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The neck joint is coming out just how I wanted it to on my first solo build with a cutaway. A nice tight joint and the angle and alignment is right on. Zipadeedoodah!

I'm finishing up the detail shaping, sanding, and rounding over of sharp edges this week and then moving on to applying the finish.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Lookin' good man!

Real good!

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Pat

Sweet!
Nice mitered corner in the purfling...

Very clean looking work!

Congrats on the workmanship............very nice.....!!
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Dang!
Nice!

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Beautiful...so clean. Thanks for posting.

Looks really good. Very tight construction. Can't wait to see it under finish...

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Nice fit!

There nothing better then looking at perfection, beautiful.

Nice...I like that heel shape. It really blends the neck into the cutaway

Very nice!

They've all said it before me. YES! You had a very good day in the shop! Man, I can hardly wait to see pictures of this beauty finished.

...for that matter, I'd enjoy seeing more progress pictures, too!

Thanks a lot for all the positive comments. They are much appreciated.



I'll post a few photos after the pre-finish prep work is done in a couple days.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

I'm assuming this will be finished with the neck attached. If not, and you are finishing the neck and body separate then you will want a bit of space alongside those two edges (the cutaway side and the heelcap region). You probably already know this but I thought I would mention this regardless. And like the others have said, very nice work !!!

I'll be finishing with the neck and body separate.

Sorry, but I don't understand what you mean by a bit of space. I get which edges you are taking about.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Hi Jay,
I find that the finish will want to "round" over those hard edges slightly -- with your current setup, this would make a perfectly mated heel surface difficult and you might end up with a small gap at those edges because of this "round over" effect. Also, if you make the finish a complete right angle at those locations, some finish types will be more likely to chip. I've found that giving those edges a space of roughly 1/32" is the closest I can get to achieving a flush fit with a separate neck/body finish. You experiences may be different but I thought I would chime in regardless.

Beautiful work !!!

I'm glad you brought this up because I've been debating how to handle the finish on that joint. I understand what you are saying about the finish wanting to round over at the edge but I'm still being thick about what you are referring to by a 1/32" space. Do you mean hold the finish back from the edge by that much?

A related issue I've been wrestling with is whether to apply the finish on the surface of the body that ends up inside the neck joint particularly on the cutaway side. I think that a layer of finish between the body and the heel would show as a distinct line at the joint between the cutaway and the heel. I built a guitar with a cutaway with a similar joint few years ago in a class. In that case, the body was Macassar ebony so it wasn't an issue because the line just blended in with the dark ebony at the joint. With the light colored mahogany on both sides of the joint with this guitar, I'm guessing the line would show up.

I'm thinking about masking off the body and the heel faces that end up inside the neck joint on the cutaway side and behind the heel cap so that the finish doesn't get applied to them. Then do all the level sanding and fine sanding of the finish across the cutaway and heel cap joints with the neck temporarily bolted to the body. I think that having no finish on the inside surfaces of the joints combined with level sanding across the joints with the neck on the body might give a clean joint. There would be the hassle of putting the neck on and taking it off several times and I would have to super careful to not ding the edges, but it might work. What do you think?

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Hi Jay,
By gap, I mean offset the heel at least 1/32" from those 2 edges. As regards the finish, you absolutely won't see the finish from the cutaway side if you finish the heel region -- unless, of course, your finish is incredibly thick.

You may try this -- spray the finish somewhat thicker at the upper bout (0.008" or thereabout). This will give you some thickness to sand the area very flat and possibly eliminate the rounding over of the finish. You also may try saturating that area with a bit of super glue just to ensure that the finish won't delaminate (pretty common with stuff like polyester).

If you go for the flush look, I would maybe try to level sand and buff those areas with the neck attached to prevent the finish from rounding over slightly during the leveling/buffing stage. Overall, I do think it is just easier to offset those edges slightly because I think some amount of round over will occur -- AND I think that will make achieving a flush heel joint much more difficult.

Ok, I got it now. Thanks a lot for taking the time to explain. And thanks for your helpful suggestions.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

As promised, photos after the prep work for putting on the finish. The back, sides, neck, and rosette look much lighter now than they will once the finish is on.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Looking forward to seeing it pop once the finish goes on. I'd bet you are too. I like the fret markers! Cool idea.

Duh... buffing the heel area with the neck on. Great tip. I'd have figured it out eventually...

Thanks