Starting a new Dred build

[Kevin Sjostrand]

It's time to start another guitar while I'm in the finishing stage of my current violin build.

This one is Indian Rosewood that I brought back from India in 2014. The top will be Sitka spruce. Bindings will be curly maple. I've made up some wenge/holly/wenge purfling that I'm considering using for top, back and side purfling and in a rosette design.
Or I may do an abalone rosette with the purfling and abalone purfling on the top. Not sure yet.

The neck blank is Spanish cedar. Headplate will be ebony.
Fretboard is ebony. I think I'll do gold frets and tuners but may change to nickle. We'll see.

I have the neck blank glued up, scarf headstock and stacked heel.

Today I thinned the sides on my Ryobi drum sander and bent the first side.

I like to spritz the side with water and wrap it in kraft paper first and then foil. It's an oily wood so the paper helps absorb any oil that leaches out. The foil helps keep the moisture in the wood a little longer for the bend.

My controller is set for 270 degrees. I start the waist bend at about 200 slowly and not going a the way down. Then I bend the lower bout at 270 and then the upper bout and lastly crank down the waist. Cook it for about 10 minutes, cool down to 150 then heat back up to 270 and turn the blanket off. I'll wait until completely cooled before removing.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Sides are in, end and neck block are in. Sanded in the radius dish, now gluing the the homemade Spanish cedar kerfing. Top in today, tomorrow I'll glue in the back kerfing and then level the kefing down to the sides in the dish again.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

The kerfing is all in and both sides sanded flush to the rims in the sanding dish.

My neck block extension you see is for my bolt down fretboard extension that I've been doing on my last 3 builds. I had cut with chisels that slot for truss rod access.
Once the top is on the truss rod wrench will go through the transverse brass, through that slot and to the truss rod nut at the end of the neck tenon.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

I made a back strip up of maple with purfling on either side of wenge/holly/wenge. Then glued it in when I joined the back. I just use close pins to hold the purflings to the maple and wick in CA glue.

I use a jig I made up for joining backs and tops that uses wedges on one side to apply clamping pressure.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

In making my fretboard I like to do bound fretboard so the fret ends don't show. If I'm not used a contrasting binding then I cut 2 strips from the blank and thin them to the desired size. Then I cut and plane the fretboard to shape, cut the fret slots and the glue the same wood bindings to the fretboard using a very simple wedging jig to apply the clamping pressure. This works really well. Just apply the glue to the bindings, attach them to the fretboard and slide them into the jig. As you push it in more pressure is applied and a nice tight joint is achieved.

[TEETERFAN]

Looks like another fine guitar is in the works! Thanks for shtwith the forum.

[tippie53]

stop using foil there is no need
the steam is only needed for the first few minutes after that you run a much higher risk of warp and cracking.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

John
I've used foil for many and not had any problem at all. I've bent walnut, maple, EIR, Sapele for sure and not had warping or cracking.
I didn't even know it could cause those things. I believe I started using it after having warpage on a cherry set of sides. I think I saw Robbie O'Brien using it and tried it then. I thought it helped keep some steam in there which softens the fibers?
Perhaps I've just been lucky???
My bends are done in 5 minutes. I heat with a blanket and three 150 watt light bulbs inside the form. Heats up quick and I start the waist at 200 degrees slowly and within 30 seconds I'm at 275, my target. I go almost all the way down, stop and bend the lower bout, then bend the upper bout and then finish the waist. It's worked great thus far.
So I'm skirting fate maybe???

Thanks for the advise. I guess I'll try no foil next time. The kraft paper is for the oily wood. Do you wrap in the paper?

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Some more progress today.

I cut out the back and thinned it to .095". The back strip came out real clean.

Then I installed the end wedge. It is maple with a few Birdseye and my wenge/holly/wenge purfling. It is still proud and needs to be scraped flush and cut off.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Today I cut off the excess end wedge at the top and bottom and scraped it flush with the sides. Came out good, forgot to take a pic.

Then I glued down the inside spruce back strip in the go bar deck. While that dried I cut up my spruce back braces to size. I have a template I use to draw the 15ft radius obto the bottom of the braces, then I use a block plane and shave them down close to the line, then finish shaping them by sanding them in the radius dish...in the approximate place they'll be glued down onto the back.

Next I mark the back strip where the braces will intersect, cutting on the lines with an exact knife. Then using a 1/4"chisel I remove the strip where each brace goes and glue the braces in place on the sanding dish with a 15ft radius in the gobar deck.

Next is to carve those braces. I make mine 5/16" wide x 3/4" tall. They will be 5/8" tall when I'm down carving and shaping.