Curly Maple Cutaway for Debbie

[Raymond]

And here I thought I'd borrowed most of your library Steve.

Looks like you were holding out on me.

I have a few of those, and I'll be looking into those others as well.

Thanks,
Raymond

[Eben]

That ain't carried away, Steve;

that's gold, man...

E

[Raymond]

I went out and got the 2 books Steve referenced and will have to take some time out to build me some luthiery tools some day... I think I'll build a hand router plane while I'm at it. Saw one on ebay, but got outbid on it.

Meanwhile a little catching up to do on this build.

Here I'm gluing in the neck and tail blocks.


Then I got a little skimpy on the pictures, but I basically used a handplane and the radius dish with sandpaper to contour the front of the rim, then glued the kerfing in. With Maple I like to use mahogany kerfing and cedar back braces for the contrast. First couple of times I had a hard time getting the kerfing in without breaking it, but now I spray water on the solid side of the kerfing and let it soak in a bit and then prebend the kerfing around the tight areas. Went on like a champ. I used traditional kerfing on the top and reverse kerfing on the back, just because I like the look of the reverse kerfing and you can't see the top...

flipped it over and repeated on the back side.


While the kerfing was drying, I laminated the neck.


Debbie wants a soundport so the next step was to reinforce that area of the upper bout. I used a thin veneer of ebony, maple, ebony, and the inside most layer was a piece off the side I scorched during that time I don't talk about...


I ended the rim by gluing in side braces of cedar. You may also see a couple of places where I installed reinforcements arond the side to cover various cracking issues.


Now I'm ready to move on to bracing the top and back.

Raymond

[Joe Sustaire]

Looking good Raymond! I love your sense of humor,---"a piece off the side I scorched during that time I don't talk about..."

Thanks for the chuckle,
Joe

[Lefty]

Raymond,

I am doing some catch-up here. Really looking good.

Steve,
Thanks for the tool and book info. Sounds like some good library stocking material.

Lefty

[RegnierGuitars]

Hey Ray,

I'm with Dennis on that recovery, good job man !

Luc

[Raymond]

Thanks Joe, Lefty and Luc.

Joe, I'm glad for the chuckle, but did I mention I don't like to talk about it...

I thought I might post this in a separate thread, but it hardly seems worth the effort so I'll post it here.

The first time I went to visit Steve Stevens I met up with Wes and Eben and I started working on threaded rods and holes so I could build me one of those fancy guitar holders... That was about 2 years and 4 guitars ago and I finally put it together after my latest visit to Steve's...





This last shot shows it with a cheapo laminated guitar body in the holder... Anyone want a cheapo laminated guitar body??? Please!!!

I acquired it back when I was first starting out thinking I would practice on it. I'm just too much of a pack rat to throw it out now...

Raymond

[Eben]

Guten abend, Raymond!

It is about time!!



E