sMg Guitars

November 7, 2010

Wow, that extra hour of sleep really helped.  I’ve made excellent progress on the koa dreadnought today, and it’s just a few steps away from being a real guitar.

I finished up the brace shaping, sanding and cleaning up both the top and the back before installing.  It’s tradition to sign the inside of the top before gluing.

The dreadnought employs scalloped top bracing, as shown here.

The first step before installing the top and the back is to notch the sides where the bracing and tone bars pass through the kerf.  Much care is taken to keep the plates centered while marking the notches for the braces.  After notching, renotching, checking and rechecking, both the top and back are fitted and ready for installation.

First, the back is glued on, then side grafts are added to ensure the sides resist cracking along the grain lines (over time).

The spreaders are removed and the side grafts are glued in.  One of those spreaders remained (the smaller one) as the sides came in a wee bit when all spreaders were removed.  The small spreader can be removed through the soundhole after the top is on.

After a few hours curing, the body is removed from the gobar clamping system and the overhang from the top and back can be removed with a router using a bearing bit.

I’m continuing the slow process of radius sanding the fretboard.  As soon as I have shimmery MOP throughout, I’ll finish off with fine paper and a buff before cutting the taper.

Finally, a little preview of the guitar before installing the binding.

November 5, 2010

I settled on a shape for the headstock and cut it out on the bandsaw.  Also drilled tuning machine holes, then dry fit tuners for a look see.

November 5, 2010

Time to fall back.  Since I’m gaining an hour this weekend, I’m sure I’ll get a lot done.  The uke sides are sitting in a mold, the back is waiting to be thicknessed, and the top is ready for bracing.

November 1, 2010

Side bending went swimmingly.   Did a little cleaning up of a few minor flat spots from the bending which are a result of the sides being a wee bit thicker than ideal.  The holding frame works really well and I’m considering building for guitars as well.

October 30, 2010

The ravens have been epoxied into the fretboard.  24 hours to dry before smoothing down.

This picture shows the shell glued to the fretboard surface.  The pieces were traced with a scribe, then removed with a blade.  A dremel is used to chew out the recess, then the shell is installed with oodles of epoxy.

I’ve been flitting between working in the garage with power tools and the workshop, and I have been conducting myself in old ways.  The shop is a mess, and tomorrow is feng shue day.

October 30, 2010

Work work work, busy busy busy.  Mostly I’ve been finishing up work boards for uke construction.  Today I finished gluing up the holding board (to retain bent sides before installing).

I also thickness planed the spruce top and installed a herringbone rosette.

October 28, 2010

I’ve cut MOP fretmarkers in the shape of the raven used in the headstock.  I shrunk the original tracing glued to MOP and sawed out.  Here’s the original headstock inlay.

The fret markers have been laid out on the fretboard (upside down) to check for visual spacing.

Bracing is complete, just need to do some detailed sanding and shaving with a wee bit of tap tuning before notching the sides to accept the back and top.

October 28, 2010

Uke work is underway!  I’ve designed the first uke to make use of some Waterfall Bubinga and an Engleman Spruce top.

I’ve got a design for work boards and have built the bending mold for the sides.  The neck is blocked out and the fretboard has markers installed.  I’m trying to balance work on the ukes with completing Guitar 1001.

October 28, 2010

Guitar 903 started out a an Ovankol OM.  A tragic side bending accident put a damper on the progress of this guitar.  Since putting away a drawer full of the components originally collected for this guitar, I have taken a billet of walnut from the Berkshires and had it resawn.  I now have 4 bookmatched walnut plates, walnut sides in a mold, and my apprentice is taking responsibility for finishing the guitar.

His first task was to install a rosette in a pre-joined spruce top.

Some problems were encountered, but recovery and rehabilitation were successful, and the rosette is ready for installation of the Paua Abalam.  Devin comes every Monday and Friday, and there are only a few items remaining to be procured to have the full inventory to finish the guitar.

October 22, 2010

Installed the butt graft today.  After trimming back I can install the back and top.