Oregon myrtle and Italian spruce J45-ish build

[TomBicknell]

I'm a little nervous about posting progress photos of my current, and very first, acoustic build, given my very beginner skill level, but here goes. I'm building this at Jim Cargill's workshop with his guidance.

It's a lefty J45-ish body, but with a 25.4" scale length. The back and sides is spalted Oregon myrtle (AKA Californian laurel), and the top is Italian spruce with a bit of bearclaw figuring.

I just closed the box on it, and this past weekend trimmed the soundboard, got the tail wedge in and made the bindings, which are ebony with WB purfling like the backstrip.

I felt like my bracing wasn't as exact as I'd like, but it's got a pretty good, loud tap tone now that the top is on, so fingers crossed.

[Joshyouare]

Good work mate! Shaping up nicely.

[kiwigeo]

Anyone with the balls to post up warts and all photos of his very first gets my full respect.

You're doing fine for a first build.....looking good.

[TomBicknell]

Thanks very much guys!

[Mark McLean]

That does look beautiful. I love how you numbered it #0001, meaning that you expect to make enough guitars in your lifetime to need a four digit numbering system.
Did you pay attention to the ambient humidity when you were at the stage of gluing braces, and closing the box? If so, you are on your way to a gorgeous instrument.

[TomBicknell]

Thanks Mark! Yeah, I thought #0001 might be a bit ambitious .

Re the humidity, I’ve been building it in Jim Cargill’s very nicely set up workshop, which is well insulated and (reasonably) climate controlled. The timber has mostly come from his stash stored in the workshop, so it’s about as acclimatised as it’s going to get.

[TomBicknell]

A couple more progress shots. I spent all day Saturday working on the body bindings, and I still didn’t get them finished.

I’m continuing the back strip and tail wedge around into the binding, which is ebony with white and black purfling. Getting the white purfling to line up perfectly where it joined the wedge was a big faff, partly because I routed off the ends of the wedge, instead of just trimming off the purfling so I could mitre in the binding to join it. Lots of lessons learned for next time, and there’s a few little gaps I’ll have to fill with the old glue and ebony dust trick.

But I got the binding bent and cut decently, and I got the inner purfling strips glued on, so next time I’m in the workshop I can get the binding on.

In hindsight, I probably should have tried some simpler binding for my first attempt.

Dry fitting the binding.

Gluing on the purfling.

More tape now than guitar, twisted and evil…

[TomBicknell]

Some more progress shots. Spent a good chunk of the day getting sore hands from scraping ebony bindings, and thanking the gods for ebony dust and superglue.

Started work on the neck, which is laminated Fijian mahogany with an ebony strip.

I also sliced off a bit of what I think is macadamia to use as fret markers. It’s hard and heavy, with gorgeous medullary rays.

[Dave M]

As others have said it is coming along fine.

Also I love the seriously messy workshop! Just like ours before we tidy up for the photos.

[TomBicknell]

It’s ‘lived in’, Dave! This is Jim Cargill’s home workshop, where he runs luthiery classes on Saturdays, after working eight days a week in the storied Cargill Guitars shop in Seaford. It’s had years of numpties like me making a mess of it, so I’m amazed it’s as organised as it is.

[TomBicknell]

Some more progress shots. I spent pretty much all day working on my fretboard inlays.

I could have banged out some 6mm dots in about 15 mins, but of course I can’t make my life easy like that, so I decided to make full-width inlays of what I now am pretty sure is ivory needlewood, not macadamia as I previously suspected.

I cut the fret slots on a table saw sled of Jim’s (my only efficient operation all day), which I also used to slice out strips of the needlewood for the inlays.

I cut the inlay pockets out with a router, a bit of scrap as a guide, and a lot of painstaking and not always precise measurement.

I sanded down the inlay strips to fit, which took a while until I figured out a way to do most of it on the linisher without taking my fingertips off.

But I’m pretty happy with the outcome! Certainly a bit different to abalone dots, which was my initial plan.

The side of the strips will also serve as side dots, so I made sure to put the paler sapwood end of the needlewood strips on the side that will be facing up, for the most contrast against the ebony fretboard.

So it was a day of slow progress, but nevertheless lots of fun coming up with something different and some creative problem solving to make it work.

[kiwigeo]

Coming together nicely.

Re sanding down the inlays....options include running the blank through a drum sander. Keep in mind that you're going to be sanding a radius into the fretboard at some stage so you could sand down inlays during that process.

[TomBicknell]

Thanks Martin! I cut off a slice of the needlewood and ran that through the drum sander to get it about the right thickness (or height, I guess), but from that I cut the strips slightly wide and sanded them down to the width I needed to fit into each slot.

I routed the slots with a 6mm and 3mm bit (for the 12th fret), but given my impromptu guide setup I wasn’t confident I’d end up with every slot exactly the same width, hence sanding the strips down to fit each slot.

[TallDad71]

That's a good design idea. I have also recently taken to using different designs for fret markers as Dots are a little too easy. I'm not that much in favour of highly decorated fretboards, I put that down to weak marquetry skills and impatience. A. search for fret markers will bring up some really inspiring designs for guitar no 2.
such as
https://au.pinterest.com/pin/106679084911684211/

Good work.

[TomBicknell]

Thanks Alan! Some great ideas on that Pinterest link.

I think I can really appreciate the benefit of a CNC for some of that more intricate inlay work.

[TallDad71]

Thanks Alan! Some great ideas on that Pinterest link.

I think I can really appreciate the benefit of a CNC for some of that more intricate inlay work.

CNC machines can be fun but by hand is more rewarding. If you haven't discovered it yet, thin superglue is your friend for all kinds of intricate work, purfling, binding, inlays, dots. Find a gap, apply glue/dust and sand. Voila, its invisible to everyone except yourself.

[TomBicknell]

Yep, I have become a committed supplicant at the altar of superglue and ebony dust, and I have learned to love the linisher, despite it taking my fingerprints off a few times.

[kiwigeo]

Yep, I have become a committed supplicant at the altar of superglue and ebony dust, and I have learned to love the linisher, despite it taking my fingerprints off a few times.

Careful if using superglue anywhere near a light coloured wood such as spruce. Many superglues will yellow spruce if it leaches into same while working on bindings/purfs.

[TomBicknell]

I've tried to be careful with that. I glued the bindings on with Titebond Original, but for future builds I quite like the look of the technique where you tape the bindings on and wick superglue in between the tape.

But the general recommendation for this approach seems to be spraying the binding channels with aerosol shellac first to seal them so the superglue doesn't soak into the spruce. But Zinsser clear shellac aerosol, which is the one always recommended, is bloody expensive in Australia. I've got a can of Mohawk vinyl sanding sealer, so I'm wondering if that would do the job too.

[kiwigeo]

Wipe normal (2lb) shellac into the channels with a folded piece of medical gauze. I used to buy the stuff in packs of a 100.

I've tried to be careful with that. I glued the bindings on with Titebond Original, but for future builds I quite like the look of the technique where you tape the bindings on and wick superglue in between the tape.

But the general recommendation for this approach seems to be spraying the binding channels with aerosol shellac first to seal them so the superglue doesn't soak into the spruce. But Zinsser clear shellac aerosol, which is the one always recommended, is bloody expensive in Australia. I've got a can of Mohawk vinyl sanding sealer, so I'm wondering if that would do the job too.

[TomBicknell]

Cool, I'll get some normal shellac and give that a go. A small tin - I don't think I have the patience for French polishing .

That said - I’m aiming to use Osmo PolyX as the finish on my next build. Would that work to seal the channels as well, or would that compromise the superglue’s bond?

[kiwigeo]

Shellac....buy flakes and meths and make it up yourself.

Cool, I'll get some normal shellac and give that a go. A small tin - I don't think I have the patience for French polishing .

That said - I’m aiming to use Osmo PolyX as the finish on my next build. Would that work to seal the channels as well, or would that compromise the superglue’s bond?