'nother L-OO

[darren]

... I plan a "bunk bed guitar" made from our old bed. Dad will enjoy seeing the wood repurposed in this way.

I think that is a very cool idea! What kind of wood is it?

[darren]

Got some worked done on the braces - these were already split. Today I radiused the x and tone bars, carved the tone and finger bars where they would intersect the x, and cut all the pockets for tucking every brace.

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I radius by hand, this jig should look familiar to some of you.

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just an el cheapo stanley...

[darren]

In my previous guitars I've not tucked any braces so this is a bit of an experiment. I'm also using a longer scale, and a 13 fret neck, so the bridge is moving about an inch... So the finger bars and tone bars are moved south slightly. Especially the finger bars need to meet the x under the bridge, so I've read anyway.

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Also using an a-frame instead of the popsicle and soundhole braces. Lots of firsts on this guitar.

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...not all my pockets are this neat:

aframe-001.png

I need to drill an access hole for the truss rod, but otherwise I'm ready to start gluing and carving. I like to glue braces on relatively high and square, and do all the shaping on the top. It really lets you feel the top loosen up and the tone drop, and I like that 'progress feedback'.

[deadedith]

Are you sure those are pockets - or did you just butt some wood together to make it look that tight?
Kidding of course, but gads, that be some fine pocket-making ability!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Yeah Darren, you may not need any glue in the tight joints :>)
Looks great, is it normal to have just one tone bar on each side on an OO, or is this an experiment too?

Kevin

[darren]

Kevin, I think that is fairly standard - you can see on the plans under the braces where the location of the single finger braces are.

Thanks for the comments. The rest of my wood comes in tomorrow! I know it will need to acclimate but at least I can wrap up the fretboard. and cut my inside blocks. and bend my sides - so I guess there will be plenty to do this weekend!

[darren]

So last weekend was pretty uneventful - my 'workbench' which actually is an 8' plywood banquet table was 'borrowed' for my wife's rummage sale and I took my middle two boys camping. uneventful - guitar related anyway.

yesterday i got the top and back joined... shooting the joint:

fbsides-004.png

gluing up tape method:

fbsides-005.png

this is a AA WRC top

fbsides-006.png

[darren]

I also have got the sides profiled, and the first one bent. Hopefully this afternoon I can get to the other side.

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It took me about 35 minutes to bend this side.

fbsides-008.png

[darren]

and 30 minutes later the other side is done.

fbsides-009.png

[darren]

end blocks glued up

rim-002.png

outside the mold. The outer cauls are shaped to the curve of the neck and tail area, so I get nice even clamping pressure.

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but the rims snap back in just fine.

rim-006.png

This is my best set of bent sides yet. Pretty much perfect to the mold. On to the kerfed linings...