Blogging Fatso!

[David L]

Thanks Kevin, but hey, the cat is pretty cool looking too, his markings make him look like he's wearing a tuxedo and check this out, his markings are bookmatched!!! How cool is that for a cat?

David L

[Rick S]

I finally made it through all 24 pages. Awesome job David! Looking at what's coming down the road on my guitar is pretty intimidating compared to what you've done.

[David L]

Thanks Rick for the compliment. Here's where I stand on Fatso, I've decided to put guitar #2 on temporary hold and concentrate on finishing up on Fatso. I am going to do the final sanding/polishing on the body, it has been curing now for 7 or 8 weeks and then I'll be ready for final assembly. My anxiety comes from the set-up process. I need to get some tools for this and I need some recommendations (please). Here's what I think I need: Stewmac string spacing gauge for nut, saw to start string grooves in nut (which one?) nut files, how many and what sizes can I get by with? Is there anyting else that I will need but failed to list? Did I list something that perhaps I may not need? I know that's a lot of questions for one post but this a very important step of the process, so any help from you guys will be greatly appreciated!

David L

[johnnparchem]

On my first steel string, a John Hall D28 kit, when I was finished with the setup I took the guitar to a local guitar shop and got the repair guys help in fine tuning my setup. For me overall it was a good experience as he critiqued the construction, fine tuned the nut slots and action and best of all he did it for free.

[Rick S]

David,

Robert O'Brien has a short video that explains his process of setting up an acoustic guitar. It shows the tools that he uses. Hopefully, here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x65OBpNO5LM

[tippie53]

As you get into this more and more , tooling can be an investment or and expense . I have tried so many "cheap" fretting tools and didn't find any that worked . I use a decimal set of nut slot files . I have all of the ones Stew mac and Lmi sell . I use the tapers and the decimal with the decimal my favorites.
To level the frets I like mill and pillar files. For Stainless steel frets I use diamond files . I have a good crowning file and polish with cork , 1200 paper and a fret protector . You can use eraser templates to protect the fretboard and allows you to work the fret .
You can make some things work but it will take a lot of work . The tools help make the job easier . I learned that you need the tools that do the job well . Multi tools often will do more than one job poorly than any one job well .

[David L]

Thought I would document how I'm doing the sanding process. No fancy jig or fixture for me (too lazy to build one), I start with a piece of soft carpet and put several layers of newspaper on top of it. I finished sanding with 800 grit and now I'm switching over to 1000 grit. As you can see, I use a block of wood with a thin piece of rubber sandwiched between it and the sandpaper (I do not attach the rubber to the block) The rubber is about 1/8" thick, the stock is used to line tool box drawers, etc... Note the cup of soapy water.

David L

[tippie53]

I like Shag it allows that Fuzzzy tone to come out .

[deadedith]

Shaggadelic, baby!!!

[David L]

Ya'll are brutal, I didn't even finish posting my procedure before you started in with the carpet jokes, I've got a couple more posts and several more pictures to finish out the procedure. I'm on the laptop and wifey is on the big computer where the pictures are stored in the big storage thingy so I can't access them. I'll finish posting bright and early in the morning.

David L