I am starting a new guitar for Sarah a 22 year old niece of mine. The guitar will be a Martin Style 12 fret to the body 00 guitar.
At the body will be 00 size with close to the Martin bracing pattern. I will have the X-Brace pushed toward the sound hole like early Martins.
I have a waterfall bubinga back and side set
and a sinker redwood top. My original plan was to have cocobolo bindings, rosette and head stock veneer.
I also had some marquetry purfling that was a good color match to the bindings. But then I saw the book matched cutoffs
from the back. So now I think I will go with a bubinga headstock veneer and rosette. I have posted pictures of both but
I already decided on bubinga
Here is the top with the bubinga rosette installed.
Dec26th 2012
Construction:
I had no issues at all bending the pre profiled sides on a fox style bender with a heat blanket.
I was very happy as the sides once trimmed to size fit perfectly in the molds without needing to push
it in place with spreaders. I am taking care to place the bend exactly where I want it so the bend matches
the profile I cut also the if the sides are book matched I can control the match.
I also roughed out a neck blank on my band saw. I use a smoothing plane to square the service of the fret board
surface and the peg head surface. As you can see in the pictures I cut a 1/2" channel for the truss rod and then
epoxy in two .125 * 3/8" carbon fiber rods for neck reinforcement. This leaves me with the proper 1/4 channel
for the truss rod. I have seen people rout three different slots, but I see no advantage of spreading the carbon
fiber rods. The farther they are spread the better chance you have of them showing when the neck is carved.
When I epoxy in the carbon fiber I wrap the truss rod in wax paper and push it in the slot to push the carbon
fiber rods against the channel. I DO NOT epoxy in the truss rod.
If you are using an outside mold, here is a trick I got form Gore build book. One the end blocks are glued
on to the sides and before any profiling take the time to mark out a couple of reference lines.
First adjust the rim on the top side of the guitar (mine top is flat at this time) so that it is straight
in the mold, 25mm from the top to the mold all of the way around. Then use the mold as a guide and mark a
line all of the way around the guitar. This line is a reference throughout the build process to put the rims
back in the mold square. One the rims are sanded to the right profile there are no good other references to
be sure that the rims are in the mold square.
I used a plane to trim the rims on the back to they were very close to the correct profile. I use a 15' radius
dish for the back and a 28' dish for the top to sand the profiles I want. I have found that if I carefully sand a 28" radius on the top I have the correct angle on the top.
Before I glue the top on I check the angle to make sure it is correct.
I completely profile the rims before I put the kurfed linings on with the linings just a bit proud.
Before gluing on the linings I use a technique that Ken shows on his web site to pre-bend reverse kerfling
on the out side of the rims by spraying both sides of the kerfed linings and letting them dry in place.
I also roughed out a neck blank on my band saw. I use a smoothing plane to square the service of the fret board
surface and the peg head surface. As you can see in the pictures I cut a 1/2" channel for the truss rod and then
epoxy in two .125 * 3/8" carbon fiber rods for neck reinforcement. This leaves me with the proper 1/4 channel
for the truss rod. I have seen people rout three different slots, but I see no advantage of spreading the carbon
fiber rods. The farther they are spread the better chance you have of them showing when the neck is carved.
When I epoxy in the carbon fiber I wrap the truss rod in wax paper and push it in the slot to push the carbon
fiber rods against the channel. I DO NOT epoxy in the truss rod.
If you are using an outside mold, here is a trick I got form Gore build book. One the end blocks are glued
on to the sides and before any profiling take the time to mark out a couple of reference lines.
First adjust the rim on the top side of the guitar (mine top is flat at this time) so that it is straight
in the mold, 25mm from the top to the mold all of the way around. Then use the mold as a guide and mark a
line all of the way around the guitar. This line is a reference throughout the build process to put the rims
back in the mold square. One the rims are sanded to the right profile there are no good other references to
be sure that the rims are in the mold square.
I used a plane to trim the rims on the back to they were very close to the correct profile. I use a 15' radius
dish for the back and a 28' dish for the top to sand the profiles I want. I have found that if I carefully sand a 28" radius on the top I have the correct angle on the top.
Before I glue the top on I check the angle to make sure it is correct.
I completely profile the rims before I put the kurfed linings on with the linings just a bit proud.
Before gluing on the linings I use a technique that Ken shows on his web site to pre-bend reverse kerfling
on the out side of the rims by spraying both sides of the kerfed linings and letting them dry in place.
