How to Unwind on a Friday Night

Spend a couple of hours French polishing.. got the back & one side done..

Finally - Applying a Finish

Whew, it's taken a bit of time and way to much pore filling & sanding but I just put the first base coats of shellac on the parlour guitar.... Looking forward to seeing how this Royal Lac hardened shellac works out.

Summer Projects

So the humidity is not the best for building guitars right now but I am still plugging away at pore filling the parlour guitar and it is almost done... whew.. I'm going to be trying a new shellac formula on it for french polish from Shellac Finishes called Royal Lac it sounds very promising..

http://www.shellacfinishes.com/

I'm using the time to sort out a few more jigs or update some, this seems a never ending task I've got a few new ones I want to make and I am also almost done updating my neck tenon jig to make it more users friendly.. I'll post those when done

Also I'm working on fixing up the first non-dulcimer instrument I ever made a Mandocello.. I seriously screwed up on the design and now I'll be replacing the original flat top with a carved arch.. I just jointed the top (some decent Yellow Cedar) tonight..

On with the Parlour Guitar

So I've carved the neck on the parlour guitar, a bit more of a V than previous ones I've done. and now it's on to pore filling the Wenge!

It has huge pores so I imagine it will take 3 or 4 tries to pore fill it, maybe more.. I thought about using other method but decided to stick with z-poxy..

Despite the huge pores I like Wenge and I'm working on a plan to use it again on a tenor..

And it's Done

Complete finished done.. Sounds good, ok sounds better than the ladder braced Celtic tenor I made a while back, more sustain and a bit deeper sound.. Probably due to the slightly bigger body.. Also the sustain might be a combination of the stiffest top I've used so far and the relatively thick saddle...

I was anticipating have to do compensation on the saddle to get the intonation right but if anything it's a bit flat so none was needed.. The thicker saddle might? be better at energy transfer to the top?? I'll have to do a bit of reading up on that.

Next, I've got to finish the parlour guitar which I've just started carving the neck on and I have the original Mandocello I made that need a new top. A carved & properly arched one this time .....

French Polish, Bridge and the Rest of the Jobs

So the French Polish is done, finally after re-doing the top. The frets are leveled and polished. Tonight I attached the bridge and rough shaped the nut & saddle..

Now all that is left is:
drill & taper the bridge pin holes
slot the holes
finish the nut
finish the saddle
attach the tuners
string it up
set the intonation on the saddle
see how it sounds

ready for the bridge

It should fit

Positioning the bridge

Temporarily locator screws

clamped for the night

Back to Work

Back from a great vacation doing some diving in Honduras.. Now on with guitar building..

The tenor is getting French polished, just started building the base. The Parlour now has a fingerboard again and I can start carving the neck soon.

The tenor's top with a bit of Sellac

Ready to have the neck carved