#1 in progress: cedar/mahogany medium jumbo scratch build

[nkwak]

Last time I worked on this I tried trimming the excess from the soundboard away with a router. THere was some more tearout - this time at the lower bout on the same side - and I quit in disgust. I also took a file to edges of the break on the upper bout and got things as tight as I could.

Tonight it was time to see how the (Titebond) glue job to those breaks came out. Off came the tape and this is how things look:



Just in case, there's also a break at the lower bout on the same side of the guitar as the break on the upper bout. It didn't split completely though so it wasn't as big of a deal to fix. I'm confident that it will be virtually invisible. The upper bout isn't as clean but I cleaned up the break as best I could so that there's a good glue joint and everything is solid. A check with a flashlight inside the guitar body showed no light leaks and there's no buzz or loss of sustain when the top is tapped.

Now that the glue was off, John handed me his Dremel and told me to use it to trim off the rest of the excess off the soundboard. He also told me which way to cut to avoid tearout. It was hard to see exactly where the bit was in relation to the sides from above so I had to kneel on the floor and look up from underneath. I also made various pilot cuts and worked VERY slowly!

So, on to fixing that broken brace:

I taped up around the brace and squeezed some Titebond into the gap, which runs from the end of the brace to the midpoint. I applied the go bars and cauls once again. There was good squeeze out which is a good sign.




BTW, that's my rosewood binding. I've been using it to eyeball my goof ups and see if I'd chipped away too much from the edges of the soundboard.

[Jim_H]

Neil,

Hang in there. I know you are probably frustrated, but in a sense, it will make that first string up all the more satisfying.

I made some of the same mistakes you made on my first (getting tearout when removing the excess). As part of my 'lessons learned package', I decided that on my subsequent guitars I would leave a *lot* less excess. As I said in another thread, I try to stay inside 1/4" (of course you need to be very confident that your line is in the right place).

Also, I bit the bullet and bought a stewmac binding router setup. I just chuck up a flush cut bit in the router and cut it off that way. And this way, I can just swap out the bit with the appropriate bearings and do the bindings at the same time.

Another positive takeaway here is that you are developing some uber go bar deck skills, and also getting some repair experience. Don't take that lightly. There is some value in dealing with these frustrations now. You will benefit from it later.

And lastly, I admire your determination to get past the discouragement and continue moving forward.

I have a sneaking suspicion that your guitar is going turn out just fine when you are done with it.

Good luck, and hang in there! =)

[tippie53]

these little tests can teach you many things. One is to think on your feet and look outside the box for a solution. Also no matter how much you plan there is always something that surprises you .

[nkwak]

Thanks, Jim and John,

It is frustrating, but this is my escape from frustration. Here's what really gets me frustrated:



That's a recently-repaired part of my kitchen wall that my 7 year-old autistic son put the heel of his foot through (in true jack@$$ fashion) because I denied him a treat from the pantry across the way. He gets frustrated a lot so there are a lot of holes in the walls throughout my house. We're teaching each other a lot about patience, so this little setback on the build is relatively nothing but a bump in the road.

[Jim_H]

You should teach him Drywall Repair :p

[Darryl Young]

That's a recently-repaired part of my kitchen wall that my 7 year-old autistic son put the heel of his foot through (in true jack@$$ fashion) because I denied him a treat from the pantry across the way. He gets frustrated a lot so there are a lot of holes in the walls throughout my house. We're teaching each other a lot about patience, so this little setback on the build is relatively nothing but a bump in the road.

I imagine your are learning patience! God bless you and give you wisdom in dealing with your son.

I'm impressed with you will to work through these issues. Keep up the great work!

[nkwak]

So last night I got to devote a couple of hours toward getting started on the body binding. The rosewood binding is to be bound below and inside the main channel by bold BWB purfling. Actually, during the course of measuring/sighting up the laminate trimmer's flush cut bearing I found that an additional strip of purfling was necessary. I don't have pictures but I pulled a double-strip of black/brown purfling for the top and a less bold BWB strip for the back.

After the fiasco with trimming the excess top and back material on the router table - without the use of a flush cut bit - I was worried that another pass with a laminate trimmer would have similarly disastrous results. As it turned out, I didn't have much to worry about after all. As you can see, there's only a little left of that chipped out section at the edge of the upper bout. This is just the first pass though so even less will remain - I'd guess maybe even just a single grain line based on that notch I did with the laminate trimmer set to cut the channel for the purfling inside the binding.



One thing that complicated matters was that I wasn't able to get the edge of the top 100% flush with the sides so I had to forego cutting that upper channel and move on to focusing on the main outer channel first. See how wiggly? :



BTW, this was the first chance I was able to fully appreciate the relief and sense of accomplishment of completing the cloed soundbox. The cracked back brace may not be pretty but it's all back together and the box rings like a gong.



Anyway, I just got acclimated enough to complete the top cut. Next time I'll do the main channel for the back then move on to doing those inner passes. The rosewood strips have been lightly sanded with 400 grit to remove any burrs and are ready to be bent with the Fox bender, just as I did with the mahogany sides.

[tippie53]

check that the pilot bearing rests on the sides . as long as the bearing is locating there you will be fine

[Jim_H]

Also, make sure you sides are generally smooth and free of bumps and divots. Any discrepancies on the sides will translate into discrepancies in your slot.

[nkwak]

check that the pilot bearing rests on the sides . as long as the bearing is locating there you will be fine

I should've read this, then re-read it a few times because on this second pass on my top the bearing was resting on the exposed kerfing and some of that kerfing had let go. It only happened in a couple of places but there are a couple of areas that I'm going to have to patch. I'm not particularly distraught about it. My friend told me how he did the same thing on his first couple and what he did to fix them.

Here's what happened. I started by routing out the outer, then the inner channel of the bottom. There was still a snag but the back is still fixable - though I need to use more purfling strips than I'd originally anticipated.





The top doesn't look as pretty. As I explained above, the channel is not even though it's about 98% even. That other 2% I'm planning on filling in and trying another pass with the laminated trimmer. Sorry no pix.

Next time I do the binding. Here's a mockup of the purfling/binding that I made to set up the bit on the laminate trimmer but obviously I measured wrong and will have to reconsider for the back. The front should be OK though.