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kwakatak

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kwakatak last won the day on March 5 2023

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About kwakatak

  • Birthday 07/01/1969

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  • Biography
    Couch player and wannabe over 40+ years of playing. Life got in the way but music is still very important.

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  • Location
    Da Burgh

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  • Interests
    acoustic guitar building, fatherhood, home recording, songwriting

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  • Occupation
    stay at home dad

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  1. Hello, Roomie! it’s good to hear from you. Como stai? When I first read your review I began humming Orinoco Flow. DM would probably poo poo political talk here, but I’m kinda sad to see you’re not going to be a tree hugger anymore! I’m still huffing the smell of cedar from my first build. It’s musical potpourri. Shoot me a DM here. We will be over there on a cruise this summer. Ciao, amico!
  2. I'm not sure what the difference is. I always thought that way back in the day it regarded pricing and only later became a distinguishment between trim levels and tonewood usage.
  3. OT: Hello, Freeman! I was looking for your old archtop build thread to reference. It's good to see you! How've you been?
  4. You should definitely start with a serviced kit from Stew Mac or Martin. They will have presanded the top, back and sides to specs and bent the sides for you. Otherwise, what you envision sounds more like a chambered guitar or an arch top which will not sound good acoustically.
  5. Thanks. DM I do have a humidifier attached to my furnace but we’ve got hard water in which calcium builds up so I think the supply line is blocked because it hasn’t been kicking on. I wired it up myself though so it’s probably shorted out too. The way the bridge came off couldn’t have happened any better. There are loose fibers off the top so it would just be a matter of sanding off the glue residue and regluing it down.
  6. Update and confession. I’ve been tweaking the neck angle on this and need to cut the fret slots a little deeper. The action on the low E is very high: close to 1/4” and down by the nut it could also stand to come down a couple of 1/32”. It’s not solely the neck angle but the neck itself. There’s a slight twist and relief issues that only present themselves when the neck is under full tension; the angle is good when the strings are off. The other tipoff is that the intonation is off a couple of ticks. Meanwhile, the day before yesterday I was singing and playing along a bit aggressively (as I am wont to do when the moment strikes me just right) and decided to take a break. That’s when I noticed that there was a little light reflecting in the gloss finish under the bass side wing of the bridge. To confirm this I grabbed a random business card and found that it wasn’t just a visual illusion, the bridge was indeed lifting. With haste I slackened all the strings then pulled the bridge pins. To my surprise the entire bridge came free of the body! Fortunately, no fibers came up off the top. It was simply a glue failure. In fact, it looks like I may have not used enough. I guess that not 100% a bad thing. I’m waiting until spring to address it though. I’m thinking changes in weather conditions might be another culprit.
  7. Nothing new to report other than me playing with the dovetail joint and trying to figure out how to get the neck set properly. I understand the geometry needs but never really appreciated how elegant and simple the dovetail neck joint actually is. With just a little pressure I was able to get a nice tight fit, though I'm struggling to understand where exactly I need to chisel and sand in order to properly set the neck angle.
  8. That's the Enterprise, no bloody A, B, C, or D. I put that kit together when I was 15. I can't bear to throw it away even though it's fallen apart. I'm a second generation pack rat. As for the Kay, it's got one of those adjustable bridges that I hate. This one is going to be more Martin-esque. I'm splitting the billets for bracing myself and making sure that the lap joint on the main X brace is tighter than it was on the 000 build - and still only be 1/4" thick (as opposed to 5/16" if it were a dreadnought. It's going to be about an inch smaller at the lower bout than that too. FWIW I haven't stuck a pick guard on either of my finished builds. I don't want there to be a tan line.
  9. Don’t worry, DM. This one will be fine. There are bound to be visual warts but the structure is good and that’s all that matters.
  10. Lol. Nope. I’ll be keeping the other one alive and watching to see if this wood doesn’t warp over the winter. I don’t dare work it when it’s too dry. I’m just posting this to challenge myself to remember. The tools stand ready.
  11. I know: "but you're not done with build number 3 yet. To that I answer: I don't want to forget the lessons I've learned and repeat the mistakes. I've already completed the molds and bending form and purchased the tone woods. Only a few things are left to purchase such as the fingerboard, the bridge and the tuning machines. The plan is to let them acclimate in my workshop over the winter and begin work in May.
  12. Yup. I'm looking for the 1000 grit pad. The 100 done me wrong.
  13. Ok. The binding and herringbone purfling is in. Note to self: never use the orbital sander on purfling ever again. I sanded through a 3” segment of the herringbone and need to splice some scrap sections in. No pictures. The next step is to set the neck with a dovetail on a machined next it’s just a matter of setting the depth so that the fingerboard doesn’t sit above the upper bout. After that on to the fingerboard.
  14. Thanks. This is actually the first build I’ve done with a ready made neck, but the first two were with laminated necks that weigh a lot and I haven’t figured out how to get a good neck angle. It is fun carving them though, though the maple parts were a pain. This next one is all mahogany which works like butter. I’m weighing on whether I want to do a bird’s beak volute or just an ordinary scarf joint.
  15. I’m BTW I’m hoping that this relatively quick progress builds momentum. In hindsight a big part of that was me making my own shooting board, side bending apparatus, drum sander and binding channel cutting guide. I’ve been collecting materials, acquiring plans and building templates for the next one, keeping an inventory and documenting the process so that the the process goes even more smoothly. The big difference for the next one is that I actually have to build and carve the neck.
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