Carl's guitar project.

[warpedbored]

I’m getting ready to cut the sound hole out of my top but I wasn’t really happy with my circle cutting jig. While looking at Rockler’s thin rip tablesaw jig I thought it would be a good base for one. An article on standardization by Charles Fox in the Guild of American Luthiers magazine gave me the idea. It has a ¼” pivot pin but the base will do anywhere from 1 -7 inches in diameter. The yellow part is a write erase scale in 1/16” increments. This guitar has a 4” sound hole so I carefully measured out a 2” radius and tested it on some scrap. When I was satisfied it was exact I drilled a hole through the jig for a brass pin then I made a line on the scale to make it easy to find. I took the pin out, loosened everything up and put it back together with the brass pin in three times and measured it each time. Every time it measured out to exactly a 2 inch radius. As I decide what diameters I want to use consistently, ie rosettes etc, I’ll add more pin holeshttp://oi48.tinypic.com/s118j6.jpg

[warpedbored]

Well the new circle cutting jig works like a champ. I got the top roughed out, the sound hole cut out and the bracing pattern laid out on the inside. It was a tense moment when I set the pivot pin in the hole and prepared to turn on the router. One slip and a $60.00 rosette, a $60.00 sound board and hours of work could have been ruined. You don't use just any router bit for this. I used a sold carbide 1/4" spiral down cut bit. You use a down cut bit so it will shear the fibers of the wood downward thus leaving a crisp edge instead of a fuzzy edge if you used a straight bit or a spiral up cut bit. Since I wanted the hole to be crisp on both the inside and outside of the top I used a very light cut from the bottom first then turned the top over and finished the cut from the top.

 

http://oi45.tinypic.com/iwt4yq.jpg

 

http://oi50.tinypic.com/fnw95s.jpg

[knloregon]

Really cool project Carl ~ ! "...I used a sold carbide 1/4" spiral down cut bit...." And considering that the wear on the bit for this project is about 1/3000 th. of the bit's life (or less) --- looks like you are assembling jigs and tools that could eventually pay off...

[warpedbored]

It's a good thing I plan on building more guitars Kim because I've built no less than 10 jigs so far and I'm not done yet. I am finally to the point where I can start using some of them to assemble a guitar instead of just making parts.

[warpedbored]

And yet another jig. As I've mentioned before, guitar tops and backs are not actually flat. The most common sizes are 25 foot radius top and a 15 foot radius back. I'm using a 28 foot radius top since that was common for old Martins. Now I could shape each brace individually then sand to fit in the radius dish but I like the precision jigs give me. Today I built a brace shaping jig.

http://oi45.tinypic.com/biuih3.jpg

[knloregon]

Carl, just like the model house in a new subdivision... need to get the first one into the right hands --- suggest that Mick and Tsap --- particularly Tsap --- might have some connections about putting the prototype to the test!

[tsap seui]

Really cool stuff Carl. You are really into the nitty gritty fine detail both in tools and what you are working on. What you are doing is way above the skill level of my work on houses. LOL....I've been working with 3/4 inch pressure treated CDX plywood lately renovating a porch deck and you are using precision tools. My hat is off to you and your work.

 

Thaks for the updates and photos.

 

tsap seui

[slw268]

Well Carl I'm back. Perhaps it was all the true cofessions of struggles with addiction,

My ultimate plan for Portland is to get a job as a D&A counselor. I wanted to make it out in spring, but life is what

gets in the way when you make plans.

 

I am working on a plan, lets see how it goes.

Hope your health is improving.

 

I would like to become a fixture here again if I don't get hasseked about things beyond my control.

As there are a few here who really understand teh troubles of muti-cultural marrages - especislly with Chinese.

 

Also looking at your work is an inspiration to work with you.

Take careand best regards.

Steve

[warpedbored]

Really cool stuff Carl. You are really into the nitty gritty fine detail both in tools and what you are working on. What you are doing is way above the skill level of my work on houses. LOL....I've been working with 3/4 inch pressure treated CDX plywood lately renovating a porch deck and you are using precision tools. My hat is off to you and your work.

 

Thaks for the updates and photos.

 

tsap seui

Ron I'd get fired the first day on the job as a carpenter. I would be down there with my combination square making sure every joint is within 1/32nd of an inch. There are damn few real craftsmen such as yourself building houses these days. Most of them are production workers. Guys like you that can go into an old Victorian home and restore it to new are hard to come by and in big demand. When I look around in old areas of Portland where there are still some of these beautiful painted ladies I have to stop and admire the detail. Cornices, corbels, gingerbread siding. Those were some beautiful homes.

[warpedbored]

Well Carl I'm back. Perhaps it was all the true cofessions of struggles with addiction,

My ultimate plan for Portland is to get a job as a D&A counselor. I wanted to make it out in spring, but life is what

gets in the way when you make plans.

 

I am working on a plan, lets see how it goes.

Hope your health is improving.

 

I would like to become a fixture here again if I don't get hasseked about things beyond my control.

As there are a few here who really understand teh troubles of muti-cultural marrages - especislly with Chinese.

 

Also looking at your work is an inspiration to work with you.

Take careand best regards.

Steve

Welcome back Steve. You know you are always welcome here. The guitar project is painfully slow. I've been at it for over a year now but I never was in any hurry. I'm enjoying the learning process and the challenge.

The wife took this pic today. Methinks I need a hat.

http://oi48.tinypic.com/2nu4vet.jpg

[Randy W]

Now THAT looks like a venerable old craftsman to me - I enjoy reading about your work. It takes balls and a belief in yourself to be putting that kind of time and money into your first project.

[tsap seui]

 

Ron I'd get fired the first day on the job as a carpenter. I would be down there with my combination square making sure every joint is within 1/32nd of an inch. There are damn few real craftsmen such as yourself building houses these days. Most of them are production workers. Guys like you that can go into an old Victorian home and restore it to new are hard to come by and in big demand. When I look around in old areas of Portland where there are still some of these beautiful painted ladies I have to stop and admire the detail. Cornices, corbels, gingerbread siding. Those were some beautiful homes.

 

LOL....you wouldn't get fired Carl, just no one would know what you were doing, worrying about getttin' so "close" in this age of hardly any craftsmen building houses anymore. I think if they get it joints within a 1/4 inch they call it good. And level and plumb, oh man, I have seen some REAL crap, newer walls that weren't even 1/2 inch in plumb and level? Good grief, you'd think they had no clue what a level was, maybe some carpenters still do like the old days and let the plasterers make things level and plumb. Joke...

 

Yep, those old grand lady's as I like to call vics were a work of art in their day. With the cost of trim, and lumber these days only billionaires could afford to build something with all that detail. In the DC area I used to see the rich folks buy old vics and tear them down to build another "box" with a few token columns so they could call it "federal style" or whatever.

 

What you're doing reminds me in ways of the old craftsmen trim carpenters. I idolize those guys, but they are mostly dead and no one is taking their place.

 

I know you enjoy the time you spend in laying out the plans and building those jigs and seeing it come together.

 

tsap seui

[Mick]

Carl, that's a great pic of you at your work. The guitar project is an act of love in the truest sense of the word. As far as building homes, I can appreciate what you and tsap are saying about the shoddy construction that goes on these days, and for several decades now. I lived in Miami back in '92 when Andrew came through and gave a real lesson on how to not build houses. Down here in Tennerbama, we have some fine old Antebellum homes that are just remarkable works of art. Like the Victorians, they just don't build them like that anymore.

[warpedbored]

I've shown you guys several jigs I've made but today I finished the granddaddy of them all. The Fox Bender. It was invented by my mentor Charles Fox several years ago and revolutionized the luthier trade. Before that people bent their sides over a hot pipe with a propane torch in it, breaking a lot of sides in the process. The original Fox Bender was heated by three 300 watt light bulbs. Today people use silicone heating blankets instead. You will probably recognize the half guitar shape in the middle. I posted photos of it before. It can be changed quickly for any style of guitar. I plan on building three styles for now. A Gibson J-200 style, a copy of a 1929 Martin Orchestra Model and a Martin Dreadnought. At the bottom of the press screw is the waist caul. It is made up of 13 leaves of plywood and by simply loosening the two cam clamps on the side it can quickly be changed for any shape of waist.

 

I have one major jig left to build, the binding channel jig but it's a ways off before I'll need it and I'm anxious to start putting together the guitar. Next up I bend the sides and brace the top.

 

http://oi49.tinypic.com/2je78l4.jpg

[knloregon]

Really cool Carl ! Your jigs are a work of art in themselves ~