Finally getting back to it...

Got yet another Cortisone injection Thursday. I can now bend my elbow and close my left fist without crying.
I was able to get some stuff done on Marilyn's sel-mac/nylon!
I took the top and back out of the gluing jigs and realized that I need to get better at shooting the edges...
The seams are tiny but I see them. Oh well.


Marilyn asked me to do a solid-wood rosette with b-b-w-b purfling around the in/outside.

I was rather nervous about doing the cutting/sanding. It turned out better than I thought it would. I just need to do the routing on the top--maybe tomorrow.












I rough cut the braces for the back and top and glued up the headstock plate.




I am off for until Thursday! Hopefully I can try out the new side bender and set up the go-bar deck!

The side bender is done-done!

I finished the cut away attachment for the side bender!


I also made it easier to us the adjustable plate on the main clamp.

The timer works and it throws out a ton of heat. the steel bending sheets should be in next week.

Now I just need to get the tops and backs joined--which is proving to be harder than I thought. I might just make a jig for the router...

Side Bender

I finished the basic part of the side bender. I still need to do the cut-away clamp.
but the switch and the timer work! Just a little fine-tuning and I can start bending for Marilyn's guitar.

The Rosewood showed up yesterday. It's pretty but too thick right now (i forgot to order it pre-thinned) so I need to do some planing first.

I also got some tortoise-white-black celluloid pickguard material for Ev's mandolin. So, I made one for the Gretsch too! It looks very retro now...

Finishing up and begining again.

Following the old adage "there's never time to do it right, but always time to do it twice"; I finished the guitar. Again. I didn't like the way the top turned out, so I sanded it down and re did it. I made sure I got a good level base with the Z-poxy. That helped bring up the grain of the wood. The mango really pops and the I got the medulary rays in the sitka top to look more 3-d.



Also, I had noticed some buzzing in the 12-13 frets, so I did a re-level on them.
Now the buzz is gone and it looks and sounds way better. I figure the epoxy made the top stiffer. There is a lot less "honk" now. The Selmers can produce a nasal sound sometimes because of the way it's braced. That said, it's not a bad thing. Especially if you play it harder than you would a regular guitar. It was designed to be heard over jazz bands so the sound is big and piercing.
There's a hundred things I'm going to fix on the next one, but overall I'm happy with it.


I started on building one for my wife today. She hasn't settled on what wood she wants, so I got the neck started.














I cut the mahogany billet and cut the 11 degree scarf joint on the bandsaw and glued it up.




This one went a lot easier and nicer than the last.



I got the grain to line up and the glue line disappeared!






Next, I need to plane it to thickness and laminate the heel block.

Almost there!

Here it is.
I still have some set up and fine tuning to do. Plus some touch up, mostly mistakes and goofs from the polishing. I still have some fret buzzing in the higher frets, but I want to let it sit for a few days before I do anything. I still have to attach the mustache pieces to the bridge but i'll do that last.





Now I can get all those home-repair projects done....

Catching up

I tend to like my routine. This is the first summer in a long time that I have had the whole summer off. When it's only a week or so, I plan what I'm going to do and try to cram as much as I can into the time. Being off for so long has messed up my schedule. Rarely do shave, wear shoes, my watch or pants all at the same time. I am not looking forward to going back to work....
I ripped out the garden in the front yard and replanted with vegetables, plus I replanted a bunch of the pots in the back too. I have tons of artichoke, cucumbers, lettuce, bell peppers(red, black and green), onions and tomatoes! Plus the lemons are really good this year. My gawd, I've become my parents!
Anyhow, much has happened and little progress is made.


I haven't been able to practice much due to a slightly torn ligament (basically "tennis elbow") in my left arm. It got to the point that I couldn't hold anything and was not sleeping. Finally, I was able to get the referal to an orthopedic specialist (after 6 weeks of trying). In 30 minutes I was out the door, I got a Cortisone injection, elbow good as new. Then, the Novocain wore off. Boy, that hurt like a mo-fo. But now things are back to normal and I can play and not cry.
Mark and I are working on Bach's Prelude from the 1st Cello Suite. Tricky but very cool. Also, we're working on a finger-style version of Chet Atkins' "Music to watch Girls by". A great surf classic. Those of us that are my age might remember the Pepsi commercial that featured it. I'm also working on "Good Clone-Bad Clone" by 3 Balls of Fire and their arrangement of Bahia (Chet Baker tune).



On my guitar, I am making some progress. I trimmed the neck block and set the angle. Hopefully it's correct.... To make sure everything was straight, I used my laser level. Very "rocket science".


Once that was set, I glued the fingerboard and neck together and installed the frets. I also added a heel cap made from some leftover tortoise and black and white sheets. Looks cool.
I also re-did the epoxy pore filling and sanded everything level. I'm hoping to pick up a small spray gun and start spraying finish starting next week!

All bound up--catching up

I've been side-lined of late due to what may be tendinitis of the left elbow. I can't hold anything in my left hand so working on the guitar has been on hold (playing is out too). Plus, we were on a cruise to Mexico last week.

Now I'm back, sunburned and rested and ready to hide in the garage for a while.
I had started putting on the binding a few weeks back--mostly working in the middle of the night. Not able to sleep due to the damn elbow...
It looked less that perfect (like crap actually). With the help of Sensi-Larry I routed the the old bindings off and cut new channels. I had originally cut them using the stew-mac Grammel hand tool. Because of the funny grain of the Mango and my lack of hand-eye coordination, the channel was a little shaky.
We used the Tom Ribbeke binding machine (http://www.lmii.com/CartTwo/thirdproducts.asp?CategoryName=Binding+Tools&NameProdHeader=Universal+Binding+Machine)
What a difference. I need to buy one of those!
It took about 3 hours to get the sides of the box perfectly vertical and the bit/bearing set properly. Much testing on 2x4s. Once it's set, it went really fast. I found that due to the slope of the back it worked best to go one way, then do a reverse pass.
Larry also introduced me to the wonders of "Hide Glue". That stuff is great! it holds quick and if you need more time, just brush a little hot water on it and the glue re-charges. Easy clean up too. I need to get me some of that too for the next guitar.
I actually ended up using Hide, Titebond, CA and a Vinyl glue to get everything stuck on.
The Hide and TB were used on the wood bindings. I used the CA to tack down the edges of the "stacked miters" on the corners with the b-b-w-b strips--it held them and made them easy to trim with nippers or a chisel. The tortoise got the vinyl.
It was really important not to rush and to keep ones' hands clean!



Because I needed to rout out a bit more, I went with a black-black-white black purfling scheme. I also ran a B-W-B accent under the Tortoise binding. Too make the tortoise more visible, I put a strip of maple under. It sounds busy but looks cool. The tortoise goes along with the wacky Mango grain of the back and sides.
I love the subtle difference between the white (fiber) and the slightly duller of the maple.


I also found that you can not pull too hard on the binding tape. Or use too much.






Also, I found that by starting with the tight bends, things would lay flatter.


















After all that I sanded it up to 600 grit and then did the pore filling using Z-poxy. Great stuff, easy to use. Makes the grain "pop". I know I'm going out of order (so what else is new?) but I have some time before we get to set the neck etc, so I thought i would get this step out of the way.

On the left you can see the purflings and accents glued and taped.






Look, all the little lines line-up!












Next, the neck.....