The tail piece parlour bail

[DarwinStrings]

With the failed top I bailed out on the tail piece and decide to go with some concrete rather than mud so I bought a few new bits and pieces like 3K tow in the form of 100mm unidirectional tape and some 50mm tape (cross woven like cloth) with 3k rove.

Another first for me other than the Gore bracing is a truss rod that adjusts at the headstock, sure, maybe a bit weaker but I did enjoy making that little cover.

I was not going to add any pearl but a friend offered me a oyster shell she had pulled out of a trawler net back in her commercial fishing days so I added a simple but significant design to the headstock using her gift which yielded some white as well as black pearl.

The 50mm tape went in the bridge and the unidirectional tape went under the bridge patch, I also managed to bend the spruce I have to get the falcate braces.

The pics are of the stage one gluing of the braces, I figured I could get those sound hole braces on at the same time as the main falcates and the patch so the tow under them would bind in under the falcates, not sure if it will help but it does ease my mind. I placed the last go bar at 33 minutes after the resin was mixed which was just as the resin started to change consistency.

Like most seem to think I have also really enjoyed Trevor and Gerard's books very much.

Jim

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[DarwinStrings]

When it came to rebating those bent braces over the bridge patch I though it may be a little fiddly to get nice so I used the opportunity to knock up another tool (can you have too many?). A old 6mm chisel becomes a rebate plane.

Jim

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[charangohabsburg]

I placed the last go bar at 33 minutes after the resin was mixed which was just as the resin started to change consistency.

Sounds like next time you will look for some spare seconds in the glue-up procedure?

That looks like a very useful plane you made there. I reckon there is "not a lot" of chattering with the thickness of that blade!

[DarwinStrings]

It was just enough time Markus and without slopping that resin all over the shop I am not sure I could get that time down though I will try. If I put some rubber end on my go sticks rather than using those little cork cauls it would be a bit quicker.

No chatter as it is used with a rebate plane action rather than a smoothing plane action.

Jim

[DarwinStrings]

Saturday night and look at me, party, party, party. Not really I have been gluing wood and CF. I shaped the main braces down then checked the other bits were all in order and stuck the second round down.
Jim

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[P Bill]

Looks good Jim. I like the plane. It's very satisfying making up tools as needed.

[DarwinStrings]

I agree Bill and especially when you make use of some old tool that is just rusting away in a box somewhere under another pile of boxes.

I have had a pleasant Sunday or is it Saturday morning shaping braces.

Jim

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[jeffhigh]

Lookin good Jim!

Im doing my fourth falcate braceup tomorrow (first stage)
A bit more leasurely than you- my resin gives me at least an hour before gell so I can get primary, secondary, and teriary all glued down at once, But then I have to leave it overnight

[DarwinStrings]

Cheers Jeff, I guess the resin would still be workable after 30 or so minutes but at that time it gets a bit tackier and I am concerned that it will not penetrate the CF tow as well as it does when it is very runny.

This is how far I got today before it got tacky. I could have mixed another batch to finish of that secondary and the LTB but as I need to overlay the UTB once it is stuck I may as well finish when I do the UTB. Judging on the pics in the book I am using a little more glue than needed so will try to cut that down next time. Over laying that CF was quite relaxing and my aim was to try to get it as neat as the pics in the book.

My neck is bit different so I shoot the UTB to match the dome by holding it tight against that board to keep it at the angle I need to get it up against my headblock.

Jim

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[jeffhigh]

You are a bit neater than me Jim... excess resin is hard to clean up when you have a forest of go bars
It's probably the cooler temp here that gives me the long working time

[Trevor Gore]

Looks great, Jim!

[DarwinStrings]

Cheers Trevor. Well I have now completed my first Gore braced top and it has been a pleasure (well, the wait time for West System resin has been a patience exercise but means I get on with other work). Soon to be boxed then hit with the mallet to see what I have done.

I figured I have it so I can, I used two 6k tow strands on the UTB the rest 3k tow. I bought the 3k tow in the form of 100mm unidirectional tape and at first tried to pull the threads from the end like I do when pulling tow from the normal mat, this just damaged the tow and I guess it doesn't like being pulled through the fiberglass tow that holds the CF together. All I had to do was cut up the side of the tape severing the side of the fiberglass tow and then push the strands of CF out sideways, no damage.

Jim

Life is good when you are amongst the wood

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[Trevor Gore]

Looks sorta familiar!

Neat work, BTW, Jim.

When you box it up, make sure that the saddle slot will end up in the right place. Having got this far, that's really about the only extra thing to look out for.

[DarwinStrings]

No worries Trevor, I will line it all up first and as the sound board is a little over cut I will glue tabs (for want of a better word) to the offcut soundboard so that it will go on exactly as I have lined it up. I will then, after it is boxed, cut the neck pocket and position the neck in relation to the bridge. There may have to be a little fiddling of the neck but that's only a bit of time.

Jim

[DarwinStrings]

More pics.

Jim

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I stuck those tabs on the inside so I don't have to think position when I have glue on, cut them off later.

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[charangohabsburg]

I like the idea of the positioning tabs.
Of which kind of wood are the linings made of?

[DarwinStrings]

That would be the kind of wood you put on your pancakes Markus.

Jim

[charangohabsburg]

Thank you Jim. I thought it looked like what you are saying now, but hoped there was another similar looking (maybe Australian) wood yet to "discover" by me.

[DarwinStrings]

No such luck Markus but I will dig something Australian up for you that you may not have come across before.

Jim

[DarwinStrings]

More on this guitar.

I really wanted to get at least one guitar out of the wood that was from a fallen tree knocked down by Cyclone Carlos. The African Mahoganies grow at a unbelievable rate up here and it seems as a consequence of that rate the wood although it looks great has just a bit too much movement in service. Before I put the live back on I watched it move far too much but I still put it on to see what I could get with the spectrum analyzer. Once I had done that (posted results in Trevor's section) I pulled the back off and made a dead back instead.

Once I put the dead back on things went up again, I was getting 191 for the top and 116 for the air, so i mucked around with it and with a cardboard tornavoz I could get 180 top and 100 air, that is with the bridge bolted on. So today I put the first coats of lacquer on and now just have to wait till I can get it strung up.

This has been a great project so far and is putting me in a good direction to, in the end get some great little parlour guitars out.

Jim

[DarwinStrings]

To use a toravoz I had to make one. I needed it to be removable so I can still get to the side weights and made it a nice snug push fit. I have left it long and will trim to suit when the guitar is ready. I am not sure if it will be a good solution or not yet so I will have a look at the sound of the guitar without it then with it and decide. It is made from a Nutri-Grain box, epoxy and a bit of rosewood to match the bridge.

Jim

In it's place

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[DarwinStrings]

Some more pics, this is in the middle of being painted at the moment, I wish lacquer gassed off faster. To anyone using that Hard Shellac, how fast does it sink back?

Here is my odd neck joint, to me it's a progression of Leo Fenders Bolt on. I gun blued, oiled then waxed the steel to try to slow the rust.

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I made the bridge for this guitar as a one of (the rosewood one) and then when I went to make the bridge for my next I figured why waste all that set up time on one so I knocked up 4 extra blanks and did the bit that has a bit of set up time on each and will finish them as I need them.

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Jim

When you rout through a CF laminated bridge wear a shirt and keep a fan blowing the dust away from you.

[DarwinStrings]

Spraying in the great outdoors. Always a bug, always something that I am not sure what it is and always a few other bits of dust.

Jim

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[DarwinStrings]

Still going. Got the paint on and all shined up, stuck the bridge on.

Jim

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[DarwinStrings]

So I am all strung up and trying to wear my fingers out. So far I have been playing with the tornavoz in and have cut 5mm off it to get the air from 87.5 up to 89. The top is 191. Very happy with the results so far especially as it is so much more in tune than I have experienced before. The neck joint seems to work good so far too.

I would be interested to hear opinions on the heel or lack of, positive or negative, if ya don't like it ya don't like it and I would like to hear it.

Jim

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