Members EastCoastPlayah Posted January 31, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 31, 2007 Hi - remind me if I missed any questions.....No woodworking experience except for the crib board in grade 8 shop class in 1988.As for how long, best guess is 200+ hours. A friend and I built one each, so with the workshop in his basement, building was limited to 2-3 days or evenings a week. Much of that was spent preparing the workshop, building side bending machines, body molds, etc. We took about 5 months off, so most of the work was from October til 2 weeks ago. We were going to build kits - serviced ones from LMI with joined tops, backs, bent sides, etc. At $530 USD plus tools, shipping and duty, it seemed expensive at the time. We saved money on wood, but spent more on tools and spent a lot of time planing /sanding wood. Yes, it was intimidating, because of the uncertainty in what we were doing and the fear of a major screw up to ruin the work. We weren't really set up for spraying lacquers and I wanted to stay away from harsh chemicals, and I wanted a satin finish, so the guitar has an oil finish (also from LMI). I could have used fine steel wool to dull the back and sides, but I liked the grain. The top and back and sides all have 2 or 3 coats of filler/sealer and 2 or 3 coats of oil finish. Humidity was controlled by having both humidifiers and dehumidifiers in the workshop and we built a wall to close it in from the rest of the basement. We also had a hygrometer to measure the humidity. The guitar action is pretty good, though a bit higher than the store guitars. The sound is awesome, nice crisp mids/trebles with just enough bass. It is very full sounding compared to the others and I think I like it the best. Where are all you guys buying the kits from - Martin, LMI, Stew Mac, etc? Tony - it was about 10 months from ordering wood to strumming it for the first time - definitely the first but hopefully the second one won't take that long. Parrothd - i just followed the directions on the bottle for the oil finish. It gets tacky, so better to start on one side, long smooth strokes the length of the guitar from one side to the other. Thinner coats are better. I used a blue shop towel, so anything without lint would be good. Let dry for a few hours, lightly buff with fine steel wool for irregularities and repeat until you are happy with it. Freeman - the inlay and finish details look perfect to me in your picture. I think you took that one a little too serious! That's a lot of inlay work, and a 12 string to boot. I'd love to crank out the one Kottke tune I know on that. To be specific, the finish is "Tru-Oil" oil sealer and finish from LMI. I tried to follow exactly Cumpiano's book for bracing and layouts with some mods for the cutaway. I didn't realize that they had a new neck joint. I'll stick with bolt on necks for now. My guitar is based on a Fender GA-43SCE, which I borrowed the headstock design, all body measurements, and decided on a 25.5" scale length. It's hard to see, but the neck blank wasn't quartersawn, so I ripped it down the middle and oriented the grain in a V pattern to minimize any chance of warping. The heel cap is ebony left over from the bridge. 15 5/8" lower bout, 9 1/2" waist, 5" deep at the end block, 4" deep at the heel. It has no back stripe because I thought it would takle away from the wood grain. There are 2 mm dots on the side of the fretboard, but none elsewhere. I was going to put inlay on the headstock with matching fretboard markers, but it didn't work out. The next one will have black mother of pearl to compliment the ebony. Kat - we opted to not use kits, but they would have saved us time and tools. I bought a martin drawing, but everything you need is in the "Guitarmaking Tradition and Technology" book. You can take measurements off an existing guitar like I did. Had to buy a fair bit off tools - chisel sets, 15+ clamps, straight edges, saws, rasps, planes, etc and a few just to make like easier (a circle cutter for the boundaries of the rosette...you still have to chisel it without damaging the top). We already had a dremel, table saw, jig saw, router. I also bought a bench planer to save days of planing wood by hand. I have a million construction pictures, so I'll post some soon.....I glossed over a lot, so let me know if you want more details. How about some of your pictures of past projects? Here are a couple of raw wood pics.....Walnut B&SSpuce TopWalnut neck blank - drying The template I used - my Fender I bought in 2002 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted January 31, 2007 Members Share Posted January 31, 2007 East, all I can say is that you did it the hard way, which makes it even more impressive. I argue that buying a kit saves the beginner some of the big hassles that you describe - cutting and installing the rosette, buying a thickness sander for the top and bottom plates, rough shaping the neck and bending the sides (and a cutaway for your first one too!). Anyway, having built four kits where I didn't have to do those things makes me even more impressed by someone who has done it. Of course answering those questions just raises more. Did you follow Cumpiano's method of working on with a body mold or did you make a jig (I would think you would have to for the side bending). How did you clamp the braces? How about shaping the neck? I would love to see pics during construction - your bracing, neck shaping, neck joint, how you mitered the fretboard - heck, I want to see the whole thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EastCoastPlayah Posted January 31, 2007 Author Members Share Posted January 31, 2007 I'd agree scratch guitars are a lot of extra time and headaches. Anyone can sand or plane a piece of wood for 3 days to get it flat and to the right thickness, so it may be sort of wasted time. It was nice to do it once, but I have just ordered a couple of b&s sets (claro walnut and oregon myrtlewood) and tops which are pre sanded, so just some final sanding and the are ready to bend and join. I didn't enjoy the neck very much....cutting the 15 degree scarf joint for the headstock and cutting fret lines....a necessary evil I guess. The planer I bought after the work was done, but only goes to 0.140", so there is still a lot of work to be done. I will start looking for a drum sander. Built a body mold....didn't use Cumpiano's workboard technique with the "free standing" method or whatever it was called. Used a homemade go-bar setup for clamping the braces. A few small ones used hand clamps though. Just home for lunch, but you'll get part 1 of all the agonizing details tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LaurentB Posted January 31, 2007 Members Share Posted January 31, 2007 So how does it sound? Did it come out as you expected/hoped? I'm definitely going to do this as well, as soon as I have the money and time! A great looking guitar! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Freeman Keller Posted January 31, 2007 Members Share Posted January 31, 2007 So how does it sound? Did it come out as you expected/hoped? I'm definitely going to do this as well, as soon as I have the money and time!A great looking guitar! To which I will add that you should record it brand new and every few months to see how it opens up and if it changes. I did that with my triple ought and couldn't tell much at one month, but at 6 there was a definite change. Unfortunately, it is on a crappy cassette so I can't do much with it. One of the reasons I just bought a digital recorder. If you do record it I'd like to hear a clip - I don't have much experience with walnut as a tonewood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members parrothd_mark Posted February 1, 2007 Members Share Posted February 1, 2007 Parrothd - i just followed the directions on the bottle for the oil finish. It gets tacky, so better to start on one side, long smooth strokes the length of the guitar from one side to the other. Thinner coats are better. I used a blue shop towel, so anything without lint would be good. Let dry for a few hours, lightly buff with fine steel wool for irregularities and repeat until you are happy with it. Would that oil be Tru-Oil? That's what I finally used for the finish on my first one. I made the mistake of not using a totally lint-free cloth, and at that point I didn't care because of how long I'd spent on finishing. I'm very pleased, but know I can do better. Planning #2 as we speak. Great job again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TXTooMuch Posted February 1, 2007 Members Share Posted February 1, 2007 WOW, I am very impressed that is beautiful! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EastCoastPlayah Posted February 2, 2007 Author Members Share Posted February 2, 2007 Would that oil be Tru-Oil? That's what I finally used for the finish on my first one. I made the mistake of not using a totally lint-free cloth, and at that point I didn't care because of how long I'd spent on finishing. I'm very pleased, but know I can do better. Planning #2 as we speak.Great job again! Yes - Tru-Oil is the brand. I found the steel wool took care of the lint between coats, but I used more new cloths for the back and didn't leave much lint behind. What is #2 planning to be? Dred, jumbo, nylon? Any tonewoods in mind? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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