My first build - OOO kit from Blues Creek

[daviddrazen]

Title says it all. I'm working on my first build, a OOO kit I picked up from John at Blues Creek while I was driving back from vacation.

I have some woodworking experience and I read everything I could before I settled on the kit, supplemented with help from John. It's a spruce top with redwood sides and back.

I picked up the kit in August of 2022 and I've been slowly working on it when I can. Part of it is finding free time, but the vast majority of that time has been me overthinking this and trying to understand exactly what I'm supposed to do. My goal is to finish the guitar before the 2 year mark and I figured that blogging about the project would be a great way to hold myself accountable to that goal and capture the process along the way.

[daviddrazen]

Step 1 was to unpack everything and make sure I knew what I had.

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Turns out I was missing the truss rod, but John shipped me a new one right away.

I pulled out my copy of the Bill Cory book on building a Martin Kit and started to figure out what my steps were. I put the sides into the mold and noticed that one of the sides wasn't fully seated against the mold at the bout.

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I made a shooting board and used my jack plane to take some material off each edge until the offending side fit the mold better.

[daviddrazen]

Fixing the fit in the mold and convincing myself I was ready to start took a long time. Between that paralysis and work travel, I took nearly 6 months before I got to gluing in the neck and tail blocks. During those 6 months, I also went ahead and cut a piece of 1/2" plywood that I embedded in the tail block to protect the guitar in case it gets dropped on the tail pin. I finally ended up gluing the neck and tail blocks in Feb 2023.

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A few weeks later I got time to glue in the ribbon strips. I wasn't fully sure on how to do this part, so I called John and filled me in on the process. I just wetted the strips with titebond and placed them along the edges. After they dried I used a razor to trim them off.

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Fast forward about another 6 months before I got to glue in the kerfed lining. I had to order some clips to hold the lining in amidst balancing family and work demands.

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I'm also trying to make sure I'm not tired or distracted when I'm working on the guitar. After making it this far after a year, I decided that I needed to try and move just a little faster...

[daviddrazen]

At this stage, I went ahead and screwed the neck block into the mold based on something I saw in one of John's videos. He said it would make the neck registration process easier since I know the neck block can't move.

I turned my attention to what I'd need for the next steps: building a go-bar deck. I went ahead and purchased four 2'x2' 3/4" plywood pieces at Home Depot along with some 1/2" threaded rod (36" long), washers, and nuts. I glued two pieces of plywood together for the tops and bottoms, drilled the holes and assembled it. I put the top and bottom 24" apart.

I saw a post on this forum from Dianne Kauffmann about using fiberglass rods from Harbor Freight as go-bar rods. I bought two sets and made 20x 24.5" long rods. I stapled some old carpet to the upper level so the rods would have a place to seat themselves. I made one end of the rods slightly pointed to grab the carpet better and glued some screw covers onto the other ends. I don't think the pointed ends were needed, but it was simple to do on the sander.

I then tried to figure out if I wanted to buy some radius dishes for sanding the rims and gluing the braces in. After a lot of deliberation, I decided I'd go for it. I knew I could do a work around, but I also knew that I'd likely build another guitar. Even if just to prove to myself that I could do it in less than 2 years.

I went ahead and ordered a 28' and 15' radius dishes from John instead of spending time trying to make the dishes myself. I put the sandpaper disks on and was ready for gluing the braces on.

I decided to start with the back, if only because it seemed simpler. I lightly sanded the back, being careful to not erase the brace marks that were already on the back. After reading Bill Cory's book, I decided I'd glue the braces on and then the back strip. I liked the idea that I could make it look "cleaner" that way.

[daviddrazen]

This past week, another 6 months or so after gluing in the kerfed lining, I finally got around to gluing in the braces.

I practiced the various steps in the glue up, just to make sure I knew what my plan of attack would be. I'm glad I did, because it made me think a little about the order in which I'd glue these braces. The upper braces went on with no issue and only a little squeeze out. The lower braces were slippery and I spread some glue on the back as I got them situated with the rods. After a few minutes I came back with a sharp chisel and carefully removed the squeeze out that remained.

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This weekend I'll work on the back strip. The only thing I'm unsure of at this stage is how much space to leave for the neck and tail blocks.

Do I measure them, cut a little long, and trim with a chisel before I glue the back on? Do I leave a gap on the inside between the strip and the neck/tail blocks?

I have two acoustics at the moment to use as references. One is a sold back and has no back strip. The other has F-holes and I can't really see the neck block to check that one. Maybe I'll take a look online at examples of Martins.

[carld05]

On the back strip, I try to get as close as I can and trim as I needed while setting up for gluing. If it's short I don't worry about it. On the last two, I forgot to put them in until the bodies had been closed up, Ughh! Hard to reach in to the tail block area.
Good move using Bill Cory's book(s). I still go back to check details after 20 years. Of course I'm not building kits anymore. Looks good what you've done so far. Relax and enjoy it.

Carl

[nkwak]

Very nice!

FWIW I have been using those Harbor Freight glass rods in builds. I'm also building a 000 but it's not a Blues Creek kit and I'm using walnut. Getting to the "box" phase was a nice milestone but heads up on doing the binding; that's where you head into "white knuckle" territory!

[daviddrazen]

Thanks! That tip on Harbor Freight was great and was definitely the most cost effective option.

I'm a little nervous about the binding stage, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

[BlindBo]

David, check out rcplanefan’s post just below yours. He is going through his first binding/purfling install and there is some good info there that might help you. He is doing a really good job.

[daviddrazen]

Thanks for the recommendation. I went back and read through it all. Super helpful information and a beautiful guitar as well. I've taken notes for when I get to the binding stage of the process.