Joining the forum

[Recronan]

Hello all,
Although of advanced age, I am a novice builder with only one instrument completed. There's a bit of history there as I started the project in 1978. As a young teacher and new homeowner my means were very limited, and it was a bit of a stretch to buy the materials; that was one impediment. The biggest, however was the lack of a suitable place in which to work. The house, in which I still live, was small with no place to set up as a shop. The other major problem was lacking the array of specialized tools with which to work. I had joined the Guild of American Luthiers for access to plans and information and bought books on guitar making by David Russell Young and Irving Sloan. I started with the neck, but rapidly reached the point at which I had to set it aside, both for the reasons laid out above and because life got busy. And the years passed, I thought about it from time to time, usually when I came across those pieces of spruce and rosewood, because I needed to move them from one place to another.
Years passed, I married, had children, divorced, changed careers, built a large addition to my modest little place (with a garage), and remarried. As I approached retirement I promised myself that, among the things on my long list of projects I had, finishing that guitar was the highest priority. I retired in 2020, a year after a cancer diagnosis (all good so far) and set to work. Though I'm sure it won't surprise many of you, I spent more time and effort making tools, jigs and fixtures than I did on the instrument. It was finally complete late last year, and I have to say, though not the prettiest, it sounds really good. Can't ask more than that for a first effort. I had a friend of mine tune it up and play it as, though I've had guitars for years I've more played AT it than played. Seems I'm better at making them. In fact, after showing it to a guy from a crew we had in to do some work in the house, he asked if I'd make one for him. I was more than a little surprised.
I am working on my second build as grandson #2, 11, is taking lessons and I told him I'd make one for him. In order to allow him to feel vested in it I let him choose the wood for the body. It's a move I have come to regret. He chose ziricote, which is hard, dense and difficult to work with. Live and learn.
I've attached a photo of the first guitar prior to its first stringing. I'll post others of it in progress as well as some of the homemade jigs and fixtures and perhaps the folding worktable I made just for this; if anyone's interested that is.
Looking forward to being a part of this community.
Cheers

[Diane Kauffmds]

You did a very nice job. Welcome

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Well now that guitar looks real good. I'd say you might have promise as a Luthier. 👍

We'd love to see your shop, jigs and tools that you've come up with. And also see pics of your progress as you build the Ziricote guitar.

Thanks for joining in here. Most of us are just a bunch of old guys having fun.....except for Diane. She's the pretty one in our group.

Kevin

(oh what name shall we call you?)

[Stray Feathers]

Your story is a familiar one on this forum, I think (certainly familiar to me). That includes the part about the first guitar sounding better than you expected. Good luck with the next one, and keep us posted; we're all learning from the experiences of other members. Bruce W.

[Recronan]

Thanks very much for the warm welcome. I'm Ron, apologies, I should have created a signature before posting, I'll have to see to that.
I've attached some photos of the current build. I had made a clamping fixture for joining the bookmatched pieces for the top and back, here gluing the spruce top. I made it from a leftover piece of melamine-faced particle board with three oak ribs under it to ensure it remains flat and true. An oak piece attached to the left side provides a surface against which to apply pressure, provided by the wedges inserted on the right between the work and the anchored dowels. The square aluminum tube clamped along the joint holds that tight and a bit of waxed paper prevents the glue from sticking to things it oughtent stick to.
The other shows the back after gluing the three pieces together. I hadn't planned on a three piece back, but for some reason ziricote wasn't available in wider pieces; perhaps it's typically a small tree?
The completed back looks very nice if I do say so. I'm at the stage where the body is complete and I've started the neck, but am struggling with the tapered dovetail. I don't know why, as I was able to accomplish that on the first build after a couple of tries with some scrap wood. One of the reasons I joined here was to learn more about some of the fixtures in common use. My goal is to have this instrument ready for grandson Bryce by end of summer. Assistance with this would be greatly appreciated.
Ron

[TEETERFAN]

Welcome aboard! This is a fabulous forum for learning an absolute ton of great information to improve upon your solid start building guitars. I liked your story about that first guitar and yes, it is similar to many of us here. I started my first complete guitar build with a custom kit from Blues Creek after I retired. It’s going great but family events with elder loved ones over the last year and a half have slowed progress waaay down. Time has opened now, so back at it.
I am using ziricote for my sides and back. I haven’t had any trouble with gluing or working it. Luckily, John pre-bent the sides on the kit. I have had a bit of trouble with ziricote during the finishing process, but I feel that is due to lack of experience with french polishing more than anything else. I certainly look forward to seeing how your latest build comes out. Doing that for your grandson is extra special! Welcome again!

[Recronan]

Thanks Kevin. The real problem I had with ziricote was the bending. It is such a dense wood that even soaking overnight it didn't really get wet. It's likely less of a problem if bending it with a heated form. That isn't something I'll be buying as useful as it would be. Too rich for me and I don't know how many more instruments I'll be making. Part of the reason for embarking on the second build, aside from wanting my grandson to have something special that will outlast me, is that I spent so much time and effort making tools and fixtures it just seemed silly to only make one. One of the tools I made was the bending fixture pictured in the attached photo. Propane fired and set up for connection to a large tank as I have those for the gas grill. I had to continually wet the ziricote as I worked it to keep it from burning. As it is I did have to sand off a bit of scorched wood and it did crack a bit in a couple of places, though that's minor and will not show at all once finished.
I've also attached two photos of the first instrument, front and back. One of the early challenges I had to work through was attempting to plane the spruce and rosewood pieces to the appropriate thickness for the top, back and sides. My plane blade was as sharp as I could make it, yet it was a struggle to work it, particularly the softer spruce. It's also tough to hold thin stock while planing. That drove me to seek a different solution.

IMG_20230712_085116909.jpg

IMG_20240919_112701261.jpg

I built a wood box with a pegboard top and a round hole in the side to attach the shop vac hose. This held the top and back pieces firmly in place and flat. Riding on the long edges, I made a sliding carriage on which I could pass my router with a surfacing bit across. It works well.
You mentioned progress having been overcome by events. Life is like that, isn't it? I had a few serious surgeries over the winter which has set me back as well, I can relate.
Ron

[carld05]

Come on, jump in, the water's fine!!
Carl