Today, I’ll show you a little about how I improved my binding and purfling install. Below you can see that the first half is finished. Before finishing the 2nd half, you need to square up the ends so that you can get a flush joint. In my case, I usually overextend the glue joint for [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Glue’
It’s a good day!
Today was a good day! I decided to try a new approach to the initial glue up. In the previous glue ups, I run into a problem that the purfling is not pre-bended (it’s just too thin to even try) while the binding is pre-bended. This aggravates the nature of thin pieces of wood getting [...]
Less Swearing…
I got back to my shop yesterday and returned to working on building 3 guitars. The step I’m on (installing purfling and binding) is not fun and actually quite frustrating. Yesterday, I was swearing a lot. In fact my wife, Kathy, came out to check on me. I’ve broken the job down into 4 installs [...]
Back To Work
A few hours ago I got back to my shop. As many of you might know, my current project (or projects) involve building 3 guitars from scratch. To date, I’ve built 3 bodies which include 2 with cutaways and 1 with full body. I’ve roughed 3 necks out including the headstock. Right now, I’m working [...]
Doors almost done
Yesterday was a good day. I got to make lots of shavings. I always tell my wife when I’ve had a good day that “I got to cut wood”. Of course it sounds a bit juvenile but the fun I’m having doing woodworking lately is very kid like so I’m ok with that. I started [...]
Basic Glue up
A basic glue up is a skill every woodworker needs to master. The first step is to get the rough material to the rough size. For hand tool users, this means hand crosscuts and hand ripping. For power tool users, this means table saw work. The next step is to joint the edges to be [...]
Wall Hanging Tool Chest Glue Up
Today I finished the rest of the joinery on the Wall Hanging Tool Chest. I needed to finish the pins for the upper and lower back braces. I needed to create the dado’s for the back in the upper/lower back braces Then it was on to dry fit to make sure I’m satisfied with the [...]
A True Luthier Experience
Today I wanted to tackle the other half of my 2nd Guitar build, specifically the binding and purfling. The first side/back side went fairly well and lessons were learned. I was very hopeful on tacking the second side/top side. As I was going out to my shop, I asked my oldest (Xander, 12 years old) [...]
Guitar 2 – More binding and purfling install
Now continuing the efforts to install the binding and purfling on the second guitar build, I found that using a rubber hose to add additional clamping pressure beyond the tape gives a better result especially at any tight curves like the waist or cutaway. In addition, I add clamps to those key areas. I may [...]
Tomorrow, I’ll know…
Tomorrow, I’ll know how my initial try and binding and purfling turned out. Using a trim router, did a lot of test channels. My trim router is a Festool MFK 700 and I chose a trim router instead of a full size because I felt it gave me more balance and control over the process. [...]
Guitar 4′s Neck
I’ve been sick for a few days so haven’t been to the shop. No worries though, it was just a cold. Today, I started working on Guitar 4′s neck. Starting a neck, you start with a simple blank and then trim off a small piece on one end at about a 15 degree angle. You [...]
Guitar 4 – Time to Button Up
As I mentioned in the previous post, I remembered a lesson from the previous builds. The lesson was that I need to closely trip the top (or the back) to the actual size of the sides so that clamping has less difficulties. That lesson really paid off for this build. The clamping process went very [...]
Guitar 4 – Time for braces
It’s time for braces. In this case, it’s not about straightening teeth but about providing structure and tonal improvement to a guitar top. Bracing a modern steel string guitar top has a couple of key elements. The main is called the x-brace and spans the bottom bought of the guitar (this is where the guitar [...]
Guitar 4 – Rosette Install and Glueup
When installing a rosette into a guitar top, you need to make sure that you’ve got an accurate measurement of the guitar top. In my case, my guitar top is 3 1/2 mm thick. This means that when you cut out the channel or groove for the rosette, you need to cut no more than [...]
Guitar 2 – Disaster Averted
With the terrifying news coming out of Japan, it’s hard to call my mishap with glueing on the top a disaster but in the scope of the project, it could have been. After the clamps came off, I was able to take the splits (all three of them) off and save them. I then trimmed [...]
