Finally starting the Walnut/Redwood and Koa OM.

[Darryl Young]

It looks great Kevin!!! Good choice for wood, they match well.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Thanks Darryl, I really like the walnut with the Koa. I will do that combo again. I have another redwood top, another set of walnut and more of the curly koa binding and I may just do a repeat if this one sounds great.

John, really? Well, I just spent another about 8 hours getting a really good fit and bringing the neck angle down where it needed to be. What a process. Now my 14th fret is a little out of square with the edge of the body, but not much. I suppose with strings on it one's eyes won't be drawn to it. I still need to tweak where the heel cap touches the body/binding. I have just teeny tiny rounded outside edges that are so hard to get rid of. I spent some time with a razor blade scraping on the cap between the edges trying to make this area level and I still have just a slight round off. I tried pulling strips of sandpaper under the cap in place on the body, but I still get these edges rounded. I even tried a file....keeping it flat is alway difficult and I still rounded those edges. Arg!

So I now have the guitar pretty much ready for poor filling. I will make the bridge next, and once that is made and positioned with pins so I can mask off where it will be glued down, I will be ready to start.
I think I will be using the Hood's clear lacquer based filler that Ken Cierp told us all about. I got a quart of it, and since I really liked the look of the clear filler when I did epoxy, I'm thinking I might prefer sticking with a clear. I also like the idea of using only lacquer on the guitar, no foreign material pore fillers. I am suspect of a little problem that showed up later using the epoxy to fill.

I have some of the Timbermate fillers in different colors that I will probably do a couple of samples on of the walnut. I don't think I want to put any color in the pores on the neck, not crazy about that kind of look.

[Ken Hundley]

Kev...what about removing some finish under the outline of the heel, and pulling it tighter..might help?

I make sure I get the perfect fit before I finish the guitar, so the little flossing I do squares up the finished edges, and eliminates the round-over effect of the cheeks where the finish ends. If I rounded the corners on the heel plate a little, they get less flossing, and end up sitting flush and tight anyway. Seems to work, though I know I need to be more careful in that area.

And dont worry, I have spent 6-7 hours on a neck getting it right mnyself. Good thing I don't charge by the hour, eh?

[RnB]

Very Nice...It's looking great!

A
I marked the tops of the frets with a marker, leveled, and started recrowning without remarking them. When I was done and sanded them to 800 grit, I remembered that I had forgot to do that, and now I don't know if they are still level or not. I TRIED to not take any more off the tops, but I don't know....so tomorrow I will check it out and my have to do a bit of leveling again....hope not!

I did the same thing & it all worked out come setup time. I did have a couple of high one's, but a fretting hammer brought them down to where they don't buzz any more. A 'fret rocker's' a good tool in helping locate any of the sour one's or spots along the same fret that are uneven...

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I had 3 frets I had to bring down a skosh and recrown, then all was good!
I spent another couple of hours yestereday, but I have the neck fit finalized. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to attach it and glue down the fretboard and spray finish the guitar this way. I've always kept the neck separate on the previous 4 guitars. I'm just thinking it might be nice to have a layer of finish at the joints. I don't plan on being the one to have to do a reset in the future!!
How do you guys feel about it; spraying the guitar with the neck attached, or without it attached???
I'm looking for opinions, experience, and preferences here. :>)

Kevin

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Ken, at one point in this process I had the heel cap nice and flat, flush and tight against the binding, but there was this very little bit of round over, and it seems more difficult to resolve then if I had a more drastic rounding....I will spend a few more minutes on this and get it right.

Kevin

[JVan]

I have done it both ways, but now I actually like finishing the guitar with the neck attached. That way I get the neck set @ proper angle and glued in ( I use dovetail joints), and the fret board leveled true. It makes it easier for me when I spray the finish on the guitar,I use Nitro finish. then when I do install the frets after sanding and buffing I have minimal leveling or if any to do! One problem with this way is sanding and buffing around the neck joint and heel can be tricky. Even doing a neck reset after isn't all that bad, ( do not ask me how I know) I am sure there are pro's and con's doing it either way. Find whatever works best for you.

Jeff

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I made the bridge this weekend, and took care of any little gaps, etc. around the guitar. I fit a nut in the slot, and postioned the bridge. This is my standard bridge, but is sure looks big and black on this guitar. Action is good, I'm at about 1/16" above the bridge with a straight edge, which should give me a bout 3/16" of saddle height.
I sanded everthing down again at 240 grit, and wiped it down with naptha. WOW!, the curl in the walnut and koa popped like crazy. It should be a looker when done, just hope it plays and sounds good.

I still have to decide whether to attach the neck and spray, or do them separate....arg! Pretty much now I wait for a foward forcast of some sunny warm weather so I can start the porefilling and spraying.

Kevin

[RnB]

Kool bridge...! I don't think it looks too big. Let's get some finish on that baby so we can see what that Walnut really looks like. I opt for doing them separately?

[johnnparchem]

I think the bridge looks great on the guitar. I love that redwood top and Koa bindings against the walnut. I can hardly wait to see it finished.