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The dumbest mistake??? how about starting to build the first one !

Ok, maybe I can hide this one way at the end of this long thread. I can't be sure this is THE dumbest mistake but since I'm still in the middle of this one it sure feels it. This one is on my first guitar build (still in the middle of it). I love pearl and abalone and decided to inlay the fretboard with a fairly complex floral pattern that I designed (1st mistake) This is, by the way, my first attempt at inlay. The cutting went pretty well and everything looked good. I went to inlay into the ebony and just before knocked over a bottle of CA onto my glasses (no extra pair at this point) Wrecked them completely. I figured.. no problem..(biggest mistake) and continued to rout my cavity. I didn't really get how completely impaired my vision was without glasses and routed the cavity massively bigger than necessary. I sunk in the abalone and filled with epoxy colored with a black substance I got from Stew Mac that turned out to be way too gray (looked horrible). Dug out all of the epoxy and filled with CA and ebony dust. Much better except the shiny little particles of garnet from the sandpaper I used to get the ebony dust. By now I have glasses and a 10X optical visor and can see the whole shocking mess. Dig out the garnet sparkles and fill with ebony dust. Much better. Too much sanding and I dug a bit of a hole on the treble side. Now I order a radius block and sand to level the fretboard but by the time I'm level some of the pieces are sanding through Now I am cutting some new pieces and removing the old ones. No matter what happens, this is my last go around with this onery sucker

I would try getting the CA off your glasses. Or get someone to. I have found that, prescription, glasses lenses are often not affected by most of the solvents we use, including acetone. You might want to askyour optical dealer though. Either way, thought it seems like they can't be any worse for trying.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Thanks Waddy, you're right. What's the harm in trying.

Okay, I've got one to add to the pile. Was getting ready to start routing the binding channels and cut the neck mortise for this cutaway project. Got to noticing that when I made the cutaway, I had, like a dummy, used the neck blank to determine where the neck/cutaway junction is. Forgetting that the sides of the neck blank are oversized, and will be trimmed to fretboard width at the 14th fret. Duh!

Here's where it's at now. The neck in the picture is a bolt on from another project and mind you, the mortise hasn't been cut into the body yet, so it's standing about 3/4" proud of the body at this point, so the neck join is not at the 15th fret,even though it looks that way in the pic. Notice the corner of the cutaway stands outside the fretboard edge about 3/8".

Oops! Not quite sure yet how I'm going to approach this fix.

dave

Dave, if it would not be that because of that you don't have much access to the higher frets, I'd say it doesn't look bad... different and not common, but not bad

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Olivier Gauthier
Montreal, QC

Boy, this thread is so encouraging, in a back-door sort of way.

I'm still working on #1 - and keep noticing how weird the end wedge looks backwards. Lots and lots of other mistakes, many mentioned here and some not.

I think my biggest mistake so far is not seeing a bigger picture at the beginning. I have referred to several books and websites, and none of them uses exactly the same sequence of steps in building a guitar. None is incorrect. What is incorrect is to start without a plan as to what the sequence will be in your own case. I am thinking if I can get through this first one and learn that, I will have a good start.

The next one will be better. It is that thought that keeps me content working on this one, and perhaps explains why luthierie is considered by some to be an addiction. (With all due respect to the professionals among us).

Thanks to all of you who are willing to acknowledge your mistakes, it is really heartening to a rank beginner like me.

David

I have selective amnesia for most of my boneheadednesses. Otherwise I would never go near a wood shop again. One thing I can't forget however was when I cut a piece of something or other on my table saw and felt a sudden burn on my badly placed finger tip as the blade went right through my nail. I'm very happy to still have an albeit permanently numb finger tip still there. That was about a 10.5 on a pain scale of 8.

Safety First!

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"Preoccupation with an effect gives it power and enhances the error"
from "Your Owner's Manual" by Burt Hotchkiss.

Perhaps not the dumbest, but the latest. I just drilled the holes for my fret dots.

3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, 11th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th.

I was cutting MDF on the table saw for some jigs. A repetitive series of strips about 2" wide. I just kept pushing the nest one through and let the one before it drop into a box on the floor behind the saw. I need 12 but cut eleven so went back to the saw tp cut the 12th. ran it through but could not lcate it. Wasn't in the box. Wasn't on the saw. I knew I cut it but could not find it. I looked around the shop thinking it may have kicked back but still couldn't find it. I was baffeld. So I cut a 13th. A little later I noticed my shop was getting chilly with a draft from the window. There was a hole in the glass about 5" diameter 6' off thefloor, and out on the lawn was strip #12!! I had a splitter and antikickback attacement in place but the piece must have not engaged in the little jaws. Luckily I was not in the path. Incredile how fast these things occur.

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Greg
http://garibaldiinstruments.com/

Gosh... way too many to list, but a couple good ones...

On a prototype stage guitar I mis-calcualted the scale/neck joint/bridge and the bridge pins missed the entire bridge plate (of course after the entire thing was finished and being set up).

Also more of an accident than a mistake, but I just finished bending some nice quilted mahogany sides. Took em out of the bender and was making my way towards the bench when I tripped over something on the floor, took a few big hops and crashed to the ground crushing the sides under myself.

Upside down endgraft? Did that once at Bourgeois. Spreader inside guitar.....been there.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Acoustic: didn't realize that one of the small blocks of wood I use between the tips of the go-bars and the wood of the guitar was under the body of my jumbo 12-string when I glued on the top. The block was under the back about where the bass-side x-brace ends. The body of this guitar has a small case of twisted-frame syndrome, but it still plays and sounds great.

Electric: two come to mind:
1) Side marker dots on the first bass neck I built 6 years ago: 3, 5, 7, 10 (double), 13, 15, 17, 19
2) Building a neck-through fretless bass for a customer. I routed for J/J pickups when the customer wanted P/J.

I did an upside-down endgraft on my first acoustic, but I wanted it that way. That's my story and I'm s-stickin' to it!

--Steve

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---Steve

Well, I'll just get that little scrap of koa from the sides and put a few drops of CA on it and put it on the top next to where I'm doing this drop fill so I won't have to reach back to the bench to get the next drop of CA......

.......dum-de-dum-de-dum........

......why won't this piece of koa move.....

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

So far on #1.
A. Upper bolt for Doolin style adjustable neck too close to the top so fret adjust slot goes right across the top of the compression washer.
B. Double acting truss rod upside down and couldn't change it (see A).
C. Head block to short - did not allow for radiusing.
D. Center of the top too thin by about .015. Too ambitious with the scraper on the center seam
E. Inlaid double dots on the 5th fret.

I'm just thankful that nothing is so bad I can't just keep going.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

My worst mistake in my short experience, to see the trus rod chanel appear while making the neck galb with a rasp...

I thought I was going to throw my neck to trash... but I've repaired my mistake and it was a great experience...

Not necessarily the dumbest but recent and with photographic evidence

I was photographing my freshly installed top bracing and preparing to shave it down before
gluing the top on, when lo and behold I noticed something just didn't look right. Notice anything missing?

And later, on the same guitar, boy was everything coming together good. I was trimming out the rough
headstock shape on the 14" JET bandsaw when I glanced away and back (just for a second mind you)
then all of a sudden a 1/4" deep cut mysteriously appeared in the side of the neck just below the headstock

That jus' show's ta go ya, if it ain't one thang, it's another

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

I agree the mishaps of others make me feel more at home. I will start my first build soon. I started with Restorations to glean insight before diving off the cliff

A big rule is DON'T WORK IF YOU'RE TOO TIRED TO CONCENTRATE. That's what I blamed this on anyway. I had the rim built and the top and back braced and ready to install. I routed out for the braces and installed the top(25'radius) on the back of the rim(15'radius). I noticed is was hard to get it fit but didn't really think anything about it. I didn't have a clue until the next day when I turned it over to install the back. No harm no foul though. I use HHG so it was easy to remove. I replaced the kerfing and the binding covered the notches in the sides. I also made a Banjo nut once with 5 perfectly spaced slots.........Why do they call it a 5 string banjo????? It should be a 4 3/4 string banjo

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

I recognize some of these booboo's. You guys must have a camera in my workshop

While routing the rosette channel on my last ukulele, I ended up cutting all the way through the top. This was after two test cuts to get the depth. I somehow managed to cut clean through the top while barely leaving a mark on the board I had supporting it underneath. Couldn't do that again if I tried.
Good thing it was fixable with a "soundhole patch"

What a great place for my first post. I superglued my eye shut! Yep. I was gluing my first rosette into it's little notch. It was an ebony strip I'd bent on the bending iron. The routed slot was beautiful. I was so proud. The strip was a perfect snug fit, so I tapped it with my little fretting hammer to make sure it seated. A little splash of superglue shot out and hit me dead square in the eye. The funny thing was, I had to finish putting the rosette in! So I rushed to put it in and then ran to the kitchen sink to hose my eyeball with the sprayer thing. I tried to open my eye to wash it, but it wouldn't open. I went to find the glue bottle and read that you should not try to open your eye when it's glued shut, "seek medical attention immediately". Ummmmm......Not gonna do that, would never live it down. Fortunately my wife was asleep and, to this day, doesn't know about it. I did my best to pick the dried glue off, went to bed with it shut, and it was fine the next day.

YIKES!!!

I've only got one thing so say about that one

SAFETY GLASSES!

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

Funny you should ask...Just this evening I was making a fingerboard for a mountain dulcimer, after it was done I noticed that it had an extra fret. That's what happens when I try to rush.

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- Ben Pak
North Wales, Pa.

I once put the bridge on backwards. Drilled the string holes through the top. Had to make a new top. I knew something did not look right but couldn't figure it out till it was too late. That's scary.

Once i cleaned up a pool of CA glue with a rag. Unfortunately my finger was in the tip of the rag and when the CA wicked into the rag it catalyzed more or less instantly, glued my finger to the rag and released a lot of heat. I had a rag glued to the tip of my finger which was blistered with a second degree burn. Several days later when the pain was more or less gone I sanded off the remainder of the rag.

Hey don't feel bad John, Gibson still make them that way! Well, perhaps not the sting holes in from of the saddle part.

I don’t worry too much about mistakes, it’s the ones where rotary tools and flesh are involved that scare me. I haven’t had any bad accidents with hand or motor powered sharp edges, thank God, but I sometimes get too complacent with my edge sanders, especially when shaping small parts . They can sure remove a lot of skin in a hurry!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I used Titebond III on my build...then needed to take a whole lot of stuff apart to fix.