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.

Post #27 - Top bindings clean up.

Tape removed and soundbox back in the mold to hold the body while scraping flush the bindings.  Top came out pretty nice.

Post #26 - Top binding.

Routing for the top involves two stages, first routing for the binding, and then routing for the top purflings.  The bindings have greater depth of cut and is cut first as shown below.

The second route is for the top purflings. I'll be using b-i-i-b.  Routing the top is easier than the back since the top radius is very slight.   

After routing, I clean the cut with sandpaper, first sanding the top to draw the edge "fuzz" down toward the channel, being careful not to radius the edge.  Then  I run sandpaper along the channel to clean of the fuzz and smoothing out and rough areas. 

In preparing to cement in the purflings and bindings, I tack the purfling pieces together with a tiny amount of binding cement, and clamp together with clothespins.  This will make it easier to get the gluing up process started.

Here is a shot of the top glued and taped down. 24-hour waiting time before scraping and sanding flush...just enough time to peel all the binding cement off my fingers.

Post #25 - Back binding

The following series of shots were taken over a period of days.  Some of these steps overlap with the progression of the headstock binding, but I thought it made better sense to document the workflow process, rather than strictly posting the progress in time order.  As shown below, the first step is to set up the dremel with a routing bit and the binding attachment.

I put the soundbox back in the form for this step, and the clamped the form to the workbench so that the body is solidly held while I route around it.

Since the back has a slight arch, I made a first pass at the correct depth, but slightly shallow of the width.  I then made additional passes in areas that needed further routing.  The problem with the binding jig is that it sets flat on the back surface which is arched, and so for the upper bought area, particularly the upper shoulder is very challenging to route properly.  I found that in the finished binding, I ended up scraping more in the area because of the way the channel is routed.  I'll have to come up with a better solution for the next build. Anyway here is a close up of the channel.

Here is a shot dry fitting the back binding (I-B-I).  You can use a file to clean up the route.  For the waist you can use sandpaper, or fingernail emery board.

Here I dry fit the binding and mark for length.  I square the mark, and use a small saw to cut it shy of the mark.  I then take the piece to the bench drum sander (the rotating disk portion), and sand square and clean to the line.

In preparation for gluing, I set up the pieces of binding tape in advance.

Here is the back, glued up with the binding and taped down.  24 hour dry wait...

Here is a shot of the back after the tape is removed.  Time to flush the bindings to the back and side.  Lots of the glue squeeze out to clean up.

Here is a shot of the scraping process part way through.

And the finished back after scraping.

Post #24 - Scraped headstock binding

Had some time this morning to scrape down the headstock binding (after at least a 24 hour glue time).  Below you see the picture of the bindings/purflings glued up and taped down.

Here is the headstock after the tape is removed.  You can see the cement squeeze out.  The bindings will be flushed to the headstock veneer and the sides with a scraper.  The cement squeeze out will also be scraped off. 

And the finished headstock...that's more like it.

Post #23 - Binding headstock

Here is the guitar headstock.  I will be binding with I-B-I (similar to the binding that will be installed on the back).

I clamp it down and rout the binding with the Dremel with the binding attachment.  As always test with a crap piece of wood first to check depth of cut.  The corners are done carefully keeping one edge of the binding attachment flat with the headstock.

The binding will need to conform to a few sharp corners on the headstock.  Some builders miter the corners, but for this build, I'll be using a heat gun to soften the binding and conform its shape to to the binding edge.  I clamp the headstock and tape a section of the binding down.   With a heating gun, I work the corner with a wooden caul, being very careful not to melt the binding material.

Here is binding after some work with the heat gun and the caul.