Nov 12th 2011

Rosette and top take 2: After the last top disaster I set off to put a new rosette on the to my new top. As shown in the previous post I cut and book matched the rosette veneer out of an amboyna burl. I spent a little time laying out exactly what I wanted as opposed to winging it which is my normal style.. I went with we a slightly bigger sound hole 3 3/4 than the Antes plans I have show. I like the look at hope that it give my a bit of a deeper resonance than the 3.5" hole the plans had. The next batch of picture show how I learned to make wood rosettes from Rick Davis (runningdog). Using the router I carefully route out the rosette only to the depth that matches the thickness of the rosette I want. (than a smudge more). Once routed I run it upside down through my drum sander until the rosette drops out. Doing it this way keep the rosette nicely centered in good wood while doing all of the routing. With the rosette made, I carefully laid out and routed the rebate for the rosette and an inside and outside fiber purfling .020". This time before I did anything with glue I shellaced the rebate to avoid stains. The rosette fit so well I used thin CA to glue it down. After leveling the rosette, I applied a wash coat of shellac to protect the top until much later in the project.

Nov 27th 2011

Finally with my new shop together I am building guitars again. I had a fun holiday weekend working in the shop Friday through Sunday. Most of Friday I was still setting up but Saturday ... I had some cut-off from a plastic place I stopped at last month so I used it to make a body and neck template for a Martin 1905 Parlor guitar.

I fit the previously bent side into the rim. I was really happy with the way the sides book matched. I was not really thinking about book matching when I cut and bent the sides, but .. As I had an accurate side profile I was very carefull to mark and line up the the waist. Also when I cut out the sides I cut them together on the bandsaw. What I was really after was to have the side profile actually come close to matching the 15' dish, I ended up with perfecty book matched sides. Learn something new everyday.

I went ahead and profiled the sides in a 28' and 15' dish and glued in the kerfling. I used reverse kerfling on the top for the first time.

I thicknessed the top and back on the drum sander. I tried tap tuning as I was taught. I thinned the top tapping as I got close to the desired thickness. At one point the top really rang out. As I was taught I kept going (with the thought that the top will get stiffer with the braces.) At the point the top started to sound a bit chaotic I stopped. I ended up with the western red cedar redwood at .110" actually, actually 2.8 mm (I my heart I am a classical guitar builder.)

I noticed some people glue the braces on first and then fits the back strip in between the braces. I thought about it, but for me doing the strip first allows me to glue up against a straight edge assuring the strip is in a straigt line.

While waiting for the glued up back braces to cure I roughed out all of the braces I need for the top.

I finished the back. Next weekend I should be able to close the box.

Dec 3rd 2011

I made a bit of progress on the Koa guitar for my niece. The last few days I glued on most of the braces to the top. While waiting for braces to dry today and in between spraying my other parlor guitar I have the neck blank roughed out. I made three sets of x-braces before I was happy with the fit and angle. The first was at the wrong angle. The second was close but the slot on one was angled so one brace leaned. If you look closly at the picture you will see the preview to my next mistake. I drew the face brace line from the mark I had for the lower bridge. You can see the correct mark under the line.

I did finally on my third try get the face brace glued in the correct position and not backwards.

I used my bandsaw to cut out the neck blank a little oversized.

I have a Veritas low angle jointer that cleaned up the faces quickly allowing me to establish the line for the nut, and 12th fret.

I used a 1/2 inch end mill on my router table and cut a channel for the carbon rods and the truss rod.

I used a half inch chisel to clean out the channel and made sure the carbon rods and the truss rod were slightly below the neck face.

I epoxyed in the carbon rods using the truss rods as a clamp.

I finished the day cutting and gluing down the maple bridge plate