"Anyone can make a guitar".....
and in all honesty, I believed Mark when he said that. I've had a great time and have gained a new respect for those who make guitars. I sent Mark a Private Message to thank him for his brilliant 222 videos, but feel that some public recognition should be forthcoming.
"Thank you" for a wonderful journey and for being so patient. Your videos guided me through every stage of the build and you appeared to have confidence in you audience's abilities.
It became a family saying that "you can never have too many clamps", and I now have a lot of clamps, but not too many.
This was my first build and most probably won't be the last. I need to justify all those clamps.
I've read about other builds on this forum, and mine seems to follow a very similar route, so I'll upload some photographs when I get them sorted.
That's beautiful! Easily the nicest guitar I've ever seen!
Should have said guitar chair! Mind you, the guitar is really pretty too!
Thanks for pics. Go Bailey progeny!
Can you tell me how your neck angle turned out? Mine was frustrating.
"you can never have too many clamps"
Quite right - thanks for posting! Awesome job! Hero points duly awarded
(and nice chair...)
Measure twice, cut once...
thanks for those kind words. I must admit that I'm quite chuffed.
Many thanks.... for everything.
The chair was rescued from the tip and the fleece came from Skye.
I think I sort of mentioned the role of a guitar chair but...
Then was given a double stand for the Bailey Bootlegger and my Collings, so I can't complain. Birthdays are great.
Yes, I have to admit that I spent a great deal of time trying to get it right. My chisel aspirations outstripped my abilities. I got there in the end but had to re-do a barrel nut. The final pull prior to gluing seemed to get it in place.
I also discovered that my collection of rulers seemed to adhere to a collection of standards. Nearly metric, nearly imperial and narly straight. However, I can't blame them too much. I just needed more skill.
The acid test was playing an open D and then trying it an octave up. I was really worried at that point..I know my hearing is shot to pieces, but not only did it sound OK but the tuner seemed to confirm that it was in tune. Smug? no, just really pleased.
I was going to record every stage but got a bit sidetracked. Still, I do have some photies which I will share. Oh, and there is the Diary of Disasters to experience.
Just like Herb I was excited to open the box and carefully stack the wood in the shed. I had already looked at some of the lessons and realised that I needed a few things before I started.
"You need a bandsaw".. Brilliant. I have always wanted one and now I could legally get one. It arrived trashed and I spent a few days repairing it (got a reduction in the end). Then I need to make a bench, and get a vice, splash out of some extra tools from Stewmac (yes I know Mark said you won't need to spend a lot but )
Then it becomes clear that you need to make a few bits and bobs before you actually get to cut some wood.
OK these are a bit OTT but it in the end I used all these extra bits.
Then you need CLAMPS. I looked at the clamp pdf and thought about using some wood I had hanging around. I cut a few pieces and then gave up when the wood started to split. Then I had the brainwave of using some old bamboo flooring and making lengths to use.
That sort of stoped until I was given some oak and mahogany to try. I also now had an excuse to spend my Screwfix token (yes they do gift tokens and yes I spend far too much time in Screwfix) on a thicknesser.
Three naff thicknessers later (you get what you pay for) I had one that I was OK with and I ended up with some nice bits of wood. Strange to think that my old saw is still going after 3 bearing replace.ents. It just does the buisness.
I'm using oak in place of the metal bars and it seems to work.
Then you end up with the start of your clamp collection. Christmas brought more clamps and I managed to find a load of small clamps from Range (80 clamps to be precise). It's only when you need a load of clamps that it becomes clear why Mark says "you can't have too many clamps".
Thanks... so glad it wasn't a breeze for you 😉
I meant more this damn bridge clearance. Somehow on mine (see Roseline post), I've ended up with the rosette part of the upper bout soundhole lifting my straightedge up to over 5mm.
Could be neck block to soundboard un-squareness, or X-brace arching line. I'm anxious to have another go with my current templates in case this happens again. Would be nice to know if you felt yours hit the spot straight away or what...
oh no way did it hit it first time. I have a thin 100cm rule and it was a real nightmare trying to get the 2mm. At times it was way over and then after a small bit of work it was way under. I have a distinct feeling that luck came into play here. Actually, I had to take the saddle down a lot to get a decent action so I think in the end I was over 2mm.
Having watched Mark bend the sides in 22mins and having spent a day trying to do the same, I really believe that experience is what you need, and that Mark is not being condescending when he suggests that things will go wrong.
I have always subscribed to the notion that you need to fail and fail big in order to eventually succeed. I just need a lot more practice and failure. Mind you, it sounds pretty good all the same.
Maybe I should've tried a floppy rule in stead of my posh steel straight guy.. might have convinced myself i waz bang on.
"Being wrong is an important part of being right"
Yours truly
I didn't get round to photographing the neck after the first bout of cutting. I think I stumbled in to the house and made a coffee instead. Tricky business this sawing of a main bit of wood.
Then I got a bit more confidence and suddenly arrived at the point where I was going to cut a neat trough for the purfling.... I have an old Dremmel, a new piece of Stewmac kit and a 1/16" bit that I thought could be used to cut 4 slots neatly.
That was an interesting experience. I measured twice, and a few times more, and forgot to erase those pesky marks which might be mistaken for the correct mark.
Fortunately, there was enough space to do another 1/4" trough and a 1/16th between the two. So it sort of worked out ok. I got fascinated by the lovely shavings but couldn't think of anything to do with them.
Now I get to use the clamps.
and I can always say that it was part of a grand design
I've just been playing the guitar and am quite pleased with the rosette. Not that it was intentional, but it seems work quite well. I think there's another lesson here but I can't think of it yet.
Are your clamps made of a wooden bar???
Yes, I looked for cheap steel bars, then aluminium and decided to use oak in the end.
Two reasons.... I had been given the seasoned oak and one design (for violins) seemed to suggest wood rather than metal to ensure no damage to your instrument.
Third reason cost.
my jig needed clamps to make clamps.
The final clamps are bamboo for the upper jaw and lever, mahogany for the lower jaw and oak for the bar.
It became clear that, even though people laughed at my clamps, you do need a lot of clamps for some photographs.
However, I was not finished yet with the building of useful things. Having watched Mark's lesson on how an expert bends the sides, I thought it prudent to make some form of jig. Now this is where that old scroll-saw comes in handy. Stored under the bench, and definitely a 2-man lift, I managed to cobble together a trolley and wheel it outside.
New blades and a good clean and it worked a treat. I've no idea from what tree MDF is cut, but it's not got a very good grain to it. Just saying that my purchase of a few masks came in handy at this point.
Then one vainly attempts to make sure that the difference between the two blanks is the thickness of the sides.....
Mark does the bending in real-time. 22 mins by an expert. I think I spent most of the day trying to work out the vagaries of this wood-bending business. I did a couple of dry runs on some hardwood that I had been given, having spent quite a bit of time cutting and planing the strips. I'm sure that the wood I had been given was of the genus Mild Steel and the bending experience bore no relation to what was to come.
Why is it that, when one has nearly achieved a good shape, any further work just makes everything else go haywire?
Still, in the end I got the sides bent reasonably accurately and got to use the jig a second time when doing a bit of glueing. For this I needed a few small clamps.
I don’t think there is anything to laugh at regarding your clamps! They look great. I still regularly use a pair of 4’ sash cramps I made almost 35 years ago from ash with a bit of ramin glued and screwed on the side to make the bars the right width and I have made many other custom clamps from various pieces of birch ply.
If we are going to have a home made clamp competition can I enter these? Mainly useful in tighter curves, especially cut aways, where it is difficult to fit a normal spring clamp and where you may need that little bit extra mechanical force over and above what is available from a spring. The ones in the picture are designed for parallel solid laminated linings but I have also drawn up a version that would work with normal tapered/kerf cut linings.