First kit build - Martin dred

[Stray Feathers]

It's daunting when you are starting out and don't know really where you're going. My first few guitars are too heavily braced. They sound pretty good, but I wonder if they could have been more lively. I think some how-to books lean to the overbuilt approach because they don't want beginners to end up with a collapsed guitar. I found this video by Dana Bourgeois recently, and I found it quite helpful to watch as he does it, try to make sense of the taps he is listening for. Maybe I am just more ready to absorb that lesson now, but it has made me a little more willing to risk going lighter with my bracing. I can't say I now know what I am doing, but I feel a little bit more in control. Bruce W.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNchJIfT2O8

[krrtlr1]

Beautiful work Ken. Nice and clean with an eye for detail.

[rcplanefan]

After watching a lot of YouTube videos from a lot of different builders, I did decide to scallop the tone bars. I also thinned some of the less important bracing pieces in an attempt to have a lighter, more responsive top without sacrificing much strength. Tap tones sound much more "ringy" than they did without the scallops and lightening, so hopefully this helps with the final guitar tone.


After notching the kerfing for the braces, tonight I glued on the back of the guitar in a gobar deck. Everything seems to be fitting together well so far. Tomorrow the top should go on.

[BlindBo]

Man, you continue to do what appears to be really careful and clean work!
I would suggest considering having the back on the bottom of the go-bar stack so that any excess glue squeeze-out settles into the kerfing and doesn’t run down to sides towards the top. This increases the glue in the loint and greatly reduces the amount of cleanup since that is what you see when looking into the sound hole.

I put a back radius dish on the bottom of the deck, then the back, then the sides, topped with a top radius dish to distribute the go-bar pressure. This typically results in a good, solid glue joint with minimal clean up.
“Your mileage may vary!”😂

[phavriluk]

Don't forget to (1) sign and date the underside of the soundboard and (2) reinforce the 'x' brace intersection.

This looks like wonderfully careful work.

good going.

[rcplanefan]

Great suggestion on the signature! I'm glad I did that now:


I did reinforce the cross brace with a piece of cotton. Appreciate that reminder as well.

The top is now in the gobar deck. Pretty nervous about the next couple of steps which I assume will be installing the trim piece at the base of the guitar and then the dreaded binding/purfling.

[rcplanefan]

Today I removed the closed box from the gobar stack and cleaned up the top and back with a flush cut router. A little sanding with some 150 grit and it's close to looking like I want it. I'm dreading the binding a bit, so I'll spend some time today reading and learning some more. I do think I won the rosewood lottery - this is a beautiful back on this guitar.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Looking good there.
How are you going to cut your binding channels?
Are you doing binding and purfling?

[rcplanefan]

Looking good there.
How are you going to cut your binding channels?
Are you doing binding and purfling?

Thanks, Kevin. The Martin kit (which is basically a D-28) comes with both binding and purfling, so I am hoping to do both. Which I know is likely more than I want to do, so I'll try to be methodical and careful and choose a time when I won't be rushed.

I bought the Stewmac binding cutting router set to use with my Bosch palm router. I hope it works well. After I bought it, I called John to discuss and he said he wished I had called him earlier because he could have saved me some money. Lesson learned.

Ken

[BlindBo]

Ken, as Kevin said, “Looking good!”.
Bindings and purflings are intimidating for the first 10 or so guitars!😂 I started out using a hand router and struggled to get good channels. I now use one of John’s binding machine/jigs and it is so much easier. That said, I still get some variability in my channels. Without uniform channels, your binding will vary in thickness (and possibly height) after you scrape or sand them. If bad enough, you can sand all the way through them. Please don’t ask me how I know that. 😳
You can get good channels by hand. After getting the correct bit and carefully setting the depth, one of the key steps is to make sure your router bearing riding surfaces on the body sides are clean of any glue and smooth. Take the time to prep your sides with sandpaper. Look for any humps or dips in the side wood, This will go a long way towards getting a uniform binding thickness when you look at the guitar top or back. You need to do the same thing around the top and back edges where the router base plate rides.
Once cut, clean any edge fraying with a light touch of sandpaper, careful to not “roll” the top and back channel edges. You want these edges sharp against the purfling.
Then take your digital caliper and go around verifying that you have uniformity all the way around the top and back. Diane Kauffmand has a post about a cool, small, curved file that is awesome for making small adjustment to any spots that don’t match your specs. Check her posts to find the source.
This probably sounds like a big PITA, but, I’ve found for me it makes for a much better finished product. The more experienced folks here may have some better suggestions.
Once you have the channels good, just take your time with the gluing. Based on what I’ve seen so far, I’m guessing you’ll do a great job!