Lughnasa Fiúntach Curadhi

Yes, looks great to me too. I for one read the (as always) illuminating commentary then went for a lie down afterwards. Thanks for posting leoroberts and davewhite.

"Some chicken, some neck".

I wasn't me that said those words (well, it was, just now - you did too if you're reading this aloud) it was originally Winston Churchill. Apparently he was responding to General Petain of the Vichy French government who had said that Hitler would invade England and we'd have our neck wrung like a chicken. Or he could have been complaining about the filling of his lunchtime butty that an underling had got him from Lidl. Whatever, he definitely said it.

In sending me the latest batch of progress photos of my soon-to-be guitar, davewhite could have just used the words 'No chicken, all neck'. He didn't. But he could have. and that's what counts.

Of course, it's not 'all neck'. The first photo was of the fingerboard. But that's attached to the neck so my point stands as valid. The fingerboard is a laminated one made from four pieces of Kingwood glued using fish glue to a Spalted Beech backing piece and joined at the 4th, 10th and 19th frets so that the joins will be covered by these frets.



This is what it looks like when it's all done. Not noticeably a fingerboard. Yet.



Now, I don't want to get too technical with you, but I want to introduce you to a bit of guitar-jargon. Fret. I know it also means to worry but, in guitar terms, it's the little strip of wire that runs across the neck that means, within a certain space, if you press the string down between two of them you get a clean note. Consider yourselves educated. You'd probably wondered what they were for - now you know. Although they stand proud of what is colloquially referred to as the 'fret board' (keep up at the back, there) they are also inset into it. A bit like an iceberg, but different fractions. The grooves are not cut with a fret saw, though. Maybe they were originally and that's how they got there name. But, no, Dave uses a jig. Look: here's proof:



Then, and only then (because it would be plain stupid to do it before this point) the fretboard is tapered and the sound-hole end of the fretboard is cut to match the soundhole (after allowing for binding) using his circle cutter jig. You might notice in that last sentence that Dave referred to both the sound-hole and the soundhole. I don't think these are two different things. But they might be. Scholars have got Ph.Ds on the back of such arguments.





Tom Paxton famously sang "I can't help but wonder where I'm bound". My guitar knows exactly where it's bound. Thankfully, so does Dave as he's doing the binding. Of course, when the guitar knows it's bound for me, it may give up the ghost and refuse to come out of its case/gig bag. But that scenario is still some way off. So, in the meantime, The fretboard is going to be bound with Cocobolo with a Maple side purfling and the soundhole end binding was bent on the hot-pipe and glued on.



And finally, for this issue, when the glue is dry the binding is trimmed flush with the sides and then the side bindings are glued on using fish glue. I've given up doing glue jokes and puns. They were just making me feel tacky.



Right, that's it for the time being. It's too hot to sleep so I'm going to find something by 'Walter Presents...' on Channel 4 so I can watch with just the subtitles and not wake up my wife.

Artisan craftsmen, like what loofiers are, always pay attention to the detail. They're obsessive about the smallest things. Always dotting the 'I's and crossing the 'T's.

The latest aspect of the build isn't so much about dotting the 'I's as 'eyeing the dots'. All my guitars have 'em. Not all in the same place, mind you - but generally speaking on the 5th, 7th and 12th frets. I don't know why. Did someone, somewhere, have some mother of pearl left over and just think 'sod it, I've only enough for three dots so I'll just pick my lucky numbers'? And then find that everyone thought s/he was a genius and chad copied him? Possibly.

But probably not. There's probably some musical theory thing that is involved. I know 12 frets is an octave or a harmonic. Come to think of it, 5th and 7th frets are harmonics too. Maybe that's it. Do I care? No, not really. But the guitar would look naked without them so I'm glad davewhite has included them.

The positions of the inlaid side/front markers are marked on the fretboard and routed with a 1.6mm bit using this jig. Which looks like a big piece of kit for a dot, if you ask me.



This is what it all looks like after the Maple markers are glued in and the fretboard levelled.



When all this is done then the fretboard is glued on to the neck using fish glue and my guitar has a neck. which is more than *I* have according to my wife. I'd remind her of Gladstone Small if she followed cricket. She doesn't.

I'm not getting any pictures. A major disappointment that as the thread has been a feast for the eyes and funny bone.

Occasionally I have recourse to visit a podiatrist. My parents were the caring kind when I was growing up and we always got our shoes from Clark's. I've already mentioned this. I was never able to wear platform shoes - the look didn't go with my NHS specs and pudding basin hair cut. And my parents wouldn't let me. Nor would my school. So I don't really know why I have problems with my feet, in particular my heel. It *might* have something to do with the enormous weight that is pressing them down into the ground. I should probably do something about that. What I'm leading to is the fact that I sometimes have to cushion my heel with a foam insert in my shoe. At other times I just need to wrap an orthopaedic bandage round, to sort of bind it. Yes, you know where I'm going with this, don't you?

The heel is routed for the binding



Then it's time to get the hot pipe out as the Coyote Wood binding with Maple purfling is bent and glued on using fish glue. I'm not sure that davewhite ever actually puts the hot pipe away so there may be no need to get it out. It, perhaps, lurks in some dark corner of the workshop waiting to be called upon. I've never seen the inside of Dave's workshop so I don't know. And he hasn't told me. I bet it cowers in the shadow of the Fox Bender feeling miserable and inadequate.



Dave has rather thrown down the gauntlet with his next description:

"When the glue is dry the heelcap is scraped and sanded flush. As far as I am aware I’m the only maker that binds heel-caps like this and I did my first in one 2006. It allows you to continue the wood used for the neck into the heel-cap when you have interesting neck woods like Spalted Beech or use a laminated neck. You can also use off-cuts of the back wood to continue into the heel-cap with the binding also flowing through."

I'm guessing now is the time to disabuse him of his uniqueness. Or affirm him in it, I suppose. Either way he has still not picked a side for the 'heelcap' or 'heel-cap' conundrum. He doesn't necessarily strike me as the whimsical/go with the flow type - his attention to detail in making this instrument is there for all to see. Perhaps alcohol was involved? Of course, in the great scheme of things, it matters not one jot. Were I to talk to somebody about this particular feature of my guitar I wouldn't be saying 'heel hyphen cap' so it is only of interest to you, dear reader. And probably not even to you. Anyway, here's the picture:



All this work means that Dave is able to share with me, and I with you, a picture of the neck attached to the body.



And that's your lot for today. No need to fret about what the next post will be about...

Q: What do you call a guitar with a bent neck?
A: Firewood.

Which is why davewhite takes such care in making sure that the neck is straight. It must not only have a straight neck but, in this particular instance be radiused to 16". Mayb e all guitar necks are radiused to 16"? I don't know. If I'm honest, I don't even know what that means. I'm just glad it happens - and pleased that Dave does it and not me.

The fretboard is radiused to 16” checking for straightness with the straight edge and radius with the fret caul.



This guitar is LFC-themed. I've mentioned that before, indeed, it's kind of the whole point of this guitar. The Spalted Beech is reminiscent of the sleeve tattoos sported by a number of players and even the fret wire, Gold EVO in this instance, is from Germany - just like Herr Klopp. Klopp's middle name is Norbet but I don't hold that against him. It was his parents' choice, he is blameless. It might be a perfectly usual and mundane name in Teutonic countries. 

But you don't just glue the frets on, no; you press them in. They are really useful when working out where to put my fingers when playing a note or one of the three chords with which I am comfortable. For some reason Dave has put frets all the way up the neck. This will be a waste of wire for me, but I'm hoping that proper guitarists might want to play this instrument, too, and so Dave has accounted for all eventualities.



And all this work leaves the instrument looking like this:



and, as an added bonus, here's a back view.



Will the next stage of the build prove to be a bridge too far?

This has been a top-quality build thread to follow,not only because of a fantastic looking guitar, but also some world-class comments on other topics related or not related to guitar bulding. Keep it coming!