#2 , a StewMac 000-18 Slot head, is in now in the building

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Looks good!!!
It is satisfying to make your own jigs etc!

Spreaders in those spots are the most important

[BEJ]

Good to see someone else starting out on the journey, there are a lot of us somewhere on the pathway.
Your mold looks great should serve you well. Love the shape of your guitar, looks like the upper and lower bouts balance out just about right.

Bruce,

[nkwak]

That mold looks good!

Sometimes I enjoy making molds and jigs more than dealing with the unpredictability of some tone woods.

[Srick]

That mold looks good!

Sometimes I enjoy making molds and jigs more than dealing with the unpredictability of some tone woods.

LOL! I agree. It’s basic. You put it together with hardware. And if you are dissatisfied with it, you have no qualms about tossing it or rebuilding it. Now, do you think I should French polish it, or just spray nitro? <G>

BTW- one flaw that you don’t see is that it is slightly bigger than the plan\template I used. This occurred when I sanded out the discrepancies in the walls. But that was also a good kick in the pants to tune up my bandsaw. I am almost tempted to refabricate it, but the good plywood is not inexpensive. So this guitar will end up as an 000.10 size.

[Srick]

So… the guitar mold was fabricated, the radius dishes, the go bar deck - all of the items that I wish I had during build number one were in place.

Time for the ‘most important glue joint’, the neck block.



Ahhhh…. You might look at the picture and say, “I think it’s glue-starved,” because you don’t see any squeeze out on the top, but I’d rather you didn’t. I’ll let you know in thirty years. In fact, I went to bed last night with a wonderful feeling of control. I had enough clamps, I had visibility, I had everything just right.

But building guitars to a high level is a slippery slope. There is always one more item to overthink, one more point of critique. And when I took off all of the clamps, I saw “it.”



What was it? Despite my best efforts, that little area under the clamps had curled up. I suppose I should have tried using a hot iron on that area, but I thought the clamp last night was strong enough to take care of the issue. Well, it wasn’t and there was a 1/32” gap. This was not a surprise. This was an old kit and there had been some water damage to the sides.

So this picture shows an attempt to reglue that little curl.

But the joy of building is always having a plan B, plan C and plan Z in the works, and then ultimately figuring out how to hide the flaws.

With each iteration, it gets better.


P.S. - plan B, a simple glue and clamp, worked just fine

[Srick]

Happy holidays all!

Well, our friends at StewMac were having a 25% off sale (for orders over $200), and sucker that I am, I pulled out the credit card for a pair of Waverly slothead tuners with ebony buttons. When I opened the box and fit them on the slothead, a little magic happened. It made me realize how much of the fun during the building process is the spark it gives to your imagination. Choosing the tuners led to a likely design for an inlay and got me thinking about tweaks to the binding and purfling scheme…. and maybe even a burst finish.

Darn, they’re purty. They were far more expensive than they should be, but even if the rest of the guitar looks lousy, the tuners will draw your eyes away from the flaws!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Waverly's
Whoops hoo!
They look super.

[Srick]

Money may not buy you everything, but it sure can get you some bling!

[MaineGeezer]

Oh, those are elegant!
When I built my first guitar I looked at a set of those but couldn't talk myself into spending a couple hundred bucks for tuners when a set of perfectly serviceable individual Grovers could be had for about a quarter of the price. I did however, set the hole spacing to match the Waverlies for an easy artistic upgrade, "someday." Maybe it's time?

[MaineGeezer]

duplicate.