An EIR Dred in the D45 tradition.....

[Kevin Sjostrand]

So I got the sides in the mold, end blocks glued in and the top kerfing glued in.
Also got the back plates joined. Here are a few pics.

Kevin

[Kevin Sjostrand]

......more

Kevin

[Kevin Sjostrand]

and the back...

Kevin

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I said I would be slow on this one, but got a little time in this past week.
Made the spruce back strip and glued it to the back, made the back braces and got it all in the gobar deck.
I'm doing this while I build some model rockets that I'll be launching with my two grand sons in a few weeks.

Kevin

[Kevin Sjostrand]

and in the gobar deck

Kevin

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Making some progress on the braces, not finished with them yet.

Kevin

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Last night I fit the back to the rims. I did this differently this time, rather than cutting all the way through the sides, I inlet into the kerfing only, then trimmed the braces ends to fit. This worked pretty well, however I had more difficulty keeping the size of the inlets to achieve a tight fit. Half of them are wider than the brace. I will probably cut a little tiny piece of hog to fill in the space where needed because I usually get a very close fit in this area. I like how the back seems to fall into place better and although there is a little bit of side to side movement, it is easy to get centered. I may do the same technique when fitting the top, but I may not. I took some pics for those of you who are new to this and I'll get them posted tonight.
Next comes getting the top made. I should be able to join it and get the rosette in this weekend.

Kevin

[darren]

Looking good Kevin. Is that the lmi dread plan? what width back braces did you use?

thanks, :)

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Darren,
That is the Antes plan from LMI. I am not following it now for my back braces. I don't do the two wide low braces in the lower bout, I make them all the same width and height now. 5/16" wide is what I'm doing.
Actually the only reason is I can cut all the braces at the same time, same size. I have not noticed any sound difference......how in the world would anyone notice a difference!!!!! :>)

Kevin

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Got a few hours in this past week and today and made some good progress.....for me at any rate.
The pics tell it all. I fit the back to the rims, and for a first, I inletted the braces into the kerfing and did not go through the sides. I had a little trouble keeping the kerfing from breaking away at the kerfs...I guess that gives a vote for reversed kerfing huh! Anyway, the fit is fine, and I might go in with some little pieces of mahogany to fill in the gaps next to the braces.
Got the top joined and the rosette in. It turned out pretty good. I have a couple of places where the black of the BWB strip on the inside of the abalone ring that is a bit "feathery". My abalone was not perfectly sized width wise and in two place (these places), there was a slight gap of about .004"that I filled with glue. Not sure if these feathery areas are because of that but I suspect so. The abalone is beautiful and was way less expensive then what I've used in the past. I was going to put it all in place and flood with superglue, after I spray shellac in the channels, but I am still afraid of the yellowing from the superglue, so I used LMI white glue and put it in the channel as I laid in the purflings with the shell as I went around. This worked just fine. For the single rings, I used this time a .055" bit for the channels as in the past I used a 1/16" bit and it is a skoosh too wide. Well the .055" is a skoosh too narrow, but at least I could widen it a bit, which I did and I got really clean rings.
Got the lay out for the braces traced and the maple bridge patch glued in place.
Whew! Grandkids are coming this week so I don't know how much I'll get done the next month.....not much I suppose.

Kevin