Shopsmith Forums

Nice job !!! something to be proud of . what type of glue did you use ?

Hobbyman2 wrote: ↑Sun May 22, 2022 9:58 pm Nice job !!! something to be proud of . what type of glue did you use ?

Thanks! For the most part I'm using normal Titebond wood glue. This is said to be good for future serviceability since it can be un-done with heat + steam if necessary. I did also have early work on the end-blocks where I was paranoid about the mahogany sides springing loose, and there I used J-B Quik (fast version of J-B Weld) epoxy. That is the dark-ish epoxy line that I covered with veneer wedges in one of the picture postings.

Nice , a couple years ago I did some testing with hide glue where I made my own from rawhide, it is also used by luthiers , so far it has withstood the test of time , my next test is taking it apart and reglueing the pieces , I had a neighbor years ago that built violins and he all ways made his own glue . I knew tightbond makes a hide glue and your project peaked my curiosity .

Well, I'm finishing up my Covid isolation, and ready to quit thinking about this guitar for a while, too...

The mahogany sides I had bought were a bunch of trouble, splitting and driving me up the wall.

I decided to "mud 'em", to even up the surfaces:

Then I made up some dark red milk paint from powders I had on hand:


Later I had oiled all over the thing, and it's to the point I don't want to see it for a while, but at least it works (if not being a stage gloss piece):

Thanks for watching,

Chris

Ouch -- sorry to hear about your troubles with the mahogony sides, Chris. Overall though, it's some really impressive craftsmanship.

This may be a dumb question, as I know nothing about lutherie, but are the sides generally steam-bent? In the first post, you said that you bought curved side pieces from a kit maker. So I assume that they were already formed roughly to the shape you needed?

Hi Dennis,
You're right, kits will usually have the sides pre-bent. I think premium kits like Stew-Mac's must have great components. I actually spent less than half that amount from an auction seller. So the mahogany sides I got were pre-bent, but they'd already started "rebounding" (curves springing back to larger radii) when I received them. I'm not sure how much of that was the cheapness of the mahogany versus the rigor of the bender/ seller. Anyway, as it turned out I messed with some heat and water -- and a hand-saw -- and I got my "OOO" sides down to more of a "OO" size that I lashed to the end blocks. It was a learning experience.

Chris

Well, 2 years later -- I've liked that resto-mod, but I got the itch to make a guitar from scratch.

Some random points of progress (red oak rift sawn wood for the sides and back)....

The photo with the plane is absolutely gorgeous. Did you make the plane?

Thank you for sharing. I'm very interested in seeing future progress. Nice photos

Building a guitar is an ambition I have in my retirement, which is rapidly approaching!!