Kelly's Guitar Gallery

and now its on to the Fingerboard

2010-11-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

For me there is a real sense of satisfaction with the box closed in. Its sort of like with my electrics when you have all the electronics wired and closed in and the knobs and switches are in place. But there is still a lot of work to be done. My next step is to start on the fretboard. Some guitars have a solid neck fretboard included. Some guitars have a fretboard made out a different material from the rest of the neck. My favorite electrics have a one piece maple neck. I have two with Rosewood fret boards laminated on to one piece maple and I don't like them so much. The back of the neck - the maple part - is fine but for me the fret board is slow, not that I have fast hands, its subtle but I can feel it. My acoustic, however has a laminated rosewood fret board and I love it. Almost all fretboards have some curve to them. My electrics have the tightest radius you can get, 7.25. I have small hands and that works for me. My acoustic is much flatter, 12 I think. which is good for flat picking and fingerpicking. So this build has a laminated ebony fretboard with a 12 radius.

The first step is to install the fret wire on the fret board. First I re-jiggered my workstation a little. For this part of the build you need a solid surface to nail on so there is no deflection or bounce when you hit it with a hammer. I simply turned my sawhorses 90 degrees so I would be nailing directly on to the cross piece of the horse. I also got out every tool I thought I might need - framing hammer, tack hammer and a cheepo that I got at a flea market for $2 this summer that has a plastic head and a hard rubber head. I was thinking about nailing frets when I boiught it. I also got out lineman pliers, wire cutters and wire nips not knowing what would work best to cut the wire. And I got a stool that would allow me to sit up high over the work so I could really whack down with the hammer. Here's my set up:

and a closer view of the tools.

Since Ken's kit provides you with a pre-shaped, pre-slotted fret board, step one for me was to cut the fret wire into workable lengths. You want to cut the wire longer than the slots but I needed to be careful as I had a fixed lenght of wire and had to make sure I left enough for every slot. To keep track of the wires I set them into a length of corrugate that is taped on the bottom and held verticle with a small clamp. You may notice on the picture that the slots are numbered. I cam up with this idea when I was wiring effects pedals and needed to keep track of the resistors. As I sort through them they get slotted into the corrugate slot that correspondes to the reisistor number on the ICD. But back to the frets...

I got everything clamped up good and tight and started wailing. I started with the cheepo hammer using the solid plastic head and it worked so well I never changed. After two or three I got the technique down and it went really quickly;

a closer look with the frets hammered in:

Next step secure the frets and cut them to length. I started to make a clamping caul that Ken suggests. You take two 1/8" threaded rods. Cut them to length

and epoxy them to a scrap of wood (MDF, whatever) that is the same size as the fret board. Hey, look, I found another use for the clothespins.

to be continued

On to the Top

2010-11-13T16:35:00.000-08:00

I mentioned in an earlier post when I started routing channels for the bindings I spaced on routing for the purfling on the top before routing for the binding. I didn't know if doing this out of sequence would present complications or not. I was about to find out. Routing the channel for the purfling required the same tool and jig setup as routing for bindings and the same need for adjustments for depth and gap. Trial and error was in full play and after several attempts with minor tweaks I was set. Two laps around the top produced this. Hard to make it out but there is a small channel within the larger channel.

You might be a able to see it a little better in this picture:

If I do the set up and installation correctly I should end up with this look:

I decided to stay with Duco but switched from the sticky green tape to the Stew Mac binding tape. My dry fit:

The installation went without incident:

and then I was ready for the bindings. A test fit, some cleanup and scraping followed by another test fit.

And another installation without incident. I can't believe it. Except for scraping and sanding the box is finished

The other side, scarf joints and oh crap.

2010-11-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

Now that I have the application technique the other half went quickly. I did leave a glue gap where the two binding strips meet at both ends because I needed to trim off the overlap and make the joint as seemless as possible. The recommended joint for this is called a scarf joint because if done correctly it leaves the least visible line. I have done lots of mitre joints and lots of butt joints but never a scarf joint but how hard can it be?

Well, its not hard at all but if you lose concentration you just might catch your blade (I was using a mat knife) on the center strip and pull a chunk out like I did. I am in denial, I can believe I did this. Crap, another flaw, but maybe with patience and a little craft I can make it fairly invisible.

I pulled the chunk out and continued fitting and cleaning up the joints, again not difficult but a lot of trial and error to create a nice tight joint. Here we are with the scarf joint completed at both ends and the damaged center strip repaired.

Here's a close up of the repair job. Its still wet from wiping off the glue in this picture but I'm hopeful that when it dries and I sand and fill a little it will look ok.

And while I've only done a token amount of scraping and clean up I think this will look nice when its finished:

This is the last step for the back until clean up and finish. Next I install the purfling and binding on the top and then I can actually start working on the neck

Enough already, attach the frickin binding

2010-11-11T18:38:00.000-08:00

So let's get cracking. I debated a few different ways to do this. I finally settled on taping the binding in place and releasing short sections, gluing and retaping as I moved along. Here it is with one side taped in place.

A common comment from the various how to's I've seen is to have tons of tape strips ready for quick application. So with the entire side taped in place and several extra strips at the ready it was go time.

I started at the neck block gluing and taping. Here you can see I've released the binding from the tape to give me room to apply some glue. Then I would retape, pulling very tight to make sure I had good contact and then move to the next 8" - 10".

Here's another angle of the same shot. From this point on it was glue and tape, glue and tape. I stopped taking pictures because I was trying to work quickly before I had problems with the glue setting up before I was ready.

I worked my way around the one side and then let the glue set overnight. I just didn't have time to do more. This is the result.

And you can see I have a lot of tidying up to do, especially around the waist area where I got messier than I like. One of the reasons the Duco glue was the right choice is that this will clean right up with a good sharp metal scraper.

All in all not bad but I still have a lot more to do.

Choosing the Correct Materials

2010-11-10T18:04:00.000-08:00

After all the prep I'm finally ready for some installation. There are two key materials you need to decide on. One is to choose an adhesive to attach the binding the guitar. There are a few considerations. You need a superior bond of binding to guitar.You need to have adequate work time so you can finesse and anchor the binding to the guitar before the glue sets up. You have different glues that work better or worse depending on your binding material - you might want to use a different glue to attach wood to wood than you would to attach plastic to wood or pearloid to wood. I did quite a bit of reading and frankly became more confused the more I read. It seemed there were pros and cons for every choice. For every recommendation there was a warning from someone else. I had regular Elmers carpenter glue, Titebond original formula, Super Glue, Duco and Gorilla Epoxy to choose from.

You also have to decide what adhesive tape you are going to use to hold the binding in place until the glue sets up. You want something strong enough that you can really crank down and pull the tape tight. You want something that will not stretch too much. You want something that sticks well but isn't so sticky it pulls slivers (or worse) of wood when you remove it - especially on the soft soundboard. I had regular masking tape, painters masking tape, super sticky green painters tape and binding tape from Stew Mac.

I dropped Ken from KMG a note to get some advise. He explained his method of using CA glue and why he uses it. For a builder with his experience level it made a lot of sense. But for a rookie builder with no experience he had a different recommendation which also made a lot of sense. The winners are:

and of course I needed some protection:

Its Binding Prep and Backstrip Time

2010-11-02T17:35:00.000-07:00

If you recall from one of my earliest posts part of the KMG kit is a jig for your router base that allows you to rout binding channels plumb to the sides even though the top and/or bottom are radiussed. Now I have an opportunity to find out how well this works. Fitting the bindings is trial and error. You have to practice on scrap. Because the jig uses only a bit and does not use a bearing to fix the depth you are setting both the depth and the height. You can take initial estimates using the binding to get you close and then its fine tuning from there.I think tool quality plays a role here. My laminate trimmer is on the frugal (borderline crappy) side and has a cheap plastic bit height adjustment. Very difficult to fine tune and difficult to snug down so it doesn't move.It is plenty powerful enough but a tool with a superior adjustment mechanism would be a plus.

In hindsight the fit trial and error was a bit of a blessing as it also allowed me practice time. By the time I has the correct fit I could handle the trimmer/jig easily, holding and controlling the jig and just keeping a little pressure on the router base. I learned that you cannot hold the router in the traditional manner and "drag" it along the rim - you have to hold the jig and steer it along. Once I got the hang of it it worked like a charm. And I got a really good fit. I did the top...

... and then flipped it over to do the bottom. As I started setting up for the back I remembered the purfling. I had totally spaced on it. Oops, should I have trimmed for the purfling before the binding? Hope not because its too late now. I decided to continue with the back since the set up would be the same.By now I was quite the expert and the bottom went quickly.

Once completed I had to consider a back strip. This is decorative - it hides the line created when the two halves are jointed. Sometimes the joint is so clean and the grain is so attractive you want to celebrate it not hide it. But I thought in this case a back strip would be kind of nice and since I am a new builder I wanted to have the experience. There are a lot to choose from. I found a nice selection at Luthiers Mercantile and saw one that was rosewood with two basswood strips. I thought the bass wood would be a good tie in to the maple bindings and the rosewood would be a good match to the guitar body. So $4.50 later I had back strip. Now, how to install. I taped the strip in place and marked the location with a sharp pencil:

Now, how to create the channel? I could route it with my dremel but I would have had to make several passes with those tiny bits and the height adjustment looked too imprecise. I could rout it with my laminate trimmer but it was still set up with the binding jig and I didn't want to take that off ( lazy, I know). I could use my router but I didn't really have the correct bit and had no desire to go to Agent Orange to pick one up. So I put a new blade in my mat knife, stuck a metal straight edge down with double sided tape and started cutting. When I thhought I had gone down far enough I set the straight edge on the other layout line and repeated the process. When I had the channel well defined I went to town with a 1/4" chisel. It was just a hair narrower than the strip. That was perfect. I could chisel the meat out and use a sanding stick on the sides and bottom to fine tune. Here's the result of the first couple of passes with the chisel.

I can honestly say that it worked out great and I got a great fit for the strip. Of course I didn't take any pictures of the completed channel but here's the glue up. Same clamping caul that I used on the back reinforcement a couple of days ago.

After removing the clamps and a lot of sanding:

I swiped it with a little Naptha to see what a some wet will do for it. Should be really pretty with a finish.

Installing the End Graft

2010-11-02T17:17:00.000-07:00

The end graft helps hide the seam created where the two rims join in the back of the guitar. Ken provided a piece of maple for this, the same maple as the bindings. If I do it right it will be a nice constrast to the rosewood.

Stabilizing the body for this step was a challenge. I saw where a few builders had used a ladder back chair or some more elaborate extension of their work bench. I spotted these 2x4s that I had just brought down to the basement after using them for supports for window air conditioners and thought hmmm? Just maybe they can make a base wide enough to support the box. I placed some card board strips between the box and the 2x4s clamped it up and voila, a perfect work set up - well, it was a little too high but I wasn't about to complain.

So I cut the angles in the maple, laid it out on the box, used a metal straight edge and a new blade on my box cutter and went to town. Easy to do. I used a chisel and cut the slot a little tight. This allowed me to file perfectly straight lines for the final fit. It came out nice:

and the final glue up

and the finished product (albeit upside down):

the Back continued - gluing up and trimming

2010-11-02T17:14:00.000-07:00

I spent a fair amount of time fitting the bottom to the rims, notching the rim and kerf lining to let the bracing end sit flush. Sorry no pics but it did come out nicely. One concern. I had been working on the back for a couple of days at this point and noticed it was cupping. Very noticable as I was dry fitting. I would seat the back at the neck end but then had to rock it to dry fit the heel end. Wasn't quite sure what kind of problems this could create. But carry on.

Similar to the top I thought I should clamp the back on first and then install the screws. This is dry fit and clamp trial # one. I don't know how long it took but it seemed to take forever to clamp and then drill and screw 20 something deck screws, especially trying to hand tighten each one at the end. This wouldn't do. I did another dry run. Because the screws had all been started in run #1 this one went faster and more smoothly. And I was smart enough to put a new battery on the power drill.

Before closing up the back I wanted to create a label of some sort to identify the guitar. No time or money for a fancy logo maker. I looked at tons of labels on line and in guitar stores. You can really spend a lot of time on this if you choose to.Well I chose not to. I sat down with my computer and the certificate program in Microsoft Word. I like the fender font and I like green and I had some left over rattle can burst amber and I came up with this. I hit it with a couple of light coats of clear lacquer and attached it with some 3M spray adhesive.It actually looks pretty good in real light.

Here we are at various stages of the glue up. I was in scramble mode trying to clamp and screw quickly. I think I had about half the screws installed at this point.

I wasn't entirely happy with the glue up, particularly around the narrowest part of the waist. So I removed some glue, reglued and reclamped and ended up with a much tighter bond.

When I trimmed the overhang flush to the sides I got a little tear out but this should be trimmed off when I install the purfling and bindings.

You can kind of see where a baseplate screw scratched a path on the back. I should have protected it a little better by applying some masking tape to the base. No worries - it will sand out.

the Back Continued - the Bracing

2010-11-02T17:13:00.000-07:00

The trickiest element to installing bracing on the back is to account for the radius of the back. Remember even a flat top guitar isn't really flat. Well the curvature is much more pronounced on the back. Ken has cut the correct radius on the bracing for you but you have to be carelful to "shim" the back to the same radius before glue up. Ken uses a method of placing index cards in a row underneath the curve of the bracing and gradually stacking the cards to maintain consistent contact with the bracing. Its hard to explain but maybe the pictures will clarify. I only had a small stack of index cards - not nearly enough - but I did have a couple of decks of playing cards. So what the heck, they should work fine. Before any glue up you need to shape the bracing with a gentle arc that thins down to 1/8" at the edge. Same as on the top it took a skill saw, a wood rasp and some sand paper and I was in business.

I worked on this througout the day gluing up two braces at a time.I saved the little curved section that I cut of each end of each piece and used them as cauls for clamping. And the deep throat cam clamps are ideal for this.

Here you can see where I shimmed the back with the stack of playing cards.

Here you can see where I used the end cut off as a caul to create a flat surface for glue up. I would never be able to get the correct tension on a curved surface.

After glue up you can finish shaping the bracing. A nice rounded top is called for. Because you need to get to 1/8" I protected the rosewood with some tape. This shaping was all chisel and sandpaper work. And I used a popsickle stick as a hieght gauge to get to 1/8".

Sorry for all the bad photos. The final product. You can see a litle reveal betweed the work board and the back because the radius doesn't allow the back to sit flat.

Starting on the Back - the Back Reinforcement

2010-11-02T17:12:00.000-07:00

After what seems like forever I am finally ready to work on the back. Like the front the back requires bracing and the bracing needs to be let into the sides. What should make this a little easier is all the bracings are perpendicular to the center line so I won't have to account for the same extreme angles the x braces created on the top.And I'm past the steepest part of the learing curve on constructing bracing (so he says...).

I did a layout line down the center of the back - now I know why white pencils are a good idea for rosewood. I'll have to get some. Then I drew a light line down the center of each of the three center strip pieces. I did a practice glue and clamp up...

... and then let it rip. As Ken suggested I taped the center strip sections down so they didn't slip while clamping and I found a piece of poplar the exact length of the back to use as a caul.

After the standard amount of dry time I removed the clamps and tape. One of the things you need to do for the back to nest correctly to the rim is to trim away the area that will be covered by the neck and heel blocks. Its pretty quick work with a pull saw and chisel.

Next is to trim out sections of the center reinforcement to allow the bracing to pass through. A nice snug fit of the bracing to the reinforcement is a show of good craftmanship. Following Ken's directlion I made a little jig that stradles the center strip and allows for a perfect perpendicular.cut with the pull saw. A couple of minutes of cutting and chiseling the back was reinforced and I was ready for the braces.

Gluing on the Top and Discovering an Oops

2010-10-21T14:58:00.000-07:00

Pretty exciting day - I hope to complete attaching the top to the rims.

Before I get too far into this step, I don't know if you noticed or not but I changed workbenches. My standard workbench is my table saw with a sheet of 1/2" MDF laid across it. I found, however, as I put in some long sessions that working above the mold so to speak, had me working at a height that became very uncomfortable for my back. I'm guessing but the table saw is around 32" tall and I have it on rollers so I can move it out of the way. The rollers probably add 2". The the mold is sitting on top of that. When I make saw horses the legs are 30" but considering the leg angle they're actually about 28" tall. That 6" makes all the difference in the world. So now I have two saw horses with an old formica kitchen counter clamped across that is about, I don't know, maybe 24" x 30" and it is perfect. I did roll out a piece of that no skid matrix - I don't know the technical name for it - as the formica is a little hard and slippery. You can see the set up in the second picture below as well as the table saw in the background.

The mold is a key player in this step. Ken's direction is to hold the top in place with a couple of rubber bands. This will allow me to tip the mold on edge so I can see what is going on underneath without the top slipping around. Placing a couple of finish nails at the front edge of the top will help it orient length wise before you rubber band. I pre-drilled the top, dropped in the nails, laid the board on the rims and that was when I first noticed this hole in the front where the rims abut. What the heck? I pulled the rim out of the mold. There was nothing poking that would have done this, no sharp edges on the mold, no nails or screw protuberences. All I could think is that while I was shifting the rims up and down in the mold to work on the soudboard or kerfing I must have caught a little sliver in the wood that pulled out more around it as I stressed it. No worries, the neck will cover it but disappointing to have a flaw that I will always know is there.

Now the rubber bands. Nothing fancy. Just looped together two or three cheap bands that come with your mail.Oh, I did have to loctate some screws for the bands to strectch across. I suppose you can do as many as you like. I just did these three feeling two diagonals and one cross was adequate - plus I ran out of rubberbands!!!

Now that I can hold the top on securely I can easily get inside the body to mark where the bracing intersects the rim. The rim and kerf lining will be trimmed out to let the bracing "nest" in the trimmed out area and the sound board will seat flush to the rims.

Prior to trimming the rims I sanded down the bracing so that where ever it would contact the rim it was only one popsicle stick tall (about 1/8" I think). This is critical because the binding will have to cover the thickness of the sound board plus the depth of this notch when it is installed.

This began a series of back and forth mark the rim, trim some out, test fit the bacing in the slot, sand down the bracing, mark again, trim again, test fit again. I was going very slowy and cautiously, especially in light of my two latest mishaps. I finally ended up with a nice fit. I was actually pretty pleased with the craftmenship on a couple and not so pleased on others - par for the course. One slot on the top edge is too long and too deep.I thought I would have to get creatiive but it looks like the binding will cover it well enough.

This one I like: These two I don't like:

Great, the soundboard fits the rims nice and snug. Its time to glue and clamp. Remember the dry fit and test clamp routine. Absolutely critical here. You are gluing the entire soundboard all at once. I don't know about anyone else but as a first time acoustic builder I was very intimidated by this step. There is no return from even the slightest mishap here.

The KMG kit provides a clamping caul for this operation. Its a piece of MDF cut oversize to the shape of the soundboard. You drill a series of holes (pre-marked) around the perimeter and this becomes the clamp as you drive a series of screws through the holes into the mold. As the screws tighten the caul presses the top and rim together. Go slowly and tighten the screws evenly and you will get a great result. Since I've gotten into this I have read a lot about this step in the process and I am aware that there are several methods to clamp the soundboard to the rim. While this method is extremely simple, it is totally practical. This has a great appeal to me as a New Englander and my appreciation for Yankee thrift (and I'm not talking baseball).

I was so nervous about this step that I went through the dry run process a few times. Snugging the sound board went smoothly and so did attaching the caul but because I was hand tightening the screws I was concerned that it was taking me way too long to finish. I wanted to try to get even pressure more quickly. On the second trial I used a combination of clamps and the screws.

I felt like that worked a lot better for me. Here is the final glue up and clamping.

The glue set overnight and then I used a trim bit in my laminate trimmer to flush the top and rim. I did the recommended clockwise step cuts first but did not take a pic of that.

Still a lot more sanding and clean up to do but this is the interior with the soundboard attached:

I am now up to 35 hours and feeling like quite the slow poke.

More on the Top... Learning from My Mistake

2010-10-20T19:09:00.000-07:00

With the cross brace installed it was time to shape and fit the two bass bars. The bars came on a single piece of wood with the scallop shape diagramed out. Sorry - I failed to take pictures of this... but this is what they look like when clamped in place. One thing that is hard to tell from the photos is that I saved the curved scallop cuts and was able to use them as cauls when clamping.

Bridge plate, check; cross bracing, check; bass bars, check,. Without going in to a great deal of description the side braces, shoulder brace, another brace I don't know the name of and the sound hole reinforcements are all installed in a similar fashion:

The last step in installing the bracing was to round over all the braces. I don't beleive there is any reason sound wise to do this (probably wrong on that) but it is definitely a craftmanship consideration.

and I'm in for about 30 hours at this point.

more on the Top... Preparing the Bracing and a Royal Screw Up

2010-10-19T19:03:00.000-07:00

To continue working on the top / soundboard the next step is to install the bracing - the bracing is part structural and part sonic. It needs to stiffen the sound board yet allow it to vibrate to produce tone. Again there are many elements to the KMG kit to facilitate success here. All the brace wood is supplied and many of the pieces are laid out with the pattern they will be shaped to. Also the location layout has already been done for you.

You start with the longest two pieces which sit perpendicluar to each other and are half lapped near the center of the guitar.

I found the mid-point of each piece. Used my square to mark it and started to chisel out the half lap, Everything worked fine and went quickly. Then, without glueing, you clamp them in place. Once clamped you have established the corrent position for the bridge plate. Cut the bridge plate to size, glue it up and clamp in place. It helps to wrap some packing tape around the areas of the x brace that come in contact with the bridge plate so any glue squeeze out doesn't stick. Oh, and I forgot to mention that you should create a caul - another piece of wood that facilitates the clamping process - that goes on top of the bridge plate before you clamp. Note I am using the deep throat clamps for the first time. They work like a charm.

Now its time to glue the x braces in place. A cardinal rule of this entire guitar building process is to dry fit all your parts and keep dry fitting until you have a perfect fit and then go through a dry run on the clamping. You don't want to find out something doesn't fit or you're fumbling around for clamps after you have applied glue and its dripping all over the place.

Prior to the X brace glue up you want to do some of the shaping, I keep calling it scalloping because that is what it looks like to me. Although the scallops are laid out for the most part you still need to do a little lay out at the top end before shaping in. I carefully followed the directions in completing the layout, but something just wasn't working out correctly with the measurements. I finally determined (incorrectly as it turned out) that I had simply ended up with a slightly different set up than the instructions called for but would work out just fine in the end. Famous last words.

The quote from Ken's instructions that I keep running over and over in my mind is "keeping the “X” braces properly oriented can be a bit confusing." As I did my dry fit it became clear why my measurements didn't match. When creating the half lap on the braces way back in step 1 I did not orient the two braces as the shaping layout called for. I had taken the dead center of each which meant that while each "arm" of the X was identical in length the two arms that go to the back of the guitar were about 3/4" to 1" shorter than they need to be. Hmmm. I contemplated, I reread the instructions, I looked at the bracing, I flipped the X in every conceivable direction, I closed my eyes and tried to make the wood grow. It was clear that there was no way this was going to work. So what to do... to be continued...

... so what to do about my layout screw up. Plan A - simply cut a new half lap in the correct position. So I went back to the directions laid out the X correctly and in my impatience slopped together the new half lap. On the first one I used calipers and worked very slowly and got a nice snug fit. On this one I eyeballed the connection and carelessly made the lap to wide.

So when it was put together, with the wobbly lap and the extra slots in it looked like crap. This simply would not do.

Plan B - make new bracing. Since I never throw anything out I had to have some wood lieing around that would make good bracing. Spruce maybe not but surely some soft pine or another wood that would work. So I dug around and came up with a piece of 1" x 1" trim from when I had ripped asump pump "closet" apart when we moved into our house fifteen years ago. It was soft, I could rip it to the correct size, but would it work? I knew the original bracing had a slight contour to it. My replacement piece has deflected slightly sitting in the wood pile. I laid the two pieced together. The deflection matched the contour perfectly. Ok, I'm going with it.

I used dividers to transfer the "scallop" layour from the original to the replacement and went to town on shaping. I don't know what effect using this material instead of the spruce will do to the sound, time will tell, but I feel like I matched the profile and shape very closely. Here's the glue up on the second cross brace.

Starting on the Top - Install the Rosette

2010-10-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

One of the decorative elements to an acoustic guitar is the trim installed around the sound hole called the rosette. Rosettes can come in all sorts of materials, colors and patterns. Some incredibly intricate and some fairly basic. Some are three dimensional and need to be let into the wood and some are stickers that are just applied. I think professional luthiers take great pride in the rosette and really add their personal touch to this element. The KMG kit includes a pre-made rosette and the soundboard has already had the routing completed around the sound hole.

First things first. Make sure you have the right helper:

Just kidding, the cat really likes to sit in cardboard boxes and eat the build instructions. But its nice to have someone to listen when I'm muttering to myself about the work.

Once the rosette is glued to the sound board clamping can be somewhat ackward. Some recommend simply weighing it down - I saw a concrete block used in one example. Ken suggests and I agree that there is a more elegant solution for this.

Start with two pieces of MDF, three carriage bolts and three corresponding wing nuts. The idea is to sandwich the sound board / rosette between the MDF pieces, bolt the MDF together and tighten the bolts to compress the rosette to the wood. I have MDF laying all over the place but no carraige bolts and wing nuts. There was no way I was making a trip to Agent Orange just for this. But I do tend to save everything and this time it paid off. I snooped around my shop area and found some bolts, washers and nuts on an old ski rack I had made to fit in the back of my pick up (back in the day when I owned a truck and skiied, niether of which I do anymore) that would work perfectly. So I pre-drilled the MDF, countersunk one side for the screw heads so it would lie flat and was all set.

I gathered all the usual suspects:

Installing the rosette could not have been simpler. I was anticipating something much more complicated but I had to do very little sanding before I had a nice snug fit. I had a tube of Duco glue which is the preferred glue for wood rosettes - I believe because it holds well and dries clear. I squeezed a few drops, spread it out with a little popsicle stick, dropped in the rosette and clamped it up. I did put a layer of saran wrap between the rosette and the top layer of MDF to make sure any glue squeeze out would not stick to it.

and the finished product:. The gap is ok - it will be covered by the fret board when the neck is installed.

Contouring the Top and Bottom Rim

2010-10-18T18:41:00.000-07:00

If you've ever picked up an acoustic guitar you've probably noticed that neither the top or the bottom are perfectly flat - even a flat top guitar is not truly flat (I think). Now that the kerfing has been installed I can contour the edges to accept the contour (dome shape) of the sound board and bottom. The KMG success kit supplies simple solutions for both this contouring and setting the neck angle on top.

For the top you need to create a sanding bar wider than the guitar width - I think I found an oak flooring strip remnant that was 3.5" x 24", cut 80 grit sand paper to size, sprayed some 3M adhesive and stuck the sand paper on.

The theory is you set the rim in the mold with just a little exposure and then use the sand bar to level it. I had a plane and file ready to use but didn't need them. I had it all level is about ten minutes

Now this is really cool. You loosen the the waist clamp enough to allow you to raise up the front of the guitar to a height equal to eight index cards above the mold. Keep the rest of the body flat to the mold.

Using a second sanding bar that is just wide enough to take down this raised portion, sand until it is flush to the mold. Voila - you have your neck angle set.

The bottom works somewhat similarly but has a much more pronounced contour. You take the two contour sticks provided with the kit, glue them together and apply medium/heavy - I think I used 100 - grit sand paper:

You can see the substantial contour on this.

If you recall - you can sort of see it on the tailblock in this picture - both the head and tail block extend well about the rim height.

These need to be shaved, chiseled, filed, planed down to the rim level using the contour stick as a guide to get the shape correctly - I did not get any pics of this step.

Then take your contour stick and sand down the rim and blocks and kerfing until they blend to the same level. You do need to take care to sand evenly. I found centering the bar over the middle of the mold and twisting back and forth kept it level and even.

Kerfing Time

2010-10-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

Kerfing, or kerfed lining, are strips applied to the edge of the rim top and bottom to provide extra gluing surface and reinforcement for attaching the soundboard and bottom. Ken recommends reversing the kerfing - that is the kerf is the glue surface and the flat surface is visible. It is stronger and much cleaner looking but does require an additional step.

Prior to installing the kerfing you also have to attach some leveling blocks to the master mold to hold the rims in the correct position. I think you'll get the idea from the pictures. The blocks are installed in one position when you're working on the sound board and removed and installed in another position when you are working on the bottom.

The kit provides cedar strips already kerfed (a slice in the wood that goes about half way through). These need to be pre-bent to the shape of the body so they don't break when installed. To reverse bend the kerfing you start by wetting the cedar and then wrapping it in tin foil. Let it sit a few minutes to flex up. Then wrap the strip to the outside of the guitar rim, clamp it tight and let it sit. I did this late one night so it sat overnight. You not only have to clamp it tight but you also have to clamp it continuously along its length, like:

I used every small clamp I owned on just one section of the kerfing. At half a side at a time it would take way too long to complete this step. Also, despite increasing the amount of time the strips were wrapped in foil they were breaking on me. So, I knew that clothespins are a perfectly adequate clamp for this purpose I just hadn't been able to find them over the last week or so. I finally tracked down a couple of packages at Ace hardware. I used the low setting on my heat gun to facilitate the bending process:

and using the clothespins (with regular clamps on some of the more stressful bend areas) I was in business.

Once the kerfing has molded to the guitar shape they are installed inside the rim with some yellow glue and all those clamps.

Once the kerfing has set you install the side reinforcements. Simple straight forward operation. Take a caliper, measure the spacing betweenn the kerf lining, transfer the measurement to the reinforcing strip, cut, glue and clamp. The recommended spacing is 3".

clamped up you get this:

that rosewood looks pretty sweet, doesn't it?

Building the Box - the Foundation

2010-10-12T18:41:00.000-07:00

10/7 & 10/8 - So now I get to start to truly build. The KMG kit comes with a work board - a sheet of 3/4 MDF shaped like an oversized guitar. The work board and the previously constructed mold are the foundation of the build. First you find the centerline of the work board. Then you align the centerline of the mold with the work board. Set one of the rims in the mold, top (flat) side down, flush to the work board. Use clamps and the waist clamp (provided) to set the rim flush to the mold sides. Locate the right angle of a triangle to align with the centerlines. Mark the ends.

Take a deep breath and trim the rim along your mark. Repeat for the other three rim ends. Set your rims with the butt ends aligned. Attach the neck block and end block per the directions using lots of yellow glue, lots of clamps, the waist clamp and a deck screw through the neck block directly into the mold for alignment and additional clamping power.

Let it set up overnight.

Pedal Power

2010-10-12T17:08:00.000-07:00

9/24 - I haven't shown you my pedal board. I'm a hobbyist so its pretty basic Overdrive, EQ, Reverb and Trem. I also put in an A/B switch to keep the tuner out of the loop. I went to Ikea and bought a Gorm shelf and upright and made my own board. I debated different methods of attachment and finally settled on velcro.

So I have the A of the A/B switch going to a Boss TU-3 tuner. There are so many quality tuners out there. I settled on the Boss because its built like a tank, you can see it in sunlight and it can be a power supply if need be.

B goes to a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver. The Blues Driver has a nice warm tube like distortion/overdrive tone but will get nice and crunchy when pushed. I had it for a while before deciding to get the Keeley Phat Mod. I'm still experimenting but the mod is grittier like you're really cranking your amp. The Phat switch gives a beefier, low end sound.

Next in line is a Danelectro Fish & Chips EQ. Dollar for dollar (I paid $15 at a guitar show) this is the best EQ on the market.

I think my favorite effect is reverb, that classic 60's wet echo type sound. Its easy to overdo reverb, a little goes a long way. Really livens things up. The Holy Grail is a natural choice. I liked it in the store and I really like the deal I got on eBay on a used one. The Spring setting at 11:00 works just fine.

Last in the line is a Danelectro Tuna Melt Tremolo. For me its special use only - think the opening riff to Gimme Shelter, or almost any CCR or Blvd of Broken Dreams by Green Day.

For power I bought a Power Pad II. What I liked most about the power pad: no 60 cycle hum, courtesy AC jack (so I can use the power jack that came with the Holy Grail), 8 x 9V outlets. I did not add a power strip for now.

The kit (box 2) arrives

2010-10-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

9/23 - Oh happy day - I've been patiently waiting for this.

Just like box 1 it is very well packed:

Sides, neck, fret board, kerfing, binding, purflings:

Top, back and rosette. Like the color and grain on the rosewood. The top is Edelmann Spruce and is pretty non-descript - the lightest color spruce I've seen. Don't know if you can tell from the picture but the bracing is already laid out on the top.

Bracing, bridge, headplate cover, rim reinforcements:

Neck, fret board, neck block, fret wire, tuning pegs:

Building the Master Mold

2010-09-18T19:46:00.000-07:00

Ah, now we get to start working on things that look like guitars. The mold is the unit that holds the shape of the guitar while you work on it. As I understand it there are two ways to go. An inside mold that pulls the shape against is and an outside mold that presses the shape against it. The KMG Success kit comes with a kit for an outside master mold.

You start with one rim of the mold face down. Set a couple of "spacer blocks" in place, glue and nail. Repeat as necessary. Flip it over and do the same thing to the other arm.

Check it frequently to make sure you are square and plumb:

Side one came out ok but I can do better. For the other side I pulled out some clamps and made some changes to the directions. Instead of glueing and nailing one side at a time I kept flip flopping back and forth. I left the clamps in until enough spacers were in place to hold it securely. I think I was more accurate doing it this way.

Just for kicks I clamped them together:

I still had a lot of fine tuning to do. The spacers can't extend inside the rims. I had to scrape, file, chisel and sand almost every spacer to get the inner space nice and flush to the rims. This is an example of what needed to be addressed. In this case, with the spacers extending behind the arm I couldn't set the splice plate properly.

With the two ends square and flush its time to install the splice plates. I don't know how well you can make this out on the photo but the splice plates are an example of what makes this a success kit. Ken cuts the splice to size and pre-drills the screw pattern. You still have to enlarge the screw holes and and align and attach the plates but the layout is done for you.

And now, after chiseling, filing and sanding the inside - using Ken's elegant suggestion for a sanding roller for the spacers - I have a finished (almost) mold

The last thing you do as part of this step is to draw a center line on the work board.

One thing I forgot is I want to keep track of how long it takes me to build. So far six hours - two for the clamps and four for the master mold.

Pro Style Deep Throat Cam Clamps

2010-09-18T03:45:00.000-07:00

No, this is not a Linda Lovelace tribute post - I'm sure you're all disappointed. Building a guitar calls for a lot of specialty tools. Ken's kit comes with a kit to build three cam clamps. The deep throat refers to the reach of the clamp. You'll see what I mean.

The raw materials:

So what you get are three pre-patterned wood pieces, the aluminum bars and the pins. Step one is to finish cutting out the pre-patterned arms. And, of course, my close friend Murphy showed up. I have a pretty good jigsaw, a Bosch, highly rated but not too expensive. It has a locking mechanism to hold the blade in place. There is no screw to tighten. This means when the locking mechanism breaks there is no way to attach the blade. You know your blade is securely locked when you rotate the grip clockwise and hear three clicks. Opened it up, set the blade, rotated the grip, heard click one, heard click two, and then the grip just spun around, there was no third click and there was never going to be a third click. I thought maybe two clicks was enough. I wiggled the blade and it felt pretty secure. So I plugged it in and started ripping. I was maybe 1/2 inch into the first cut when the blade stuck in the wood and the jigsaw kept hammering. Apparently, two clicks wasn't enough.

Frustrating. I thought about taking it apart to find the problem. I'm no MacGiver but I can figure things out. I got the manual, looked at the schematic and my eyes glazed over. Plan B. Long before I bought the Bosch I had a Sears jigsaw. I remember buying it on sales\ for $14.99. Well you get what you pay for and $14.99 doesn't get you much. I forgot that one of its flaws was the stability of the holding mechanism. It held the blade securely but rotated to the right ever so slowly as you were cutting. Perfect if you are cutting ovals. Not so good on straight lines. So I finished the cutting as best I could.

After cutting, filing and sanding you are left with this:

Time for a little glue up. On day one I was going to learn that there is no such thing as too many clamps:

I waited a while for the glue to dry - I used Titebond original formula yellow carpenters glue - and started to assemble. Very straightforward, good directions, finished in about an hour. I used an all purpose drill bit on the aluminum and I did pin the pins with a drop of superglue. As most things in life go the second and third ones came out better than the first:

So the problem with the first one is I didn't pay attention to how much cam is exposed below the upper arm. When you turn the lever the cam doesn't come in contact with the material you are clamping. No big deal, I'll just make a new lever and line it up better before I install it. The other two work fine.

Now do you see what I mean about deep throat? Get your minds out of the gutter!!!

The Kit (box #1) arrives

2010-09-18T02:34:00.000-07:00

Ken ships you your success kit via UPS in two rather heavy boxes. The first, which has many of the essential jigs and tools, arrives a few days before the second, which has the actual guitar pieces. So imagine my smile when I got how from work recently and found this waiting for me:

All right... lets open this sucker up:

and start unpacking:

Lots of stuff that looks very foreign to me. Fortunately some of them are shaped like a guitar so I must be headed down the right path.

The Acoustic Vision Takes Shape

2010-09-18T02:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not quite sure when I decided to build an acoustic guitar. I don't really play my Takamine very often, it just sits around gathering dust. I've been having a ton of fun building and playing the Teles for the last few years. I assumed making an acoustic guitar required tools and experiece that were beyond me and my skill level. I told people that know I am a builder that I build electrics because acoustics are way to difficult.

I was in MIMF (Musical Instrument Makers Forum) one day, I don't know what I was looking for, and happened to stumble on a referenence to a Kit Guitar Builders forum. I checked out the site, hmmm... kit building. I bought and read a book, Complete Guide to Building Kit Guitars by Bill Cory. Really well written a great beginners guide to get you started. Lots of advise and wisdom from his build experiences and great reference material. I hope he doesn't mind me posting this:

I did a lot of other reading, looked at a couple more sites, talked to a local builder who offers a kit assembly course and decided to take the plunge. But then I got to thinking... a kit? Shouldn't I be building from scratch. After all there are no electronics, no pickups to wind, its just wood. I'm a decent wood worker. I've built a playhouse. I've built a doll house. But then I got to thinking about bending the sides and cutting and shaping the braces and installing perfling. No way could I do that without serious help. So a kit it was. But which kit?

One thing I like about John's book is the advise he gives first time builders - learn from his mistakes so to speak. He reviews the most popular kit manufacturers and makes recommendations for which one to buy based on your particular circumstance. After reviewing the options I ended going with a "success kit" from Kenneth Michael Guitars. One of the things I liked about Ken's option was the extras - molds, tools, jigs, too numerous to mention - that came with it. I knew this build was going to require getting a lot of specialty tools and this seemed like a very sensible way to get started.

We emailed back and forth a couple of times, finalized the package and visited my friends at Paypal to make it official. The finshed guitar will have a spruce top, rosewood sides and back, ebony finger board. It's going to be beautiful. But enough conversation, lets start building.

My third electric - the Pinecaster

2010-08-21T20:27:00.000-07:00

Sorry, this is out of order because I inadvertently deleted the entire post while trying to edit a photo.

My third electric was my first build with all the individual parts sourced separately. I had been reading in the Telecaster Discussion Page forum about pine bodies (most Teles are ash or alder) and thought I would give that a try. I bought the body from Wood Tone Bodies - got a great price for one of their "butcher block" style 9 piece tops. I also wanted a quality neck with a shape and radius (7.25) the same as my blond '72. The SX I modded has a radius of 12 - the bigger the number the flatter the fret board. The neck for the pinecaster is an All Parts TMO bought from Mark at MJW Customs who does a superb job of leveling frets, lubing the truss rod, etc so it is ready to play right out of the box (after applying the finish of course).

I thought finshing a pine body would be a piece of cake. There were some wonderful examples of shellac finish on pine guitars on the Telecaster site and that is what I decided on. I first tried to use Zinsser amber shellac that I bought in a can at my local hardware store. Not having a clue what I was doing the first coat got very sticky during the application - there was no wet edge like you get during painting or staining. It's hard to imaging it looking any worse after the first coat. It was all blotchy and uneven and the amber was a little too orangy for my liking. I did some more research and learned a couple of things. I used waxed shellac but should have used de-waxed (leaves lots more options for clear coating), I applied it straight from the can but should have cut the mix, and, most importantly, that shellac has a shelf life. I turned the can of Zinsser over and it had an expiration date of Nov 2005. I guess its not a steady mover at Ace Hardware. At least they gave me my money back.

So I put the shellac idea on the back burner. I had several cans of MinWax from various refinishing projects and started mixing and matching until I had a color I like, a sort of blond/tobacco color. I sanded off the shellac and applied the stain concoction using standard wood staining technique, wiped on about 20 coats of MinWax wipe on poly and was all set. I wanted the neck to contrast the body so I left the maple its natural color and just used the wipe on poly. Totally satisfied with both the body and the neck.

I had also done a lot of reading on TDPRI about pickups. There are a lot of superior quality "boutique" pickups made by smaller shop builders available. You can really spend a bundle if you want to. I didn't want to. I decided to go with Bill Lawrence's Keystones. After hearing all the sound clips they were just the perfect combination of tone and value. I heard that due to some health issues there could be a long wait or lost orders but my order was turned around in just two weeks.

Everything else was sourced over the net. The tuners, neck plate and control plate came from a seller who parts out new Fenders. Electronics, compenstated saddles and most of the other parts came from Guitar Parts Resource.

The assembly was pretty straightforward. I used the American Standard Tele wiring configuration. And everything went together nicely. However, as I was stringing it up for the first time something about the neck looked odd. I got the blond '72, eyeballed it and noticed right away the neck didn't sit as deep in the pocket on piney. I did some more research, got out the calipers and learned that the pine body was routed correctly but the specs had changed. I much preferred the deeper pocket so did a quick rout job on piney and was all set. I actually went a tad deep and one playing card shim set it right.

Set up and intonation went very quickly - love the compensated saddles - and I was ready to play.

I didn't take many photos during the build but here's the raw body and the final Home Built Pinecaster:

Routing the deeper neck pocket:

The parts:

Bill Lawrence Keystone pickups - sorry for the fuzzy pic

Wiring it up.

My fifth electric - the Kellycaster Deluxe

2010-08-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

Fender Telecaster '72 Deluxe. 1972 Fender release two new models of the Telecaster - the Thinline and the Deluxe. I am building a replica of the Deluxe.

My attempt at a burst finish. I was going for amber fade to black. I'm fairly happy how it turned out. As with all my builds the flaws give it character!!!

I wanted the neck to have the same amber as the body. This I'm not so crazy about. It's a little too orangey for me. Not quite sure what to do. I don't want to strip and redo. Maybe it will grow on me. I do love the rosewood fret board.

On this one I'm trying to use Fender parts if I could find them:

Pickups installed. These are Fender Wide Range Humbuckers - a big diversion from the standard single coil that Fender is so famous for. The experts/purists say the new ones don't sound as good as the originals from the seventies. They're right, I've heard both. But I got these for $80 for both and I've seen the originals selling for as much as $350 each. I think I made the right call.

and wired: