MIMF

I’ve always used the method outlined in the Cumpiano book to do acoustic guitars mortise/tenon and inevitably end up spending several hours fitting the neck, adjusting the angle, etc. Finally got tired of all that and decided the LMI/O’Brien jig looked to be much simpler. Well, I bought one and used...

Routing the truss rod channel in a neck has always been a bit of a nail biter for me. To make things easier, I spent a couple of hours building this sled for my plunge router. It attaches to the neck blank using 4 screws that are outside the actual shape of the neck. I use a two-way low profile trus...

Chuck Tweedy wrote:that is great!
what type of foam is it?

Just some medium density foam rubber from a local fabric store. This stuff is about 1.5“ thick but it doesn’t get compressed very much in use so it could probably be thinner and still work fine.

Dick Hutchings wrote:Whoa, I love this. Thanks so much for sharing your design.

You’re welcome. To be clear, the basic idea is not mine. This is just my take on an idea that I saw or read about somewhere else.

What a curious design.
I suppose it at least prevents the back of the bridge from lifting up if the bridge has a less-than-perfect glue joint.

...the holes that are drilled in the workmate to hold the swivel pegs could be used to hold dowels attached to the bottom of the jigs and allow them to be installed and taken off quickly. That’s pretty much what I was thinking Clay. I need to use it a couple of times to figure out the best position...

Interesting, but...what Peter said.

Trying to hold a guitar body still to sand the sides or scrape bindings has always been a problem for me. I finally solved that issue by repurposing an unused melamine shelf and a couple of pieces of foam to create a guitar body vice attachment for my workmate. For now it’s just clamped onto the wor...

Very nice. Well done Steve.

Thanks Bob and Chuck.

Andy Bounsall wrote:...Thinned the sides to around .075-.080...

Correction, sides were closer to .070. Reinforced the waist on the inside for added strength/stiffness.

Thanks Brian. I was a bit scared when I went to bend it as I’d heard many stories of ebony breaking. Thinned the sides to around .075-.080, lightly misted with water, wrapped in parchment paper and aluminum foil, sandwiched with spring steel slats and heating blanket, then took it very slow in the b...

Just completed this guitar. The details...OO sized body is African ebony. Top is torrified Engelmann spruce with wonderful bear claw figure. The neck is mahogany. Fretboard and bridge are Indian ebony. Body, fretboard, and head are bound with curly maple. Scale length is 24.75” and it’s fitted with ...

Gordon Bellerose wrote:Beautiful! Walnut is gorgeous.
What is the binding?

Thanks Gordon. Bindings are the same curly English walnut as the sides. Single birch veneer purfling line on the sides and back, birch + black dyed veneer purfling lines on the top.

Many thanks to all for the kind words.

Recently completed this roughly GA sized acoustic. Body is a lovely set of curly English walnut with figure that ripples and dances in the sunlight. Top is Sitka spruce, neck is black walnut, fretboard and bridge are Indian ebony. Scale length is 25 1/4” and it’s fitted with Schertler open back tune...

I used satin Varathane Diamond on the first guitar I built, many years ago. As a satin finish, I didn’t try to polish or buff it. Wet sanded to about 1500 and left it at that. It seemed to work ok. I still have that guitar and have had no issues with it. I’m now using Target Coatings EM6000 which I ...

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Bob. I admit that I was leaning towards the ‘learn to love it’ camp but figured I’d ask in case I was missing something obvious.

It is a completely ridiculous claim. Like a lot of marketing hype, however, it doesn’t necessarily have to be proven, just stated. To the uninformed it suggests that a high level of skill and precision is involved. To the informed, it just sounds foolish.

Daughter-in-laws guitar that I built a year or so ago and finished with EM6000. Not exactly sure how it happened, but there are a few cracks in the finish. That area of the top had quite a bit of flex. The wood isn’t cracked, just the finish. I’ve added some support underneath to stiffen it up a bit...