Rosette bending jig

I've been stressing about bending the purfling for the rosette for several weeks. I had some inside pieces from the routing jigs and thought it would be a good start for a template. I made an inside piece and screwed it to a piece of mdf. I was thinking of clamping the strips as I went around but that would get crowded real fast.
I drilled several holes and cut down some wood skewers to act as pins.
Wa-la.

It looks like a cribbage board but seemed to work.


First, I soaked the wood in HOT water in the kitchen sink for a few minutes, then put it into the jig.

I did get some de-laming and cracking in spots but I think that was because I was going too fast.

Guitar Update-forms and functions!

Last night at guitar class I got more work done on the molds for the shape and got the back glued up. Seems like I'm building the workshop before I can build the guitar.
Before I could glue the back I had get the two sides baby-butt smooth. With NORMAL wood it's a few passes with the block plane and a quick check on the light table (to make sure that it fits perfectly) then smear some glue on the edge and slam it into the glueing jig.

Oh-no, with Mango, the wacky grain necessitated getting a router jig set up to cut the edges with identical cuts on both sides. Even that took about 6-8 passes with checking in-between on the light table. But, in the end I got a light-tight joint and was able to glue up the back. Next class I hope to thickness sand it and cut out the basic shape.

I spent a lot of the time working on the damn molds. Six inches of mdf board weighs a ton. Moving it on the band saw will surely allow my chiropractor to send his kids to a nicer college.


I still need to tidy it up with my fancy Japanese pull-saw and the spindle sander.

I also sanded and drilled the bending forms to go into the bending machine, It looks like the machine from the Princess Bride. I'll get a photo of it for next time.

I am hoping to be able to start bending next time too.
When I got home there was a box from the LMI with my stuff for the next few steps!
Neck and Finger board: Walnut and Ebony.


The black sticks are the Ebony binding for the outside of the guitar. They protect the edges from dents etc. The tiny black/white sticks are the prufflings. They go between the top/side wood and the ebony binding. All this stuff is wood which will need to be heat bent as well as the sides.


The sticks with the notches cut in them are the edges for inside the guitar. This helps hold the sides to the top and back. I bought the pre cut stuff because I'm lazy.
Here's the headstock plates. I'm going with Ebony on top of Birch. That way I get a nifty little white line between the walnut neck and the head plate.

I wake up in the middle of the night worrying about how all of this is going to work together. I'd still be wearing Giranimals just for the simplicity if they made my size!
We'll see....

Guitar Update

The past two weeks have been hectic. I'm doing LOTS of stuff but not making much progress in any of them.
At last weeks guitar building I was able to get my mold glued up. It's 6 layers of 3/4 inch particle board; and about 900 pounds. Next week I will cut out most of the insides and it'll be ready for side bending.
Also, I ran the top through the giant drum sander to get it down to about .100 of an inch. After each pass through the sander you check the boards with a digital caliper and give the machine a 1/4 crank and shove it through again. After 10 or 12 passes, its ready for the next step. Cutting out the rough body shape and doing the rosette. More on that later...
I'll get some photos up when I can.

Playing wise, it's been hard to sit down and practice. Too many other shiny things have caught my eye. Stuff like going to see my guitar teacher's band play, re-roofing the garage and fixing Joels' quad, but I digress.
I'm currently working on two different and challenging pieces. One a manouche piece called Valse a Django and Asturius or Leyenda by Albeniz. Asturias is a great classical piece that is all overt the neck and has some wild parts, making me concentrate on finger and arm positioning. Because you have to hold these chord-like positions, moving fingers around but staying in position it's painful. My fingering is getting better as a result, at least my left hand. I need to tighten up my right hand now. The picking has pedal tones, played on 1 string, then 2 strings then 3. It's a good division of attention exercise. Fun stuff.