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My first steps in building an acoustic guitar

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dirtbike
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Wow that looks awesome


   
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Koendb
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Sanded and polished the soundboard and removed the masking tape.

I did not realize how much shellac I put on there.. I t is a surpiringly thick coat! And I was scared to sand through it. Seems I was scared for no reason..

IMG 20220221 185531652

Anyway.  all looking good, so I test fitted and cleaned the bridge area and glued the bridge on.. Wish me luck!

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IMG 20220221 200504171
IMG 20220221 200515868

   
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Boo
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Posted by: @koendb

Sanded and polished the soundboard and removed the masking tape.

I did not realize how much shellac I put on there.. I t is a surpiringly thick coat! And I was scared to sand through it. Seems I was scared for no reason..

@koendb Oh the man is a pro, look at that lustre. ✨✨✨✨✨

 

 

Who said beginners luck? 😜 (wasn’t me) 

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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Koendb
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Meh guys, I think my intonation is going to be off , I just tested with the both E strings and I am getting -10 cents on the low E and -8 on the high E at the 12th fret. I'll see what happens with the other strings on and perhaps  trussrod adjustment  and some fine tuning of the nut and adjusting saddle height. Otherwise I am afraid , I will have to cut that saddle slot again :-/

Also, I had my tuners the other way round grmbl. oh well, extra holes it is...

 


   
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Boo
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@koendb What scale length is it? Is the bridge definitely in exactly the right spot? 

Just try measuring from the nut to the centre of the 12th fret, it should be exactly half of the intended scale length. If it isn’t, your nut is in the wrong place, If it is, your bridge is in the wrong place. 

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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Rocknroller912
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@koendb 

Is the intonation low or high? Check that the saddle is tight in the slot and not bending forward. If we are doing video chat tonight you can demonstrate.

Some people call me a tool, others are less complimentary. Tools being useful things.


   
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Koendb
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Posted by: @boo

What scale length is it? Is the bridge definitely in exactly the right spot? 

Just try measuring from the nut to the centre of the 12th fret, it should be exactly half of the intended scale length. If it isn’t, your nut is in the wrong place, If it is, your bridge is in the wrong place. 

@boo Well it is 25.4, the distance from the nut to the middle of the 12th fret is 322.5mm so I think it must be the bridge which is off. 

Posted by: @rocknroller912

Is the intonation low or high?

@rocknroller912 It is too low. It was about -10 cents.

Now that I put on all strings , and adjusted the trussrod a bit, it seems to get slightly better. But now my action is too high.

Maybe I have some work on the nut and saddle a bit more, it is not really playing comfortable either.


   
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Koendb
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This is the result so far

IMG 20220222 194417154
IMG 20220222 194428479
IMG 20220222 194445394

   
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Bpower
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@koendb That is a beauty of a guitar. I would set all the adjustments first. Get the truss rod and action at the nut and saddle proper before looking at the intonation. If the action is too high then just pushing the string down will give an inaccurate reading (kinda like bending a string). Set everything else and check. If it is not too far out you might be able to fine tune the top of the saddle to get it closer. However, just remember, most acoustic players don't play too often up the neck. How often are you going to be up there for it to make a huge difference? I would want to get it as close a humanly possible but I wouldn't stress if it is not perfectly exact. 


   
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Boo
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Posted by: @koendb

Well it is 25.4, the distance from the nut to the middle of the 12th fret is 322.5mm so I think it must be the bridge which is off. 

@koendb Just check the measurement from the middle of the 12th fret to the bridge at the top e string (thin e). If that is 322.5mm+1.5mm or thereabouts, then everything is in the right place. If this is the case, follow the steps in the comments others have made in this thread. It’s true that if your action is high, it will play havoc with the intonation, so you need to lower that as well. But, check those scale lengths first. 

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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Boo
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@koendb I’ve just been looking as closely as I can at the photo from the side and I have to say the action looks very high. You will need to lower the bridge quite a bit and adjust the nut maybe. The action needs to come right down for it to intonate properly but just double check those scale lengths again first. Let me know, I’m eager to know. 👍

Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸


   
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Boo
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@koendb On this acoustic guitar of mine, the action measures about 2mm at the 12th fret and about 1mm at the 1st fret on the low E string. Use that as a guid for the other strings, they will get slightly lower as each string is thinner than the last. 

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F06682BA 7F3E 4C32 BD6B C30972EC0FD7

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Posted by: @bpower

I would set all the adjustments first. Get the truss rod and action at the nut and saddle proper before looking at the intonation. If the action is too high then just pushing the string down will give an inaccurate reading

@bpower Yeah I think I am slowly getting there. I removed quite some of that saddle bottom now  and it is getting better I think, I am now at around -4~-5 cents, except for the high E, but my action is still way too high. It needs to drop another 0.5~0.7 mm So I need to remove another mm or 1.4mm from the saddle I think.

Posted by: @boo

Just check the measurement from the middle of the 12th fret to the bridge at the top e string (thin e). If that is 322.5mm+1.5mm or thereabouts,

@boo yep and I am off about 1.5mm. So besides the high action, I am probably looking at redoing the saddle slot? Not really looking forward for that 😀

Anyway,  I can keep on working on the nut and saddle ( I think the nut is not far off ) I've got 1 mm at the first fret but on the 12th fret I am at 2.7mm. I'll probably gonna end up a little over 2mm at the 12th fret cause I cannot remove 1.4mm from the saddle , for the string break angle. unless of course, I make a small slot for the strings to help with the break angle.

If I have to do all these things, I wonder if it would not be better to work on the neck  to have a better angle towards the bridge, and remove some material from the front of the tenon ( probably have to fill and redrill the holes for those bolts and cylindrical nuts) In order to compensate for that 1.5mm at the bridge. Luckily I did not glue down the fretboard to the soundboard so I do have that option as well.


   
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