Andyjr1515

Looks good

That's weird! I assume from the likes everyone else can see them? I'll try again here John, just in case:

Well, that patterning is definitely the wood - and now I've sanded down properly you can see the bookmatching. It has also toned down the contrast a touch. I don't know how well the photo looks here but in real life it's beautiful! There's an orange hue mixed in with the browns - delightful and further finishing will only enhance I've also tidied up the surround of the rosette - I'll put up a shot once it's dry enough to sand off

Well, off and on it's taken all day, but the back binding's done and the first rough sand. I won't go through the process because, of you go back a few pages, I ironed on the back binding exactly as I did for the top. But a quick mockup is always in order: So now I can start the finish process for the body while I start the proper carve of the neck. I usually apply a 'reveal coat'. I use the first coat - applied and slurried - as a grain fill, a sealer and also to reveal the dips and lumps or the glue over-spill. What it reveals also is a decent view of what the final colour will be. These two pics are in fading light, but I'm sure you get the idea... Not certain what the lighter areas on the back are - it could be the wood but equally it could be that it will sand off. At the moment my money is on the latter, and if so, the reveal coat will be living up to its name. But is the same colour as the very centre join - and that's definitely the wood colour. The full post-reveal sanding session will answer the question. Whatever, once the finish varnish is one, that figuring is going to be stunning. There are some beautiful colours in there! No wonder they call it Red Gum Walnut! So next steps in the coming week are body finishing, neck carving and daughter's Covid-fluid-situation-arrangements-govt-might-change-plan-again-already-cancelled-once-and-you-never-know wedding

Stain looks good. You can't beat a proper red and it will look glorious when your final finish is on. What stain did you use?

Such a fleeting jocular moment....because....the back's on! And the peg holes are taper reamed and the all important label is fitted: So tomorrow, I should be able to do the binding and then that's all set for final sanding and the start of the finishing process while I finish the neck carve

And it really is starting to look like a guitar bouzouki now A few more jobs to do with the back off - installing the Pure Mini transducers and cutting the top of the end graft to size being the main ones - and then I can glue the back on and sort the back binding. Then I can start the final sanding and finish coats of the body while working separately on the neck carve

The fitting of the bridge is perhaps the most critical part of an acoustic build. It simply has to be right. And there are big, big, problems if is isn't. First step was cutting the angled saddle slot. In the end, I had to make another jig - to be able to accurately use a router: Next was recognising that the top is spheroidal - and therefore the bottom of the bridge has to be shaped accordingly. Just to pander to @SpondonBassed 's engineering background, I will use again the old 'engineers blue' trick: First I put some masking tape on the top and put some school chalk evenly all over it: Rubbing the bridge a small amount on the chalk reveals the high spots: Sand the chalk marks off and repeat...and keep sanding the areas where there is chalk and repeat and repeat. This is starting to get there: As long as you only sand where the chalk is, you are always lowering the high spots. Eventually, there is chalk on every bit - and then you know it's a perfect fit. Next is position the bridge - scale-length-wise and double checking with the string lining up: Then cut round the bridge through the masking tape: Wood components have a tendency to float on the layer of glue while they are being clamped, and so need position positioning. So I now drill through a couple of the string holes and will use some bolts to position and help clamp during gluing: But, the main ooomph is a long reach clamp with yet another home-made jig - this one is to act as a clamping caul for the bridge body, and then the two captive screws clamp down on the bridge wings: And there it will sit until morning

There's lots of trialling and checking involved with an acoustic build. The bone zero-fret string guide will be shaped before fitting, but the slots are basically in the right place: Then, with the two outer tuners popped on, and a couple of spare strings from my bits box, I am able to first determine where the guide would be fitted at the nut end to give me equidistance from the fret ends, and then, popping the strings through the outer holes in the bridge and pulling them tight, where the bridge will go left/right-wise. Ignore the kink in the bass string - I couldn't pull tight and press the camera shutter at the same time!: What I am happy about is that is has confirmed I got my bridge peg holes in the right place Once I've cut the saddle slot in the bridge, then I can position it forwards/backwards-wise and then glue the bridge! (Again, not the sequence you will see in the text books...I will explain my logic later As always, thanks for looking and for your kind comments. Always greatly appreciated

And so preparations are afoot to fix the bridge. I should point out that the sequence I am following is NOT what you will find in the text books but it is what I have done on the last couple of acoustic builds and works much better for me than the conventional methods. The main difference is that I will be doing all of this with the back still off. As I have recently learned, the spacing at the saddle and nut of a bouzouki between each string and between each pair has to account for the string widths so that the distances from string edge to string edge are even. I have used a string pattern from one of the detailed internet sites of bouzouki specs and then scaled up the relevant dimensions to work out where the centre lines are. Clearly at the bridge, it is the spacing of the string retention holes that determines the string positions and here I have the additional requirement of two staggered rows of hole, like on a 12-string acoustic. I used a 12-string bridge to double check that I was getting the row spacing right and then used some schooldays arithmetic and 'avoiding accumulation of errors' precautions to mark out the hole positions, which equate to the string centre line positions just behind the saddle: Drilled using my small drill press with an accurate bradpoint - and then the acid test - do all of the holes line up exactly with the intended string positions: I'm pleased to say that they do Another Phew! So next challenge is how to cut an accurate saddle slot. I'll have to have a ponder on that one...

The headstock plate is now glued on. The plate has full area veneer to create the b/w/b demarcation line and, for the fretboard, it is built into the binding. Pretty good match... There is a zero fret but there will be a bone faux nut just behind in the normal position that will be cut to act as a guide for the string spacings To get all the the tuners fitting OK, I had to get the neck off, and the various files and planes out. So while it was there I just took the corners off the neck profile too using a spokeshave and a micro-plane blade. You can see the paper template that P gave to me (I sent him a profile gauge and some instructions to take the profiles of his best playing bouzouki). Over the weekend, I will cut some plasticard profile templates from these and start the main carve : So next job is the nut guide, and then I can pop a couple of strings on the top and bottom pegs to work out where the bridge and saddle slot needs to sit: But before I can do that I have to cut the saddle slot and drill at least two string hole positions on the bridge What could possibly go wrong

Headstock plate ready to glue and fretboard glued: And does it still line up? Phew! The headstock plate will be glued on tomorrow - this is how the veneers worked out: All being well, I should be able to start the neck carve in the next couple of days

I know this looks like just a picture with a whole load of clamps - but there's quite a lot going on underneath it all: On the left hand side is the headstock plate on top of two sheets of ebony veneer sandwiching a sheet of maple veneer, clamped down on a glass plate. This will mean that the demarcation line between the headstock plate and the headstock will match that of the fretboard to neck On the right hand side we have the fretboard being glued to the neck, which means the truss rod is fitted and the fretboard end has been shaped. Other than that, it's just a picture of a whole load of clamps

That's not a bad idea

Well, that went better than I expected! With a decent fit of the heel to the body (final action will be to 'floss' the neck/body join with emery to end up with a perfect join), the neck is now in line with the body: And the carbon rod is at the same height as the bridge

There are relatively few steps left before I can start the finishing process...but most of these final steps will tend to take a proportionately longer time because there will be lots and lots of accurate measuring involved, trial and error assembly and disassembly, etc.. And none more so than fitting the neck. I'm going to break from convention for the neck fitting. My preferred method is mortice and tenon with sturdy bolts and threaded inserts, which is also what I will be doing here (I did succeed in one build with a dovetail joint but can't afford the post-trauma psychiatrist bills again!) : But I have found - on my own OM and a dreadnought I built for a fellow band member that over time the bolts slacken. It's an easy thing to fix - just a quick nip up with an allen key - but I don't want that to happen to an instrument that is a few hundred miles away. I think that it is that the mahogany - great quality and lightweight from David Dyke - simply compresses a teeny bit over time and temperature change and, eventually, this lessens the friction on the machine screw head. So what I now do is do everything in the conventional way with a bolt-on - up to and including finishing and a fully strung-up test of the action, intonation, etc, and then as a final step, take the neck off, add some wood glue to the joint and re-bolt. And so what about if in the distant future it ever needed a neck re-set? Well, see the heel? I will drill a small hole from here into a small chamber at the joint to allow a luthier to use their steam needle (that's what they use to remove set necks) to be able to insert it to soften the glue. Normally, a luthier would have to remove the fretboard for access to the joint (that's what they do to fix a Gibson Les Paul and SG set neck), but providing access here, all that needs taking off will be the heel end cap: And the flaw in the scheme? Well, as far as I know, no-one else provides this facility and, as a neck reset is only usually needed after around 30 years or so hard playing - and even then rarely needed - then P will have forgotten that this facility exists and almost certainly I won't be around to remind him Anyway - next task is getting the neck joint accurate and at the correct up/down and side/side angles. It's a shame that it is needed because, as a roughcut-straight-off-the-router, this is the best fit I've ever achieved(and it's just as close a fit the other side) : And is it needed? Well, it would be most unusual if it wasn't. I have found that the best way is to use a carbon stiffening rod - they are dead straight - to line up along the frets and centre-line of the fretboard. You can see here that the left right angle needs a tweak (a very small tweak in the angle at the heel makes a BIG difference at the bridge): And now I have the actual fretboard with the actual frets in place, I can fine-tune the up/down angle - which needs a small adjustment to end up with the bottom of the rod flush with the top of the bridge: So that's the next job

Yes - I think that is OK. Phew! Clearly, the fretboard will be eventually properly finished and the binding will be rounded - which I will do once the neck is carved. But you can see the overhang of the binding here (which will slim just a touch when they are rounded off) which should mean that sharp fret-ends won't happen even as the neck and fretboard ages. The demarcation stripes should also show up nicely once the neck is carved: Oh...and, of course, the obligatory mock-up

Nice touch!

The frets were de-tanged at either end, ensuring that none of the tang metal was proud of the un-bound fretboard. As usual, I fitted the frets with a teeny thread of titebond, hammered in and then clamped with the 12" radius block: The frets force the fretboard into a mild curve and so, to sand down the fret ends to the exact overhang, I first clamped it to a straight edge beam, with the fret ends clear for sanding: Then I could turn the whole assembly round 90 degrees and sand all of the fret-ends straight and accurately along my long sanding beam: This made it quite easy to get the fret overhang even along the whole length and accurate to 10th of a millimetre. I repeated for the other side and then rounded all of the fret ends. So now, if my calcs are correct, I should have the target width of fret, and the binding less than 0.5mm deeper than the overhang - which they are and which it is : So now I just need to plane the top of the binding so that the bottom feature line is flush with the bottom of the fretboard. And then glue the bindings on each side: So tomorrow, I should have: - a silky smooth set of fret ends - a teeny binding overhang to round off - a trio of feature lines to set it off against the maple neck Fingers crossed!

Absolutely splendid

I'm pleased with this.

Done. Time for a cuppa, I reckon. Been on with this most of the day

And so it starts with pencilling around the shape and routing with the Dremel in its precision router base: Then some diagonals, parallels and perpendiculars to mark the centre-points of the other dots: And then the key dots routed for a set of diamonds: And glued using 30 minute epoxy mixed with the sanding dust from the fretboard which will glue them and invisibly fill any gaps, including the diamond cross-cuts: And so later on, I will be able to sand these flush and that will mean that, soon, I can start tapering and fretting the board But before I put the Dremel away, there are three more swifts to rout for - the heel end cap (1) and the headstock plate (2). In both cases, I will rout the chambers before I cut out the components shapes so I have a larger surface for the precision router base to work from.

Now look what you've done...

A quick look out of the window to remind myself what swifts look like as they scream round the house before they go off in the next few days back to Africa: That's strange...that looks like woodgrain in the sky!! Oh - hang on...let me just invert it... So guess what I'm going to be doing over this weekend