Thread: #2 Acoustic Build

Originally Posted by kiwigeo

Steve,

I've had another hard look at your pic and if as you say its just the glue joint that's failed then replaning the joint and regluing is definitely the way to go. You shouldn't have to take off more than a couple of mm to get a nice joint. If youre worried about taking too much off then a back up plan is to prepare the joint using sandpaper glued to a builders level. It wont give as ideal a gluing surface as a planed joint but IMO the difference is miniscule and in this case if it reduces risk of planing too much off then its worth considering.

The sanding stick is definitely my fall back method for jointing the panels. That's how the first guitar was done but I'm hoping to get the plane technique sorted out.

I'm concerned with the clamping as I no longer have the straight edges to apply pressure on the outside of the panel, and with the thickness now down to under 2.5mm I'm not sure the clamping will be that effective. Tomorrow afternoon should see a result either way.

Hi Martin, You could hide the mini lathe under your tonewood stash.

[QUOTEI need to get a mini lathe so I can turn up pegs.....another machine to hide from the boss.

Thanks for asking

Martin[/QUOTE]

Hi Steve, lol

I may have missed this before but it is Titebond your using ? no good to re glue on
I wouldn't be doing any new glue on old glue ,unless there was no other way

With the clamping , you need to be able to plane them then test them
so you need a shooting board that both backs sit on

your going to have to tape them together first so the two jointing edges line up and on you shaped side put in say three or four cuts that go through both with a chisel, a V shape that is square to the horizontal

Cut out three or four triangles that fit your V cut outs
lay your backs on the shooting board with the edge hanging over to be planned
put a brick on it, no a plane

And glue your triangles to the shooting board, only .
When dry you can shoot them, lift them off ,and put them back for more if needed

By the way Hide glue would be great here, but I know your leaving that for another day

To Glue them up , a good joint can be done with just stretched masking tape,on one side
Lay the Back face down and around the edge prop it up 10mm so it's a shallow V
stretch your tape on tight, turn it over ,lift up the middle put in glue and press down ,wipe off glue , level joint, put some plastic over joint ,rest no 7 plane on top,

cheers Rob

Originally Posted by auscab

Hey that's fine , to know what you do.

But don't go giving me advice as to when to take a break thanks Martin..

There wasn't any thing pear shaped any way, or if there was can you point it out to me ?

Rob

Sorry Rob (and Steve), it would appear my concentration has gone pear shaped of late...not paying full attention to threads here. As Rob has correctly pointed out I'm waffling on about Steves top when it is in fact a back. My (and Robs) preferred option for dealing with the failed glue joint applies to both a top or back regardless.

Cheers Martin

Thanks for the explanation Martin, here and in the pm, I see whats happened here now, You didn't intend any of it, and where a statement can be read a number of ways , I was seeing it all in the negative .
I'm embarrassed at coming back a bit loud at you, sorry about that

regards and respect Rob

Thanks again Gentlemen, all the help is appreciated.

Spent an hour or so this morning making sure all my plane blades were nice and sharp. Think I've got the hang of the waterstones now so I'm getting some good results there.

The thin pull saw was used to split the two back halves as I didn't want to waste too much wood on the bandsaw. I then attempted the jointing using Rob's instructions but after two failed efforts I wimped out and resorted to the sanding stick that had served me well on the first build. If I had some more material to spare I would definitely have persevered with the hollow jointing but couldn't risk going any further with it this time. It's most certainly a skill I shall be working on with some scrap.

Attachment 172643

I was capable of managing the masking tape glue up method and that looks to have been successfully completed. The No. 7 worked a treat.

Attachment 172644

Checked the size after it was all glued up and I (we) managed to get it done with about 2mm to spare on the lower bout.

Bit too wet to do any bracing of the back this week so I just cleaned up the join with a scraper. There was a slight mismatch when rejoining but it evened out no problem and didn't thin the board excessively.

The Blackheart patterns are no longer even close to matching up since a lot of material has been removed but it still looks ok. I'm still thinking a dark back strip might be in order to remove the join line. Any suggestions for a darker coloured timber good for binding, off to the woodwork show next week so should have a chance to pick something up then.

Attachment 172950

I grabbed another neck blank and heel block in Queensland Maple from Gilet last week so went about sizing that up today. It's really nice looking timber with some great grain figure so should make a good neck.

Attachment 172951Attachment 172952

That is going to be a seriously sick looking instrument.

regards

Wal

Originally Posted by stevemc32

The Blackheart patterns are no longer even close to matching up since a lot of material has been removed but it still looks ok...

I think it looks even better!!!

Thanks guys,

Got the back bracing glued up tonight.

Attachment 173821

Worked quite well but I definitely need to look into the fibreglass rods with their rubber caps instead of the lengths of dowel. They left some really bad damage to the tops of the bracing. Doesn't really matter for the thinner ones as they will be tapered to the top of the brace but the thicker ones will need a bit of timber planed off the top to get them back into shape.

The 16mm MDF for the top plate on the deck wasn't looking too happy either!

Attachment 173822

Looking good there Steve,

I use dowel rods on my go bar deck. To minimise damage to the work I round the ends of the dowels and slip little pieces of cork between the dowel end and the work.

Cheers Martin

Thanks Martin, that's a good idea with the cork.

I think I maybe got some dowels that were too thick for the job. The 8mm ones work quite well and didn't leave too much damage but the 9.5mm ones are just a bit too strong.

There's been a distinct lack of progress on this one unfortunately.

I did manage to get some shed time just recently and have gotten the top and back lining completed on the sides and the heel block and head plate glued up on the neck.

Attachment 177629Attachment 177630

I've decided to use Blackwood for the bindings and headstock and will use an unidentified piece of Sydney house with a shade of red, seen below the neck above, for the fretboard and bridge.

On a brighter and drier note, the air conditioner in the shed is performing flawlessly. It has been set to 18 degrees for the last couple of months and the temp generally remains at 19 degrees and the humidity between 40% and 48%. I did cop a bit of flack at the pub whilst discussing the continual running of the air conditioner and how deep my pockets must have been but those comments ceased when we worked out it costs me less than the price of two schooners to run per month...