Official Luthiers Forum!

Looks good Ken. You do a better job with the miters then I do from the looks of it. I sometimes color the sides of my shell with black marker ( sharpee) and the CA will take on the color when you view it at an angle if there is a small gap. I really flood the channel with CA also so that it comes to the top of shell and covers it. looks a little nasty when dried but levels out fine and clear. I really like to have the shell sit a tad low so that when the CA dries it covers the shell. That way you won't sand through the top layer of the shell. Especially with Ablam as this can be a problem if you sand through to the glue joint of the top layer. Sometimes you will get pin size air bubbles in the CA. You should pick them out and put thin CA over them again to fill them. I always have just used thin CA so far. If I have a large gap on a fret board or head I'll fill the gap with matching wood dust packed into the gap and mounded and CA it and level sand when dry. Just some other ways to skin the cat.

That looks great Ken my friend and this is going to be a VERY cool looking guitar!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Have you all ever tried getting a nice fit to inlays, removing them and dabbing the recesses with CA accelerator, replacing the inlays and then filling the recesses and inlays with CA? Even though the surface may look dry, the CA accerator is there and will catalyze the CA as you apply it, although more slowly. When the accelerator is introduced to the inlay and CA, it has a tendency to harden so quickly that it tends to make the CA opaque. By introducing the accerator first, the CA will harden quickly and stay water white. If the recess is very close fitting, the CA will take the color of the routed material without using toner, and result in a flawless inlay, with no visible filler.

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Bear Acker
Amherst, Massachusetts






"If you knew what you needed to know, you'd know, ya know"

You done real good Ken.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Thanks Chris, Hesh, and Howard. Love this forum. Not only are you gents very helpful, but you are generous with the kudos!

With the body all done now except for rounding over the binding and final sanding, I get to start focusing on the neck, headstock, and fretboard! Hope to make some progress on these over the holiday break.

Thanks again!

Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com