Cocobolo/Adi Dreadnought

Stephen Kinnaird · Post by **Stephen Kinnaird** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 4:48 am

I'll say it again, Bob, I love watching your work.
And this guitar is particularly attractive.
Thanks for taking the trouble to post all this.

Steve

Bob Connor · Post by **Bob Connor** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 12:15 pm

Runn3r wrote:awesome thread bob!

i have never built an acoustic before and this well documented thread sure is inspiring

and the cocobolo looks beautiful but i had hoped it would not require some sort of finish to bring the red out the way your finised coco has

i have been contemplating a one piece no truss rod cocbolo strat neck because its stiffness is quite legendary heh

wht do you reckon bob? will the coco neck budge under typical 10's standard pitch tension? or will the lack of a trussrod be a bad move for a coco neck?

I don't think I'd trust any steel strung guitar without a truss rod regardless of the wood used. It just gives you that little bit of play if you want to dial some relief in the neck.

I also use carbon fibre in all my necks as well as a 2 way truss rod. There are some advantages, I believe, aside from stiffness in that it seems to even out the volume of notes all over the neck.

I do the same in electrics

Bob Connor · Post by **Bob Connor** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 12:16 pm

Thanks everyone I'm really enjoying this one as well.

Runn3r · Post by **Runn3r** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 1:38 pm

bob wrote:
Runn3r wrote:awesome thread bob!

i have never built an acoustic before and this well documented thread sure is inspiring

and the cocobolo looks beautiful but i had hoped it would not require some sort of finish to bring the red out the way your finised coco has

i have been contemplating a one piece no truss rod cocbolo strat neck because its stiffness is quite legendary heh

wht do you reckon bob? will the coco neck budge under typical 10's standard pitch tension? or will the lack of a trussrod be a bad move for a coco neck?
I don't think I'd trust any steel strung guitar without a truss rod regardless of the wood used. It just gives you that little bit of play if you want to dial some relief in the neck.

I also use carbon fibre in all my necks as well as a 2 way truss rod. There are some advantages, I believe, aside from stiffness in that it seems to even out the volume of notes all over the neck.

I do the same in electrics

thanks for your input... bob

i will continue to dwell upon this personal dilemma (to truss or not to truss)

Dennis Leahy · Post by **Dennis Leahy** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 2:10 pm

Superb documentation, Bob! Thanks for taking the time to do it.

The guitar looks really nice. Can't wait to hear her finished and strung up!

Dennis

Bob Connor · Post by **Bob Connor** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 2:23 pm

Thanks Dennis.

I don't think I mentioned it but this guitar will be used for DADGAD.

The bloke who is getting this guitar, Allan O'Connell wanted a dread for the bottom end. It'll have 13-56 (medium) strings.

Bob Connor · Post by **Bob Connor** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:38 pm

I sanded it back this afternoon and gave it the second layer of Z-poxy.

I really can't wait to get some finish on to this beast.

I just got a phone call from Allan, who had just seen the previous pics. He's fairly excited too.

Taffy Evans · Post by **Taffy Evans** » Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:41 pm

Very interesting post Bob thanks for the time and effort put into doing it. That timber is stunning, with the start of the finish going on it is really impressive, great work.

sebastiaan56 · Post by **sebastiaan56** » Thu Feb 05, 2009 3:48 pm

This was one group buy i didnt participate in...

That guitar is looking very pretty Bob

Bob Connor · Post by **Bob Connor** » Fri Feb 06, 2009 11:39 pm

I started work on the neck today.

There's been one jig that I've been meaning to build for quite a while and that's to route the truss rod and CF channels in the neck. I've been doing it with a router fence up until his point but it has been fraught with danger and uncertainty.

So here's the jig. It took about 30 minutes to build.

Makes the whole process idiot proof.

While I'm at it here's our router bit "drawer" made from a couple of drawer slides and a bit of plywood.

Once the truss rod slot has been cut we need to shift to the neck angle jig which is Paul Woolson's invention.

We sit the body of the guitar on top of the jig and adjust the bottom angle until the aluminium bar is around 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch above the soundboard right above where the bridge will be glued on.

Once this angle is established I can rout out the mortise and tenon joints on the neck and the guitar body.

This is an extremely messy part of the job which generally ends up with me covered in sawdust.

So this is what the neck is looking like at this point.

Next I'll rough carve the neck. Now anyone with romantic notions about neck carving being a relaxing part of instrument construction with the craftsman gently carving the neck with a whittling knife had better skip this step.

I use a Black and Decker power file which gives me the ability to have this sucker rough carved in about 15 minutes.

I have a template for the neck volute as well.

Once the neck is rough carved I'll throw it on this jig to get a uniform thickness up the neck.

Allen · Post by **Allen** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 7:57 am

What are you doing to get the spacing on all the channels in the neck Bob?

I'm cutting mine on the table saw, but where I struggle with this, is getting the alignment spot on with the channels I'm cutting in the bottom of the fret board for the CF rods that extend to the end of the fret board.

Bob Connor · Post by **Bob Connor** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:13 am

Pencil line and eyeball Allen.

Nothing too hi tech at all really.

But I'm just putting the CF into the neck, not trying to mate it into the fingerboard like you are.

Sounds like you need a notching arrangement on your table saw fence.

Hesh1956 · Post by **Hesh1956** » Sat Feb 07, 2009 9:58 am

Great photo Bob my friend!!!

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Cocobolo/Adi Dreadnought

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