Minor hiatus

Hoping to return back to this project with some time this summer. In the meantime, this might be some good reading in prepping for the neck setting step: http://www.guitar-repair.com/neckarticle.htm

Post #32 - Clamping the fingerboard.

After a short hiatus (busy end of school year for my kids and my students), I am finally back to this build. I've actually been working incrementally on the frets over the past weeks, but the progress was slow and not really worth noting. Since the fingerboard is bound, I had to dress the fret ends before installation.

Below you see the fingerboard after being fully fretted. I've also glued in the truss rod into the channel of the neck with white glue. Since the truss rod angles down toward the soundhole, I used various sheets to shim any cavities above the truss rod so that the neck will have a flat surface to attached to.

White glue is used to glue the fingerboard to the neck. Here is where I use a lot of clamps to make sure I have good contact and adhesion. Next, a little bit of glue clean up and waiting for dry time. The (scary) step of fitting the dovetail neck is up next.

Post #31 - Fingerboard cont. and fretting

Below is a shot of the fingerboard after being routed out with the dremel.  

For adhesive, I'm using the slow set epoxy dyed with black and brown to match the fingerboard.  I then used the powerd palm sander to sand down the inlays until close to flush and finished off with a block sander. Here are the pieces after sanding.  I finished off with 320 grit and then 1200 to polish off the inlays.  In preparation for fretting, I also cleaned up the bindings with a scraper.

Here are the tools for the fretwork.  I attached the fret press attachment on the drill press.

The other tools include a fret cutter.  A fret tang nipper.  A fret hammer.  A fret file. White glue.  I dress the fret before installation because of the bound fingerboard.  I used white glue to help keep the fret installed after installation.  The fret press does a good job, but it can only apply so much pressure,  I often hammer to make sure the fret is fully seated in the slot.

Here is fret #2 installed.

Misc. Post

I came across this interesting post on making a multiple bound fingerboard.

Post #30 - Prepping for position markers

I've cleaned up the fingerboard binding.  I started with the palm sander (powered) to bring the binding close to flush, and then finished off with a scraper.  Then I had to clean up fret channels with an x-acto knife and a thin saw to remove the cement binding overflow.  

Next I prep for the dot position markers by penciling in alignment lines and gluing down the inlay pieces with white glue.  This will allow me to scribe the perimeter with an x-acto knife to outline the area that needs to be routed out.  I'll be using the D-45 type snowflake pattern on the fingerboard, and small diamonds on the bridge.  Below you see the pieces glued down and ready for scribing.  

I'll then remove the pieces with a bump of chisel and then route out the cavity for the inlay.

Post #29 - Biding the fingerboard.

I start out by scribing a line approximately the thickness of the bindings along the side and front edges which will be bound in ivoroid.  I then setup a fence which will allow me to route out the edges to accomodate the ivoroid binding.   A cautious approach would be to set the fence so that the first pass is just shy of the line, and then minor adjustments to the fence can be made subsequently until the line is gone. 

Here, I dry fit the fingerboard after routing.  To begin with, the neck width is wider than the fingerboard and will need to be filed down after fingerboard installation.

I cut the bindings and then miter the ends at 45° on the bench sander's spinning disk with the table set to 45°.  Below I dry fit the bindings to the fingerboard.

Here is a close up of the mitered ends.

I prepared for the tape up, by attaching strips of the tape to the bottom of the fingerboard.  I then glued and taped up the end, and then proceeding along a fist side, being careful to make sure the bindings were flush against the side and the bottom.  Here is shot of the fingerboard taped up and waiting to dry.

Post #28 - Open Dovetail 

A little of posting catch up.  Now that back and top bindings are complete, time to open up the dove tail, very carefully with the Dremel and a routing bit.  Even moving carefully, I still got a little chip out.  Below, I clamp the mold into the workbench before opening up the dove tail.

Here is the dovetail after careful removal.

Now comes one of the trickiest part...setting the neck.  Before I do that I dry fit the truss rod, and then dremel out the small channel for the truss rod.