MIMF

My first guitar was an archtop using Benedettos book. I fret the board before attaching and then carving the neck. It's worked well for me for archtops and flat tops.

Looks great John. If you've ever worked with purple heart, it will give you a strong splinter run compared with wenge!

Aquila Nylgut strings make a huge difference IMHO.

Thanks for that Don. I've always used the Mohawk Instrument Lacquer but it has it's own, or my own challenges. I'll give yours a try for sure.

If you've already built archtops, it should present no problems. An F style would have a few more areas requiring attention as you likely know with getting the scroll and particularly the binding right. Sounds like you're planning more of an A style. I've also seen some archtop shapes done which loo...

Great looking guitar Andy. Really like that archtop too Brian. I've had a 000 in the works for a while that should be done soon, life permitting. You can see a little of the Zpoxy still on the top that will disappear with final sanding. I've used it for "stabilizing" the curly redwood as per Fillipo...

Yep, the 1/2" blocks put a lot more pressure on the fretboard which is what is required to get the fret barbs really seated into the sides of the fret slot. First time I did it I was holding my breath waiting for the board to break but no problemo. I felt the same anxiety doing it the first time as...

I do it very similar to how Marshall does it and more or less how Mario does it. I usually use epoxy (Mario) for fretboard gluing as well before the neck is carved as per Benedetto. Works well for my low volume building.

Beautiful guitar Andy. Did you stabilize the maple? CA?

That looks great Randy. Nice work!

Here's one I built for my hand tools using a plan from Fine Woodworking. Cherry, walnut and Baltic birch. The most dovetails I've ever done on a single project. It was just something I always wanted to build. There are obviously much simpler solutions. Many other tools just hang on my wall from wood...

That's one fine looking guitar Chuck!

I sure did pick up a lot of stuff from Mario. Reading through the build log on his website really helped me understand the process of making a guitar. I’m sure he would say that log is very outdated, but it really helped me. Agreed Bryan. You've always been a great contributor without the "wink win...

I installed the "big ass" LEDs in my shop. They came with sunglasses! supposedly good for 137 years. I'll let you know how that goes.

Barry, whenever there's a perceived vacuum of information something else will inevitably be drawn in to fill the void. I'm afraid we all do that even when good reliable information is readily available at our fingertips. See every story in the news today for fine examples of this.<g> It can be a li...

Barry Daniels wrote: ↑

Tue May 26, 2020 7:57 pm

Darrel, no I wasn't directing the comment to you. It was more like hollering into the night. I have no beef with poly glue, however, I don't use it due to a negative experience with it.

OK

Check Ken Parker's website for some ideas.

Barry, assuming that comment is directed at me. All the advice I ever took on polyurethane glue was from the old MIMF. Mario was one of the ones who promoted it's use for neck laminations if using a dovetail if I remember correctly. The scuttle at the time was that Gorilla wasn't the best poly and t...

The only place I've ever used polyurethane glue on guitars is for laminating necks. It's especially good if you're going to do a dovetail as it won't potentially separate at the laminations when steaming out for a future reset.

Nice jig. I made a similar jig for dovetailing when I first started out. I bought the original O'Brien neck jig when it was two pieces, one for the body and one for the neck. I see that it's now evolved to be a one piece unit. The thing I like a lot about it, other than it wasn't too expensive 8 or ...