12 Fret Slope Shoulder Dread

[Joe Sustaire]

He keeps me on my toes Lefty!

Closing the box. I glued the back onto the rims with fish glue and after tapping around and listening I did a little more carving of the back braces. Mainly the lowest brace and the top brace. The brace at the waist was already carved very low since it was bracing the shortest span and I was surprised at the deep resonant tap I was getting there. The tap along the bottom brace seemed a little tight so I carved it down low and it seems to have opened up the sound much better. Just tapping, listening and responding intuitively, but it's sounding really nice to me. I don't believe I've ever put the back on first before but I think I like doing it this way.

I've been reading the pro and con discussions on sealing the inside of the box with a coat of shellac and I think a pretty good case has been made that it will slow down the woods reaction to humidity changes, which sounds like a little good insurance to me. So some final sanding and then a brush coat of shellac, stick on my label and on to fitting the top.


Ready to go.


I reached in through the soundhole and marked along the kerfing and head and tail blocks so I could brush on a coat of shellac on the top, being careful not to get any in the glue zone.


And there we go, let the fish glue dry overnight and we'll have a closed box!

Joe

[Joe Sustaire]

Okay we've got a closed box. Now it's on to getting it ready for binding.

I made a couple of cork faced sanding blocks, one flat and one out of pvc for sanding the waist area. I marked along the sides with a soft pencil and sanded with the sanding blocks to get a flat surface.






And you can see by the pencil marks if there is a low spot or ripple and sand until all the marks are gone so you know you have a flat surface. I'd never really done this before, just sanded till it looked and felt smooth, but this really lets you find the uneven spots in your sides. Works well.

And then it was on to the end graft.




My first non wedge shaped end graft.

Binding is next,
Joe

[Matthew Jenkins]

Racing stripes!! Very cool. Are you going to continue them over the top and back?

Only joking Joe. The end graft looks great and will be finished off superbly when the binding goes on.

I like the sanding the rims tip but I bend on a pipe and my rims generally end up looking like a beach when the tides just gone out!

[Fred Blom]

The sides on my first build had several low spots and I did not see them until pour filling. Had I known the tip you showed (I had never built anything before the guitar) I would have had more success. I will use your tip on the second. I like the end graft. It got me thinking about matching the end graft with the neck lamination as a design element. I'm sure the bindings/purflings will make this one stunning.

[DaveAnderson]

I like your end wedge or Non wedge Joe. I like making them straight like this too.

[Kim]

Joe,

I love the "phone box". As Bill and Ted would say "Excellent ".

I had one of those in my shop but had to get rid of it. I found that mine seemed to attract mild mannered blokes with tweed and thick rimmed glasses who'd come sneaking in my workshop, slip into the box, and then burst out again wearing blue Lycra jump suits with red undies on the outside shouting "Up, Up, and AWAAAY!!" as the flew off out the bloody door...very distracting to say the least.

Coming along very nicely there Joe

[Marcus McGuinness]

Very neat-looking work there, Joe, and I'm following this build with interest. I get your point about being an artist. Why struggle to put food on the table when you can rake it in building guitars?

Mac

[Joe Sustaire]

Thanks for commenting guys!
On to binding,

Yeah there's them racing stripes again. And does anyone see what's wrong about those pretty bent purfling pieces?


I went with the tape them into place and glue them down with the thin CA method.


Picture of my poor boy binding router tower.


Purfing and binding channels cut on top.


Bindings with end graft and back stripe.


And binding and purfs from the top.

Back to my earlier question about the pretty bent purfs, look again at that first shot and then look at the purfing in this last shot and notice the orientation!

I'm always working hard to find another way to screw up.

Joe