Three Guitars Done!

Well this took a bit longer than planned but the three L0 bodied guitars are now done! Took longer due to just general life getting in the way but also a delay in getting one guitar back from finishing and me taking 3 weeks to get some more training in set up and fret work from a local expert. (Thanks Nicole).

All three are now done and although they share the same shape that is about all they share.

No.1
Slight bearclaw Sitka top, White Oak back & sides  5 piece Spanish cedar neck and Rosewood trim. My version of a classic Gibson "H" bracing. Royal Lac shellac body & TruOil neck

No.2
Sitka top, Black Walnut back & sides 5 piece Honduran Mahogany neck and Maple trim. Standard Martin style "X" bracing with one tone bar. Finished with UV Cured Poly by Vancouver Guitar Finishing with a TruOil Neck

No.3
Figured Sitka top, Koa back & sides 5 piece Honduran Mahogany neck and Ebony trim. Double "X" braced ( the bracing I plan on using in general going forward). Finished with TruOil.

no.1

no.1

no.2

no.2

no.3

no.3

Closing the Box on 2 Parlour Guitars

Always a bit of a big step, the tops and backs are joined to the sides and things start to look like a guitar!..

Clamps, clamps I own tons now...

Ready for next steps, end wedge & bindings

Finishing one Rosette

So to finish the rosette on the Koa top I just need to add inner & outer purfling I was using pre-glued up purfling so they were a bit of a pain to bend in the circle as they tend to come apart as the glue heats bit it did work out in the end

I'm happy with the look of this one..

The Bindings

Routing the binding channels in a guitar body has to be one of the more stressful steps in building a guitar. You have a nice closed box and now you are going to start routing out pieces of it.. A mistake can be darn near unfixable if  you mess up big time.. Besides the channels need to be precisely sized and consistent for the bindings to look good once installed..

I've tried several methods to do this all with varying degrees of success.. I am partly limited by a small work space so some of the bigger parallel arm jigs for this are out of the question size wise.. My current jig is a variation on a Charles Fox design and ones I've seen in some production guitar factory videos.. The key to all binding jigs is that they reference off the sides of the guitar NOT the top which is arched, only a small part of the to top or back is in contact with the jig so the arch does not effect the accuracy of the routed channel..

This new jig worked very well and this was by far the least stress I have had routing binding channels so that coupled with the relatively small size of this jig makes it a keeper.. I'm sure some of the bigger jigs are even easier to use (from what I've seen) but they just are not an option for me due to space.

The jig, the side of the guitar references on
the guide that sticks out, depth is set by moving
the guide up and down and  by adjusting the
router bit's depth, the only place the top or back contacts
the jig is the small piece of wood with two screws in it.

Completed channels, nice smooth and even

Another view

Bindings installed and taped in place while the glue dries.
I use fish glue for this as it allows time to get the bindings set in correctly

And from the top

The completed bindings

From the back

and from the side, I'm happy with how the ebony looks with the Koa wood.