sMg Guitars

May 14, 2008

Things are getting serious.  I’ve made a decision to restructure my guitar numbering scheme.  I started out simply numbering sequentially from 1.  I’m on a pace for about 5 or 6 guitars a year, and I began to consider that the guitar number should be informational.  So, I’ve changed from 001 to 0108, where 01 is the sequential number, 08 is the year it was built (started, finished?).  So you’ll see the log categories have changed and the titles of my posts will also use the new numbering schema. 

May 12, 2008

I was able to use my new Robo Sander to clean up the OM mold I built.  I noted there were some “not square” conditions on the mold sides which manifested into my first OM a bit out of square from bout to bout.  The Robo Sander is like a giant router flush bit.  Assembled the newly square mold and put in the maple sides and had a very hard time getting all surfaces flush against the mold.  I think it’s a result of the LMI bending not being quite tight enough around the waist section.  I had to craft an additional spreader to get the sides up against the mold all the way around.  This will be an issue when I glue on the top and back as it will probably put a lot of strain on the glue line for the top and back to keep the sides aligned.  If I continue to use LMI for side bending, I may want to invest in a bending iron to fine tune the bends so the sides sit in the mold almost perfectly, thus not requiring godzilla spreaders to force the shape.  I also think my lag bolts holding the mold sides together are ready to give.  I can hear them scream.  Next time I release the mold, I’ll ream out some channels to use a nut/bolt to secure the mold sides before the lag bolts give way.

May 12, 2008

Sunday, good day to work on a guitar.  Finally finished setting the pearl dots (even though they may not be entirely centered) and filled one depressed dot with epoxy, sanded to a baby soft smooth surface.  Used the Kinkaid recommended method of installing frets by first wetting the fret slot, dribbling in some yellow glue and banging them in, ends first, then working toward center.  I must say they went in much cleaner than the last attempt.  Snipped them back after some time curing, and dribbled black superglue into the exposed slots on the side of the fretboard.  Ready now to file down smooth against the fretboard sides, then taper each fret in preparation for top filing and recrowning.  I may take a break from the recrowning and start in on finish sanding the body and neck in preparation for finish.  Ooooh, I’m almost there.

May 9, 2008

Aside from the fact that I have joined the Guild of American Luthiers (http://www.luth.org/index.html) I have placed an order for my official guitar headstock logo. This makes it official, I am a Luthier.

May 7, 2008

My good friend Larry, who commissioned guitar 003, took the bold step of getting one of his customers to commission a guitar.  I’m excited, and it appears that I will have the exclusive decision making process in what to build.  Larry and I will brainstorm this weekend.  This may be the impetous to venture to another style, most likely, dreadnought.

May 6, 2008

Three boxes on the stoop from LMI. Two contained the almost complete contents for Larry’s LMI Maple OM. The kit wizard is a great way to build your own inventory of components for the guitar to be built, but there’s so many places to go wrong, I think we missed a few things and ordered some superfluous stuff as well. What’s missing is a rosewood heel cap, rosewood binding for the fretboard, fretboard MOP dots in black, and whatever we decide is needed to augment the rosette (we only ordered a single lacewood ring). While upacking I was concerned that there wasn’t enough stuff. Alas, it’s all there. And the largest item was the maple neckblock, immensly heavy and enough raw material to make two necks and neck blocks to boot.

May 4, 2008

Larry is interested in wild colors for his guitar.  We ordered concentrated stains from Stewart MacDonald including Bright Green.  With a Maple back and sides and neck, he’s thinking a green mix with mahogany red or tobacco brown may give him the tint he’s looking for.  We’ll do some mixing and staining on maple scraps to test our thoughts.  He also located a wild green abalone pickguard on eBay which we can match up against the test stains.

May 4, 2008

Had a real good session yesterday, made grand progress. I set the neck, bolted on rather, and glued on the fretboard. Sanded and rasped the headstock, neck where it joins the fretboard, and it’s really looking nice. There is a slight bow to the fretboard starting where it meets the body and moves toward the rosette. This is due to a minor difference in the neck angle vs. the top of the body. I think this is acceptable, but will realize the problem’s significance only when I get the bridge on and the frets levelled.

Used my new drill press to drill the holes for the fretboard MOP dots. First thing I did was to drill the 5th fret dot slightly off center. How could I have done that? I measured, levelled, used masking tape with a whole bunch of guide lines, measured again, yet I still got it wrong. RATS. Maybe I’ll put a 1/4″ dot there which I will be able to center (Larger dot, centered will consume the smaller off center hole). Hmm, yeah, that’s what I’ll do.

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April 30, 2008

As mentioned earlier, I took too much off the top of the neck block which created a shallower upper body depth and left the neck proud when inserted into the neck block. I knew I was going to address this later when I discovered the error. I used a rasp to shave off 1/16″ on the rounded end of the tenon. The brought the neck down flush except for a mm proud on the right side which meant I needed the shave a bit off the tenon on the proud side and insert a shim on the opposite side to level the neck and still have a tight fit. I also had to open the holes up a bit to accomodate the fact that the nut holes dropped 1/16″. Also had to open up the hole for the truss rod as well. Dry fitted the neck and inserted the truss rod.

Next steps are to measure the distance between a straight edge set on the neck at the bridge location to assure the correct gap which indicates the neck angle is right. If not I’ll have to shave the portion of the neck that meets the upper body to create the correct angle.

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April 29, 2008

Got a pdf from Gurian Instruments with my logo design. I approved, and they will make a sample. If I approve the sample, they will produce 20 headstock veneers with my MOP inlay. 1/3 ebony, 1/3 rosewoood, 1/6 sycamore and 1/6 maple. I’ll also ask for a loose MOP which I can inlay myself into guitar 002’s headstock.