Day 10

Day ten. When I first consulted Ned in regards to this project, we had a sit-down meeting, and discussed facts, figures, procedures, materials, and a timeline.  The initial timeline he had estimated for me would be about twenty days.  Of course this is an estimate, as I am Ned's first apprentice/student to build a guitar, from beginning to end.  What I'm getting at, is this- assuming the estimate is about accurate, I am now halfway through my guitar building journey!  As I previously mentioned, all of the parts for my guitar have been started on, and a few of them even finished (the back and soundboard).  My sides are also dressed and ready for bending, and my bridge is now about 75% done.  The bulk of what remains is the neck, headstock, heel block, fingerboard, and frets- and of course the amalgamation of the guitar's counterparts.

Also to be mentioned- some of the pictures I took, that will be featured in today's entry, were taken with my new camera, although I am still very much a novice, when it comes to photography.  I am merely taking quick shots to capture what I'm working on.  I am also new to this camera, and haven't played much with the settings, at all.  I have much to learn, and hope to do so, in the near future. 

Let's get down to business.  On Wednesday, I entered Ned's place, a few minutes early.  He put on some coffee, and we chatted for a bit.  We discussed life, careers, interests, and and all that jazz.  I'm at an age where a lot of these things are very real decisions I must now make- namely, a career path.  I could go off on a tangent on this whole subject, but I'll stick to the purpose of the blog, that being guitar-building.  We headed downstairs with our coffee, and began the day's work.

Our conversation continued, in the shop, about all of these things.  Careers, hobbies, and life decisions.  It's good to have insight from someone who has made these choices, and has both received and given advice of his own.  On the workbench, patiently awaiting my touch, laid my guitar's neck.  The clamps and wax paper had been removed, from the last procedure of last week, which was the application of the headstock's laminate (African wenge wood, with a 0.6mm maple accent, beneath).  There was plenty of extra wood on the sides of the laminate, and the neck had plenty of extra meat, as well.  To get rid of these things, routing would have to be done.  But even before the routing was to be done, there was one step that had to be completed, first: sawing.

There being an excess of the laminate, on all sides of the headstock, I now had to saw a section of it off, on the side that was to be flush with the nut, leading to the fingerboard.  A piece of green painter's tape was placed underneath the protruding laminate, upon the neck, where the fingerboard and nut were to go.  The purpose of this tape was to mark where the flat of the neck stopped, and where the downward slope of the headstock began.  This gave me a visual of where to draw my line, to saw upon.  I marked a notch on each side, where the tape stopped, and then connected the two.  The edge of the cut I was to make would go against the nut, securing it in place against the ebony fingerboard.  A jig that Ned made was clamped into place- it was essentially a strip of wood, possessing a width equal to the length of the neck, in its present state.  At the top of the jig, there was another piece of wood, perpendicular to the neck- this was a surface that would ensure that the saw blade remained perpendicular during the cutting process.  I flushed the edge of the cutting saw's guide with the line that I had made, allowing room for the width of the blade.  A square was used to verify that the cut would be completely straight- it ended up that another line was needed, as the initial one wasn't quite perfect.  All necessary things were done, and the piece was clamped into its final place- I was then presented with the Japanese-style pull-cut saw.
 
The cut was to be less than 3mm deep, as the Wenge was about 2.0mm, and the maple was only 0.6mm.  The blade was to remain flat against the wood, and not at an angle, as it was when I made the scarf joint for the neck/headstock- this was necessary, because if the blade were at an angle, the front end of the blade would cut deeper than the back, and would thus cut into the neck, before the excess laminate was completely severed.  The neck must remain unscathed!  I began my cut, and used a block on the right side of the blade, to push the saw into the perpendicular plane which lied against its left side.  I did a lots of cutting and checking, so I knew what depth I was at.  I finished my cut, removed the excess laminate, and used a chisel to clean up the edge.  The painter's tape was then removed. 

The jig, which sits flush
against the edge of the
laminate on the headstock.

The next step was to apply another jig- this one would sit flush with the cut I had just made, and would be centered and screwed upon the neck.  The placement was done, and two screws were set- one at the top, just left of centre, and one at the bottom, just right of centre.  This kept the jig from moving at all.  Its purpose was to create a track for the router, so I could remove the sides of the neck, reducing it to its final width.  The bit that would be used was a pattern bit, which has a small bearing at the top of it, that sits flush against the pattern piece you are using.  This ensures that your cut only goes as far as you want it to, and lets you follow the

The router's pattern bit.

"track" of the pattern piece, as a guide.  There was probably close to an inch on each side to remove, before I was even near the edge of the pattern piece, so I had plenty of routing to do.  Ned set up a few pieces of wood around my workspace, which served as a barrier to stop as much sawdust and shavings from the routing process, confining as much to the bench, as possible (routing gets very dusty).  I hadn't really done much routing, in the past, save for what I did on my bridge, so this was a new technique for me to develop.  We went over safety and precautions before I began, and then I got to work.  In short, I removed a bunch of mahogany from both sides of the neck, then made one slow and fluid pass along the length of the pattern/jig, to achieve an edge that was nice and smooth.

The routing process on the sides of the neck is now complete,
and the jig has been removed.  As you can see, there is
mahogany dust... everywhere.

Upon completion, the jig was removed, and another one was set in place- this time, on the headstock. 

As the smooth sides indicate, the routing has been done
on the sides of the headstock, but the top has yet
to be scathed.  The jig can be seen, on top.  Also, the
contrast of the maple between the wenge and
mahogany is now visible.  Very nice!

I did the same process, here, routing the sides and top, removing all excess woods.  The top profile of the headstock was done only to a rough shape, as all finishing work was to be done by me, with various types of files.  Any other discrepancies in the routing work would also be touched up by hand, with a file.  One thing that is noteworthy in the process of routing is the direction in which you work- grain must be taken into consideration, from different angles.  Each section of wood must be approached properly, and you mustn't route too deep at once, lest you chip and splinter your workpiece- especially when nearing the final stages. 

Once I finished the routing, Ned used another jig to drill holes in my headstock, in which the tuning pegs would be inserted.  This step was done by him, as the jig he was using was new, and very touchy, so his judgement dictated that it was best for this procedure to be done by him- this was fine by me, as I know how to drill, thus, wouldn't really have too much to learn by performing this process, myself.

It was nice to take a look at the headstock and neck, which were now coming together nicely.  Their rough shapes were now there- the metamorphosis was a pleasant one.  One more bit of routing was to be done, that day, but the next jig/pattern needed a slight surface repair before we could begin.  It involved glue and filing, so it would take an hour or more before it was ready to use.  While Ned worked on that, I did some more work on my bridge.

I had the wings of my bridge roughed out, and one of the two saddle supports started.  I still had to do the tapering on the edges of the wings, and plane/chisel the other saddle support to shape- not to mention, the tie block, which was still untouched.  I rounded off one edge of the second bridge support, and proceeded to take even more off of the one that I had already started, as advised by Ned.  I didn't take any pictures of my bridge, this week, so you'll have to wait until next time, to see where I'm at.  I used a file to begin the tapering of the wings, and used a bit of sandpaper, as well.  I used a square file to do some finishing touches on the right angle where the saddle supports and tie block protruded from the bridge, and also a milling file, to reduce the height of the vertical edge-profile of the wings, even more.  They are probably only 1mm high, if that, now.  I used the same milling file to do some finishing on the camber of the wings, as well.

Ned and I discussed what would be done for the tie block- the original plan was to use a strip of rosette (matching the one that surrounds my soundhole) to top it off.  I have seen a few of Ned's guitars that use ebony with bone on either side, and I much prefer this look to that of a strip of rosette.  The contrast of the dark ebony against the white bone appeals much more to me than the intricate wood mosaic of a rosette.  The way in which we finish the tie block is a matter of preference, for aesthetic reasons, so it is my preference that matters.  Ned mentioned that it would take probably a half a day to use ebony and bone, rather than the rosette strip, but I essentially made it clear that I would compensate in whatever way necessary, if necessary, to achieve the look that I wanted on my guitar.  We'll cross that bridge when we come to it (Yeah, yeah- pun intended).

After working on my bridge for some time, the pattern/jig piece that Ned was working on was ready to be put to use.  It was a neat looking jig- it consisted of two main parts, one of which is a top/cover that is bolted into place by way of wingnuts.  This piece is used as a

guide for the router, to remove the two channels of wood through which the gear-shaft pegs, to which the strings will be affixed, may be seen.  This process was a bit different from the previous routing ones, due to the narrow and enclosed area which the routing bit would be maneuvered through.  I did a succession of semi-circular motions, to gradually shave away at the wood, until the final shape was made.  I did this process twice- once for each side.  Upon getting the bulk of the wood off, a couple fluid passes around the perimeter of each channel was done, to regulate the consistency of the cut.  Again, final touch-ups would be done with a file.

A nice preview of the top of the headstock, housed in a jig.  Its ebony peak, and
the rest of its profile is still very rough, and will be finished by hand, with a file.
That maple accent!  Mighty sharp.

I believe this was the last step of the day.  My headstock was now really coming along.  It was beautiful to look at it, from all angles.  The routing I did allowed me to see the true effect of the maple accent between the mahogany and wenge, which was quite sharp.  I was very pleased with the overall aesthetic of it, so far, and it will only get better!

We cleaned up the shop, I put my workpiece away, and that was that.  

A picture is worth a thousand words.