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Well, this one has languished enough. I got build #1 all dialed in with only a couple of cosmetic things left to take care of so I decided it was high time I get back at it.


The bench plane is still nice and sharp and the block plane nearly so so that the ribbons are coming off as smooth as a hot knife through warm butter. The only downside is that the band saw blade is dull and my shop vac doesn't suck so much, which IMO is the ultimate oxymoron. Later on today I'll be measuring and remeasuring for the rosette trench cut and trying to figure out the stock Dremel circle cutting jig since I now have my downcut spiral bits from precisebits.com. Again, another problem though: kitty's litterbox is beneath the workbench so she's been spending some time down there and I found one of the rosette rings on the floor all gnoshed up. Bad kitty!

Anyhoo, today's my birthday and the weather (and shop conditions) are perfect. What's more is that today is my older son's last day of summer school (he's special needs so he's in a special school) and my mother is in and spending time with my younger son so I'm free for one last day. My only dilemma is what should I do before school lets out this afternoon? Enjoy the day outside or make some more sawdust? Hmmmm....

Neil, Happy Birthday and happy building!

Yeah, Happy BD. I vote for the sawdust!

Sorry. I opted to put on the spandex and assault others' sense of vision on the bike trail. ;o)

Plan B is to draw the lines on my top and get my Dremel all dialed in.

Change of plans: inspiration hit and I'm going to build a twin of my #1. I've been listening to a lot of James Taylor who as you know plays an Olson. I won't go so far as to compare my first build to an Olson but I like the look of the laminated necks and the one on my first was fun to build as well. Also, I've been pretty uninspired with the thought of building a dread. I've always found them to be clunky and uncomfortable. While my #1 is still a relatively large guitar the slim waist makes it much more focused tonally (but still with plenty of bass) and comfortable in my lap.

I also like to play so I frequent AGF and have been following the Olson build threads with great interest. One in particular has inspired me and caused me to change my mind. It's an SJ with EIR back & sides and western red cedar top but ebony binding, fretboard and bridge. In fact, there was one picture (that I won't use out of respect to the customer and the builder) that closely resembled this shot I took:

That was the point in my last build when I knew that I was close to being finished. Now I'm inspired to reach that point again but with that beautiful set of east Indian rosewood that has been sitting for the past 2 years.

...so moving right along, I've got the sides ready to bend and the bracing nearly ready to glue up. I can't do anything with the latter until I figure out what I want to do with the rosette. I can't do the former until I head over to my friend's shop.

A few months ago I was having a little trouble setting the neck angle on my first build. Wood was cracking and I was actually worried that I might have to toss the original neck:


BTW, this neck was eventually saved through the direct work of Tim McKnight who I am proud to call a personal friend. He used a coarse grain brass insert that I need to purchase this time.

Anyway, because I was considering on starting over from scratch I'd literally gone back to the drawing board:



I glued that blank up a month or two back and it's straight enough so I'm moving forward. I also ordered a double action truss rod and a new preslotted 25.4" ebony fingerboard (I still don't trust myself to slot my own yet) and glued the headstock ears on this weekend while also sanding the neck profile on my #1 down to where I felt comfortable playing it.

The neck on the guitar looks great. If I am following the posts correctly you ended up with a neck blank for your next guitar.

LOL, yes that's basically what I've done. I'm just excited that some progress was made.

How come I'm not seeing any images in this post? All I see is the word "Image" where I assume an image should appear.

Never mind, the images are now appearing. I can't seem to delete a post so I thought I better post.

Uh oh. I love working with rosewood but think I sanded the sides a tad thin. In another thread somebody mentioned having their sides mistakenly thinned down to .068 but were told they were still okay. Well, mine are .077. Are they still usable for a guitar that will have a 16" lower bout?