www.KitGuitarsForum.com

Last year I decided to get some formal training in making steel string guitars and on learning that John Hall does that, I signed up for a class. This wiil be a few posts and a bunch of pictures of the building of Maddy T. Addy, a style 43 3/4 otherwise traditional 1930s-style dreadnaught. The training was fast-paced, fun and packed with content. When I first met John on day 1 he said "I will not let you build a bad guitar." What an understatement. I took too many pictures, so it will take a week or more to blog this project.

We finished the guitar this morning; it's really nice and sounds great. Here are pictures from the setup this morning and John taking a test drive after stringing.

this was a lot of fun for me. The guitar has great sustain and clarity up the neck. Plays like a dream. Dan was a great student . How lucky I am that I am in a business where so many customers do become friends. It is an honor for me to do this
Can't wait for this to open up and finds its voice. Torrifies red spruce top.

Dan thanks again for the opportunity

Dan also makes lutes. He is indeed talented

the appointments are beautiful... one great guitar there...

t

WOW! I definitely want to sign up for a class when I'm able. That is a beautiful guitar!

After picking out the wood, the first step was joining the top and back. A swipe or two with a plane and gentle sanding on a large granite surface plate got the edge straight. If the joint is true (holding up to the window checking for any photons getting thru) and then the glue-up proceeds to a flat, wax papered surface and the Scotch 233+ tape. We take care to notch the end ever so slightly so the joint can later be found (it's that tight). Several strips of tape are all that is necessary and a little time to cure. Next up is thickness sanding and picking the inside surfaces for bracing. The center strip is added and contoured with a concave sanding caul and protective SS sheets. The braces are prepared, radiused, located with the halo template and then glued with hide or fish glue. the picture shows the beautiful Braz RW D-45 that was being built in parallel.

The gluing takes place in the dish and go-bar deck. After the glue has wet-congealed, it's scraped and cleaned up.

here are some of the pictures from the class..

After bending, it's time for the blocks. You will notice the screw for locking everything up. (Make sure the pilot hole is sufficient...post-class lesson) The pearl inlaying was something I wanted to work on; John's techniques were so fast and good looking.

the halo template works so nicely. Should help me tighten up my fitting. John is an artiste even with the iPad camera! This was my first introduction to the go-bar deck. Sweet.

The box was closed up and trimmed in 2.5 days from start. I think this was the first time I ever used a regular router. I would have taken a few weeks to chisel and sand the edges in the past. The guru leveled out the neck; I just stood back in awe... way too far above my skill grade...not even gonna try it on scrap wood. Last picture is the set up for the pearl around the extension. Follow the process and the result comes. I've done a lot of fancy stuff in the past and this isn't harder just a little different.

Another thing I wanted to learn more about, the modeling of the corners of the head. I make it too hard -- just gotta remove the wood you don't want there. And finally the box and neck joined ready for final sanding before sending off to finishing. Making the peg head is routine, but aided by this fantastic machine, the end mill (is that the right name?). Highly accurate and worth re-purposing a garage for. Next post will be the final steps.