@liebe Thanks Dan
I didn't buy the kit from the shop, but it would've been an awful lot easier if I did. I already had a lump of mahogany that most of it was cut from. I did buy the pre slotted fretboard from Mark though. I found that bending the sides was relatively easy compared with some other parts of the build. Once they were bent to shape, I kept them in their moulds to hold the shape until I fitted them. I've no idea how long they would keep their shape out of the molds. You could probably build a simple jig from mdf to store them, you'd be best to ask Mark's advice on that.
Fretboard levelled and dots added now. I went to get my dots out of my bag of bits for this build, and realised that I hadn't bought any. So I cut some 6mm plugs from a piece of maple an used that. Also thinned down a bit of spruce offcut from soundboard to add a veneer to the headstock.
Although I happy with the good close glue join that I've got between the sides and soundboard/back, it just doesn't look finished without binding. Having said that, I'm reluctant to set about it with a router and tear it to bits. So I've made a wee test piece with the same soundboard and side wood to have a practice shot at it. I routed a groove and glued in a strip of maple. The maple wasn't very bendy and I had to shape it with my bending iron, but with it being such a small thin section, it didn't need much heat. I'm happy with the result, so I'll carry on and bind the body.
The soundboard board is routed now and maple binding glued in. Definitely out of my comfort zone doing that. We'll see what tomorrow brings when I take the tape off and clean it up, maybe I'll do the back as well.
I cleaned up, planed, scraped and sanded the soundboard binding, and I have to say that I'm delighted with the results. To be on the safe side, I had made my binding strips a bit to thick and had a about 0.5 mm to scrape off all the way round, I'll not be making that mistake again. For the back binding strips, I routed a groove in a piece of scrap to use as a jig to sand the strips down just proud, much easier to sand it when flat and clamped down. Anyway, the back is routed now and the binding dry fitted.
Well done @robin. I think it's wise to be more cautious. Even though it gives you more work on the scraping it has given you a good learning experience and more understanding and confidence for doing it the next time. Great work.
🙂🎶🎸🙏
🗝️ "Life's what you make it"🗝️
Thats the back binding done and a wee maple cap on the neck heel.
The frets are installed now and all sanded and masked ready for finishing. First coat of sanding sealer on and decals put on the headstock.
@liebe Thanks Dan, I feel like I'm on the home straight now. I've ordered a tin of water based top coat from Northwest guitars, never used this before so we'll see how it goes.
Been having a look at the acoustic build course and already I can feel Mark’s can do attitude beginning to draw me in
Mark's can do attitude is a great thing, and honestly, just follow the steps that Mark shows you and a guitar appears in front of your eyes. I've learned so much during this process using skills that I didn't believe I had. Go on, do it.
Did you make the decal yourself or order them in?
I made these inkjet waterslide tranfers during my first build, I made enough for six guitars, thinking that I'll never build that many. I've had varied success in putting them on, they're not great on darker wood. I found this time that adding a coat of sanding sealer over the tranfer kept the ink intact during the application.
That's 4 coats of top coat on it now, I think that's enough, I putt a bit of beeswax on my test piece and its polished up nicely. Anyway, thats the bridge glued now, it was really tight getting these three clamps in there, had to cut corners off two of them. Mark's insistence on dry clamping paid off there. Later today I'll have a last check of the neck alignment and get that glued too.
