MIMF

Can anybody help me figure out how to play Jims demos?

I spent a lot of time trying to make an adjustable neck as simple as possible. The neck pivots on heads of two round head screws (1/2" long if memory serves me right) installed just below the level of the fingerboard. On this guitar, they are screwed into the neck(s) but I've also done it with ...

How does it sound? Well when I play it, out of tune stray cats fighting in the alleyway comes to mind. Jim, however, can get it to sound really cool. He is a much better player than me and also plays fretless bass so he can get it to play in tune and musical at the same time.

Here is my latest guitar. It was built for Jim Hepler who is also a builder on MIMF - he will likely chime in at some point. It has been in progress since April 2012 but was actually conceived a year earlier. He wanted a non-traditional classical. Since neither of us are nylon string players we deci...

Another idea Ive used once or twice was to use a hole punch to make the fingerboard dots out of old picks. Need a tortise shell dot? Raid your old picks. I used a faux abalone pick once too when I didn't have the real thing. I can't remember which guitar it is on and I don't think I could tell you n...

I don’t have a picture but I installed the two round head wood screws (pre-drilled of course) on either side of the CF rods. On this guitar I put them on the neck. They could just as easily go on the neck block in the routed pocket. To set the lateral yaw adjustment, just turn the screws accordingly...

A clearance pocket is routed into the top. I’ll use a jig next time. To install the fingerboard supports, use a long aircraft drill bit and drill into the neck under the fingerboard. The CF rods get epoxied in.

Refine it with chisels, rasps, sandpaper until you like the fit. Use chalk or carbon paper or just eyeball it. The edge is slightly undercut so it won’t hang up anywhere.

I measure how deep I want to go. Then with nerves of steel, freehand route close to the line as you dare (I stayed about 1/8 inch away). Go a bit deeper than the minimum you need to. Last picture is the rough pocket. The tape is just a visual reference for me to not go too near.

I skip ahead now to after the body is buffed, and the neck is carved. The t-nut goes inside the body and the neck is bolted on. Carefully scribe around the neck (just like you would do around a bridge before gluing one down).

Then I placed it on the body and used a transfer punch to locate the hole in the body. This was done before I had finished carving the neck or buffed the body - you could wait until after those two steps are done as you don’t want to route until everything is finalized. Drill a ¼ inch hole (The size...

Then drill through with a 3/16 bit. The heel has a ½ inch dowel installed top to bottom so I’m minimizing the amount of wood I’m removing from the neck. It should be plenty strong.

Drill a countersink the button will fit into. Followed by a picture of the button in the hole and beside it.

First thing to do was drill the neck. I marked where I wanted the strap button.



Then I use the strap button to pick the best drill bit.

Here is how I did the adjustable neck.



Here is a picture of the hardware I used. A standard strap button drilled out for a 3/16 hole, a 2 ½ inch 3/16 stove bolt, a 3/16 t-nut, and two round head wood screws. total weight is quite small (19 grams)

Thanks for the kind words so far. The neck is just held on by the one bolt. It should be more than strong enough to hold everything together. It will be a bit loose and floppy when changing strings but no big deal as I will expect that. The only other hardware in the neck joint is two small round he...

I haven't posted in a long time. I just finished this parlor guitar for my wife. She picked the woods before she started taking guitar lessons a couple years ago. It has a number of interesting things going on so thought it was worth posting. Specs are: Top Alaskan yellow cedar Sides East indian ros...

I bought one from stockroom years ago. I was never happy with it as it is hard (maybe impossible) to control the thickness across the width if you have any flex. That means you need a backer board anytime you are approaching acoustic top, back or sides thickness. If your feed rate isn't consistent, ...

Thanks very much Alan. That is even more specific than I was hoping to hear.

G'day all I'm partway through a couple of builds and am close to the point of bracing the tops on two guitars. They will both be nylon strings but I'm considering doing one (or both) with a x brace pattern rather than the more typical fan braces. They are not classical copies nor do I have specific ...