The Luthier Community

whitespruce wrote:I glued the binding on this one today. Did not take photos because it is identical to the Beng jumbo, just different wood.

I do have one photo, though. Since my cutaway is tapered, there is a slightly different curve at the top and back. I bend my bindings in the center of my form, so they don't quite fit either. So, I use the nozzel of a heat gun as a bending iron to tweak the shape.

Only takes a few minutes. I trial fit and mark with a yellow pencil where I have to increas or decrease the bend, and I just fiddle with it until it fits well.

G

Grant, your bench looks almost as "tidy" as mine.

W

Hi Grant,

I too have always been intriqued by your top bracing pattern. In GAL No. 95 there was a very interesting article about top bracing by French builder Alain Bieber (no relation to Justin, as far as I know). He has done a lot of experimenting with ring bracing. As far as I gathered he is mostly into classical guitars, but nevertheless one should be able to apply his findings to steel string instruments as well. You, and others, might find the article interesting.

Nice build!

Erik

HI Grant,

Wondering if you could elaborate on your "shop modified" router bit for profiling the laminated back braces? What are you starting with in the first place? I have found some potentially useful bits - 1/4" shaft 10 or 15 degree taper with bottom bearing. They look like they would work nicely if it weren't for the small hex screw that holds the bearing guide on ... that makes the clearance on the bottom around 3/8 to 7/16'ths ... really not would catch much of the brace that way. Can't tell from the picture how your bearing 'guide' is attached. Do you know what the angle is approximately? I'm just getting ready to try a variation of the laminated x-brace back ... the thought of carving all that glue is not pretty ...

Thanks,

John

John, I started with an old Craftsman (Sears) bit that just had a solid screw in guide instead of a bearing. Then I was able to grind that down so it was only about 1/8" tall. I ground the cutting edge to about 10 degrees or so. Not sure anymore because I gave the bit to Dennis. I now just use a couple of mini planes and a small sanding block and that works fine.

G

Once again, I need to catch up with this one.. Not done yet. I have the binding all done and the neck is ready for the frets. The guy I was doing this for blew all of his extra money and disappeared, so I have had this on the back burner. But a friend of his who owns another of my guitars is interested in this one, so I will get back on it and post some updates.

G

Grant, I just read through this entire thread and find your bracing pattern very interesting. Would it be possible to get a copy of your plan?
Mike

Can't believe I started this over 5 years ago

Well, as I had mentioned, this guy disappeared over 4 years ago, so it HAS been on the back burner but I do have a show coming up over Labor Day, and this is an easy one to give me another new guitar to show.

Got the first coat of finish on





So I should be able to get it strung up in a week or so.

G

It was fun reading through this log. Looks to me that you have a great guitar to string up. Well worth pulling off the shelf.