Elsie-May dread cutaway build

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demonx
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Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Sat Jul 25, 2015 7:08 am

Well, my first acoustic commission has begun.

Specs:

Engelmann spruce top
Indian Rosewood back & sides
Ebony neck
Snakewood fingerboard and bridge
Ebony binding

So far my focus has been the rosette and inlay as the customer want's his daughters name in the rosette, hence "Elsie-May". When I was drawing up the inlay I was wishing she was named bob or something that had nice big round letters! But, here it is so far:
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Sat Jul 25, 2015 7:12 am

I've also joined the back and bent the sides and binding.

The cutaway was bent on the LMI bender and I threw some ebony binding strips either side. All went pretty smooth.
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Sat Jul 25, 2015 7:18 am

I should probably show the back and sides before I went messing with them!

It's a set I bought from a retired luthier who has had them sitting around for over thirty years. Dead straight and beautiful timber.

The sides cupped a bit with the heat of the drum sander, so I had them under weight for a week before I finished taking them back to thickness as seen in this pic. They're nice and flat again thankfully.
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Sat Jul 25, 2015 7:20 am

Plate joining:
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Sat Jul 25, 2015 7:24 am

The snakewood board blank and two piece ebony neck blank with a couple of ebony head caps that I'll make a sandwich out of
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Sat Jul 25, 2015 9:58 am

Rosette glue up using epoxy and the go bar:
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by 56nortondomy » Sat Jul 25, 2015 10:23 am

Hi Allan, in the heading you've spelt May with a y and on the rosette it looks like an e. Is it just the camera angle?
Wayne

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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Sat Jul 25, 2015 11:24 am

56nortondomy wrote:Hi Allan, in the heading you've spelt May with a y and on the rosette it looks like an e. Is it just the camera angle?
Wayne
That would be spell check giving me a hand I did not ask for and myself not proof reading before posting. It is supposed to be Mae. With the forum setting not supporting "edit" after a short time I cannot fix the err.

In the rosette, the center of the last two letters is supposed to be there, but it broke out and went up the dust extractor, so I'll add them later by hand once it's all together and sanded back.

Front and back blocks in:
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by kiwigeo » Sat Jul 25, 2015 12:07 pm

Watching this build with interest.

Ebony neck??? Your choice or customer's choice?

Another question...any reason you cut out soundhole before installing rosette? Not saying it's wrong but there are reasons I cut soundhole last..one being risk of blowing out the sometimes thin (3mm on most of my rosettes) strip of wood between inner purf and edge of soundhole.
Martin

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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by 56nortondomy » Sat Jul 25, 2015 12:17 pm

Well I'm glad the rosette's right Allan, be a pain to have to fix.
Wayne

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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Sat Jul 25, 2015 1:25 pm

kiwigeo wrote:Ebony neck??? Your choice or customer's choice?

Another question...any reason you cut out soundhole before installing rosette? Not saying it's wrong but there are reasons I cut soundhole last..one being risk of blowing out the sometimes thin (3mm on most of my rosettes) strip of wood between inner purf and edge of soundhole.
The customer wanted a Redwood top as he'd seen the other Redwood one I'm building. I persuaded him that the Engelmann will make a better guitar.

The customer wants the Snakewood board. I've tried to convince him Ebony, but he wants Snakewood - however after he was here last night, the decision is not locked in. I'll make the box first to give him time to decide.

The customer wanted something extra special for the neck, I suggested I could get my hands on some Ebony that had a lot of nice grain and he jumped at it. I have Macassar Ebony neck on the Churchill I had built a couple times ago and even though id adds a lot of weight to the instrument, it's such a stunning choice that you overlook the weight, which being that I'm used to playing electrics, it's still much lighter than an electric guitar.

One really big reason I cut the sound hole the same time as the rosette recess. I did them both on the CNC whilst the zero was set. If I do it at a later point, the cnc may not line up and then there wont be a perfect offset distance and the soundhole position could look really nasty!

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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by kiwigeo » Sat Jul 25, 2015 1:34 pm

demonx wrote:
One really big reason I cut the sound hole the same time as the rosette recess. I did them both on the CNC whilst the zero was set. If I do it at a later point, the cnc may not line up and then there wont be a perfect offset distance and the soundhole position could look really nasty!
Ok question answered then.
Martin

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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Sat Jul 25, 2015 2:03 pm

kiwigeo wrote: Ok question answered then.
Don't get me wrong, I could mark the zero and manually rezero at a later stage, but doing them at the same time whilst it's already mounted under the CNC saves a lot of time in setup and takes out the human error of zeroing in the wrong position the second time.

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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Wed Jul 29, 2015 7:08 pm

Moving along to back bracing and getting the cutaway all joined up.
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Fri Jul 31, 2015 4:07 pm

A bit more progress on "Elsie-Mae"

Ebony tip for the cutaway, also rear Kerf is now on.
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Sat Aug 01, 2015 3:02 pm

Back is on:
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by kiwigeo » Sat Aug 01, 2015 4:14 pm

Did you shape side linings prior to fitting back.....no pics of this but I assume you did same??
Martin

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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Sat Aug 01, 2015 5:55 pm

Yes, using a dish before the linings went in and again after the linings were in.
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by soulman » Sat Aug 01, 2015 6:02 pm

Coming along nicely Allan.
Cheers

Ross

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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Mon Aug 03, 2015 5:58 pm

Spent a bit of time getting the back flush with the sides tonight. In happy with the result.

The combination of radius dish and the new clamping caul I made up have provided a join that is more than satisfactory.
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Wed Sep 16, 2015 5:59 pm

It's been a while since this one was updates but over the last week or so I've tinkered with it a few times so here are a couple more pics:
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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by Trevor Gore » Wed Sep 16, 2015 9:13 pm

Please tell me that yellow stain around the rosette is nothing to do with using CA glue...

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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by kiwigeo » Wed Sep 16, 2015 9:18 pm

Trevor Gore wrote:Please tell me that yellow stain around the rosette is nothing to do with using CA glue...
Hopefully it's just shellac Allen brushed on to stiffen up the spruce prior to cutting the rosette channel? :D
Martin

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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by demonx » Wed Sep 16, 2015 10:16 pm

Trevor Gore wrote:Please tell me that yellow stain around the rosette is nothing to do with using CA glue...
Yes, unfortunately there was a bit of spillage when I was doing the rosette. I've given it a light sand but left it there for now and will scrape it later on and hopefully the stain will go. The rosette is still not sanded back yet, I tend to leave everything pretty raw until just before final sanding/paint stages, something I do when building electrics, BUT, I didn't exactly rub CA everywhere, that WAS a screw up!

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Re: Elsie-May dread cutaway build

Post by johnparchem » Wed Sep 16, 2015 11:46 pm

I hope it is just a top stain. I learned that CA can wick into end grain in spruce and redwood and stain yellow or green. In my case the stain was about as deep as my unsealed channel.

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