Official Luthiers Forum!

This thread was a lot of fun last time and for those of us who did participate last time, a year or so ago, if you are like me you will have a new dumbest mistake to share...

My dumbest building mistake since my last post in this kind of a thread was bending a beautiful Tasmanian Tiger Myrtle side from Bob Connor in my Fox bender. The problem was that I bent it in a dreadn*ught shape when I needed an OM shape....

So Einstein here took it out in it's now perfectly bent dread shape, ironed it flat again with no problem and tried to rebend it into an OM and as you may have guessed it cracked..... This is the first and only side I have ever broken....

But what I learned from this was to always check what bending form was left in my Fox bender and be sure that it is the desired form. In fact I just recently nearly did the same thing again and now I store my Fox bender with NO form in it..... It's been said that the difference between dumb and stupid is when you are dumb you make a mistake and when you are stupid you make the same mistake more than once....

So... let's hear about your dumbest building mistake and if you want to post the same mistake that you posted last time that's great, we have lots of new members who may not yet know how dumb we are...



The winner, or dumbest mistake most eloquently and descriptively written about here will win a tub of lard.

Thanks!

Thinking it was a good idea to start building guitars.

I can relate....

Gluing up a rim assembly back-a*%-ward (ie. the neck block installed upside down ) not noticing till I profiled the back of the rim. I had to cut the tenon through, plug and relocate the bolt holes reprofile the back of the rim to be the top and the top of the rim to be the back and thereby built my first thinline SJ

I didn't do this -but I was in the shop of another maker over 20 years ago as he did this.
He installed the bearing & bit in the wrong sequence (bearing on top-cutter on bottom)and put the nut on to hold it all together.
Then he went to cut the binding channel and instead cut a hole in the side if his guitar!

Mike

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Mike Collins

I completed a top and back for a new small jumbo, braced, finished sanded & all, then left them in my shop for what would be too long before attaching them to the rims. Once I finished sanding the radius on the rims, I grabbed the pieces to attach them and low and behold, they no longer held their radius...at least in the direction they should have.

I had left them too long and they went from concave to convex. Lots of messing around and they're close now, but not quite right. In any event, they are on the rims now, so we'll see if my guitar explodes when I string it up.

The lesson I learned: Get the top and back on the rims as soon as they are complete. This real job of mine keeps getting in the way of my guitar building! At least it pays for it...sort of.

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Jamie M

Since last year?.... sanding through an abalone rosette down to the redwood soundboard... With inadequate lighting (my story), kept sanding, feeling, etc. Next morning I'm like...what the f #%&!!!' ...first opaque pickguard for me...lesson learned....use GOOD lighting.

My first guitar was a classical which I built traditional style with a solera. So I clamped the soundboard to the solera with a caul and wingnut, just like here:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_ox4_NHnnh6w/RyhSWEkRHgI/AAAAAAAAATg/cnMAchvLzfs/s1600-h/solera_with_topboard.JPG

It's generally believed to be a good idea to remove the clamping caul before closing the box (glueing on the back), which I didn't

I wish I could have seen my face when I wanted to pick up the guitar and admire it, and found the solera securely attached to it

I've made mistakes that cost more, and some were harder to fix, but this is the funniest.

I was replacing the neck on a banjo for a local 'grasser. I put the dots at the wrong frets on the fingerboard..........twice. After I finally got the fingerboard right, and the neck finished I made a really good looking nut.......with 5 perfect string slots. It is a 5 string banjo.........right????

What's really funny is, I've played Banjo (a little) on and off since I was a kid. I never noticed the dots were at different frets.

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

I was recently working on my new mandolin , was working on cutting the depth of the "tenson rod adjusting nut slot " deeper and i managed to cut right through the back of the neck .

Lesson is , there ARE aspects of this that a fella should NOT do once he has had more than one beer !!

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

On my last finished guitar (I may still make some mistakes worse than this on the two current builds...), I cut the binding rabbets after I cut the mortise for the neck- so- the bearing on the bit dropped into the rabbet- big divot right at the top of the back. I eventually fixed it by applying a small pearl inlay. Actually, it came out looking so nice that I may use it on other guitars

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Gene

Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason- Mark Twain

My latest dumbest was last month I had to make some space on my cluttered workbench so I decided to put my braced EIR back on the floor (how stoopid is that)for just a little bit while making a firm mental note to myself to not step on it. Well you guessed it, my shop floor is equally cluttered and I took a step back and snapped a 1"X 2-1/2" piece of the upper bout edge cleanly off.
After I took a time out I went back and CA'd back on, no visible joint and it looks like it never even happened. The box is closed up now and it looks great- except for that ugly dark crack on the spruce top that somehow developed while I was roping the back on.
Don't know what I will do about that, stabilize it on the inside at least, maybe learn to splint it, oh well...

René

I was admiring the clamp job and how well I had cleaned the glue squeeze out on the bridge of my J35 when I thought to myself "That was way too easy". Sure enough, I peeked underneath my bridge caul I had glued it up with the saddle slot BEHIND the pins--I even had reference holes that were lined up (just backwards). I sprinted to the garage and got my bridge removal kit and even though it had only been on the guitar for 10 minutes, it was the hardest bridge I have had to remove.

I was able to eventually remove it and repair it invisibly, but it was a kick in the nuts. I've read stories about stuff like that but I figured that I could never make such a huge mistake--especially after about 100 hours of labor and being so close to the finish line.

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Don't confront me with my failures--I have not forgotten them.

Slotting a fingerboard. Not once. But twice! I slotted a nice piece of cocobolo for the maple OLF SJ I built last winter. Figured by doing it myself, I'd have more choice over woods and could eventually save a few bucks. So I ordered LMII's template and saw blade. Seemed easy enough. I made a tweak to my cross cut sled to accommodate the indexing pin, and I was ready to slot away. Slotted the board, popped it off the template, and was admiring my handiwork when I set it on Michael's plans and noticed the fret slots on my board didn't match the ones on Michael's plans. I immediately thought, "Man, I slotted for 24.9 instead of 25.4!" But I later realized that I had put the 1 slot at the nut. Doh! So I grabbed another piece of cocobolo and got it correct.

But the story doesn't end there. I set up the saw again several months later to fret another board, and darn if I didn't do the exact same thing again! Another wasted fingerboard! All of a sudden the cost savings of slotting my own boards was turning into expensive sawdust! I have since put a big sharpie mark on my template to identify where the end of the fingerboard needs to be to get that first cut as the nut slot rather than first fret. Third time I finally got it right! The madrose for the J185 was slotted without sacrificing another board!

You'd think with all the other complexities and areas for screwing up in building a guitar, the last place to screw up would be with a simple slotting of a fingerboard!

I hang my head and sign, Ken

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http://www.casperguitar.com

So far, it was using a very expensive top to set up my 18/36 drum sander. Didn't realize it til I was at .080". Managed to save the top for a 3/4 sized guitar though.

Bob

Well, I'm pretty new to guitar making, so I don't have a lot of stories (yet) but the one I do have is a doozy.

This happened back in June, when I was making my first classical, from a kit. I was working on setting it up, and had one of the strings attached. Then I noticed an area on the sound board under the strings that needed some buffing, (yeah, I'm sure you all can see it coming. I didn't...) so I just thought to myself, "Self, just hold this loose string out of the way so it doesn't get caught by the buffer. It'll be fine."

So I untied the string from the tuner, (leaving it attached at the bridge) and headed over to the buffer. Things went along great until the string decided to get involved.

Well the buffer ripped the string off of the bridge, and proceeded to administer 39 lashes (the penalty for stupidity). I didn't even have time to do what I usually do at times like that (scream like a girl and run) before the string was thrown into the far corner of the shop. I never did find all the pieces of the string.

When it was all over, there was big welt on the top of the guitar, and on the side and back where the string wrapped around... It's a miracle the guitar wasn't ripped out of my hands, but I did manage to hold onto it.

I counted seven different cuts on myself. The ugliest one was on my nose. The one that bled the most was on my scalp. That copper wound nylon string even cut my chest through my shirt. Amazingly, none of the cuts ever hurt. I wasn't aware my scalp had been cut until I looked in a mirror and saw the blood flowing down my face. I wish I had a picture of that.

I wasn't wearing safety glasses, and I almost always did. Now I ALWAYS do, when using the buffer. But thank God, it didn't cut my eye.

Here's a picture of my nose after I got cleaned up. Don't click if you have a weak stomach.

www.pattonblades.com/nosecut.jpg

I don't really need a bucket of lard, but I'll bet you guys will have a hard time topping the sheer stupidity of this incident.

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Regards,
Phillip Patton

http://www.pattonblades.com

The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price has faded.

https://hoosierbladesmith.wordpress.com

Philip...
Give the man his lard.

I agree, Phillip deserves the prize.
Plus, judiciously applied, lard is great for minor cuts and abrasions.

Steve

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From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Three votes for Phillip

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Wisdom is justified by her children

Did someone say lard?

It was 11pm and the faint floral scent of rosewood hung in the workshop air. I was excited to be nearly finished with my second guitar and rightfully proud of my fine work. Pausing to hold the guitar at an angle to the light I admired the shining finish, the tightly fitted inlay and the gentle lines where the purfling arced along the waist. All was ready for the final construction step: two dry clamping runs had been flawlessly executed; clamps, cauls, glue, brush and dampened shop towels were now set out for ready access. I took a breath and poured myself some tea from my father's old and battered aluminum Thermos, cradling the the warm cup in my hands as I savored the Earl Grey and the pending moment of completion. Confident as a dancer in my practiced steps I spread the glue across the ebony surface, tightened the clamps and wiped the squeezeout clean. Pleased with the results, I switched out the lights and pulled the workshop door closed behind, leaving the guitar to dry overnight... with the bridge exactly 1/8" out of position.

Oooh... I just saw Phillip's misadventure. Well, I was going for eloquent. :-)

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George :-)

Oh my - Phillip you are one very lucky guy.... Wow that creeped me out just reading about it.

Hopefully you are all heeled up now, Phillip?

Hesh -

Just out of curiousity, how come you bent the side back flat rather than just transferring it to the OM form and continuing the bend?
Seems like you were part way to the finished product to start with. (Sorry if I'm being a pain.)

Yes, Phil wins so far. I don't have any really new ones to contribute since last year as, unfortunately, I've hardly done anything.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

No problem Jim - I am used to you being a pain.... JUST KIDDING!!!!

Well you are assuming that I was actively thinking here which is probably not a good assumption to make. Besides the side was easier to vacuum once I flattened it again....

Oh my, too many to choose from. My best two so far: Profiled both sides simultaneously on the bandsaw to create (you guessed it) two left sides. Glued (and carved) a perfect set of braces on the wrong side of a right-handed cutaway back.

But Phillip wins the Lard.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

I haven't been building much lately so I haven't had too many opportunities to make mistakes. I wish that meant that I hadn't made any. I ordered some fretboards with the slots cut for a scale of 24.5 instead on 25.4. It is possible to look at 24.5 dozens of times and see 25.4 it that is what you are expecting to see.

I can't find any instrument that uses this scale so I don't know what to do with them. sigh.