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

[nkwak]

TheThanks, the plans is to drill before cutting out the tenon and drill the holes right at the line where the "base" of the tenon will be. The problem is that the barrel bolts I bought are slightly wider than the mortise in the body, so I've got a date with a ruler and a file.

[nkwak]

OK, I'm an idiot. After reading Dan Bombliss's thread on setting neck angle and seeing how you all cut out your tenons/dovetails I'm smacking my flat Polish forehead firmly with my palm. Looking back there are so many things I'd have done differently when cutting out the laminated neck blank. Right now I'm trying to cut/file/chisel the tenon to not only fit the shape of the pre-routed mortise in the neck block, but I'm also trying to widen the mortise to accommodate the barrel bolts as well.



I haven't started on the neck angle yet but I've tried to get things set up in advance with the laminated birch neck block extension underneath where the fingerboard will go so as not to have to sand away too much of the top. Here's Dan's thread:
viewtopic.php?f=5&t=5224

[nkwak]

I figured that since late nights are out of the question with my older son waking every night and causing mayhem maybe I should bring my stuff back home. The basement RH is stable in the mid-40 percentile and I'm looking to finish the binding and start setting the neck. This morning I got everything to the point where the tenon fits in the mortise:











Just to compare the sizes I set it among my Larrivee OM-03R and my Martin D-16GT. The angle is a little deceptive but it falls somewhere in between. The lower bout is about an inch wider than the OM and the depth is comparable to the D.



I still have to drill in the bolt holes but I'm nearly ready to start setting the neck angle. I need to use that centerline finder doohickie that my friend lent me though, but so far things look pretty good.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Neil,
The neck looks like it's going to line up with your center nicely.
It is coming along.

Kevin

[nkwak]

Thanks! I'm not sure if it's straight though. IIRC the center strip on the back is off. The end wedge certainly is not symmetrical, but who cares as long as I can get it set up and it actually plays in the end?

Phew! I can't believe it's been almost a year and a half so far. I still have a long way to go too though. LOL - I don't even have a case for it!

[nkwak]

I'm going to have to pore through the whole NEH formula thread because it's nearly time to set the neck. I've done a little filing off of materials but I've still got some measuring to do:

Here's the patient on my messy messy workbench. I'm using a Martin belly bridge to prop up the body but it won't be the one I'm using. The plans call for a Taylor style bridge and I like the lines better. The flat edge is lined up at the correct scale length of 25.5". After working the cheeks and sides of the tenon, things are no longer snug but I'm hoping that a shim would help if necessary.


As you can see, there's still a bit of a gap as the tenon does not fit all the way into the mortise. I have yet to cut the taper on the hell too so I think I'm OK. If I'm not, somebody please tell me!


Despite my best efforts it looks like I've got the dreaded 14th fret hump. I do have to route out more of the top for the truss rod to drop in though.


IIRC my top has a 28' radius but what the heck is going on with the soundhole? Is that normal?


A touch under 1/8" which looks to be in the ball park. Like I said, I have a bit more measuring to do.


Meanwhile, I have to address the lineup of the bolts that will enter into the tenon and pass through embedded barrel bolts. I don't have a drill press so I'm a bit worried that I won't get the perfect alignment from this contraption I bought at Harbor Freight:





So far I'm still measuring things. I'm kind of scared because these steps need to be just about perfect.

[nkwak]

OK, I got a couple of questions. I'm trying to get the angle on the neck's surface close before cutting in the angle but it feels like this should wait until after the heel is shaped and I've carved into the cheeks and just worry about getting the neck center aligned with the body. So right now I believe I have two factors to consider:

1: lining up the bolt holes in the tenon with those in the neck block so that I can keep my neck centered, and

2: getting reasonably close to my neck angle before carving the heel.

So when is the best time to drill the bolt holes in the tenon and the neck block? Is it before the neck angle is set or after? If before and you're doing a scratch neck blank like I am them should I also do it before I shape the heel?

[nkwak]

As I posted in another thread, I've embarked on carving the neck. So far I'm pleased, though there are a couple small areas of concern. As I look over my progress though, I think I may be alright.

For starters, I printed out my template and traced it on to the front, then the back of the headstock, making sure that everything lined up:







Then I glued on the veneer, a nice dark piece of east Indian rosewood that is part of an orphaned side. Pictured is also my template. The logo is not final. I may shorten it, but I like the font:



Then I cut if out on my little 9" Ryobi bandsaw. At this point I stepped back to admire my handiwork:

[nkwak]

Moving right along, I started cleaning up some saw marks and shaping the area behind the nut to the first fret with a file/rasp:





A day passed and I took my build to visit my friend John Kitchen at his shop. He noted that things weren't coming out symmetrically and offered up some advice and a belt of sandpaper to remedy that. The next day I set to work and within a half hour had half the neck rounded off:





Step ahead another day and I had the rest of the neck rounded off, though the area around the nut is still not symmetrical. It's actually within my outlines of 1-3/4" but I may be fine if I taper the fingerboard:



Yet again I decided to step back and admire the overall progress:



Now I'm awaiting the delivery of the fingerboard from LMI as well as a couple of rosewood bridge blanks and some spare rosewood bindings. I'd run out of brown/black purfling on the back binding but I've got some now. I'll glue it all up and true up and scrape the sides when time permits.

[nkwak]

Since both kids are now in school and my afternoons are once again my own (mostly) I decided to tackle the back binding the other day. I had to chisel off the first attempt and spent the last couple of days cleaning up the "staircase" so that I have a clean surface with crisp edges to glue to. We'll see about that but in the meantime I glued up the purfling and binding on the other side of the back. I made sure to use enough glue - the first attempt popped off easily because I didn't use a lot - and went nuts with the tape. I wish I'd had another pair of hands but after a half hour I was done.



When the tape came off here's how it looked. After spending an hour with a dull scraper I have to say that it came out pretty good. I still have to put the last side on though and I'm not looking forward to it. THe thought of cutting that last piece to the PERFECT size is really daunting.

So yeah, binding scares the hell out of me. From using a precarious jig to suspend a heavy power tool above a delicate piece of wood to twisting lines of purfling saturated in glue while your fingers get all tangled and sticky while reaching for tape - well, I just don't know how the "pros" do it. Still, I couldn't wait to peel off the tape and see if the glue held - and I used a LOT of glue. Cumpiano says to fan out the multiple lines of purfling and get glue between EVERYTHING, which I did. Fortunately, no gobs of Titebond could be seen congealing from between the kerfling inside the body - and I checked, believe me. That's the one and only chink in the armor of my Larrivee OM-03R and I'm told that that's important.

Anyway, here's how it turned out with some detailed shots to show every little victory and even a couple of mistakes.



If you noticed from yesterday, I used a clamp to hold everything tight because that's one spot where just tape is not enough. But look Ma, no gaps!





The next step where I have to match up the ends of the other side will be tricky so I paid a little extra attention to the ends with a chisel. Everything seemed to be tight there as well, though if you look close you can see that some bands of purfling were leaning.





Now for another mistake, which unfortunately I can only fix by sanding a LOT of mass away from the sides as a whole. Note that the binding on the upper bout doesn't project beyond the sides?



That means that I will have to sand or scrape all that away so that I have a truly flat side and a clean BWB side purf line. I already know what I did wrong but I want to spell it out just so I can remember it or for those of you who have kept things simple up to this point but wanted to do something more elaborate.

Basically, all the sanding and scraping should have been done BEFORE I routed out the binding channels. Since the guide on the router didn't have a truly perpendicular line to follow it tiled the bit a little and took away more from the sides and the kerfing than I allotted for. I tried to go back with a sanding block and correct my mistake but at that point it's really too late and you have to just clean it up, chalk it up to inexperience and remember what to do right the next time.

Now it's time for the final binding/purfling strip and I have a little bit of setup to do. I'm making it even trickier by doing something different. These first 3 passes were done with binding that I'd bent previously. The first two times I glued the side purfling on to the bent strip but this last time I decided to upgrade from Titebond I to Titebond III and glue the purfling to the unbent rosewood binding strip. My friend told me NOT to do this, saying that the binding/purfling would delaminate in the Fox bender but I'm not even going that route. I don't know if the purfling reinforces the wood binding, but it's pretty flexible and I've been able to do some dry fittings where I've bent the entire length of the strip into the channel. Admittedly, gluing should be more complicated because I have to deal with springback but we'll see how it goes. I have another strip of rosewood binding held in reserve just in case...