Thread: #1 Acoustic Build

It's nice when stuff ups like that work out in your favour. The LMI ones are a little more reasonably priced than the StewMac versions. Will have to think about these for the next build and hopefully avoid that fretboard problem.

Got a heel cap glued onto the neck today and started work on filling some gaps.

Attachment 157193

I did a little bit of experimenting with some resins. The first cup is polyester casting resin which I don't normally use but thought I'd have a look at whether it would be suitable. Decided to stick with the epoxy that I'm familiar with. The third cup is a mix of epoxy and various pigments that turned out a muddy grey colour so that one was ditched. In the middle is the right mix, 2 grams of epoxy, a couple of drops of pigment and just a smidge of Cabosil to thicken it up a bit. I normally have the luxury of painting over all my epoxy work so this task seemed a little more critical, hopefully it works out ok.

Attachment 157194Attachment 157195Attachment 157196

i havnt been keeping up to date on this build,
it looks great! very clean

Thanks Andy.

Got the epoxy fill sanded up and it doesn't look spectacular but the holes are gone...

Attachment 157507Attachment 157508

I've now sanded the whole thing to 220 grit and will hopefully get the bridge glued on tomorrow before some final sanding.

Attachment 157509

That's looking good. This IMHO is the best part of a build......on the home straight and heading for the finish line. Youre already thinking about the next instrument youre going to build.

Back at my computer at last, You are getting a lot done there Steve, looking great, I like the fret bender you did. At this time of the year I would love to have my work shop in my back yard,I will have to go in to work to do more, I took my guitar away with me and did the polish job to 80 % and hope I dont mark it to much in the final stages.

Martin , thank's for the info on the radius dish, I want to read up on more of that.
cheers Rob

You can make up your own dish forms with a router and jig but I'm lazy and dont like having MDF dust hanging around my shop.

Heres one method using a router: [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvGemvizrz4]YouTube - Making A Radius Dish[/ame]

If you check out the OLF forum youll find other information on making your own dishes.

Once you get the dishes glue them onto a round of 15mm MDF to increase rigidity of the dish and give them a coat of polyurathane or sanding sealer.

Thanks for the comments gents. Definitely got the #2 build underway inside the head. May have to squeeze out a bit of furniture to keep the wife happy though before it gets into gear...

I like the dish making jig and may have to give it a go to save on postage costs since they are big and heavy items. Looks like something I could set up in the back yard to avoid the MDF dust clogging up the shed.

The bridge is now glued down. I made up a little caul for it and measured it about a thousand times before applying the glue. I've only measured it about 5 times since it's been clamped down but will go back out and measure it again in about half an hour to see if it's moving. Not sure I'd know what to do if it was moving anyway since it'll be pretty well stuck down at that stage...

Attachment 157585Attachment 157586Attachment 157587

I've also been trying out some finishes. The DVD build is completed with Rustin's Danish Oil, which I should be able to get hold of soon. In the meantime I've run a couple of coats of Feast Watson Fine Buffing Oil on a scrap from the soundboard to see if that will work ok. The bottom half was sealed (Feast Watson Proofseal) before application of the oil and the top half was raw. I think I like the look of the sealed side better as it's a closer representation of the original colours.

Attachment 157588

Are there any advantages / disadvantages to sealing the timber before oiling and is the Fine Buffing Oil a suitable finish? I didn't bother sealing with the amplifier and cabinet build.

your doing a good job of making this look easy... haha
it looks very attractive

Haha, easy yes. Here's a funny conversation I had with the wife yesterday.

She is heading off to work and I've got the day off. I'm pretty excited as the bridge is being glued on today and once that's done it's ready for finishing.

So I say to her, "I'm gluing the bridge on today, guess what that means".
"You'll be angry"
"What, no, whaddya mean I'll be angry"
"You'll glue the bridge on, something will go wrong and by the time I get home you'll be all off".

Looking back on the work so far, there were definitely times when I've been very disappointed and angry at myself for having stuffed up here and there. As the build has progressed and I've had to redo and repeat more and more things I think I've become more capable of handling the errors, both physically and mentally.

The bridge gluing actually went quite well yesterday. While measuring it up though, I managed to drop the bridge when lifting it from the guitar and it's edge dug a 1.5mm deep puncture into the soundboard. "Can't sand that out", I thought to myself and just got on with it...

One thing I will remember for the next bridge I glue on will be to ensure the masking tape covers the soundboard exactly to the bridge outline. I've spent about 4 hours trying to sand off the glue squeeze out right on the edge of the bridge without damaging the soundboard. In the end I was using a very sharp marking knife to lightly scrape it away but some damage has occurred and some glue still remains.

Anyhow, onto the final sanding and finish. I've done some test samples of the other woods used in the guitar and found that the oil finish without sealing looks better on all of them. In fact, the unsealed portion of the soundboard sample is also now starting to look better than the sealed part so that may have decided the method that will be used.

Hi Steve, Have you ever steamed out damage? while cleaning glue from my fret board glue down I did a bit of damage to my top, there was a hard drop of glue on the flat of my chisel that left a 20 mm long x 2mm wide, [ with a guess ] .75 mm deep indentation, that was one of the reasons why I was going to do the top finish a second time, I did'nt sand it out but steamed it up then did a light sand and it's gone, 1.5 mm sounds deep but if the grain is not torn it can come come back with steam,I wet the dent ,then place a wet rag folded once, over the dent, the rag was about 40mm x 40mm then hold a hot iron to it, when its getting dry add more water and do two or three times.

I saw you question about sealing and I was thinking if your putting oil on a piece of wood then you are sealing it. Is the sealer you have a sanding sealer, one with sediment that sits on the bottom and has to be stirred up before brushing on? if it is that type of sealer then it may be an advantage on your Blackwood to fill the grain, but probably not so much on your Pine top, Blackwood has a pretty close grain and may just level up with a few coats of oil with cut backs, if it does not fill easy then a sanding sealer is an advantage, pine does not have such an open grain,and you may even be able to thin your oil for the top, the less finish on the top the better , it has to get a finish, and have a shine or be dull to your taste, but the thinner the better.

regards Rob

Thanks Rob. I learnt the steaming trick on the ukulele build and did apply it to the soundboard damage. It removed some of the scratching but couldn't fully raise the puncture mark. Two sides of the sharp corner had cut a small V into the grain. Not to worry.

I finally finished sanding it all today and it's ready for oiling.

Attachment 157731

The Feast Watson Proofseal is just a spirit based sealer, no grain filling grit in the bottom. I got it and a very cheap 4 litre can of the Fine Buffing Oil when a local hardware was going out of business.

Picked up the Rustin's Danish Oil today and tried it on another soundboard scrap, sealer free, and it looks pretty good. Looking forward to seeing it coated.

I hate waiting for finishes to dry...

I've applied four coats of Danish oil so far and each one has needed at least 24 hours to cure before it felt ok to sand back. The tin says 4 - 8 hours between coats.

It is starting to look good though. Another two coats of oil and it should be done.

Here's a look straight after the application of the first coat.

Attachment 158060

Originally Posted by stevemc32

I hate waiting for finishes to dry...

I've applied four coats of Danish oil so far and each one has needed at least 24 hours to cure before it felt ok to sand back. The tin says 4 - 8 hours between coats.

It is starting to look good though. Another two coats of oil and it should be done.

Here's a look straight after the application of the first coat.

Attachment 158060

Hi Steve,

This might be preaching to the converted, but 2 things I have found about DO, having used it for years on both cabinetry and turnings:

It is an "in-wood" finish, and after applying, need to wipe off excess, else it can become "gummy" and not want to dry properly.

Secondly, it does not like some timbers (oily perhaps?). I have had problems with NSW Rosewood, and in particular, with Tassie Myrtle. Would not dry at all. Finally had to strip off with turps, and start again, with only minimal wiping, and then only got a result after about a week.

regards