Making the neck

20180827
I also began to make the neck first by squaring the blank.
Squaring the blank will make marking the dimensions much easier.
Also I tried to plan the length so as to optimised the material used.
These necks will be elevated design so they are longer than usually.

Squaring the blank

Marking the dimensions

20190116
I saw the scarf joint and clean the joint up with block plane.
Before that I clamp a guide block to ensure that the saw is tracking properly.
Then I just need to make sure the saw stick to the guide block.
If the sawing is good the clean up is minimal.
During clean up I just need to ensure that the surface are straight and aligned.

Clamp the guide block

Saw the scarf based on the guide block

Clean up the scarf joint afterwards.

After cleaning the scarf

Prepare to glue the neck and head

Glued

Both necks done. 2nd neck was done similarly

20190211
I made a new head template for the new guitar.
Basically mirroring 2 pieces then join them together.
It has straighter curves more inspired by Simplicio style of head which is easier for carving too.

Making a new head template

20190220
I jointed the cut-off from the back to form the headplate.

Shooting the edges for jointing

Preparing to joint

Glued

20190301
Glued the headplate to the head.

Headplate glued to the head

20190307
Trimmed the headplated.

Sawing the excess headplate

Trim to size using block plane

Ready to shape the head

20190308
Shaping the head. The head was shaped using block planes and saws and files.

Drillin the slot holes

Shaping the head

Side flushed with the template. Note that the template is supported by aligning dowels

20190319

Shaping the head with file

... with saw

Head shaped.

20190322
The tuner holes are drilled next.
I have the jig from LMI to guide the drill bit.
Just need to make sure the holes are aligned properly for the 2 sides.
I draw a centre line and extend the 3 lines and use a square on the other side to align the intersection with the centre line.

Drilling the tuner holes with the tuner guide.

Holes drilled

20190326
Next I saw away the excess headplate at the fingerboard end.
I had to make sure that the headplate is square to the fingerboard surface.
To do that I use the guide block to saw.
After sawing, I clean up with my chisel.

Saw the excess headplate with a guide block.

Clean up with chisel.

Next I drill away the waste in the tuner slots.
I use a smaller forstner bit than the one at the start and end of the slot.

Drill away the waste in the tuner slot.

Majority of the waste drilled away.

Excess neck was cut from the main neck. The excess portion will form the stacked heel block.

20190328
Next I chisel away the waste the tuner slot.
The final sanding still needs to be done though.
I also cut the heel block making sure the grain alignment is the same as the neck.
This will ensure that during the carving stage will be easier.

Chisel the waste

Mostly chiseled away. Rest will be straighten by sanding.

Stacked heel blocks cut to size

20190408
I clean up the slot by filing and sanding.
Next I cut away the piece for the elevated fingerboard portion.

Clean up the head slots

Stacked heel with the final foot piece.

Sawing the elevated fingerboard part of the wood form the main neck shaft

Cleaning up the surface

Stacked heel properly aligned

Stacked heel pieces saws to size.

20190508

Stacked heel pieces glued. Only the middle portion were glued first in order to facilitate easier planing of the straight back area

Back of the heel planed nicely

20190806
The foot piece was gluedto the heel block.

Glued the foot piece to the heel stack

Cutting the top to plantilla

20181219
Next I draw the plantilla outline on the top.
After that I saw out the top leaving about 10 mm of border space at the edge.
When I am doing tuning, I will trim the top nearer to the actual plantilla.
The excess edges will affect the tuning results thus it needs to be as close to the final shape as possible.

Marking the plantilla

Sawing to the plantilla shape leaving about 10mm of border

All 3 tops cut to shape.

Finishing the guitar

20180710
After 2 years of playing the guitar, I finally get around to start finishing the guitar.
The string broke so I removed the string and started the finishing process properly.

The sound has developed to be very good.
In terms of sonoriy I would rate it the best amongst my guitar. (2nd is followed by Guitar #5)
Other guitars were generally great at the trebles but OK at the bass sonority.
This guitar has both clarity, separation and great bass sonority.
I attribute this to the bracing and the low air resonance.

First I sanded the top even with various grits: 150, 240, 320, 400, 800, 1500.
Then I pore filled the rosette ring with CA glue.
I tape up those areas which I don't want to coat with shellac.
Finally I coated the surface with thin coats of shellac without any oils.
I noticed some patches of unevenness on the rosette area which means I did not sand it even after the pore filling.
Likely I will need to remove the base coat of shellac in particularly the rosette area.
But the grain really pops out after the shellac is applied

After sanding the top with various grits

Pore filled the rosette with CA glue

Applied a the base coat of shellac.

20180713
More FP in progress the shellac building up slowly.

Slowly building up the shellac. Look at the silking on the top (medullary rays)

Another view

Look at the rosette, the grain starting to pop out

More FP in progress, beginning to get some shine

Starting to get the shine

20180724
Some more polishing to go.
The shellac build is good but after spiriting off I lost some of the shine.
Hmm I am supposed to burnish the surface to compact the shellac but with the bridge in place it's kind of hard to do that.
The excess oil were removed with paper towel.
Those hard to reach area (e.g. bridge area, area besides the fingerboard) are easier to reach if I put a coin into the mueca during the polishing.

Shine is there but I will need to level sand the surface

20180731
I level sand the surface using oil and 800 grit.
Then I followed up with more polishing.
The effect looks much better

After level sanding with 800 grit and oil

The surface is smoother after the level sanding.

More polishing

20180920
I began to finish the back.
I stopped a while as I was thinking what to use to finish the back.
In the end I decided to use shellac.
Pore filling with dust wasn't working out too well.
In the end I use pumice.
The trick to use pumice is not to apply too much of it.
If too much is used it will get tacky and discoloured.
When that happens use more alcohol to level it out.

After a few bodying session, the coat builds up fine.
I polished a bit and things looking good.
I level sand a bit in between.
Some pores are still quite visible so I just a bit more pumice to fill them.
That's the good thing about using FP and pumice to pore fill; you can always go back and do it any time.

After a few bodying sessions.

Pumice

20180927
After a few sessions of polishing this is how it looks.
I level sanded a few times.
There are some along grain graduations though so when I do spirit off I did it in a traverse direction.
It did level it a bit so i think i will continue a few sessions to level them.

After a few sessions of polishing

Can see the reflections