Sapelle, Italian Bevel

[Dennis Leahy]

Todd, just in case you're wondering if anyone's watching: I am, and I bet others are too. Very cool to see your ideas take shape with your techniques.

Dennis

[tlguitars]

The clamps are off, top is on.



I've flush routed and it's ready for lay out. I use my regular Sj template to show the end of the bevel.



With the layout drawn on it you can see it (the regular Sj with the added bevel) better.



I thought I'd take a picture of the flat/fall away top I mentioned in an earlier post. My tops are flat until around the sound hole where they then fall towards the neck joint. This helps to eliminate 14th fret fall away.



It's subtle and efficient. No my idea, I'm not that smart. The next step is my binding cutter.



Normal use is like this:



You take a bent side and cut binding away. Nice and clean. Some times you have to go to the edge sander and get your edge back but this works great.



All I have today are my 2nd generation "leftover" Indian Rosewood hand-me-downs. So I have to precut my thickness and then I can bend.



Taped up and ready to bend, oh I've picked my top and bottom rings and matched the flat side to each other so my rougher edges will be scraped smoothe when I get to that fun step!! Basically I've remember that I need a left/right for each pair



I started routing for the binding,



and forgot about my butt wedge!!!



Thank gosh I hadn't gotten too far ahead.



So everything's ready to bind, binding is bent and ready to go too, but who want's to end their weekend with that crappa? That's what Mondays are for. (The worst part of the job.)



Oh, teaser alert, I did lay out my neck too. And believe it or not, this is the simpler version of what I was planning to do.




Hope the weekend was well.

[tlguitars]

Thanks Dennis.

To be honest I'm doing this post so you can see my stuff. I dug our interaction and your posts "over there" and figured I'd keep on with the good stuff now that I found you here!!

later.

t

[Dennis Leahy]

OK, you got me real curious, what kind of glue will you use for all those lams, that will have enough "open time"? Can I assume a roller for the glue, or that you have your kids helping?

Dennis

[tlguitars]

I use the bond that's tite and yeup I roll it out. I've never had a problem. I just let it dry for 12 hours and then resquare it with my jointer and planer. I've built tons of electrics that way, pert-near 100, and never had a problem. See below:




Thats just an 11 piece neck, laminates all the way through (I've done as much as 21), and 15 piece sides. Equals 30, it was my 30th b-day gift to myself.

I love the stuff.

[Dennis Leahy]

Thanks Dennis.

To be honest I'm doing this post so you can see my stuff. I dug our interaction and your posts "over there" and figured I'd keep on with the good stuff now that I found you here!!

later.

t

Well, I'm honored!

I know for sure there are three of us here that call Michael Gulezian a friend (John Cooper from upstate New York is here as well.) When Michael told me I just have to meet you, I figured I just had to meet you! And, I'm lucky enough to live close enough that I'm sure we'll get together at some point, and then I can see, hear, and play your gorgeous guitars for myself. I sound a lot like Micheal when I'm playing. Very similar style and skill level. Oh wait a minute, that's not right! I sound a lot like Michael when I'm eating a sandwich! mmmfmffm mmmfffmfrmfrfm (see, even his silly sense of humor rubbed off on me)

Dennis

p.s. I'm really glad you posted that awesome electric, 'cause now I know where your avatar came from!

[tlguitars]

It's been a couple of days/week so here's what's happening. I had to sand my roller to get it ready to use.



My Gluing tools. Air, paper towel and roller. Hurray no mess!!



1st layer is on I use 2 planes to square it by.



Half way through I start over, it helps with the slippage, what's not show is that I quick clamp the first half of the neck so it won't slip while it wait for it other half.



Stacked and ready to clamp.





While that dries I move back to laying out the bevel. I draw in the bevel purfling.



And then route for the shelf in 2 passes



The mark on the bevel is my stop point for the 1st pass. I have to shift my template to keep my 1/8" even all the way.



I then realized I forgot to bend my purfling so I grabbed some more binding for the top purf and cut some scrap walnut to bend the side purfling.

[tlguitars]

With the side stuff I use walnut that's just a little thicker then the BWB that way when It bends it won't kink. I also bend in 2's to help that process too because I cook it a little hoter too.



The slow cook before the bend.





Now the stuff you'll think is cool or hard until you see it. I was so scared of doing a "bevel." I thought it was going to be complicated and hard. I was only half right. It's a little involved but it's sooooooo easy and waaaaay dumber then I thought it was going to be. I thought I'd have to fit a perfect piece and I'd have to build in the compound angle around the curve of the body. Heck maybe I'd have to bend my perfect bevel insert piece and I'd be lucky if it all worked. The truth is, you take a sliver of a veneer and glue it on. Then and sand it flush. That's it, in simple form anyway. Point is, it's WAY EASY to psych yourself out with the coolness factor. "It's so cool it must be hard." Check it out.

First I tape off what's going to be my purfling shelf.





I then load my dremel with an 1/8th in router bit and hog out my bulk waste. It's not pretty but its all you need to do.





Then I go back with a series of files and sanding blocks and square the whole thing to get my shelf.



Then I take my bevel material and prethickness it to 1/16th and pre cut it to a rough shape, any thinner and it'll fray and chip.





I then take it over to my sander and take off the rest until it gets to about .052



I prepurf the bevel so I'm ready to shape the insert.



And now to start shaping the insert. This is NOT an exact step, you'll see. I'll hold the insert mostly in place and then pencil on my rough shape. Then I'll got to my sander and remove the bulk material.







As things get closer I'll add some refrence points as I'm shapeing to the top on a compound curve. So the more help I can give myself the better. When I get close to the done point on the top I'll then tape it in place and pencil off the waste on the bottom. I've also bound the top shoulder at this point too.