sMg Guitars

February the Friday the 13th, 2009

Not superstitious.  I’ve been wrangling with Tom, not knowing if I would be ready to have him take some shots of the guitar before he moseyed on down to Florida, but I think I made it.  I will have a semblance of a guitar tomorrow ready for a photo shoot regardless of the fact that:  the finish still needs much more work, the setup still needs to go through the rigors of perfection, and all the detail work needs to be attended to.

Hopefully, Tom will take gentle photos which don’t reveal the imperfections and I can come back with an excellent document of my efforts and still leave myself with time to get it in shape for the new owner (mystery to be revealed on Monday).

I sanded and buffed all day today and got it in shape (enough) to glue on the neck.

I also put on the tuners (without the set screws), the end pink, the truss rod cover, and dry fit the nut.

After the glue was left to dry sufficiently, I proceeded to carefully locate the bridge.  This is an important measuring excercise, and it can’t be reversed once you commit.  I also had to rout (route ?) the bridge for the saddle, and as this is the first time I have made a saddle from scratch, I made a few errors in the channelling excercise and left the slot a little ragged.  But, black epoxy will save my ass.  That’s to do after the shoot.

Once the bridge was properly located, I had to remove the lacquer from the top with paint stipper.

Then, after countersinking the holes for the bridge pins, I set the bridge on the opening and drilled two holes for the special bridge clamp, glued, then screwed down.

It should sit overnight (this is the most critical of all glued parts on the guitar).  Tomorrow, I’ll drill out the bridge pin holes, string it up, then give Tom a call and make an appointment for a shoot.