A new OM is hitting the work bench.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

If you're working with laminated shell then sanding the surface can become a problem. To save on cost even I do abalone purfling and rosettes I using laminated shell. In these cases I alway set the shell about .005 below the surface so I can fill over the top with CA and then sand it all flush without disturbing the pretty shell surface. You can't even tell there is CA on top.

I can do a guitar with the laminated shell for about 1/3 the cost of using solid shell.

[phavriluk]

Thanks for the insights on laminated shell. How do you shop for it? Any keywords to follow?

[Kevin Sjostrand]

KAISH Guitar Rosette Paua Abalone Shell Curved Strips Guitar Sound Hole Inlay Dimension 110mm*4mm*1.5mm

This I use for my rosettes.

KAISH Guitar Rosette New Zealand Abalone Curved Strips Guitar Soundhole Inlay Dimension 125mm*3mm*1.5mm

This one for purfling. I put it between 2 x .010" black lines.
The shell mics at about .120" wide. With the lines and .080" binding a .210" And .070" bit works perfect to rout the channels.
They come from Amazon. 4 packs of the 3mm will do a top or back on an OM. The curved shell works fine since you have to break it into the channel anyway.
You'll be amazed at the price.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

This how I get a final thickness on my headstock.
I am usually looking for 9/16" overall finished thickness.
I get my headplate ready and glue it on first. Then when I'm ready to cut down the neck blank close to its final thickness the headstock is also brought close, that dimension is based on the thickness of my headplate AND whether or not I'm going to glue on a veneer on the back. Once all that's decided and in this case, I have a veneer of black walnut burl thinned to .050" ready to glue on. I set up my oscillating drum sander with a fence that I can adjust as needed and slowly feed the headstock into the drum taking little passes until I reach my goal thickness. It comes out near perfect, near flat. I just go over the area with a scraper to make sure it's flat and the surface is ready for gluing on the veneer.

That comes next.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Routing the neck tenon and body mortise today using my Simpson jigs. They aren't super high tech but they get the job done. I use a Craftsman router with bit and bushing to do the routing.

I made a center finder for the body jig and it really helps set the jig up where it needs to be.

I forgot to take a pic of the neck jig but you can see it on one of my previous builds.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Making some progress again.
Headstock shape is cut out and excess wood cut off the neck shaft.

Today I routed the body and neck for the mortise and tenon bolt on joint. I'm still using the Simpson jig i got from John Parachem so many years ago, with a couple modifications. I also made a centerline finder to use on the body jig which has helped alot to get the neck alignment very close.

The heel tenon has barrel bolts. I drilled all holes and installed the barrel bolts. Adjusted the tenon length with a chisel to make the neck just fit flush with the body. First bolt on the fit is very good.
I have up to 1/8" room on the heel for a cap.
The fretboard extension sits flush to the top.
The angle is good. With fretboard on with no frets I have 7/16" gap at the saddle location. With the frets I should get about 3/8", just what I want.

The fretboard mounted is off the center mark at the tail end about 1/16", so I have just a minor adjustment to make to get it on center after the neck and heel are carved.

I'm quite happy the the overall fit and look so far.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Not too exciting but progress.
I fretted the fingerboard all but the 1st and 13th frets where the locating pins go for positioning on the neck while gluing.

I made a heel cap out of Ebony with a thin walnut veneer under it. Took some extra material off the sides of the neck heel area and glued the cap in place with rhe neck mounted to the body. I slightly loosen the neck bolts and slip a piece of wax paper between the heel and body, then tighten the neck down. Now I can glue the cap on the bottom of the heel tight up against the binding without gluing the cap to the binding. When it's dry, loosen the neck and the cap is where it needs to be and later will fit right against the binding.

Then I proceeded to install the truss rod, a two way Stewmac rod first putting some spots of chalk in the trough, then laying in the rod. I had space for about a .010" veneer over the rod for a flush surface to glue down the fretboard.
I have a caul I made contured with a 16ft radius to match the fretboard, and slots cut into it to fit over the frets.
When clamped up I get good even pressure on the fretboard and a good glue up.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Okay the fret board is glued to the neck and the last 2 frets installed.
I planed and scraped down the neck flush with the fretboard and then carved the heel to the cap. I also relieved the heel ckeeks leaving just 1/8" surface to make contact with the side.
Still lots to do to get the neck shaped.
I mounted the neck and it is dead center with the end of the guitar.....so that is nice, and the heel to body fit is near perfect. Yah!!!! I got lucky!!!

[TEETERFAN]

Great progress. That will be a real sweet instrument. Thanks for the update and pictures!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Slow going this week but today I did drill and mount the tuners. I'm using Taylor tuners that use a post on the back for positioning instead of a screw, and the post is at the top of the housing. Different. This is the 3rd guitar using the Taylor's.

I started carving the neck. I almost got it done, just some fine tuning around the heel and smoothing to do.
Thickness at the first fret is .870 and .980 at the 10th fret.
I should finish it up tomorrow. Then I'll fine tune the headstock transition into the nut area and sand it all up, slightly rounding the face and back edges.

I'll remount the neck and check again the heel to body fit and the centering of the fretboard with the body.

After this all I have left is to drill the hole and taper it for the end pin, and the put in my fretboard extension screw down system.