R the F
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 1,135 
My main instrument is: bandsaw
|
Post by R the F on Mar 18, 2017 9:19:46 GMT
I suspect, ashley , that when/if we start actually selling guitars, we'll have to be a bit more circumspect about what we reveal on this 'ere forum. Shakespeare comes to mind, doesn't he?
Alack, for lesser knowledge! how accurs'd
In being so blest! There may be in the cup
A spider steep'd, and one may drink, depart,
And yet partake no venom, for his knowledge
Is not infected: but if one present
Th'abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known
How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his sides,
With violent hefts. I have drunk, and seen the spider.
(Or maybe he doesn't...)
Thanks for the encouragement, leoroberts . I also need talking therapy for the furniture problems I went on to have yesterday - but I'd better not reveal all in case the customer is an avid reader of this thread!
|
|
|
|
Post by ashley on Mar 18, 2017 16:49:09 GMT
i think it will be a while before I'm ready to sell one Rob.... still while it's a hobby I think it's better to let everyone else keep enjoying the mistakes 😋
|
|
R the F
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 1,135
My main instrument is: bandsaw
|
Post by R the F on Mar 20, 2017 22:29:29 GMT
A fully loaded soundboard with as many different sized patches as I can imagine. The braces aren't as hefty as they look in this picture - the lighting is a bit harsh - and, besides, tomorrow I'll be carving away most of what you can see in this picture:
Soon I'll be back where I was. Where was I again?
|
|
|
|
R the F
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 1,135
My main instrument is: bandsaw
|
Post by R the F on Mar 25, 2017 20:28:58 GMT
From that point I continued to scrape and sand the braces down. The theory is, I think, that they need to be substantial enough within the area of the corrugation to maintain the form and to provide longitudinal stiffness to counter the string tension but, assuming the corrugation does its job, they only need to be light and agile where they attach to the flat parts of the sound-board. I went as far as I thought reasonable though you can't really see it from any of the photos I took. Here it is relaxing in a Danish chair:
(The dark patches near the ends of some braces are where I have applied drops of very thin super-glue to bind the fibres together ready for final sanding areas which have been scuffed up by my chisels.)
Desperate to make real progress, I decided to finalise everything that needed doing before attaching the soundboard to the sides. I found the anchor points in the sides for my flying-buttresses and, while I still had easy access, chiselled out shallow housings in order to locate them correctly at a later date. Now I was ready for the Big Glue-up. Every time I glue on a top - or bottom - I seem to use a different method. This time I was torn between tape, which seems to work well enough for davewhite and is unfussy and to the point, and the go-bar deck. Of course, I went for both and here are the pictures:
I didn't want to use bicycle inner-tubes because this is a stand-alone box (with no integral protruding neck at this stage) and so is difficult to cramp down without the cramps getting in the way. I didn't want to use the solera type approach with lots of wing-nuts and wooden washers because I didn't have anything ready to hand which would accommodate the undulations of this top. The go-bar deck alone would have been fine but there can be a tendency for the top to slip around until you have a balanced number of go-bars in place so I decided to tape it up a little to avoid this problem and then add more pressure with bamboo. The rubber pads are intended to protect the softwood from bruising. What I hadn't realised was that the go-bar deck, moved from its usual cabinet-top position, was now standing on four "legs" - the ends of the corner rods - and, as I added more bamboo pressure, the bottom of the deck was warping slightly under the pressure. This wasn't a major problem as far as gluing was concerned but, when I started removing some of the bars afterwards, all that stored up tension was pushing through the remaining pieces of bamboo and there are now some bruise marks on the edge of the sound-board. It'll get over it. It did look nice, though, as the late afternoon spring sunshine dappled through the blinds.... (sorry):
Here's another thing I did:
Yes. I can be cruel.
This is what it looked like after the ordeal:
And here's the open box chewing the fat upon meeting its siblings for the first time:
|
|
|
|
Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,381
|
Post by Riverman on Mar 27, 2017 20:35:06 GMT
If you ask me Rob, there's nothing wrong with Manzer wedges and multi scale soundported modified dreadnoughts made with wood from a tree from the Garden of Eden that was cut by the light of the new moon after being underwater for thousands of years...but the world of hand made guitars could do with a bit more in the satanic organic blingfest line. You keep it up  |
|
leoroberts
C.O.G. 
Posts: 26,146
My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
|
Post by leoroberts on Mar 27, 2017 20:58:21 GMT
It'll be the devil to play. Maybe this should be your 'Model #666'
|
|
Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,381
|
Post by Riverman on Mar 27, 2017 21:28:04 GMT
Actually I think it looks like Batman (with a surprised look on his face).
|
|
R the F
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 1,135
My main instrument is: bandsaw
|
Post by R the F on Mar 27, 2017 21:37:16 GMT
Wait till I stick cheap machine-heads in his eyes; that'll surprise him.
|
|
ocarolan
Global Moderator
CURMUDGEONLY OLD GIT (leader - to join, just ask!)
Posts: 35,724
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"","color":"c0cfe1"}
Mini-Profile Name Color: 182a3f
Mini-Profile Text Color: 733a1c
|
Post by ocarolan on Mar 27, 2017 21:44:28 GMT
It'll be the devil to play. Maybe this should be your 'Model #666' An obvious candidate for keeping in DADGAD - the Devil's Tuning.  Keith |
|
Riverman
Artist / Performer
Posts: 7,381
|
Post by Riverman on Mar 27, 2017 21:49:50 GMT
Wait till I stick cheap machine-heads in his eyes; that'll surprise him. Maybe, but I think the truss rod down the throat will be the coup de grace.  |
|
R the F
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 1,135
My main instrument is: bandsaw
|
Post by R the F on Mar 28, 2017 7:29:35 GMT
I've already given him a tracheotomy. That should keep him quiet at least.
|
|
R the F
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 1,135
My main instrument is: bandsaw
|
Post by R the F on Mar 28, 2017 11:22:17 GMT
Or could it be...
 ?
|
|
R the F
Luthier / Guitar Maker
Posts: 1,135
My main instrument is: bandsaw
|
Post by R the F on Mar 28, 2017 18:57:50 GMT
Mrs R the F offered some wise advice this morning before she left for work: "Can't you stain it?" she said. I can ponder my choices for a while since the head will not be finalised for a while yet but I took the opportunity today to see how Bichromate of Potash (left) and Iron Acetate (right) would affect the garish laburnum. Here's the result:
|
|
Jo whoever he is.
