fret marker dots in place, then the frets fitted & the neck join sorted & the neck bolted & glued into place.

Holes for tuners drilled & a heel cap (maple) glued in.

LOTS of sanding before first coat of lacquer.

meanwhile Steven's guitar. I wasn't happy with the neck join angle as it was off by about 1 1/2 degrees. so yesterday the neck came off again, was fine tuned (REALLY sharp chisel!) and replaced.

By this time next week Steven's will be finished and Tims will have several coats of lacquer.

I hope!!

Sadly I had to teach lots today so not much REAL work done!!!

Two bridges to make for Steven & Ian's guitars. Steven's is ready for it's bridge so his gets the treatment fiorst, but it's easier to do them two at a time when the tools are set up.

the pin holes are too small at this stage, they'll be opened up with a reamer once the bridge is attached. the second pic shows the bridge in position, but not glued yet. Maybe tomorrow!!

rear binding done, then a little more work on the neck. the headstock is now headstock shaped, and after a little work I was able to roughly attach the neck to the body.

Suddenly it looks like it might end up like a guitar!!

there is a LOT of work still to do. before the weekend I'd LIKE to get the fret markers done and the frets fitted and then sort the neck joint properly.

I also steel wooled the lacquer on Steven's guitar and fitted the tuners. Next job on it is making and attaching the bridge

Have I mentioned how much free time I have now that my senior students have gone off timetable for their exams?

well, today I had an extra hour as one of the classes I have left went on a field trip so I missed 'em!!

so, two main jobs today.

the neck was assembled. I planed the face of the headstock flat then saf-t-planed the back to get it parallel with the front
then I glued the fretboard onto the top, not forgetting to put in the truss rod first!!

then after that dried I started shaping things. there is still a LONG way to go, but suddenly it starts to look like a guitar neck!!

the other job was binding the body. I did the top, but ran out of tape so I stopped at B&Q on the way home and got a few more rolls. Tomorrow I'll do the back and work on some more on the neck

OK spent a LOAD of time today working on guitars as my 6th form have left and I have free time to spare!!

Steven's Guitar was sanded down a LOT and then another 5 or six coats of varnish.





Tim's dread...

the neck is under way. truss rod slot cut, and the outline roughly cut.

then wings added to the headstock to widen it up for the tuners.

I carved the top braces and glued the top on.

then I fitted a mahogany tail wedge and sanded it smooth and finally routed the step for the binding

this shows the final body shape pretty well.

OK, just a LITTLE progress!!

neck & tail blocks glued in, linings glued in (you can never have too many clamps..... clothes pegs do the job nicely!!)

Back & top braces all glued into place, the back braces carved and the back glued into place.

I've left it for the weekend with the maple bridge plate glued in place

Monday will hopefully see the top braces carved and the top fitted.

then I'll bind it with mahogany as per Tim's specs.

so.... the 12 fretter has it's first coat of lacquer.... pretty much a find the glue splodges coat. these will be sanded out, then the long slog of spraying and sanding starts.......

while that was drying I got started on the next two. the walnut dread that is the prize for Tim, who won the cover competition, and a walnut cutaway mando......

"stealth" bindings on and sanded. the Bindings are walnut from the same block of wood as the back & sides so there should be a fairly good colour match.

the neck Join needs a bit of tuning now, then a LOAD of sanding before the lacquer starts to go on.

Nearly the whole day to myself today so a fair old bit done.

I routed out the binding channel front & back then started working on the neck joint.

I got to the point of the neck actually being on the guitar, but there's a lot of fine tuning to do, intricate carving that'll need me to sharpen my chisels......

still, now it looks a little bit more like a guitar!!


Other tinkering at the cello got the scarf joint cut & glued on the headstock and the body wings glued on. I plan to use the wagner Saf-T-Planer to lower the top of the thru neck to match the rest of the top.. right now it looks like one of Bo Diddly's rectangle guitars!!

AT LAST!!!

the parcel arrived from Spain with the bracing wood!! so the last couple of days have been spent shaping, glueing and carving the braces on the inside of the top.

the bridge plate is walnut, and these braces were about 1/2 way carved when I took this pic.

once I was happy with the "ding" of it, it was glued onto the back & sides and held with all the big clamps I own!!

I've also been looking at the neck and slimmed it down from the 25mm thick to it's "racing weight" of a hair under 22mm

while I was waiting for the parcel from Spain I let my mind wander in the direction of the electric cello I've been plotting for #2 son for quite a while.

I had 90 minutes covering a silent study unit so I produced these drawings.......

Deliberately blurry to stop y'all stealing my ideas!!! (right!!)

I've lammed up the thru neck, maple, mahogany and maple.

the maple came from my favourite builder's yard and the mahogany is a chunk of a tongue & groove wall panel......

still, nice grain, even nicer price!!