. I just wasn't sure if that was actually causing it to be in some kind of bind that was going to cause issues down the road. Thinking about sanding down the sides slightly like Carl suggested. That makes me a tad nervous but I guess a few careful passes on sand paper for each side couldn't hurt, right? I definitely plan on investing in the Blue's Creek Go-Bar deck. I reached out to stew mac and their top is 28ft. The back is 20ft (which is odd for a 000).

Is the sanding stick with a 5degree wedge needed for sanding the back kerfing if I have the correct radius dish for it?

Your sides are slightly too long and your inclination to remove a slight amount will give them a chance to lie flat. The fit is critical if no end graft, but no so much if there is to be one.

If your using a radius dish to sand the rims to their radius you won't need a sanding stick