- Same as last week, cut back 3rd coat with 320 grid – coat still had some dimples and holes in it.
- Had to re-fill some of the binding edges with wax as they were also still visible.
- Sanding wasn’t as hard this week because there wasn’t as much to take off
Author: Iain 'Cutty' Carlin
Week 30 – More cutting back
As per last week except:
- Where holes exist that lacquer isn’t going to fill, need to fill with wax. Scrape off excess wax with razor blade
- Some of back has deep holes that will require 2 more coats to finish off
Week 29 – Cutting back
(Not at TAFE this week but picked up guitar to work on at home)
- Guitar sprayed with lacquer
- With 320 grit paper sand over all surfaces with lacquer on them until wipe over with hand shows no dimples
- Make sure sanding is white – if wood colour comes through then have gone too far
- Wiped down all over with a damp cloth
Week 28 – Bridge and masking
- Located bridge on body by measuring 645.2mm down from bottom of nu to bottom E string crossover point
- Centred by laying straight edge down side of fretboard and measuring distance across to holes of both E strings. Once distance is the same, bridge is centred.
- Make square with neck by using fret ruler laid centrally on neck to flat edge of bridge with end of ruler
- Put masking tape in approximate position across bridge location
- Clamped in place with bridge clamps through sound hole then drilled through E string pin holes with 2 drill bits to locate
- Carefully score around bridge location with knife and remove around bridge
- Masked up sound hole by gradually building up tape from the outer edges of sound hole till small hole left in centre.
Week 27 – Bridge Shaping
- Put bridge into jig
- Measured length and location of slot from template bridge
- Mark out length on jig top so router only moves that length
- Cut channel through jug top using 1.5mm bit in router
- Fit jig top to bottom at location of slot as marked on bridge. Screw top of jig to bottom
- Route through top plate of jig in 3mm increments till saddle slot is 9mm deep
- Marked outline of bridge onto block
- Cut outline roughly on band saw
- Shape to final outline on bobbin sander
- Used routing table and 6mm bit to route bottom edge
- Finished off on bobbin sander & with sandpaper, file and spokeshave
Week 26 – Finishing off body and neck
- Split in back of neck had opened up again.
- Sanded down side of neck so that side of fret board is flush with side of neck. Started with 150 then worked down to 180 grit
- Orbital sanded the front, back and sides with 120-150-180 grit
- Glued split in back of neck and taped up with masking tape to dry
- Filled gaps at base of neck and fret board
- Sanded head with orbital sander
- Using 180 grit, sand bevel round all sharp edges on body, neck & head then make radius (1mm only)
- Started thinking about bridge block designs
Week 25 – More neck work
Fitting truss rod
- Block plane & chisel down truss rod cover strip so flush with neck
- Cut off fret wire using side cutters held parallel to side of fretboard
- File down edge of frets till level with side of fret board on top and bottom
- Start flat then bevel inwards to fret board front then repeat till level
- Use finer file to finish then bevel file to complete
Fitting Fretboard
- Block planed top of body till fret board level with neck and sound board. Plane VERY finely set
- Orbital sand front and sides till smooth
- Planed and used cabinet scrapers on fret board till it sat flush on sound board
- Drilled 2 x 1.5 mm holes in back of fret board and inserted two nails and cut off to act as locating pins
- Glued fret board to neck and clamped with 4 ‘G’ clamps
- Fret board moved slightly so had to use clamps sideways to relocate
Week 24 – Things get ugly
Fret Board
- Took off the clamps and wood holding down the frets on the fret board. Unfortunately they didn’t hold in place and all but the 1st fret had to be removed to start again.
- Sanded back the fret board and reglued one fret after leaving the sanding grit in the fret channel to see if it would hold. Left for 2 hours to dry.
- Came back after 2 hours and fret still hadn’t stuck
- Got an off-cut of fret board and sanded enough powder to make a ‘gap-filler’ paste and spread over the side of the fret that needed re-bedding and put on excess glue on frets and re-inserted.
Week 23 – Fret Board and Bridge
Heel Plate
- Cut redgum hell plate on band saw
- Glued to back of heel
Fret board
- Sanded fret board with 150 to flush pearl inlaysCut frets to width of fret board (decreasing size)
- Lay out the frets in order of size
- Set up the fret board clamp by clamping to bench with g-glamps
- Wipe each fret with small amount of glue and press in with fret clamp
- Wipe off excess glue as you go
- Once all fitted, clamp strips of wood across sides of fret board to hold in place
Bridge
- Bridge sequence – flatten bottom, cut width, plane depth, set depth, set length, cut slot, drill peg holes then cut to shape
Week 22 – Bringing together body and neck
Fitting neck to body:
- Chiselled down dovetail joint till fitted to body (Michael did most of it)
- Then sanded down neck and used iron & wet cloth to remove vice marks in back of neck
- Sanded too much of neck joint to Michael had to re-fit (oops)
- Glue round both sides of dovetail join, fitted and clamped
- Took off excess from heel first ready for heel cap next week