Thread: #1 Acoustic Build

Steve, I found brad point bits at Grizzly Industrial, I'm guessing they ship to Australia. I didn't see any 10mm bits but 13/32 will work also, StewMac I believe lists either size as being suitable for most of the tuners they sell. If I can't find a suitable dowel size for a project, I'll take one that's oversize, chuck it in the drill press, then take some type of cutter that will shave it down, clamp the cutter in a vise and bolt it to the table. Then run the dowel against the cutter, taking a little off at a time till it's the right size. I found wood turning tools to be ideal for a cutter. It's kind of tedious for just a couple of dowels but it works. I wanted to tell you that sure is a clean shop you keep there. Mine always looks like a tornado went through it. I felt inspired from looking at your pictures to give it a good cleaning yesterday, but it won't stay that way for long.Mike

Originally Posted by kiwigeo

Alastair,

If you're using Campiano then make sure you check out his website. Bill has changed a few things in terms of construction methods since he first published his book. Theres also alot of other useful stuff on his website.

Cheers Martin

Hi Martin,

Yes, I keep up with his website. The neck attachment won't be affecting me at his stage, as it will be a while before I attempt a SS! As for some of the other "minor" changes, some I had picked up myself, others not, but I read book in conjunction with web.

regards

Originally Posted by Heartstrings

Steve, I found brad point bits at Grizzly Industrial, I'm guessing they ship to Australia. I didn't see any 10mm bits but 13/32 will work also, StewMac I believe lists either size as being suitable for most of the tuners they sell. If I can't find a suitable dowel size for a project, I'll take one that's oversize, chuck it in the drill press, then take some type of cutter that will shave it down, clamp the cutter in a vise and bolt it to the table. Then run the dowel against the cutter, taking a little off at a time till it's the right size. I found wood turning tools to be ideal for a cutter. It's kind of tedious for just a couple of dowels but it works. I wanted to tell you that sure is a clean shop you keep there. Mine always looks like a tornado went through it. I felt inspired from looking at your pictures to give it a good cleaning yesterday, but it won't stay that way for long.Mike

There was an article in one of the Oz WW mags last year, on drill sharpening, including regrinding standard bits to brad point.

I'll look for it and scan, if anyone interested.

regards

A bit of good stuff today but a disappointing end...

Not sure I'm ready to cut my own plugs just yet Rob but it didn't matter since I had some excellent service from McJING Tools. Found a 10mm plug cutter on their website yesterday arvo and it was delivered before 9:30 this morning. Fantastic. Just realised I could have gotten a 10mm brad point bit off them as well.

Is this the two way vice you are talking about for drill press use. It looks pretty neat and not too expensive.

Attachment 153434

I try to keep the shed clean Mike since I also use it for fibreglass work and don't really like sawdust in my epoxy and glass. I haven't been real successful though, the pictures probably don't reveal the true conditions. Glad to hear it motivated you to do a bit of a cleanup though, that's always a good thing.

Thanks for the offer of scanning the article Alastair. Don't know I'd have much luck with regrinding my own drill bits though so I think McJING will get my $5 for the bit.

The good progress for today involved finishing off the soundboard bracing ready to fit it up to the body tomorrow. It came up ok, a few chisel gouges here and there whilst shaping the braces but nothing too serious.

Attachment 153439

Then came the attempted plugging of the headstock. I decided to move one of the holes on the right hand side to match the stuffed up ones on the left instead of re-doing all three on the left. The plug cutter does a great job and after a few test runs I put it to work on the top of the headstock, that will later be removed, to get a pre-laminated plug.

Attachment 153436Attachment 153435

That part went fine so I glued it in and came back to it later to clean up the plug. It's hard to tell in the photo but as soon as I touched the plug with the paring chisel a piece chipped off and left about half of the plug surface below the headstock surface.

Attachment 153437

There was nothing I could do but have a bit of a chuckle at that stage. I just hoped that the washer would indeed cover it up after the new hole was drilled.

So I went about marking a new hole position, made a solid punch mark with my awl and headed over to the drill press once again. This time I lined it up from two different angles, got right down next to it and checked the bit was aligned with the mark and clamped it all down in position. Lowering the drill bit into the wood I checked to see how it looked against the plug and all was going well. As soon as the bit hit the hardwood headstock plate the whole neck moved and the bit exited the hardwood in the originally drilled hole... Obviously I need to work on my clamping technique as well.

The good part is that it didn't damage the headstock plate so I was able to make another plug and glue it up to try again another day. It's not a real good fit on the back of the headstock but this will be covered by the tuner anyway. Third time lucky maybe.

Attachment 153438

Hi Alistair , looking forward to seeing your Cumpiano clasical come along, I am doing a steel string useing the kinkade book and the Cumpiano book, I liked the mould type construction in Kinkade, any thing not explained clearly in Kinkade Cumpiano makes very clear.
I would like to see that scan, I have been thinking of giving a re grind a go to a brad point with spurs after looking at what was available in shops

Steve , thats the same vice I use, great for wood ,even better for steel and brass work,if you have a drill press and dont have one you will love it , makes work safer to, for drilling tuner holes Cumpiano shows a great looking jig you could make in the tools and jigs section here William Cumpiano Koa guitar build I love his jointing device.
The way that plug chipped will happen every time ,unless you look at the run of the grain before you glue it in , or fluke the right direction to pare,I know what its like, Iv'e wrecked it at the end by rushing the fun bit heaps of times , if the plug is sitting high enough like three or four mm I test the top one mm with the chisel to see which way it wants to go.

Just out of interest do you dress you grinding wheel with any thing before grinding a chisel or plane blade ? I went years without doing it , then a guy from Ace saws is standing in the work shop one day waiting to be given all my blades for a re grind, and he was looking at my grinding stone,and says "dont you dress it" no I said , Iv'e been getting by , next time he comes in he gives me a 3/8 bolt with some worn out diamond tips off a concrete cutting saw brazed to the head , I drilled a hole in a stick and glued the bolt in ,and have never looked back , a definite workshop must have.
regards Rob

I'm only fairly new to hand tools so I haven't done a great deal of grinding Rob, virtually all of my sharpening so far has been by hand on the stones so the grinding wheel is still in pretty good shape. I'll get hold of a dressing stone though and keep it handy when I do start grinding blades away. A friend from Japan recently brought me over a few Japanese waterstones so I'll have to learn how to use those soon also.

I went over to McJING's today to collect the brad point bit and couldn't resist the sliding vice after such a glowing recommendation. It's still covered in the usual snot they layer them in for shipping so I'll have to spend some time cleaning it up before I can put it to use.

Hit a fairly major milestone today with the glue up of the soundboard. All seemed to go pretty well. Gave the shed an extra cleanup this time since I can now put a few jigs and stuff away till No. 2 is started.

Attachment 153526Attachment 153527

To scared to go near the headstock plug with another chisel so I very gently scraped the plug down to size and looks like it came up ok. Didn't have time for re-drilling today but hopefully get onto that next.

Attachment 153528

Thanks to all who've help so far - it's been much appreciated.

Originally Posted by stevemc32

A friend from Japan recently brought me over a few Japanese waterstones so I'll have to learn how to use those soon also.

Keep 'em wet and keep 'em flat.

Originally Posted by stevemc32

A bit of good stuff today but a disappointing end...

Not sure I'm ready to cut my own plugs just yet Rob but it didn't matter since I had some excellent service from McJING Tools. Found a 10mm plug cutter on their website yesterday arvo and it was delivered before 9:30 this morning. Fantastic. Just realised I could have gotten a 10mm brad point bit off them as well.

Is this the two way vice you are talking about for drill press use. It looks pretty neat and not too expensive.

Attachment 153434

I try to keep the shed clean Mike since I also use it for fibreglass work and don't really like sawdust in my epoxy and glass. I haven't been real successful though, the pictures probably don't reveal the true conditions. Glad to hear it motivated you to do a bit of a cleanup though, that's always a good thing.

Thanks for the offer of scanning the article Alastair. Don't know I'd have much luck with regrinding my own drill bits though so I think McJING will get my $5 for the bit.

The good progress for today involved finishing off the soundboard bracing ready to fit it up to the body tomorrow. It came up ok, a few chisel gouges here and there whilst shaping the braces but nothing too serious.

Attachment 153439

Then came the attempted plugging of the headstock. I decided to move one of the holes on the right hand side to match the stuffed up ones on the left instead of re-doing all three on the left. The plug cutter does a great job and after a few test runs I put it to work on the top of the headstock, that will later be removed, to get a pre-laminated plug.

Attachment 153436Attachment 153435

That part went fine so I glued it in and came back to it later to clean up the plug. It's hard to tell in the photo but as soon as I touched the plug with the paring chisel a piece chipped off and left about half of the plug surface below the headstock surface.

Attachment 153437

There was nothing I could do but have a bit of a chuckle at that stage. I just hoped that the washer would indeed cover it up after the new hole was drilled.

So I went about marking a new hole position, made a solid punch mark with my awl and headed over to the drill press once again. This time I lined it up from two different angles, got right down next to it and checked the bit was aligned with the mark and clamped it all down in position. Lowering the drill bit into the wood I checked to see how it looked against the plug and all was going well. As soon as the bit hit the hardwood headstock plate the whole neck moved and the bit exited the hardwood in the originally drilled hole... Obviously I need to work on my clamping technique as well.

The good part is that it didn't damage the headstock plate so I was able to make another plug and glue it up to try again another day. It's not a real good fit on the back of the headstock but this will be covered by the tuner anyway. Third time lucky maybe.

Attachment 153438

Steve, can you get a forstner bit in 10mm to redrill that hole? If they are available in that size I'd sure like to get my hands on one. I like the way they make cleaner exit holes compared to brad points and since they are guided by the rim of the bit, won't drift. Mike

Originally Posted by Heartstrings

Steve, can you get a forstner bit in 10mm to redrill that hole? If they are available in that size I'd sure like to get my hands on one. I like the way they make cleaner exit holes compared to brad points and since they are guided by the rim of the bit, won't drift. Mike

Can definitely get hold of a 10mm Forstener bit Mike, again from my ole mate McJING... He lists them for $8.50 so if you can't get hold of one locally I'd be happy to forward one across the pond. Probably cost you the same again for postage I'd guess.

Just a series of very small steps going on here. Managed to trim the soundboard today, much more successfully than the back. I used the StewMac bit and the climb cutting method and had no problems with tearout whatsoever.

Attachment 153682

Also redrilled the headstock hole using the brad point bit. Took it nice and slow and didn't have any problems there either.

Attachment 153683

A quick question, now that the body is glued up is it still critical to maintain the ideal humidity level or are the variations now a little more tolerable?

Looking good Steve, how are you joining the neck? a router and jig and do you have them yet?
or are you like me and have another jig to build.Rob

Originally Posted by stevemc32

A quick question, now that the body is glued up is it still critical to maintain the ideal humidity level or are the variations now a little more tolerable?

In my experience changes in relative humidity will still cause the timber to move as it absorbs and loses moisture at a rapid rate. This rate of moisture transfer is only reduced by the application of finishing coats that provide a barrier to moisture transfer.

Different timbers and different cuts of timber will absorb and expand or contract at different rates so it is important to reduce relative humidity variations until the finishing coats have been applied.

regards

Steve

It'll be a dovetailed neck joint Rob. I got the templates and router bit from StewMac a while ago and just need to build the mounting jig to hold the parts when routing. It seemed like the most reliable method for a beginner.

Steve, thanks for your thoughts on the humidity changes. That makes sense though I wonder since I've not applied any finish to the inside of the body will that be a problem through the life of the instrument. Didn't even think about finishing it before gluing up and there's no way of doing so now. I haven't really had a good look but I don't think any of the acoustic guitars that I've owned have had any finish on the inside.

Guys,

I'll have a dig for that article this week.

When it comes to drilling, I have a press vise. Not the 2-way slide type, so I tend to use it mainly when drilling steel, for safety, or when doing "production runs", like drilling pen blanks, when I can get a repeatable setup.

When drilling timber, using normal twist drills, what I do is mark with an awl, then with the drill up, take the workpiece and hold it up to the bit, and position the point in the "dimple". Then holding in position, lower the drill until the workpiece reaches the table, with the bit point still in place. Then clamp/hold the workpiece in place, release the handle, switch on the drill, and wind it down again slowly and drill.

Don't know if it would handle mixed grain, tho', suspect brad-point or forstner would be the only solution there.

regards

That's an interesting way of lining up the drill press with the work Alastair. Have to give it a go sometime and see if I have any success.

Got to work on the binding yesterday. Managed to route the required ledges on the front and back including the step ledge for a purfling strip on the front. I decided to do the back bindings first as they were supposed to be nice and simple, just a strip of wood without the purfling strip.

Attachment 153852Attachment 153853Attachment 153854

I actually had quite a bit of difficulty getting the binding strips to seat properly which I think was mainly due to the heavy longitudinal curve in the back. Not sure I could have pre-bent them to accommodate that curve but might try this in future. The result was not so great.

Attachment 153855Attachment 153856

My question is now, how should I go about filling these problem areas? During the uke build I tried to match a commercial filler with the wood I was using by adding some oxide powder but it wasn't real successful. I do recall back in the school days we used to mix sawdust from the wood being filled and glue to make a filler. Is this still suitable and if so would I be best using sawdust from the Blackwood or from the binding strip?