Milestone Day

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Eric Knapp
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Milestone Day

Post by Eric Knapp »

Hello, everyone. This is a big day for me.
First Top
First Top
I've been wanting to do this for a very long time. It feels pretty good. The rosette in installed and leveled. The sound hole is cut and I cut out the top oversized. It feels like progress!

That first pic is in my shop where the lights are very white and stark. Here's a pic in direct sunlight.
In The Sun
In The Sun
The real color is somewhere in between.

If you zoom in on the rosette you will see a lot of flaws. I will attempt to improve them before I put a finish on it. Overall more things went right than wrong, by a little. I am going to call that good for my first effort.

Thanks for helping me get to this point.

-Eric
Freeman Keller
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Freeman Keller »

I like it.
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Mark Swanson
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Mark Swanson »

That looks good! Glad you did it!
  • Mark Swanson, guitarist, MIMForum Staff
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Eric Knapp
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Eric Knapp »

Freeman Keller wrote:I like it.
Thanks!
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Eric Knapp
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Eric Knapp »

Mark Swanson wrote:That looks good! Glad you did it!
Thank you. Today I felt like I was making a guitar instead of working towards making a guitar. I hope I can get my shop's humidity down to close the box this summer.

-Eric
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Bryan Bear
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Bryan Bear »

Looking good. It is nice to finally feel like you are making a guitar. I can't wait to see how excited you are when you get the sides bent and the rim assembled!
PMoMC

Take care of your feet and your feet will take care of you.
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Eric Knapp
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Eric Knapp »

Bryan Bear wrote:Looking good. It is nice to finally feel like you are making a guitar. I can't wait to see how excited you are when you get the sides bent and the rim assembled!
Thanks, I hope I can sleep because just thinking about that is too exciting. Oh, yeah, I guess I have to pick some wood for the back, rims, neck, bridge, binding, purfling, and fretboard. Details!

-Eric
Freeman Keller
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Freeman Keller »

Eric Knapp wrote: Thanks, I hope I can sleep because just thinking about that is too exciting.
-Eric
I can't tell you how much sleep I've lost worrying about how I'm going to do something (or how I'm going to fix the mistake that I just made.....)
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Bryan Bear
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Bryan Bear »

Eric Knapp wrote: Thanks, I hope I can sleep because just thinking about that is too exciting. Oh, yeah, I guess I have to pick some wood for the back, rims, neck, bridge, binding, purfling, and fretboard. Details!

-Eric
Picking that stuff out and making those decisions is half the fun! Enjoy!
PMoMC

Take care of your feet and your feet will take care of you.
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Patrick DeGreve
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Patrick DeGreve »

It looks good Eric. Sleepless nights thinking about the next steps, is part of the fun. Enjoy the ride. I like the wood you chose for the soundboard, it has character. I am looking forward to seeing your progress.
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Eric Knapp
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Eric Knapp »

Patrick DeGreve wrote:It looks good Eric. Sleepless nights thinking about the next steps, is part of the fun. Enjoy the ride.
I ended up sleeping very well. I guess working in my shop all day does, in fact, wear me out. This is good.
Patrick DeGreve wrote:I like the wood you chose for the soundboard, it has character. I am looking forward to seeing your progress.
Thank you, I think this piece of cedar chose me. It is from a piece of cedar siding I had leftover from a project done 20 years ago. I just couldn't throw it away or burn it. Recently I looked at it and realize it was perfectly quarter-sawn and was probably Western Red Cedar. The idea for this guitar was born at that moment. The board was 13' long but I think I'll only get one guitar out of it. There were some cracks that couldn't be seen until I had resawn some of it. I wish I had more now, it does have character. Since I'm not trying to sell guitars character is good, eh?

-Eric
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Patrick DeGreve
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Patrick DeGreve »

Hi again Eric, I love western red cedar, I have used It about a dozen times with great results. I do remember a discussion on this web site about western red cedar having a tendency to have their bridges pull off. As I recall the glue would hold to the wood, but the top layer of wood would separate. For that reason when I have used western red cedar on tied bridges, like classicals, I have dowelled them to the soundboard. When I have used it on steel string pinned bridges, I have not dowelled them. I have had no problems with any of my bridges pulling off. I like the tone of Western Red Cedar, it seems to be very rich and warm.
Bob Francis
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Bob Francis »

Lookiin' good Eric
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Eric Knapp
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Eric Knapp »

Bob Francis wrote:Lookiin' good Eric
Thanks, Bob. I'm certainly in new territory as a woodworker now. It's fun, but I don't know what to expect next. That's OK.

-Eric
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Beate Ritzert
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Beate Ritzert »

Applause! Hope the next steps will go equally good.
Todd Stock
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Todd Stock »

Good job!
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Karl Wicklund
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Karl Wicklund »

Great! Looks good.
Kaptain Karl
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Eric Knapp
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Eric Knapp »

Beate Ritzert wrote:Applause! Hope the next steps will go equally good.
Thanks for all the encouragement.

-Eric
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Eric Knapp
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Eric Knapp »

Todd Stock wrote:Good job!
Thanks, Todd. Your advice and videos have been very helpful.

-Eric
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Eric Knapp
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Re: Milestone Day

Post by Eric Knapp »

Karl Wicklund wrote:Great! Looks good.
Thanks. If I can keep it safe from falling objects I'll be happier. Next is choosing wood for back and sides.

-Eric
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