Amateur mess up, do I start over or make raised fretboard...

[rangerdave1]

I recently completed my first build with some parts from a kit, primarily the bent sides, top and back. The rest I made.. It turned out great so I got hooked and now want to build every combination of guitar possible.. haha..

So I started two scratch builds, one out of Ebiara / Spruce (got ripples in sides but will deal with it), the other a birdseye maple / spruce. I knew these builds would not be perfect and I am trying to gain experience so they are more or less experimental builds.

I am using 28' radius for top and 15' for back. Got the sides bent and jointed with heal and neck block, the sides tapered, kerfing installed. All is good so I radius the back and top with appropriate radius boards. I glue on the back and then glue on the top on the Abiara build. When I take off the clamps, I noticed there is considerably more curve to the top then 28'... Not sure where I went wrong. I never mixed up the radius dishes so right now I can only think that the sides moved in the mold as I was radiusing them so they did not follow the correct radius. Even the back no longer has a 15' radius. The odd thing is that I followed the same sequence from my first build with good results..

The birdseye maple build I caught before I glued the top so I adjusted the radius..

The Abiara build is another story.. The top has a severe bow, much more then the back. When I put a straight edge on the top, I have a gap of 1/8" (3.2mm) at the base and at the neck joint, I have a 5/16" (8mm) gap...

Do I give up on this build and hang it on the shop wall? Do I take this opportunity to learn a new skill and try doing a raised fretboard?? My concern is that the bridge will be sloped back a bit due to the curve but perhaps that's not a big deal.

What would you all do?

Hare are two photos.

[lamanoditrento]

What type of guitar are you making? I assume a steel string?

More than an 8m radius is not necessarily a problem, the important thing is the neck projection at the saddle. Hold straight edge on your neck block and measure the distance at the saddle position. At this stage, I aim for 2.5mm projection for a steel-string (-2 for a nylon) but this will depend on your desired string height above the soundboard, fretboard height etc.

You can sand/scrape/plan the projection if you have the material in the soundboard above the soundhole, to get the right projection.

If it is way off, you could consider taking off the soundboard, re-radiusing the rims and neck block projection and regluing.

Also, you might wanna check the sides are still even, e.g. the treble side height is the same as the bass. If they have slipped in your mould, they may not have slipped evenly...

[johnparchem]

First off, when sanding it is really easy to take more off the edges than the center. One has to fight it and check constantly. This issue exists for sanding straight or sanding with a radius board. I think that the friction of sanding tends to place a downward force on the leading edge of the sanding block or in your case a radius dish. While using a radius dish I often check the rims by clamping on my top, even an unbraced top and checking the angle of the fretboard extension part of the top with a straight edge projecting over the saddle location. This allows me to have the correct angle before gluing on the top.

To fix, you might consider properly setting the neck to the correct projection over the saddler and then making a wedge to fill the gap between the fretboard and the top. Not quite a raised fretboard.

[Steve.Toscano]

If you dont worry about the aesthetics soo much of it, an easy non surgical fix would be to make a wedge shaped fingerboard. Depending on the geometry there, you might only be looking at a difference of ~2mm across the length of the board.

Otherwise, get a flush cut fine blade japanese saw and cut the top off the sides (super easy to do before you've trimmed for bindings.), resand the sides/linnings, and clean up the glue off the soundboard, glue the soundboard back on.

[rangerdave1]

Thank you for the sugestions. I think that since this is a learning build, I will simply add a wedge under the fingerboard. if i cut it from the same board as the fretboard and flip it under, it may look fine especially to the un trained eye.

[Mark McLean]

I think you are going to be OK with that. It might need some compensations built in later like a taller-than-usual bridge, or the fingerboard wedge that Steve suggested. It also looks like a fairly thick soundboard (or maybe I am deceived in the photo, what does it measure?), so you might be able to sand a bit of flatness into the fingerboard area. This is your own design and build so it can be a bit different - as long as it works in the end. You will learn quite a lot from the process of working out the compensations.

If you are wondering why it worked out different to your expectations there are a few possible reasons. Did you dish the entire top? Some people radius the lower part of the soundboard but then try to keep the area north of the soundhole flat by having a non-radiuses UTB and gluing that brace down on a flat surface rather than in the dish. There is also the critical aspect of the relative humidity (and therefore the timber moisture content) on the days when you did the bracing and glued the plates. Do you know what the RH was at that time or do you actively control it in your shop?

Push on. It will probably be OK.

[BradHall]

Is it possible you have the sides up side down? From the photo it appears so.