Official Luthiers Forum!

Your bridge is 5/8" thick?!? Seems a little on the high side to me....a lot on the high side as a matter of fact

I'm not expert but my bridges are 3/8" thick

Absolutely. And the people that were so generous to you are going to be real proud of what you've done with it.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Ha, ha. No..that's what happens when you try to respond to a forum post while you're at work. It always gets in the way.
Let's revamp those numbers to read;
bridge = 3/8"
slot depth = 3/16"

Yes, and I believe he is thus far. Of course, until it actually plays a chord...in tune....the jury's still out, lol.

I got tired of doing fretwork (can you believe it?) and since the list is growing shorter, went back the bridge;



This Wenge sure is porous, but man the stuff shines like it's got finish on it. This is sanded up to 2k grit and
"shirt tail polished". It's really pretty wood, although we'll see what kind of bridge it makes.

I radius the bottom via the "tape 80 grit paper to the top" route. Seems to sit flush. The saddle slot still needs
to go a little bit deeper, and obviously the saddle itself is a tad on the high side, but you can always take material
off....adding it back, not so much.

I more than a little surprised that the slot is as straight as it turned out since I cut that by hand with a mixture
of chisel, sandpaper and dremel tool with a diamond "barrel" bit. I started each end of the slot by cutting a 3/16"
hole and then just cut & sanded until the two ends met. Funny how some things turn out.

Oh well, there's not much left to do EXCEPT that stinkin' fret work, so I guess I'll get back to it tomorrow. Sure
would be nice to be filling that grain by Sunday. We'll see, I suppose.

It's finishing time, woohoo!!!


No pictures of the actual grain-filling process, but I think most of you know how that goes;
take some grain filler, cut it water about 15%, add a little pigment to bring out the deeper color, rub it in and
then rub it off and finish by sanding it back.

Highlighted the flames a smidgeon on the headstock veneer, as you can see.

It's only got it's first day's "coat", and then tomorrow morning I'll sand that flat with 220-320, and maybe get
two more "coats" on before day's end. I'm off on Monday, so if all goes well I'll be done with the clear by then.
For anyone that's wondering, a "coat" is technically 3 thin coats.

Looks like there's some filler left to be cleaned up on the end thingy tomorrow too. It never ends.

The top sure is pretty up close and in person, but not much to see when taking the picture with an iPhone and
indoors. But, it's too cold to go outside, man! Ease up on the pressure, sheesh.

What's up?
Not strung up yet?

Finish is already starting to pop those sides!

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

OK, I think we need a beer icon to go with the !

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Mainly because I haven't found the end pins I have laying around. All in due time, however....all in due time.

Thanks Mike & Beth! Today is much like yesterday so I figured 'how many finishing pics can people stand?'.
However, for the un-initiated, I thought I might share my clear coat spraying chamber. Now, for those of
you brand new, you don't have to start out with something this elaborate, so don't let this discourage you;



Now, some might call this environmentally controlled spray booth with custom guitar holding fixture a
"dirty old garage, a camera tripod and a cardboard box". However, with the latter, almost any Tom, Dick or Harry
can do this. With the former, however, an exclusive Luthier that prices his guitars in the 10k and up range builds
value in his product. It's all in the marketing people.

Ok, it's "next-to-last" update time. Clear coat makes all things prettier (even my builds);



This top is just getting prettier and prettier with each deepening coat;

Had a really neat experience, since it's my first acoustic build. With the neck in the pocket, tapped the headstock
and the note resonated through the soundbox. Really cool.
Anyway....I was able to get the neck (African 'hog) to pretty much match the Sapele of the sides with the help of
my trusty old friend, RIT Dye before grain filling. It got pretty close;

Most of the uninitiated crowd will never know it's not all the same tree. (like I truly care about that).
As it is, all the flamey parts are showing flame;



And that's the proverbial that until it's time for strings. At least update-wise. I'll let it gas off until the weekend
and then I'll knock it all down with 220 to eliminate any lingering orange peel and then shoot it one last time with
a light, "pretty" coat to make the buff out easier. I've been working on the bridge, as much as I can without it being
installed by chamfering the holes, and then reaming them out to where the pins rest about 1/16" above the bridge.
I also started the "helper" slots for string clearance. And, I've got my nut blank shaped and ready for slots but I won't
cut them until tuners are in and bridge is glued in place. So far, so good, so let's all keep crossing our fingers and toes.
I think I'll go play a tune on the headstock before going to bed!

Beautiful finish! Love the top! Back and sides are beautiful as well. Finish does wonderful things to wood. Great job!

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

You know what, the beauty in the "art of Luthierre" is all natural. It never ceases to amaze me how much beauty nature provides.
The nitro, in this case, brings it up to the eye, so-to-speak, but all the lovely is in the materials.

Thanks for the kudos, Mike. Now....where's yours?

100% agree. The wood, even simple woods, is the star of the show, IMHO. No two pieces are exactly the same, and all of it has beauty if you look at it long enough. I hope I never lose my fascination with that beauty.
As for "where's mine?", I am slowly gathering wood and supplies, and planning, planning, planning. Still haven't 100% decided on the model. I'm about 85% sure it's gonna be an L-00, but I've got an (grellier)00 that is tempting me really hard.
And I just had to switch from oral meds to insulin injections, which is 5 times the cost of my usual meds. Got a ton of other projects that need to get done, from the house to the car. On top of that I have two complete restorations, a tele build from last year to finish, and a bass build for a friend that's going on two years to complete, so it's gonna be slow. I hope to be able to start in the mid to late fall.

_________________
Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Well, I'm not 100% sure how it happened, but it happened. She's done!



Had to recess the little top thingies for the tuners as I did leave the headstock a smidge too thick, but it works;

I'm giving myself an A for effort on this one as I kinda shocked myself by pulling this off, lol. Of course, there's
still some fine tuning to do here and there; shaving down the saddle and doing final intonation, finishing the nut,
etc. However, since I've read so many times that they need to "settle in" for a week or so, I'll probably leave it
alone for at least that amount of time and finish when it's time to rub out the nitro. I'm very pleased with the
sound, although I don't have an acoustic here to compare it to. I'd call it a "full bodied" sound and I thought it
was relatively loud. Maybe when it's done-done, I'll do a clip or something.

Thanks to all who weighed in with both advice and encouragement and HUGE kudos to Rob McD as it was his awesome
generosity that got this whole thing started and me motivated to give acoustic building a try. I must say; I'm hooked.
#'s 2 through ? can only get better.

Congratulations, Eric! Stirling first build! Here's to number 2!

Congrats! Have fun listening to her open up. Make more!

_________________
Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Yikes! Congrats, Eric, nice job! We've enjoyed watching this come together!

Alex

_________________
"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Thanks to you all for the kind comments. It's been an extremely rewarding experience, and don't worry, I'm already thinking
about the next one.....and the one after that.....and the one after that.......

Fantastic, Eric!! Congrats and job well done

Congratulations Eric,

I am still plugging away on my first so I know how you feel. I am looking forward to being in the spot you are now.

I have been watching this thread with interest but this is my first post here. I really like the way your headstock turned out and especially the back of it. Love that shape... At least acording to your pictures you did get a good match on the sides and neck.

Great job man, I am sure you are going to have a ball breaking it in especially knowing you made it yourself.

Cheers,
Bob