Starting to look like a guitar

Well the neck is pretty much finished, just some more sanding to do. it is now attached to the guitar and the whole thing looks like a musical instrument.. I really like this point, you can really see what you envisioned when you started planning down rough wood.. Over Christmas and the holidays I'll probably finalize the design of the bridge so I can get this finished in January.

More Neck Carving

I've made some progress on caving the Indian Rosewood neck for the OM Plus I'm building.. The heel is rough carved and the sides are now down to the proper width and taper (to match the fretboard). Next I'll set the depth of the neck and carve the profile into it. The Rosewood is carving a bit easier than I thought it would other than tough end grain work on the heel.

Working down to the fretboard with a spokeshave

View from the top looks good

A Side Project - Completed

So the Dulcimer I have been building for a friend is now done! I'm happy with the looks and the sound. To recap it is Narra back and sides, Walnut top, fingerboard Walnut and Honduras Rosewood. Scroll peg box with open guitar style tuners. Finish is Amber shellac.

The main design feature for me is the fact the the fingerboard slopes up off the top as it approaches the strum hollow and is braced at the open strum hollow. This was done in an attempt to improve volume.. It seems to have worked since for a Dulcimer the volume is decent. stung with .011; .011; .013 and .024(w) strings for DAdd tuning and a 25.4 scale length.

Getting Ready to Carve the Neck

So the fingerboard is bound, the fret are in and the position markers are set. the truss rod is installed and the fingerboard glued to the neck. So now it is time to carve the neck.. This will be my first time carving a Rosewood neck so that should be interesting as Rosewood is quite hard. I'm sure I'll spend a good deal of time sharpening tools as well as carving.

I'm quite happy with the way the Bloodwood looks as a binding.

Attaching the Neck

Well this another one of the high stress cutting into a perfectly good guitar body moments.. But once doe the whole thing looks like a guitar - risk vs reward.. I'm still not 100% happy with the jig I have for this so it my well be on the list to make a new one.. The process however worked out fine and it now looks like a guitar.

Body mortise cut

And the tenon

See it looks like a guitar

Bindings Done

Things really start to take shape once the bindings are done. You can see the finish line it feels like..

I'm very happy with how the Bloodwood looks with the Indian Rosewood.

A Side Project

A good friend asked me to make a Mountain Dulcimer for her to give to one of her good friends for Christmas, so I thought I better get on with it as it is past mid November.. Hour Glass shape, 25.4 guitar scale length, Walnut top, Narra Back and sides with some cherry accents and maple bindings..

So far so good...

Just needs a fret board some more binding trim bits and  some refining of the scroll  

Binding tape is holding on some of the last trim bits.. My tenor guitar in the background