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John, I'm just trying to "make hay" while the snow is still on the ground and I'm pleased with and surprised at how much progress I've made lately. I have to have them ready for painting come summer because I paint outside using smelly nitro - can't break an old habit.

Basically, the body is just an empty sound box with a clear plastic baffle. The resonator cone / bridge assembly sits in the sound ring hole on the top and is held in place by string tension. I'm following Tim Scheerhorn's concept of using dowel sound posts to connect the ring on the top to the braces on the bottom. It's a classic design concept and these guitars sure sound nice to me. Here's what I'm aiming for:

Here's a picture of the major components for this build. I still need to drill the necks for mounting bolts and then I can glue on the backs (which are also done). I have a busy week coming up but another week or two at the most and I should have everything ready for staining & painting once the snow melts. I made everything from scratch except the ceriliam (sp) rosewood fret boards, which I got on clearance elsewhere. This is the most challenging guitar build I've taken on so far. It's kept me out of the bars & covid free all winter (LOL).

I got the necks mounted today (bolt on). I still have a little "fitting" to do on one neck joint but the other one is perfect. The scale length is exactly 25" as it should be.

I made the 12 sound posts today. They get installed tomorrow and that will complete the "basic" construction.
Only some sanding, binding and fret board work left to do and they will be ready for finishing.
Dennis

I got the binding & purfling channels routed on both guitars yesterday. It went quite smoothly.
Turns out I worried about chipping of the figured wood for nothing. Lesson learned.

After reading a tip on the KMG forum about longevity of router bits I took the time to thoroughly clean my bit before routing. I was surprised at how sharp it still was after doing quite a few guitars (mine & a buddy). I'll be doing that from now on.

My project is now "Homeward Bound" - (pun intended). I used Bindall glue from S.M. for the first time. I'd give it a big thumbs up for ease of use & long working time. One tube goes a long way. I'm waiting for some inlay dots to arrive so I can finish off the fret boards. After that I'll get on with the finishing process once the warm weather returns.

Well it's been a busy and quite productive winter project for me. All I have left to do before staining and painting (summer tasks) is to put a couple of inlays on the fret board and glue them to the necks. I'll use a friends CNC router for that but it's still too cold here to get into his garage workshop. Here's a shot with some of the metal hardware, which costs an arm and a leg these days. The cones are Scheerhorn and the other items are from Beard.

Looking real good! You’ve been productive getting these two built. It is sure interesting seeing the “non-guitars” on this forum being constructed, thanks for sharing your work. I will have to add a dobro to the list of future projects.

TEETERFAN wrote: ↑Thu Mar 30, 2023 10:54 am Looking real good! You’ve been productive getting these two built. It is sure interesting seeing the “non-guitars” on this forum being constructed, thanks for sharing your work. I will have to add a dobro to the list of future projects.

Thanks for your feedback Kevin. Here's a link to a Dobro construction manual, which is what I basically followed with my build. However, I drew up my own plan for a large body version using specs I gleaned from the Internet. I'm hoping mine will sound good when I eventually string them up.

https://docslib.org/doc/9677569/buildin ... ary-dusina

Almost Done:
Just a little stain cleanup tomorrow on the bordeau stain bindings, & some highlight sanding with 0000 steel wool and they will be ready for clear coats. I have to get the lacquer on them before late July because of upcoming knee surgery. I'm happy with the way they are turning out. Now if they will sound good when finished.