[color=#BF0000]Week 2[/color]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/Backcutout.jpg[/img]
Ok. Cut out the basic shape of the guitar then sanded it down to 2.5mm.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/Backbrace.jpg[/img]
Back bracing cut out and shaped roughly. Next thing was to sand it into the shape on the back mould to give the back of the guitar it curve...
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/Backbracesanding-1.jpg[/img]
Once the sanding was complete I then glued and clamped it to the back in the mould
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/Backgluedandclamped.jpg[/img]
Last thing for the day cut out the length of the sides and get the tail and neck blocks ready
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/sidescutoutandblocks.jpg[/img]
[color=#BF0000]Week 3[/color]
Got going today by glueing the heel and neck block to the sides.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/Blocksglued.jpg[/img]
Then started to shape the back bracing by planeing out the basic shape.

[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/Shaping1.jpg[/img]
Then started to sand in some shape before scalloping the edges.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0614.jpg[/img]
Just about done
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0613.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0615.jpg[/img]
ta dah
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/Shapeend.jpg[/img]
Week 4
Got the kerfed lining cut and sanded. Not sure if you can see in the pic but I have rounded off one of the edges on each.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0627.jpg[/img]
Once that was done I needed to cut out the sections using a band saw and a jig.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0629.jpg[/img]
Then glue it to the side of the guitar and clamp trhe fuck out of it. Not as easy as it looks....
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0630.jpg[/img]
then got it ready to route a section for the back strip
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0633.jpg[/img]
Glued it in
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0634.jpg[/img]
And one nice peice of gidgee (hard as fuck wood, prick to sand)
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0635.jpg[/img]
Next i did some sanding of the back of the guitar to get it ready to glue the back on
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0636.jpg[/img]
Ready to go, just ran out of time. Funny, don't look like I did much today but was busy for most of lost in a world of sanding...
[color=#BF0000]Week 5[/color]
This week I felt like I made some real progress, things are seeming to come together nicely. Got the back glued on early in the day.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0658.jpg[/img]
Took the clamps off and booyah
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0663.jpg[/img]
Added the centre strips, more cutting sanding and more sanding.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0664.jpg[/img]
Side strips next much of the same above, sanding and so forth. I forgot to mention that I also trimmed up the back flush to the sides with a router.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0666.jpg[/img]
Goodo
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0670.jpg[/img]
While the glue dried I selected the wood for my top, bunya pine, has some nice figure to it and a light purple hue on the outer edges.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0660.jpg[/img]
Glued
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0661.jpg[/img]
While the top dried I chose a piece of timber for the neck. It was down to Queensland maple and red cedar (top of the pic, very nice grain). I hit the raw timber on the buzzer to have a peek at the grain and whoh boy, what lies beneath. Sorry for the crap pic it was very bright outside. You seem to spend quite a bit of time looking at the timber available and deciding what works best with what you have
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0667.jpg[/img]
I ended going with the Queensland maple as the figure was a bit more subtle and the wood in my body is highly figured, I didn't want it to have too much bling.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0668.jpg[/img]
Nice, then spliced the neck. Believe it or not its stronger as a two piece.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0672.jpg[/img]
Last thing for the day was unwrap the top...
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0673.jpg[/img]
[color=#FF8000]Week 6[/color]

I spent the first hour and a half getting the headstock join flat, I mean real flat. I used a file to take off nano particles of timber to achieve a satisfactory result.  Glued it and you guessed it – clamped it
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0685.jpg[/img]
Next I sanded the top down some on the drum sander to clean it up after gluing; I love that when you do this it really brings out the grain. - not sure that it comes across in the pics though.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0686.jpg[/img]
I then marked out a point on the guitar so I could route out a channel for the rosette and then cut out the sound hole.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0687.jpg[/img]
I chose paua shell for the rosette, it comes in little sections, see the one sitting on the sound board. They need to have the ends sanded so the fit together nicely.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0688.jpg[/img]
All set to go
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0690.jpg[/img]
Cut out the basic shape of the top.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0691.jpg[/img]
Then cut out the sound hole
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0694.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0697.jpg[/img]
Last visible job for the day was to glue the headstock veneer on.  I used a piece of fiddle back black wood from an off cut  from the back of the guitar and a piece of Huon pine. Huon pine comes from Tasmania and its an extremely slow growing wood that takes about 100 years to mature. In some cases there are tree’s that are up to 2000 years old. It was logged extensively in the 1800’s and is now protected and cannot be logged. I was lucky to get a very thin slice if it!!!
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0699.jpg[/img]
Unclamped and trimmed to size.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0701.jpg[/img]
The last few hours of the day was spent getting the bracing of my sound board cut. Kind of did my head in. All were different lengths heights and widths. I had to make the grain run in the right direction as all the wood is quarter sawn.

Just threw it together here in a mock up.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0702.jpg[/img]
[color=#BF0000]Week 7[/color]
Long slow day today sanding, sanding and more sanding. Was busy for most of the day but feel I didn’t get far.
 Marking out the soundboard bracing was the first thingamajig on the agenda
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0706.jpg[/img]
Once the pattern was marked out I added a slight curve to the X brace on the bracing mould.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0707.jpg[/img]
Cut out a notch on the both to make the sit just so and glued the blighters.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0708.jpg[/img]
Started to shape the bracing…
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0710.jpg[/img]
And more shaping, took hours to get this done.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0711.jpg[/img]
Last thing for the day was to glue the remainder of the bracing on. Loads more sanding next week on the cards. Now that I have a better understanding of the shaping process I think I should power through it!
[color=#FF0000]Week 8[/color]
Not much to report this week, more work on the top bracing, very close to having it complete. Sanding, scalloping, sanding, planeing, filing and sanding.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0720.jpg[/img]
An interesting point I found out was the bridge plate (that darker piece of timber in the centre of the top is apparently one of the most important on the guitar. It must be flush, like mega flush with the X bracing as it transfers all the string vibrations from the bridge to the soundboard – that’s why I had a couple of goes at it!
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0721.jpg[/img]
[color=#BF4040]Week 9[/color]
A very challenging day unravelled before me. Got my top bracing finished off pretty early on in the day. Nice huh? Take a good look as it’s the last time you will ever see it, - forever hidden in the guts of the guitar.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0735.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0734.jpg[/img]
Ok, the next few hours kind of did my head in. Getting the top glued on.  The number one thing to consider when getting the top on is it symmetrical? If I have a straight line running down the centre of the guitar does the measurement on the one side match the other? I spent a long frustrating time getting these to match. Get the bottom bout  symmetrical? Good. Now the top bout is out of wack. Grrr. The other most important thing to have right is the top being dead level. Sand, sand sand. measure, clamp on guitar top, is it level? NO! Repeat process till it is! Ahhhh. Any hoo got the fucker done.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0736.jpg[/img]
[color=#00FF40]Week 10[/color]
Had a slight mishap today, router related. I’ll get to that in a minute. So, last time we met I had glued the top of the guitar on like so.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0739.jpg[/img]
I got into it by trimming off the excess top flush to the sides with a router.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0740.jpg[/img]
I then spent a while getting the binding material cut and sanded into shape like so; I had also given them a spin in the bending jig.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0743.jpg[/img]
This is where things went a little pear shaped. I started routing out the sides of the guitar in readiness for the binding but, a lack of concentration saw me take a sizable chunk of the top with the router. What to do? Options given to me where, put on an arm rest (lame), new top (lots of work) or match a section with an off cut and plug the gap – the option I chose -  well, I did for a while. I (we) came across the better idea of making a more ornate binding. I have order parts from a luthiers supplier to get it a happening so it will happen soonish.
After a bout of self-loathing I did some work on the neck. Heel block glued on.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0742.jpg[/img]
Got the holes for the machine head drilled. Note the line on the heel block 14th fret, this is where the neck will join the body.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0745.jpg[/img]
I selected a nice piece of gidgee for the fret board  (look at the nice figure on this baby) and started to cut fret slots.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0747.jpg[/img]
All done
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0748.jpg[/img]
Spent a bit more time cutting the fret board to size and sanding the edges smooth. Next time I’ll sand in a 12 inch radius and keep on trucking!
Lesson learned today, respect the power in yer power tool!
Weeks 11 & 12
After last week’s episode I had to do something to fix the router mishap. After a lot of thinking I decided to do an inlay inside the binding - a fairly convoluted process took place to achieve this. So, first I laid in a dummy binding that would be routed out later.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0761.jpg[/img]
While the glue dried I did a bit of work on the neck. I sanded a 12 inch radius into the fretboard. This took about 2 hours to sand a few mm.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0760.jpg[/img]
Then got about routing the truss rod channel.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0763.jpg[/img]
Then cut a bit of basic shape into the neck.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0764.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0765.jpg[/img]
So the inlay that was ordered to fix up the binding arrived; trouble being it was a little shit so I struck on the idea of creating a decretive veneer.  I sanded two pieces of blackwood (it’s brown) down to 1mm thick and sandwiched between then a thin wafer of wood,  black in colour. Glued it and clamped it! Forgot to take pics.
To cut a long story short I routed out 2 channels and glued in the veneer and the binding in one go.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0772.jpg[/img]
And the result
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0775.jpg[/img]
Close up of the binding.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0776.jpg[/img]
And the back
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0777.jpg[/img]
And that’s it for the next 8 weeks. Teacher man is off to Italy to run classes.
[color=#80FF00]Week 13[/color]
Got the neck on! Check the pics, added a whole lot of text but my PC did the funky chicken and I dont hve it in me to do it all again. Any hoo, cool day, neck on!
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0944.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0945.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0948.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0949.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0952.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0953.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0955.jpg[/img]
[color=#FF0000]This week[/color]
Got some more work done last week. Truss road in fret board on and some neck shaping done. I did some more work today but didn’t take any pics. I did get the heel shaped and some fine tuning on the neck.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0982.jpg[/img]
In goes Mr Truss Rod
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0983.jpg[/img]
Dot markers on the fret board
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0985.jpg[/img]
Fret board Glued on. Bam!
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0987.jpg[/img]
Dar she blows
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0988-1.jpg[/img]
Left that to dry for 30 mins than started to shape the neck. This is fun! Starts to look like a ‘real’ neck pretty fast.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0992.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0994.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0993.jpg[/img]
Bit of work with the spoke shave, rasp and sand paper
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0996-1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_0998-1.jpg[/img]
Almost done now, hope to get the final sand done on Monday and start the finishing.
[color=#80BF00]Today[/color]
Lots of sanding, guitar fretted. Check it.
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_1001.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_1004.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_1005.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_1006.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_1007.jpg[/img]
[color=#BF0000]Today[/color]
Close to done
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_1010.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_1013.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_1017.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_1018.jpg[/img]
So close
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_1067.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh233/kenevil1/IMG_1066.jpg[/img]

Week 3

Hit the ground running this day, had the sides glued to the neck and tail blocks in a matter if minutes of walking through the door. Looking like a guitar now.

Shaping the back bracing was the next task. This took many hours of planeing chiseling and sanding but I found it one of the most satisfying jobs thus far (excuse my Latin).

Accoustic guitar build week 2

 Cut out the basic shape of the guitar then sanded it down to 2.5mm.

Back bracing cut out and shaped roughly. Next thing was to sand it into the shape on the back mould to give the back of the guitar it curve.

Once the sanding was complete I then glued and clamped it to the back in the mould.

Last thing for the day cut out the length of the sides and get the tail and neck blocks ready for it to be glued.

Accoustic guitar build

Not 10 minutes from my house there is an acoustic guitar building course run by Luthier Chris Wynne called Thomas Lloyd Guitars http://www.thomaslloydguitars.com.au/ . It's run at an artists colony in Melbourne Australia called Monsalvat. Little history on the place....

Justus Jörgensen, as a student of Max Meldrum, spent many happy hours painting in Eltham. In 1935 Jörgensen purchased land and with his friends commenced work on the buildings that became Montsalvat. The first buildings were two small ‘French Provincial’ style cottages where they could stay at weekends. By 1938 work had started on the Great Hall. This mainly stone building includes two galleries, a studio and a large dining hall.

I found the most interesting part of its history is the Rolling stones chose to hang out there during their '73 tour of Australia. My uncle saw them rehearse there. Cool huh?
Any hoo, after close to 5 years of wanting to do the course, I've finally got the cash together to proceed - thanks to the sale of my fave D*A*M sola mk11 and the planets aligning.
I'm doing the course one day a week for the next ten weeks, one thing for sure, makes the other six days of the week drag!!

Week 1
When I first arrived at Thomas Lloyd guitars I was pleased to find I was the only student there for the the day, this gave me plenty of time to discuss with Chris what I was looking for in a guitar. This included what style I played and the sound I was after - Chris was then able then to guide me to the timbers that would suit me best.

So first things first. Select the timber for the sides, many types to choose from but I settled on Australian Fiddle back Black wood from the Otways.

After matching many sides I narrowed it down to this lot

Then chose these.

Next on the agenda was to pick out the back of the guitar. Took quite a while positioning the guitar mould on the back to find the most highly figured place in the wood, flipping the timber over and reassessing.

Back to the sides. The first of many sanding jobs was to sand the sides from 5mm thick down to 2mm on the drum sander. I then cut out the basic shape on the band saw and tortured them in the bending jig..

This is done by wetting down the sides and placing them in the jig and pulling the blocks of wood on springs to coerce the wood into shape. Heat is then applied by the way of 3 200watt globes to fix the shape.

The sides were then clamped into side moulds to help hold their shape.

Blog a ma jig Fender tweed deluxe build 5e3

Ok so, I've had a few attempts over the years as a musician to build some of my own gear. These attempts have been fraught with apathy as the initial buzz wears off here is the latest try.

First off what we have here is a copy or clone if you will, of a 1957 Fender tweed deluxe, otherwise known as a 5e3- I can go into why its called a 5e3, but you will need to care about stuff.
Got some plans on the interwebs, got some lumber form the local corporate hardware store. Drew up said plans on the kitchen table (I'm sure Leo did it this way - authenticity is the key to a great sounding amp I'm told) and took them to a local backyard carpenter to chop it up.

 Chopped up and laid out.

 

 Assembled with baffle mock up, no speaker hole cut out - naughty.

The next move is to get some of the joinery done. I had a look on youtube on how to make a dovetail join and thought to myself my good mate Mitch, keeper of all good tools, workshop and shit hot carpentry skills will be able to help me out here so, at the moment, the bits of wood are now sitting with him waiting to meet his router and dovetail jig.