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I'm using the GS Mini for shape and size of body as I randomly picked up a mold for one a couple of years back
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I also have a 15' radius dish for the back arch.
A matching top could be something I liked, but mainly the thought arrived because I have 2 identical sets of wood
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First they were Thicknessed to 2mm. I did this by putting them on a backing board and sending through the thicknesser. This is very risky and only works here because its straight grained walnut and cuts well. you can quickly destroy a set of sides trying this with anything figured or more brittle. They will now be scraped down to about 1.8mm. Walnut usually bends really well so, very forgiving at these kind of dimensions.
The back and top will need to be hand planed and scraped to thickness. The thicknesser is too risky for those, and I don't have the luxury of a thickness sander yet
After that I marked them up and cut the rough taper. usually I bend at full width and add the taper after, but i'm trying it the other way round here.
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Watching with interest, @WezV
The sides have been trimmed to length and i made neck and tail blocks out of some random chunks of mahogany type wood - most likely Sapelle.
I still haven't decided if it will be mortice and tenon, or a dovetail join... so i've gone for a traditional block that will allow either
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I am traveling at the moment so don't have much to hand but with the shorter body at 17" ISTR and the longer neck where does that move the bridge to?
Anyway, its a format I love for smaller acoustics if you are not looking for a conventional acoustic tone then you can get a nice voice out of solidi Walnut back and front.
As always will be following along with much interest
Think of it like a baritone tele with Floyd and humbuckers. We still call it a tele based on body shape, even though by that point it sounds nothing like one
The drawing in the first post shows where the bridge ends up with a 14th fret body join and 24.75" scale. The saddle will be 13.9mm further back due to the extra 31.75mm of scale length.
It's going to push the bridge closer to the center of the lower bout, which should increase responsiveness. If it works, it will get more tone and volume out of the smaller size. If it doesn't, it will likely get a bit muddy when strummed
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I only had 3mm perspex here, so laminated 2 bits together and you can see some of the glue between layers. Mounted the dremel router base, and drilled some pin holes at set distances. I think i will enlarge the main hole in the base to prevent it getting clogged.
I just need to be aware of bit size with this, but can drill more pin holes if needed. The 40-50mm holes are for soundholes, 55-65 for rosette.
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I now have soundhole cut and two channels for a basic rosette made from offcuts of the back wood and a little black veneer. That will get glued in place, and should look pretty clean once scraped back.
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I glued the back on yesterday, top soon. Will get pics at some point.
I also started on the neck. My uncle dropped round some reclaimed mahogany recently that he nearly just burned in his fire.
At the front of the pile was this piece, covered in varnish and no more nails, but a very promising tap tone.
It was only 40mm thick, and had quite a bit of damage down one end from when it was reclaimed with force.. but looks like enough for a 2 piece neck. Not quartersawn, but the grain is nicely mirrored so should work well.
After that I put it through the planer and took away all the damaged edges
It's some really nice wood. But I did discover one flaw when planing. There is a small hole that could have written this off.
But thankfully it is pretty much spot on the final depth of the neck, and only goes half way through that laminate, it should be easily removed in the carve.
The extra tabs will allow me to add some pins when gluing it together. I include them when cutting the laminates individually like this, not so necessary if gluing the block before cutting
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I got a nice surprise when the plane hit it. I suspected there was a little figure from the sides. But not this consistently flamed.. I got lucky with the chevron pattern.
Body is glued together and ready for trimming back
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It does both dovetail and mortice and tenon neck joints, so I fancied trying my first dovetail.
That may have been a mistake as I overshot the body route for it by a mm each side, .. but i was then able to use the jig to recut it wider and make a filler piece. I made the filler piece wider than the original cut to ensure it was strong enough. I was then able to reroute at the correct dimensions. You can see it is the darker mahogany fill either side of the re-routed dovetail here.
Next time I will do the body route first and cut the neck to match. It is easier to do fine adjustments on the neck part of the jig.
I should have practiced with the jig on scrap a bit more first, but I'm quite happy with my save. Everything feels nice and solid
with oversized fretboard blank
The bridge is an aftermarket one, but i quite like it's design
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But now I've put it through the planer and added a radius and slots, it's actually not as pale as I thought.
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Nothing fancy, just simple cream
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Your stream of photos from the different stages really hides the effort and craftsmanship that it must take between each step!
The comment is “wow”.
Looks like another great piece of work Wez. Lovely timbers and a great save from the fireplace.
but the purchase of a laser cutter brings new opportunities
The first thing to do is a jig to fit he sound hole and allow me to accurately cut a new channel.
so i cut this
the 3 bits on the bottom will be laminated together. The smaller circle will allow the jig to sit straight in the soundhole. i've done two layers of the main template to allow extra thickness
i then designed a simple rosette and cut a load of walnut and cedar from the offcuts of this body
i put some double side tape on one of the jig offcuts and started piecing it together
it's possibly a bit too fancy and i may just go back and cut some new strips... but this new toy is fun!
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still bumpy with glue, but should be nice once levelled off
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The neck is rough carved too
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