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  1. #46
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    Thanks again Kiwi, will do. I was only going to put the back through my drum sander. Just basically to clean it up. Its not a bad outfit that I made myself, I could just skim the back off, when I got down that low. But I will take your advice here. The top is currently spot on 3mm thick. Those dishes I made, I followed some mathematical calculations that I found on a site. Followed them to the letter. Does it matter if there is a mil or so variance in the curves, I am hoping mine are pretty accurate.

    Paul

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  3. #47
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    Jul 2004
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    Adelaide Hills
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    A few mm variation dish radius isn't an issue
    Whatever note you blow youre never more than a semitone away from the correct one....(Miles Davis)

  4. #48
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Bega NSW
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    I feel like a broken record, but you must get the humidity down if you want the guitar to survive at lower than 75% humidity. 75-80% is way too high. The best way of doing that is to use a dehumidifier, but you can also use an old wardrobe or build a box and add a heat source. Put the heat source at the bottom and ventilate at the top. Humidity control is very important when building musical instruments.

  5. #49
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    Jul 2004
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    Quote Originally Posted by mandoman View Post
    I feel like a broken record, but you must get the humidity down if you want the guitar to survive at lower than 75% humidity. 75-80% is way too high. The best way of doing that is to use a dehumidifier, but you can also use an old wardrobe or build a box and add a heat source. Put the heat source at the bottom and ventilate at the top. Humidity control is very important when building musical instruments.
    Mandoman..Youre comments re humidity are valid and I'm sure they've been taken on board. The last few posts have been on saving the top rather than writing it off.
    Whatever note you blow youre never more than a semitone away from the correct one....(Miles Davis)

  6. #50
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    Sep 2011
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    Valla Beach
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    Hey there Mandoman and Kiwi, I do appreciate all of your assistance for my first attempt. And Mandoman, I do take your humidity comments on board. I am pondering the best way I can deal with this. One thing we are going away in one month from now, for about 6 to 8 weeks, back home early June. So that might be a temporary fix to this problem. Not really sure what our winter humidity is, I've never taken that much notice before. I might price some dehumidifiers. Doing a minimum of 6,000kms plus whilst away. I had a nice little drive today down to Boutique Timbers, Greg and Mal took a couple of 6mm slices off a lovely piece of 140 year old Australian Red Cedar for me. This come from a slice of about a 55mm piece. I also bought the 30mm piece left over and will see if I can get someone to slice it down further, later on down the track. Their bandsaw (only one of its kind in Australia) has to have a bit over an inch to anchor the timber onto the carriages that travel on train tracks under the horizontal bandsaw. Worth the trip just to watch it. I will most likely keep this for hopefully my second build, it needs a bit more drying out and will go a much deeper colour according to Greg.

    Greg and Mal like to publicise their timber, so here are a couple of pics.

    Thanks again, Paul
    Attached Images Attached Images

  7. #51
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    Sep 2011
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    Hey Kiwi and Mandoman,

    I removed my bracing today. Started with your chisel trick, but the rosewood bracing I used was starting to split too much, so I got it down a bit further and put it through my home made drum sander. All gone now, and you can still see the original carbon paper/pencil marks.
    Attached Images Attached Images

  8. #52
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    Hi Kiwi and Mandoman and others,

    I am still around. I've now finished my body, reasonably happy with it. I have made one or two mistakes along the way, I misinterpreted the plans in the book I am following, but all good, fingers crossed it works out ok. I'll put a couple of pics up. Another question at this stage, I made my own purflings and bindings. I dont know if I will ever do that again, when I see that you can buy plastic type ones. Each ended up being 1.5mm thick, with both laminated from two pieces of timber, (purflings ended up two lots of .75mm timber joined together). Then with the initial router of 3mm in and approx 1.5mm deep for the purflings and then another router of 1.5mm in and about 7mm deep for the bindings, it all becomes very very fiddly indeed. Then trying to bend these tiny pieces of timber into shape and glue them in place was extremely tricky. End result, fair to middlin.

    So do you blokes use timber, or buy them pre made,..?

    Just curious for possibly my next attempt.

    This morning I prepared some rosewood for my neck, glued and clamped for the headstock and body end. That will be close to about it for the time being. As we are heading off end of this week for about 7 weeks, doing about 6,000 to 7,000kms.

    And yes when you see the pics, the bottom is all one piece, a lovely wide piece of australian red cedar. I've just put one coat of Danish Oil onto the body, mainly to see how it comes up, I like it. Much more coats to be done later on, then wax after that.

    Paul
    Attached Images Attached Images

  9. #53
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Location
    Chifley, ACT Australia
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pauls321 View Post
    Hi Kiwi and Mandoman and others,

    I am still around. I've now finished my body, reasonably happy with it. I have made one or two mistakes along the way, I misinterpreted the plans in the book I am following, but all good, fingers crossed it works out ok. I'll put a couple of pics up. Another question at this stage, I made my own purflings and bindings. I dont know if I will ever do that again, when I see that you can buy plastic type ones. Each ended up being 1.5mm thick, with both laminated from two pieces of timber, (purflings ended up two lots of .75mm timber joined together). Then with the initial router of 3mm in and approx 1.5mm deep for the purflings and then another router of 1.5mm in and about 7mm deep for the bindings, it all becomes very very fiddly indeed. Then trying to bend these tiny pieces of timber into shape and glue them in place was extremely tricky. End result, fair to middlin.

    So do you blokes use timber, or buy them pre made,..?

    Just curious for possibly my next attempt.

    This morning I prepared some rosewood for my neck, glued and clamped for the headstock and body end. That will be close to about it for the time being. As we are heading off end of this week for about 7 weeks, doing about 6,000 to 7,000kms.

    And yes when you see the pics, the bottom is all one piece, a lovely wide piece of australian red cedar. I've just put one coat of Danish Oil onto the body, mainly to see how it comes up, I like it. Much more coats to be done later on, then wax after that.

    Paul
    That's a wonderful looking guitar.... generally hard woods are chosen for the back and sides, with softwoods such as spruce and cedar for the top.. I'm not sure that it matters too much for the sound, the back and sides are just these to make a box (and look good). It will be nice to hear what this one sounds like...

    By the way - I have not made much progress with my own bit of lutherie... but I decided to fire up my home made electric bending iron (see a few posts back)... I bent a 1 inch strip of blackwood just to see how I would go... Happy to report that it works a treat!

    Can you describe what did you did for binding strips? I am not keen on plastic binding... and what about the rosette?

  10. #54
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    Jun 2008
    Location
    Bega NSW
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    I have always used wooden bindings. Purphlings I buy, but depending on what wood I want to use for the bindings I either buy them or make them up myself. I think wooden bindings give a more classy look to the instrument so have never used plastic.

  11. #55
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
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    Chifley, ACT Australia
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    Quote Originally Posted by mandoman View Post
    I have always used wooden bindings. Purphlings I buy, but depending on what wood I want to use for the bindings I either buy them or make them up myself. I think wooden bindings give a more classy look to the instrument so have never used plastic.
    I have a current uncompleted project (A tenor Ukelele - my first) but I read a lot and I got the impression that binding is the collective term given to and edging strip that may be made of plastic, shell, or wood (solid or veneers).... I've seen the word purfling before, but I thought it was another word for binding... You seem to differentiate between the two can you please elaborate Mandoman?

    I agree with you about timber binding. What timber would you suggest to bind a spruce or cedar top to Blackwood sides... I'm thinking I need to go darker than the Blackwood, but that would be something the colour of ebony, which is as rare as hen's teeth, (right?) Is there any sin in taking a few strips of say Tasmanian Oak or maple and staining them black for the bindings?

    Regards

    Jorge

  12. #56
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    Binding is on the outside...purflings on the inside of the bindings. I generally buy bindings but theyre easy enough to run up on a bandsaw. Purflings are a paint to make so I buy those in bulk. Ebony binding is available at Stewmac and LMI. Ebony is nice but if there are any tight bends to get around then it can be a pain. For blackwood sides and a spruce top blackwood would be my first choice. Rosewood would also look nice but youre talking personal choice to a large degree.
    Whatever note you blow youre never more than a semitone away from the correct one....(Miles Davis)

  13. #57
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    Jun 2008
    Location
    Bega NSW
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    I like Indian Rosewood bindings with Blackwood back and sides. It is easy to bend and you can buy them from Stew Mac. Gidgee or Ivorywood also look nice, but you have to make up the bindings yourself, and they are not so easy to bend. I always buy purphlings.

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