sMg Guitars

May 20, 2012

Banged away on the frets this weekend.  After sanding and smoothing the fretboard and cleaning out the fret slots, the frets were cut to length then tapped in place.  I have also been sanding away at the binding and purfling, bringing it flush to the sides.  Still a lot of fairing and squaring to go before I mount the bridge and prepare for the lacquer spraying.

Once this guitar is ready for the spray booth, I will apply the same finish to the Girdis guitar I am finishing.  I’ve rough cut the snakewood bridge in preparation for final shaping.

The Gotoh ebony button tuners arrived.

January 15, 2012

Tomorrow this uke will be making music.  The finish is all knocked down and polished, and today I mounted the bridge.  After setting overnight it will be a quick transition to get the strings installed.

November 19, 2011

After joining the myrtle back for Rachel’s parlor:

Yum.

Four more days before we load the dog in the car and trek to SLC for family Thanksgiving.  I’ve finished applying the lacquer and have started knockdown.

The lacquer is still a wee rubbery, but hell, I can’t let that stop me.  440, then 800 grit on a sanding block, and I have the top and the headstock knocked down.  I finished with 1200 grit wet sanding, then buffed (top only) in preparation to mount the bridge.  I figure I can mount the bridge, and while it is clamped up, I can proceed to knockdown the rest, clean up the fretboard, and start to shape the nut and saddle.

I’m absolutely sure this will be a playable uke by Tuesday, and it will ride with us to SLC.

June 19, 2011

Bracing is installed and trimmed, awaiting final sanding.  Bridge plate installed and X-brace patch installed.

May 7, 2011

Happy Birthday Sister Cyndy!  In honor of your birthday, I did NOT work on your uke.  Rather, I finished knocking down and buffing the Koa Dreadnought.

The finish will get another buff after setup to bring on a real shine.  The lacquer under the fretboard extension was stripped off, and the neck was glued and bolted on.

After setting, the end pin hole was drilled and the tuning machines were installed.

The bridge location was determined using MATH!  The lacquer under the bridge was stripped in preparation for gluing.

The bridge was glued and clamped with the fancy bridge clamp from LMI.

March 27, 2011

The Fender Uke, which has been getting some headstock lacquer, came without a bridge.  I have a couple of preshaped uke bridges which I’ve drilled out to take bridge pins (very “not uke”).

I stripped away the lacquer with Stryp-Eze after positioning the bridge with masking tape.

Scraping and chiseling left a glue-able surface.  Since this bridge will use bridge pins, I drilled two screw holes through each outside pin hole, glued up and screwed down.  These screws are for clamping only, and will be removed after the glue dries.