Acacia dread build thread

[demonx]

I guess you can do it that way but risks would be 1). tear out on the top 2) thinning the periphery of the lower bout will affect frequency of the main top monopole 3) if there are purflings then you dont want to take too much off the top of same.

One advantage for dark coloured wood bindings would be lower risk of discoloring the top wood with dust and scraping being worked off the top of the binding.

It’s only by a hairs thickness, it won’t make a difference

[demonx]

A couple more small jobs done today:

The Gidgee bridge blank was shaped first using a 1/2” endmill

Then using a 1.6mm endmill the bolt holes and the saddle slot were routed

Using a 3.2mm ball end in a downward spiralling motion to rheam the pin holes

Then using a 1.1mm endmill to cut some string slots

Followed by a profile cut with a 1/4” endmill

[demonx]

Fingerboard blank pre radius. I do it on the machine and then when it’s all glued together I radius by hand, however because the machine has removed the bulk it saves a lot of elbow grease later on.

I then do a rough profile cut on the machine and then profile to size by hand. I find that I get too much edge chipping on the machine to do a close profile, so I run it in the linisher afterwards down to the desired size.

[Steve.Toscano]

2E8FD4F6-FD24-4311-B626-DA79EC130475.jpeg

Apologies if already been mentioned, but whats the thickness of that top? Looks quite thick in this photo..

[demonx]

Can’t see which photo you’re referring to as the quote didn’t work, but the top thickness is sitting at around 3.4 at the moment and by the time it’s hand sanded ready for finishing it’ll be around 3.3mm I’m guessing.

[demonx]

Earlier today I routed the neck joint.

First the angle must be set, you can see the bridge and fingerboard are pushed against a aluminium piece of angle which is attached to a arm that the neck is mounted on. Once that is tightened the aluminium is removed to allow routing clearance.

When routing I had a bit of a boo boo, luckily it didn’t cause a serious issue on the neck, however I did have to cut a new routing template on the CNC before I could continue:

Then once the tang is routed with its angle I can move into the box and route the slot using this jig, the wheel on the back is a clamp with some cork pads on it to stop scratching.

[WJ Guitars]

Wow the guitar is looking great! Spraying not far away.

Wayne
https://wjguitars.wixsite.com/mysite-1

[kiwigeo]

LOL......can't remember how many times I've routed into the sides of my neck joint templates. I need to keep reminding myself to wait until the cutter has stopped spinning before pulling the router out of the template.

[demonx]

LOL......can't remember how many times I've routed into the sides of my neck joint templates. I need to keep reminding myself to wait until the cutter has stopped spinning before pulling the router out of the template.

It wasn’t that, it was the cheap piece of shite router. I’d never recommend a triton router to anyone.

As I was routing it decided to readjust the cutter height and the bearing moved off the template. I was lucky I realised reasonably quickly before any real damage was done.

I much prefer my dewalt handheld router, but it was mounted in a jig and this one wasn’t.

[demonx]

Wow the guitar is looking great! Spraying not far away.

Wayne
https://wjguitars.wixsite.com/mysite-1

Thanks. I’ll try add info on my painting process on this build as well. I won’t be spraying this in a booth, it’ll be getting done here at the workshop, so it’ll be a more DIY style paint that anyone can do at home, if they can spray 2k without close neighbours.

[kiwigeo]

It wasn’t that, it was the cheap piece of shite router. I’d never recommend a triton router to anyone.

As I was routing it decided to readjust the cutter height and the bearing moved off the template. I was lucky I realised reasonably quickly before any real damage was done.

I much prefer my dewalt handheld router, but it was mounted in a jig and this one wasn’t.

I used to use bearing guided bits but I found guide bushings and 1/2" straight/dovetails cutters worked better for me. With the guide bushing you can cut the mortise/tenon as a gradually deepening cut and not have to stuff around with bits of plastic tube to position the bearing on the cutter shaft.

[demonx]

With the guide bushing you can cut the mortise/tenon as a gradually deepening cut and not have to stuff around with bits of plastic tube to position the bearing on the cutter shaft.

I’m not sure what you mean by plastic tube on the shaft? Are you talking manual depth adjustment via the cutting piece?

All my routers are plunge routers, so depth adjustments are made on the router, not the cutting bit.

[kiwigeo]

With the guide bushing you can cut the mortise/tenon as a gradually deepening cut and not have to stuff around with bits of plastic tube to position the bearing on the cutter shaft.

I’m not sure what you mean by plastic tube on the shaft? Are you talking manual depth adjustment via the cutting piece?

All my routers are plunge routers, so depth adjustments are made on the router, not the cutting bit.

With the LMI style templates youre using and a bearing bit the bearing needs to run against the template. If you're adjusting the depth of cut the bearing position on the cutter shaft has to be adjusted as well. ON a lot of the bearing cutters that are supplied for use with these templates there are two pieces of plastic tube that slip over the cutter shaft and hold the bearing in position. Position of bearing is adjusted by changing the lengths of the plastic tubing.

https://www.stewmac.com/How-To/Online_R ... uting.html

[demonx]

Position of bearing is adjusted by changing the lengths of the plastic tubing.

I’ve never seen/heard of it done that way, when using those style plexi templates (which I used to use all the time on my electrics pre CNC) I always just changed to different length cutting bits. Which I’m guessing is quicker than playing around with plastic tubes!

[demonx]

I had a bit of spare time in the arvo so I roughed the neck profile.

My method for this is to use a flap disc for waste removal, working close to some freehand greylead lines. This takes only a couple of minutes.

I follow with a dragon rasp, followed by an 80 grit sand.

.

[kiwigeo]

That pencil line looks a bit rough....and the teeth on your rasp look very disorderly

[demonx]

That pencil line looks a bit rough....and the teeth on your rasp look very disorderly

Yeah, a little bit different to a Bunnings one!

[demonx]

Yesterday was supposed to be neck glue day, however nature had other plans and the heel snapped. The joy of working with Blackwood, you only have to look at it the wrong way and it splits, this time it happened when I was tightening the neck bolt during glue up.

I was forced to quickly pull it apart, do a glue cleanup and repair the heel. Luckily it was a nice clean snap and the repair is invisible, I can’t even see where it was now.

Anyway, the two bolts hold the neck in during glue up and it just needs a bit of light pressure to hold the board down to the top.

[PeterG]

Ouch!

I've had that happen with nut inserts just a few too many times. I now use a mortise chisel and put put a square brass block up through the heal per Trevor Gore, never happened since.

Peter

[demonx]

Radiusing and fretwork.

I start off by getting the neck as straight as possible via the truss rod:

Then I create guidelines. I use a 20” caul to sand with 80 grit until the guidelines are gone.

I the repeat with 120 grit and 320 grit.

After that I lose the caul and hand polish with 600 grit, 2000 grit and then a superfine scotchbrite.

[demonx]

Fret installed using a hammer. I trim the tang using a summit trimmer. I find them MUCH better than the stewmac guillitine.

I then use a fret expander and gently squeeze the ends, then I use a file to make the trimmed underneath flush.

Acetone is used to clean up any superglue squeeze out.


I use tape three pieces thick as a shield on the top of the guitar whilst filing the fret edges smooth.

[demonx]

I use the old “texts in the fret” track before I do a level, then I crown by running 320 grit along the length of the board held lightly in my fingers, followed by 600, 1000, OOO steel wool and then a scotch brite.

I remove the tape and do the edges using the same grits as above except I use a thin piece of ebony as a sanding caul.

I then roll the edges using a stewmac fret end file and then go over the whole lot again with OOO and scotch brite.

You can see by the few bumps on the tape it was well worth putting it on.

This is how I leave the frets up until after the guitar is painted, then after paint they’ll get a final polish using a buffer.

[kiwigeo]

Looking good....

[demonx]

Not much time for this build lately, however I at least ticked one more job off the list today, the bridge position.

First I measure from the nut to the front of the bridge, then I’ll run the straight edge along the edge of the fingerboard.

As much as I’d like to think the centreline on the top set is always perfectly straight, at the end of the day it’s the fingerboard which will determine the bridge position. By a stroke of luck this one seemed to line up correctly with the centerline if the top set, so I must’ve done something right!

Then I use the same fingerboard method to square off the bridge and mark the two location holes:

Once the holes are drilled, all pencil markings are no longer needed and the guitar can be sanded ready for paint prep. After paint, no more measurements are needed as I simply drop the bridge mounting bolts through the holes and they do the alignment for me at bridge glue stage.

[demonx]

I usually don’t pore fill acoustics as the Mirotone sealer does a good job of that, however I figured this Blackwood could use a helping hand, so a mixture of Zpoxy with a dash of acetone was wiped over it.

I’m glad I did as it highlighted a drum sander scratch I had missed on my “by eye” inspection. If I hadn’t have epoxied it’s a mark that wouldn’t have been seen until after paint and would be a giant pain in the butt.