Monday, January 31, 2011

The Snowball Effect

I cannot wipe the smile off of my face. Much work was accomplished today and every time I think about it, along come the grins. The progress on my build continues to move me closer to the goal and it seems to be gaining speed. I'm going to keep this post as brief as I am able to 'cause I am starving. As soon as I am done here, I'm making a beeline for my kitchen to make some Spanish rice. So feast your eyes on the pictures and try not to drool.

First thing this morning I glued the AAAA Maple top together. It went together just fine. After two hours, the glue is dry and the piece is ready for cleanup and a trip to the thickness sander. That machine can shave off 0.005" until the joint is seamless.

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While I waited for the glue to dry, I turned my attention to the fingerboard. This is the part that gets slotted and then has the frets pressed into it. We use a template to cut the slots on a table saw. The templates are set up for individual scale lengths. The scale length is the distance from the face of the nut to the center of the twelfth fret, multiplied by two. Pictured here are my bird's eye Maple fingerboard and quartersawn (and flamed!) maple neck blank.

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After cutting the fret slots, I took the Alder guitar body over to the router and hogged out a bunch of wood. The chambers can increase the resonance of the guitar and also make it easier to hold the thing up all night on stage.

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Ok! Moving right along, I took the flamed top over to the band saw and cut out the shape. This is where I really started getting jazzed. I just can't get enough of this thing.

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The last bit of work for the day was cutting out the f-hole. A couple of holes were made using the drill press to get the scroll saw blade through the workpiece and then I carefully followed the lines I had drawn. This was the most stressful part of the work today. After finishing and breathing a sigh of relief, ahhhh... I picked up a razor shape Japanese carving knife and refined the edges. A little filing and voila! Quite lovely if I do say so myself.

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I am now officially digesting my own body. One of my mom's homemade cookies (ok, four cookies) will tide me over until I can get dinner made. Ciao!

7 comments:

  1. Nice work! Gettin there eh? This is perfect for you!! Can't wait to see and hear the finished product! Please post a video of you playing it.

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  2. Thank you Emily. It does feel perfect to me. I too cannot wait to complete it, but it is so much fun seeing it come together. Maybe I'll have to do it again. Video will be posted, and there is a school-wide talent show in April where I just might be performing with this guitar.

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  3. SICK! That thing is SICK! I'M SICK! WE'RE ALL SICK! I am so damn impressed, Tim, I am just...sick. I'm grinning too...what a fantastic craft you are learning, dude. Hard to believe where you came from to where you are now. And you still have all of your fingers! Can't wait to have one of this of my own. I can tell every one will be made with passion and sheer joy.

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  4. @ Mr. Bartel...
    I know dude! Right? Hanford? You gotta be kidding me. At any rate, #0004 is all yours bro. And you are cracking me up over here. And about those fingers...

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  5. Seriously Dude, this is cool shit. When can I buy this Guit, or better yet, when can you fix my Tele?

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  6. That's a quarter in the swear jar, mister. This here is a family blog so tone it down, mmm kay? To your questions, chances are great that no one will ever be able to buy this guitar. You'll have to pry it from my cold, dead hands. Lo siento. But, I can fix your Tele right now. Call me up.

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  7. Looks like it is coming along nicely Tim. I enjoy crafting a guitar through you vicariously. :)

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