#1 in progress: cedar/mahogany medium jumbo scratch build

[darren]

Did you try to glue the side purfs without the binding? what side purfling are you using?

[nkwak]

Yes, and it twisted and broke at the waist. I used LMI's bold BWB purfling, .060" x .1" but turned around and was able to actually pry it off - ;ickily with little tear out but I need to finish up with a chisel.

I'm trying again with the same stuff but am gluing it to the bent binding first. Then I'll glue it all in together.

[darren]

Might be too late for this but I think you'll have better luck gluing the binding and side purfs on in one operation. The binding helps keep the purflings from rolling over. Do 1/2 of the top/back at a time if you feel you need to go slowly.

The top purfling you should be able to glue in before the binding/side-purfs. like this viewtopic.php?f=29&t=2407&start=70#p18806

[Kevin Sjostrand]

hey Neil, your guitar is looking good. That will be a nice neck too.
On the side purflings, you for sure need to glue them to the binding first. They just won't bend around those inside curves very well alone. It is a little tricky gluing them on, but try superglue a short span at a time, just holding them together with your fingers. I take it the bindings are already bent, right?
On the top purfling...you can glue it in first alone, but I would recommend you install the bindings at the same time. I have glued purflings in by them selves twice, and both times I tend to get some distortion/rollover in the purfling channel from the pressure of the tape holding it down and pulling it in and sort of rounding it over. Then when you go to glue in the binding, you can have gaps where the binding meets the purfling. I suppose I may have just pulled the tape to tight but this was a problem for me, so I've gone back to installing them together, then no chance of this happening. Just my 2 cents....can be done, but use caution in this area.
I will be gluing top purfling/binding on my Santos hog dred this weekend!!

Kevin

[nkwak]

Thanks, guys! I was going to start a new thread on this in the Guitar Building Procedures section but now I may not have to.

FWIW I've begun gluing the side purfling to the bent rosewood binding using Titebond. It seems to be holding but it's tedious work. Looking back I wish I'd glued it all together before I bent the bindings.

As for the bindings on the top and bottom shelves, I'm still trying to figure out what to do. In complete honesty I routed out more than I'd intended - especially on the back - so that I'm going to have to use several .02" thick purfling strips or some sort of marketry. Regardless, I'm thinking that I can glue the side purf/binding on and then inlay the top/bottom purflings by chamfering the bottom surfaces (is that the correct term?) just as you would in a rosette.

Speaking of which, now that I see my rosette every day the more I'm dissatisfied with the job I did on the outer purfling ring. In particular, it looks like I used the fine BWB purfling when I routed for the bold so there are gaps all around. I glued it in with CA though so I'm afraid I may be stuck with it. Do any of you know if I can somehow route it out? It would have to be done by hand of course. I could just sprinkle some ebony dust/shavings in there, couldn't I?

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Neil,
You should be able to route that purfling out of there and then reinstall the wider purfling. I you end up a little too wide, what I've done before is use some .010 or .020 black fiber on one side of it to fill in. It can look quite good and is unique. I'll see if I can find a picture.

Kevin

I had to do it on this one.

[darren]

FWIW... I glued up my top purf, binding, and side purfs as individual pieces on my second and third. The side pieces definitely wanted to roll but with some pressure the binding sits down on it tight and it can't move. Last one I glued the side purfs to the binding before bending.

[nkwak]

One down, three to go:

[nkwak]

There hasn't been much to report on but I've had the pieces here at my home while I work on the binding and figure out the neck joint. The following pics are all dry-fits of the binding and purfling. Once I get everything all figured out I'll be using Titebond to glue it all on, not CA glue:







I had a helluva time trying to get BWB purfling to bend along its thicker sideand the first attempt twisted so I had to do it over by gluing the purfling to the already-bent rosewood binding:




Tonight I located all the purfling strips I have handy and I taped everything up to see if I had enough:


Measuring for the purfling didn't go so well and I routed more than I needed to so I had to figure out a new workaround. Two strips of bold BWB sandwiching a single .02" strip of maple seem to do the trick. Under normal lighting the maple contrasts more with the white:


BTW, I thought the following image was cool enough to share. While chipping out the bad purfling some of the kerfing inside came out, creating a peephole through which I could admire my handiwork with the braces:



BTW, I'm also doing some reading up on bolt on necks. I took a little trip to the hardware store the other day:



I have to drill holes in where the tenon is to be and insert the barrel bolts which are threaded inside. The bolts will pass through the neck block and into the neck where the threaded bolts will be threaded into the barrel bolts. It's very similar to how IKEA has you assemble their furniture.

[johnnparchem]

Looks good. I made a neck with those bolts. Careful drilling for the cross bolts so you do not snap the tenon off. As Robbie O'Brien says " I had a friend that that happened to :).