Wilborn Guitar Attempt

[scamp]

Finished shaping and drilling the headstock this morning.
Dodged a bullet.
Had some chip out on one of the drill holes but small enough so tuners will cover it.
Luck beats skill every time.

[scamp]

Finished sanding the sides of the body as a prep to rout the binding channels.
Bent the bindings for the headstock in prep to rout and install them as well.
Took out my binding router and under close examination luckily found that one of the blades was chipped.
Thank god I didn't try and use it.
Talked to Stewmac and to their credit they are sending me a new one at no charge.
No idea what happened. Only used it to build two guitars and always kept it clean and stored properly.
Oh well.
Also glued up two pieces of ebony to make the sound hole surround.

Guitar Body Sides Sanded.JPEG

Headstock Shaped Drilled and Binding Bent.JPEG

Binding Router Bit Damaged.JPEG

[scamp]

Routed the headstock and glued in the bindings
Not easy to get the miters right but I'm reasonably happy with it given it's my first attempt at a bond headstock ( especially with the curves etc. )

[TEETERFAN]

Love the subtle binding color, very tasteful. It should look stunning with a finish. Nice work!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

You're doing a fine job. The headstock looks great
Those miters can try a man's patience.

[scamp]

Took some time off for fly fishing but now back.

Decided, as my first task back, to make the template for the ebony sound hole "comma" insert.
It's really important that the template fits perfectly into the purfling channel routed in the top ( using the bezel/sound hole purfling router template I made in a previous post ).
As an FYI...To make the purfling channel in the top you use the bezel/sound hole purfling channel template with a router using a 5/16 inch router collet and a 3/16 inch down cut router bit.

Needed to think about this one quite a bit. This is what I came up with.

I used the bezel/sound hole purfling routing template I already made to cut out a "smaller" version of the ebony sound hole template using 1/4 inch MDF and a router with 5/16 inch router collet and 3/16 inch router bit. This resulting "smaller" template would work if the purfling were 0.25 inches thick ( which it obviously is not). In my case the purfling is 0.04 inches, so the edges of the "smaller" template needed to be moved out 0.21 inches. I have another router collet that is 5/8 inches and a 1/4 inch router bit. If I used the "smaller" template as a guide and cut another larger template from 1/4 inch MDF using the 5/8 inch collet and 1/4 inch router bit the larger template would be too big by 0.04 inches. So... I needed to take off 0.04 inches from the "smaller" template first. To do this I used a Stewmac binding router I already had with a bearing that produces a 0.04 inch binding channel. I first used the "smaller" template I made to make an identical version using a flush cut router bit. I then routed a 0.04 inch channel in one of the two stacked "smaller" templates that were double sided taped together using the binding router. I then used my 5/8 inch collet and 1/4 inch router bit to make the end template with the correct size.

In the end it worked well and I have ( I think ) a good template to make the ebony sound hold insert from that will perfectly fit the purfling channel in the top. We shall see.

Sound Hole Template 3.JPEG

Sound Hole Template 4.JPEG

Sound Hole Template 6.JPEG

Sound Hole Template 8.JPEG

Sound Hole Template 9.JPEG

[scamp]

Completed routing the binding and purfling channels for the guitar front and back edges as well as the channel for the ebony arm bezel and sound hole surround "comma". A bit of a "pucker" moment I wasn't looking forward to but feel great it's done and behind me. Still need to rout out the cut away peak and top as well as the tail for ebony cross pieces but will do this by hand so not as nervous about it.

Binding Routing 3.JPEG

Binding Routing 2.JPEG

Binding Routing 4.JPEG

[scamp]

Just completed the ebony cutaway peak that I will fit in once I rout out the side material at the peak.
Unlike other Florentine cutaways that use two pieces of ebony to make the peak with a glued seam, Ben Wilborn uses a single piece of ebony and fabricates it into a peak which makes it look alot better.
Not easy to do but then again there are many things in this guitar that aren't easy to do.
Made the piece out of an ebony pen blank.

Florentine Cutaway Peak 1.JPEG

Florentine Cutaway Peak 3.JPEG

Florentine Cutaway Peak 2.JPEG

[scamp]

A very difficult part of this guitar build is fitting the purfling around the comma sound hole and arm bezel. There is a miter joint in the purfling at the peak of the sound hole with is particularly difficult and if not done well is readily apparent. The best way to do this is to make the purfling with the miter joint separately ( not on the guitar ) and then glue the completed mitered purling to the guitar. Used some maple cut at 5 degrees to make sanding jigs for the purfling to make the miters. Had to make a jig to hold the purfling in place for gluing the joint covered in packaging tape so the CA glue wouldn't stick.

Sound Hole Purfling 4.JPEG

Sound Hole Purfling 1.JPEG

Sound Hole Purfling 2.JPEG

Sound Hole Purfling 3.JPEG

[Tomcat]

Is there any purfling or binding along the outside edge of the comma hole, between the mitered point you just made and the body before the hole? It would seem strange to just have the bare edge of the side, so I would guess maybe yes, but I can't picture how to attach anything there.

Curious cat, here...