My Current guitar project.

[Phillip Patton]

Now that the back is on, it's time to work on the binding. I'll do the back first, since it's already bolted down.

It's always wise to try out the router on scrap first:

Looks good, so we go ahead:

 

[Phillip Patton]

After doing the top, I cut out the slot where the end of the truss rod sticks into the body, since it got covered up by the sides:

Now the channel for the abalone purfling is routed, just on the top:

 

[Phillip Patton]

Now it's time to excavate the channel for the end graft. I usually make a wedge shaped one, but this time did it straight. I think I like the wedge more...

 

[Phillip Patton]

Now the binding is glued into the channels on the back. I'm using desert ironwood, which is not real easy to work with. Stinks too. :barf:

 

[amcardon]

By the way, where did you get those clamps (the large ones you seem to use the majority of the time)? I haven't seem them in Woodcraft, Woodcrafters, anywhere really... One of them almost looked like it was made from a block of osage (maybe some of the osage you cut up for your first build?); anyway, they look like awesome wood working clamps, I'm just curious where I could check some out!

 

[Phillip Patton]

By the way, where did you get those clamps (the large ones you seem to use the majority of the time)? I haven't seem them in Woodcraft, Woodcrafters, anywhere really... One of them almost looked like it was made from a block of osage (maybe some of the osage you cut up for your first build?); anyway, they look like awesome wood working clamps, I'm just curious where I could check some out!

I did make the orange ones out of osage. The others I got from Grizzly. You could probably get them from any of the luthiers suppliers, which I'll go ahead and list.

http://www.stewmac.com/

http://www.lmii.com/

http://www.grizzly.com/

Here's where I got the back and sides:

http://www.highmountaintonewood.com

 

[Phillip Patton]

I got the abalone installed now. I use a product called Zipflex, from this company: http://www.advancedshelltech.com/Products/ZipFlex/ZipFlexStore.html

It takes all the skill out of using abalone.

 

[Brian Ayres]

Wow. Phillip, thank you Sooo much for all of your WIP threads. They are inspirational and temp me to quit my job and pursue bladesmithing and other artistic jobs.

You are an amazing artist!

 

[Phillip Patton]

Wow. Phillip, thank you Sooo much for all of your WIP threads. They are inspirational and temp me to quit my job and pursue bladesmithing and other artistic jobs.

You are an amazing artist!

Well, thank you for saying so.

I didn't get anything done on the guitar this weekend, and really need to work on knives for awhile, so I'm probably not going to get much done on it this week.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Well, I didn't get anything done on the guitar yesterday, but I did start a rosette for another guitar, and since that's a step I didn't get any pics of earlier in this thread, I thought I'd share it now.

First, you have to cut a bunch of wedges, sand the mating edges smooth and straight, then arrange them in a way that makes some sort of sense:

Then cut a bunch of strips of fiber spacer material:

Next glue one wedge to a sacrificial board:

Now put another wedge next to it, with a strip of the fiber in between:

Flood the joint on both sides with CA:

Continue until it's all done:

The extra wedge is glued in the middle, and will come in handy when it's time to rout:

To be continued...

 

[Medic1210]

Awesome thread Phillip. It's a wonder they can make cheap guitars as cheap as they do. This is definitely a lot of work, and really makes me appreciate the higher priced guitars I've never been able to afford. I'm guessing you've been playing for a while now?

 

[Phillip Patton]

Now the rosette is run through the thickness sander to level it out:

I decided to add another wedge to fill in the gap. It's not necessary, since it will be covered by the fingerboard, but it'll make it more rigid and thus easier to work with:

After leveling again, the rosette itself is routed out:

Then it's removed from the board:

 

[Phillip Patton]

Now a strip of fiber is glued to the inside and outside edges:

 

[cbr900son]

This thread is like crack!! Very addictive LOL

 

[timcsaw]

This thread is like crack!! Very addictive LOL

So true.
Gimme more please.
C'mon, who's holdin'?
Quit Bogart'n and fess it up man!

(Cold turkey is gonna' be tough when Phillip finishes this thing!)

 

[Phillip Patton]

You guys are funny. If you think watching is addictive, try building.

I spent most of the day on knife stuff, but I did get the rest of the binding glued on today.

The waist area of the binding was too tight, so I had to un-bend it using a hot pipe:

Then trim to length, and glue on like the back binding:

 

[Phillip Patton]

Now that the CA has cured, it's time to scrape and sand the bindings flush with the top and back.

The scraper has tape on one end to protect the surface of the top:

On the top, the abalone doesn't scrape very well, so I used a sanding block, again with tape on one end:

 

[Phillip Patton]

With top and back flush, it's time to do the sides:

I use the router with a flush cutting bit first to take off as much material as possible. The less sanding I have to do, the happier I am...

 

[Phillip Patton]

Before sanding, I drill the hole for the end pin:

Then sand, sand, sand. :yawn: Change sandpaper. Sand, sand, sand. :yawn: etc.

 

[Phillip Patton]

Time to work on the bridge. This one is going to be desert ironwood.

Here is the raw blank, with the pin holes laid out, and also the saddle slot:

The holes drilled. Right now they're under sized. They'll be reamed out later.

I use my drill press to mill out the saddle slot. If I had a real mill, I'd use it.