Guitar Resto-Mod underway

[nuhobby]

Hi Ed,
As it is I don't have a lot of expertise. In fact I have a lot of fear since there's even some lore about non-truss-rod Martin guitars having their neck curvatures adjusted by the insertion of different fret widths within a given width of wood slot(s)!
So... (1) is just by eyeball. (2.). is copying another guitar which has the same desired scale length. I've made some mistakes but I believe they are pretty minor.
Re: Bridge compensation, I have bought a compensated bridge piece which will be installed sometime coming up, again copying a known good guitar, paying a lot of attention to the non-equal lengths of bass and treble strings.

Thanks!
Chris

[edflorence]

Thanks for the information, Chris. I have seen some elaborate fret cutting jigs on the Stew-Mac site, but it looks like your method is working just as well. I look forward to seeing the pictures of the bridge installation.

[nuhobby]

Thanks!

I'm just starting some frets, and the slot depth is fussier than I had expected. Just some more learning to do.

I decided to string the thing up with just 3-4 frets installed. It actually does play pretty decent first-position chords. Further work on the nut height (which is currently shimmed roughly to compensate for a poor headstock measurement I made), along with better fret seating and leveling, will help get rid of some buzzes I noted. But, the good news is, the common red oak body really sounds all right!


Rough carving the neck from cubist design down to something more playable:

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Gluing on the bridge:

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The temporary nut shim:

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The first trial day:

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Hang in there!

[nuhobby]

I had to do a lot of learning on (re-) fretting. Here, correct tools are really key. Fortunately, not too expensive.

The main thing I found helpful was getting the fret wire, fret press blanks, and fret sanding blocks all at the same (14") radius. That took care of many problems. Out of 18 frets or so, 3 of the slots were wallowed out from my mistakes, but I resolved those with super glue:

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Then, after some oils and details, I recollected the last 5 weeks from the same sofa

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And here is the fully playable guitar!

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Thanks for watching! I'll let you know if I ever get a recording up on the web.

Chris

[BuckeyeDennis]

Wow, what a journey! The guitar looks great, and I trust that it sounds as good as it looks.

I learned a lot from your techniques. My own instinct has always been to get component parts to final shape before assembling. But in many cases, you assembled rough-dimensioned components, and then refined after assembly. I can see a number of advantages to that approach, especially (but not necessarily) when using hand tools to do the refining.

[algale]

Nice job on the guitar! Knowing you made it should make it all the more enjoyable to play!!

[MikeG]

Thanks for sharing! It looks great to me. Is this a one time only build, will you ever do another?

[nuhobby]

Thank you!

Knowing myself, another build could happen in the future. It's always true that one can see ways to improve!

Regarding trimming pieces to fit (after the assembly), part of this was due to my parsimony and stubbornness. I never made molds for the guitar body, so I was a bit lower in material budget, but I had time to burn since I've been laid off for a few months. I may be back to work in June, knock on wood.

[nuhobby]

In review, I made one of the smaller guitar sizes so that the guitar sound is in a different part of the spectrum from my voice. I've had a cold for the last few days.

If not "enjoy", then "politely tolerate"!

https://youtu.be/zn42VB5eR2A?si=LkQS_snD10XEX5Gb

[rlkeeney]

Thanks, I was wondering what it would sound like.