@markbailey I can only echo that both of my guitars were very close to perfect intonation once action was set - and both play really well!

No fears Mark, I'm with you all the way. It's my first guitar and I'm amazed that I managed to build something that actually plays. The "wanting to go into depth' comes from my love of learning and a ...

The pump was an old Becker pump although I can't recall exactly when I obtained it. I think it runs at about 6m3 per hour, which is way more than is needed for laminating backs and sides in a (near) p...

I know that I have been posting progress on these under other topics but I thought it made sense to come back to the original one. I made a vacuum bridge jig today which just seemed simpler than makin...

The location of the bridge took some time to achieve. I kept measuring, twice, then measuring again, then looked on the Internet, measured again, had copious mugs of tea, measured again, thought about...

I can't remember how long it took, but is was definitely longer than Mark. Now I had to make the bridge. Here I am becoming somewhat obsessive about getting it right. I have a few nice guitars and th...

Fretboard? Ive bought the fretboard already cut, so I really don't have to do that for myself. However, I failed to realise that I had to sand, shape and contour it..... by hand. OK so I have acquired...

At this point I am feeling quite pleased and sense that it's not going to be long now. Attachment : IMG_0755.jpg

The fretboard needs to be secure, so the big clamps get used. On one hand I have made clamps out of wood in order to protect the body, and then I use these beasts to glue the fretboard, They worked a ...

I get a feeling that Mark managed to cut his tyre in one continuous strip. I may be wrong, but that's the sort of wizardry of which he is capable. I used bostik and that seemed to work ok. Attachme...

This is when I felt it was getting serious Attachment : IMG_0722.jpg Attachment : IMG_0720.jpg Attachment : IMG_0717.jpg It's now beginnig to take shape. The next stage involved sou...

Maybe I should have cleared some space for myself to be able to move around. Attachment : IMG_0684.jpg

I think that this was the stage when I thought that I might actually be getting somewhere. All those bits of wood were beginning to take shape. Though I still felt that playing it was far off in in di...

Those are great clamps.... and I really wish I had seen those when looking for alternatives to the really expensive ones from Stewmac et al. I did a lot of reading about what other people were using a...

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 scr...

It became clear that, even though people laughed at my clamps, you do need a lot of clamps for some photographs. Attachment : GSDY7800.jpg Attachment : IMG_0603.jpg Attachment : IMG_06...

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 ...

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 go...

Attachment : IMG-2360.JPG\ Attachment : IMG-2365.JPG\ Here goes. I left the neck un-carved for this process. The end frets are indeed trickier- especially as I didn't make my support caul wi...

Done two necks with a suitable hammer.........